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April 03, 2008 | Comments: (0)

IBM combines Systems i and p into greener Power System

IBM has made some notable green strides with its newly unveiled line of Power System servers, according to an analysis piece by Joe Clabby. The water-cooling design for example, which brings H2O directly to the microprocessor, is pretty darn innovative and energy efficient.

Overall, Clabby notes, the machine's "power, cooling, real-estate, and performance design features become even more pronounced when compared against a 64-core HP Superdome system. An 8-core Power 550 server offers 16 percent better performance than a comparably equipped HP Superdome; uses 98 percent less space; and uses 91 percent less energy."

One other green point of interest: The Power System essentially takes the place of two machines, the System i (aka AS/400), built to host OS/400, and System p, built to run on IBM AIX (Unix). The machines, released in 1999, were similar to the point that they used many of the same parts. However, IBM said at the time that it was necessary to have the two different designs -- and thus several different sets of parts -- because "[System i] had several 'unique requirements' that could only be fulfilled by using a separate chassis design and separate, specially designed microprocessor," Clabby writes.

As you may have already guessed, that's changed with the newly released Power System: It's capable of running not just one but three platforms: i (formerly i5/OS), Linux, and AIX. For IBM, it means greater savings from being able to buy more identical parts in bulk and not having to store as many different spare parts in its inventory. And from an overall green perspective, it means fewer resources are going into manufacturing and shipping some many different components.

Posted by Ted Samson on April 3, 2008 06:03 PM

February 12, 2008 | Comments: (0)

IBM, Motorola back effort to control supply-chain carbon emissions

More big-name companies are joining forces to figure out ways to measure and control their supply chains' carbon emissions.

This time, IBM and Motorola have joined the European Supply Chain Institute's (ESCI) Supply Chain Carbon Council. The aim of the program is "to develop and promote strategies for effective carbon management in the supply chain. ... All aspects of this field will be addressed to include carbon reduction initiatives, carbon trading/offsetting, and compliance/reporting."

The group is pushing the initiative as not only a means of helping suppliers to reduce their carbon footprints, but to save money in the process.

Also joining the ESCI's Supply Chain Carbon Council is the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). Last month, that group announced its Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration, through which 11 corporate giants -- including IT heavyweights HP and Dell -- will develop a standard method to gather carbon-emissions information from suppliers.

Ted Samson is a senior analyst at InfoWorld and author of the Sustainable IT blog. Subscribe to his free weekly Green Tech newsletter.

Posted by Ted Samson on February 12, 2008 10:47 AM

January 24, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Dell's shiny green blade server

The PowerEdge M-series from Dell has it all, from a hyper-efficient power supply to superior cooling and power management
From a green-tech perspective, the most intriguing server I've ever known (from a distance) was the Gemini Green Series from Open Source Solutions (OSS). Highly efficient power supplies? Check. Efficient internal cooling? Check. Easily swappable components -- from motherboards to memory to power supplies -- to eliminate the need for ripping and replacing upgrades? Check.

Alas, OSS is no more, but its legacy won't be forgotten -- not by me, anyway. The fact that it's gone the way of rainbow suspenders is no reason to dismiss the beauty of its product design either. In fact, I see glimmers of the Gemini in Dell's newly announced PowerEdge M-Series chassis and blades. Dell designed the M-Series "from the ground up using Dell Energy Smart technologies, resulting in 30 industry patents," clearly with sustainability in mind.

Playing it cool
Like the OSS Gemini (which was a 2U server, by the way), Dell's new PowerEdge blades employs 90-plus percent efficient power supplies, developed in-house. (For reasons I still can't fathom, the standard among server vendors still appears to be in the realm of 80 percent.)

Not only is Dell's power supply capable of hitting a higher energy-efficiency level; it does so more quickly than rival power supplies, according to Mike Roberts, senior product planning manager for the M-Series line. He says that most power supplies achieve their maximum level of energy efficiency only when the supply is running at 90 to 100 percent utilization -- which certainly isn't the norm. "We get to a really good efficiency level at relatively low threshold, 88 percent at only 20 percent utilization," he says.

Those seemingly small differences among power supplies can actually make a dramatic difference in terms of reducing a server's power and heat waste -- and the associated costs scale impressively the larger your datacenter.

Dell also claims to have developed an innovative internal cooling system, designed to adapt to the needs of both high-end and low-end configurations. In addition to its optimized fans (as well as their underlying algorithms), the system boasts a superior airflow design, according to Roberts; Dell has taken great pains to remove impedance throughout the chassis. "The easier the air flows, the less hard the fans have to work," says Roberts.

The chassis also has three distinct cooling zones, each cooled by its own fan bank. In lower-end configurations where the chassis isn't fully loaded with blades, "the fans on the side can run really slowly because they don't have to work hard to cool their zone," says Roberts.

There's also the swappability factor (a word you will not find in Webster's, by the way). In an ideal green-tech world (mine anyway), an IT admin would be able to swap in and out all major components in his or her servers, while they're on the rack, such that machines wouldn't need to head to the shop or, more likely, to the recycling bin if a substantial upgrade is needed. It doesn't look like the major hardware vendors of the world are ready to offer that level of hardware interoperability, but here, Dell has taken a step in that direction.

Specifically, the company has developed what it dubs FlexIO switch technology for easily upgrading the machine's network connectivity up to 10Gig without replacing the base switch. For the enclosure, customers can opt for an upgradeable Dell PowerConnect M6220 Layer 2/3 Ethernet blade switch, with 1Gb ports and optional bays that can support either 10GbE or stacking ports.

Further, customers have three Cisco Ethernet switch choices, including a switch with a variety of 1Gbps, 10 Gbps, and stackable ports. Also available: a Cisco Infiniband switch. Add to that the options for two Brocade 4Gbps Fibre Channels, as well as Fibre Channel and Ethernet Pass Through options.

Additionally, with an eye on the future, Dell has designed the M1000e enclosure not to be dependent on specific server processor/chip set architecture. Further, it will be able to accommodate double-wide blades down the road.

Secret software sauce
Dell's hardware choices alone don't result in a more energy-efficient machine. Like an increasing number of vendors, Dell is turning to server management software to rein in energy waste -- a promising development that stands to lower those power bills and extend the life of hardware.

In Dell's case, that software takes the form of its Version 5.3 of its OpenManage systems management suite, released last November. Dell touts the package -- which comes at no cost with the blade package -- as "easy-to-use yet powerful management tools that help reduce the cost and complexity of managing computing resources."

Among its features is dynamic power management, which enables admins to set high- and low-power thresholds to help ensure blades operate within their defined power envelope. The norm is for servers to consume the maximum recommended amount all the time, even if they're not usually being run at full bore. Moreover, the package offers real-time reporting for enclosure and blade power consumption, and the ability to prioritize blade slots for power to provide optimal control over power resources.

So, for example, if an admin were to allot 3,000 watts to a given chassis, the system would distribute power evenly among all the blades. However, if the chassis wasn't pulling enough power, for whatever reason, it could be set to prioritize which blades would be throttled down first.

Your benchmark or mine?
As Dell tells it, the various greenovations it's injected in these babies reap superior power efficiency (that is, performance per watt) over rival blade offerings from HP and IBM. According to a Dell-sponsored study by Principled Technologies, "the PowerEdge M-Series consumes up to 19 percent less power and achieves up to 25 percent better performance per watt than the HP BladeSystem c-Class. Compared to the IBM BladeCenter H, the M-Series consumes 12 percent less energy and achieves up to 28 percent better performance per watt."

Were you to apply a cost-per-kilowatt amount to those figures, as Dell has, you'd save $2,600 annually per year over HP's blade competitor and $1,500 per rack per year over IBM's.

I wouldn't discount Principled Technologies figures outright, just because the study was sponsored by Dell. It's entirely conceivable that, given the power-efficient measures Dell has taken, its blades consistently delivered better per-watt performance -- but only in that test, which used the SPECjbb2005 benchmark.

Problem is, that benchmark wasn't really developed to measure power efficiency. Organizations and analysts are still grappling as to what method is best for accomplishing that, as evidenced by a recent study comparing the power efficiency of AMD and Intel's respective quad-core chips.

The point is, benchmarks are slowly emerging, such as SPEC's recently announced SPECpower_ssj2008. However, that benchmark isn't suited for a blade environment. In short, work here remains to be done.

Hopefully the InfoWorld Test Center will have a chance to test Dell's claims against offerings from HP and IBM. Whatever the outcome of that test might be (again, if it happens), I still extend kudos to Dell for further raising the green bar more among hardware vendors.

One last thought: IBM and HP may claim that they're not worried about Dell's latest foray into the world of blades. In fact, a rep from one of those vendors sent me a rather dismissive note prior to the official Dell announcement: "We've been hearing rumors over here that Dell finally plans to announce their copycat blade on Monday. Odd that they'd choose a national holiday to announce, but that's another story ;-)."

Of course, when you go out of your way to eagerly point something out and declare you're not worried about it -- you're probably at least a leetle bit worried about it. Conceivably, Dell has surprised the competition with the level of innovation it's brought to the table here, enough to generate some concern.

Posted by Ted Samson on January 24, 2008 03:00 AM

January 14, 2008 | Comments: (0)

IBM, Nokia, and Sony back green-patent giveaway

As sustainability continues to percolate in minds of business and technology leaders worldwide, we're witnessing more and more companies stepping up and sharing their resources and brainpower for the greater green good.

The latest example comes from IBM, who has partnered with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development on an initiative to make publicly available a host of donated "environmentally responsible" patents. Nokia, Sony, and Pitney Bowes have thus far joined the cause.

The portfolio of patents, dubbed the Eco-Patent Commons, will "feature innovations focused on environmental matters and innovations in manufacturing or business processes where the solution provides an environmental benefit."

Said benefits might be energy conservation, pollution prevention, usage of environmentally preferable materials, and increased recycling opportunity.

"In addition to enabling new players to engage in protecting the environment, the free exchange of valuable intellectual property will accelerate work on the next level of environmental challenges. We strongly urge other companies to contribute to the Eco-Patent Commons," said Dr. John E. Kelly III, IBM senior VP and director of IBM Research, in a written statement.

As I write this, the Eco-Patent Commons contains 31 patents, 27 of which come from Big Blue (known for cranking out patents like bunnies crank out more bunnies). Those include an "apparatus and method for reusing printed media for printing information" and a "system for cleaning contamination from magnetic recording media rows."

Nokia has one on the list ("systems and methods for recycling of cell phones at the end of life"), as does Sony ("flocculating agent and a method for flocculation"). The other two comes from Pitney Bowes ("ink-jet printer having variable maintenance algorithm" and "multiple overload protection for electronic scales").

These companies are the first IT heavyweights to share their resources toward a common green good. Consider the Green Grid, a nonprofit consortium of tech companies that's focused on developing metrics, standards, and best practices for curbing power consumption.

Moreover, Sun last year unveiled OpenEco.org, an online community providing free tools and resources for calculating, tracking, and comparing greenhouse gas emissions.

Additionally, Cisco has volunteered time and resources to the William J. Clinton Foundation to develop technologies and strategies to help cities reduce their negative impact on the environment.

Additional information about the Eco-Patent commons is available on the WBCSD Web site.

Ted Samson is a senior analyst at InfoWorld and author of the Sustainable IT blog. Subscribe to his free weekly Green Tech newsletter.

Posted by Ted Samson on January 14, 2008 10:27 AM

November 06, 2007 | Comments: (0)

IBM aims at trimming electric bills with Active Energy Manager

Management tools aimed at reining in datacenter energy waste -- and associated high costs -- continue to hit the market. The latest example comes from IBM in a software package called Systems Director Active Energy Manager (AEM).

Products such as AEM, as well as HP's Systems Insight Manager and Cassatt's Active Response, share similar features such as power capping. This function enables admins to reduce the amount of energy a given server consumes. The rationale is, servers -- particularly underutilized machines -- generally don't require as much juice as recommended out of the box. Thus, they end up using more electricity and generating more heat than necessary.

In addition to the power-capping capabilities, AEM lets admins monitor energy-usage trends to help in planning new workloads throughout the datacenter. That's of particular use to admins grappling with tight power budgets.

"Active Energy Manager gives clients a way to understand exactly how much power is being used in their data centers and where it is being consumed," said Rich Lechner, IBM's vice president for IT optimization, in a written statement. "Along with being able to cap the energy that powers these systems, this information can help save significant energy and cooling costs and create a greener datacenter environment."

Originally introduced in 2005 at PowerExecutive, AEM manages power usage across supported servers through functions such as power capping and a power-savings mode, which IBM says can potentially save datacenter operators as much as 30 percent of system power demand.

The power capping lets users set a maximum power level per system; power-savings mode lets users manage power usage as work activity shifts across various demands. This mode is enabled via an on/off switch, which can be scheduled during times of low utilization, IBM says. On supported machines, the function can be automated based on processor utilization. In addition, alerts and messages can be sent to higher-level systems management applications to automate the process.

In addition, AEM includes power-trending and thermal-trending features to monitor and report system energy usage as well as inlet and exhaust air temperatures for individual systems. "The offering allows finite and localized temperature adjustments within the IT shop to further reduce energy costs for cooling," according to IBM.

IBM says that AEM exploits iPDUs (intelligent power distribution units) to support older servers and low- and mid-range storage devices. By plugging these systems into a supported iPDU or a smart power strip, AEM collects power information and presents it in a centralized place, according to the company.

Originally developed for IBM's x86 System x hardware, AEM supports additional IBM's Power Systems and System Storage platforms. Big Blue plans to extend support to IBM System z mainframes. In addition, the company says "some hardware from other manufacturers is supported."

AEM also provides energy management data used by Tivoli enterprise solutions such as IBM Tivoli Monitoring and IBM Tivoli Usage and Accounting Manager.

IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager will be available for download beginning Dec. 7. Pricing will start at less than $100 per system and include both Power Savings Mode and Power Capping. iPDU capabilities, power trending, and thermal trending are free AEM features.

Posted by Ted Samson on November 6, 2007 02:44 PM

November 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

IBM enters the energy efficient credit game

Big Blue today is launching the IBM Efficiency Certificates initiative, a program through which companies can earn certified energy efficiency credits (EECs) for reducing power consumption in the datacenter. Also known as white tags, EECs can serve as proof to investors of a company's energy-saving efforts -- or as a source of income when sold on the burgeoning white-tag market.

As part of the initiative, IBM has partnered with Neuwing Energy, a verifier of energy efficiency projects and marketer of EECs. Neuwing will first determine the initial energy draw from an IBM client's existing datacenter or IT equipment identified for consolidation using industry-accepted energy estimates. IBM will then work with the client to implement energy-saving projects, such as server consolidation through virtualization. After the project is complete, Neuwing will perform a second review of the energy draw and calculate the efficiency improvement in terms of megawatt hours saved. In turn, IBM will issue energy efficiency certificates representing those savings.

It's clear how Neuwing and IBM would respectively benefit from this initiative: The client company pays Neuwing for the assessment and certification. IBM profits by providing consulting services and equipment to the customers to achieve energy savings. But what's the value to a company in amassing EECs?

According to Rich Lechner, IBM's vice president of IT optimization, there are two primary benefits. First, more investors and shareholders are looking to companies to reduce their environmental impact. Saving energy has that very outcome. Thus, certificate bearers can show off their credits as proof of their efforts. As an added bonus, these kinds of credits could appeal to the financial sensibilities of investors, because they represent cost savings.

Second, Lechner says there's a growing market. Connecticut implemented a white tag standard this year; Nevada and Pennsylvania have adopted legislation requiring white tags as part of a mandated state portfolio standard. There are also markets in Europe. White-tag buyers include electric utilities mandated to cap power consumption, as well as organizations unable to meet established greenhouse gas emission goals.

"Since the recent emergence of energy efficiency certificates as a market, we have seen market volume quickly grow into the millions of megawatt-hours and expect the energy efficiency market to surpass the renewable energy certificates market in a couple of years," said Matthew Rosenblum, executive vice president and CFO of Neuwing.

In a way, saved megawatt hours is a rival metric to carbon emissions. Many companies are working to measure their carbon footprints and report improvements from year to year. Moreover, they're purchasing carbon offsets to compensate for their own CO2 emissions. But Lechner argues that measuring megawatt hours is "less fuzzy" than measuring CO2s. That is, it's relatively easy to take a piece of IT equipment and measure at the wall how many watts it consumes. The same can't be said for carbon and other GHGs.

IBM Efficiency Certificates will first be available in the United States and expand to Europe in 2008.

Posted by Ted Samson on November 1, 2007 09:01 PM

October 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)

IBM's silicon recycling technique a boon for solar

Big Blue has devised a technique to reduce silicon waste that will save the company money and benefit the burgeoning solar-power industry, according to a Reuters report.

The company has found a way to remove silicon circuitry from wafers -- discs of silicon -- that are deemed too flawed to be used for processors, according to the report. Those little pieces of silicon have traditionally been discarded.

However, IBM engineers has come up with a technique to remove the circuitry "with an abrasive pad and water, which saves money and leaves the silicon in better shape for reuse," according to the report. "Eric White, one of the engineers behind the process, said it would let IBM get five or six monitor wafers out of one that otherwise would be scrapped. By extending the life of the silicon, IBM believes it will save about $1.5 million a year and leave more of the material available for the solar industry, where supplies have been tight."

Posted by Ted Samson on October 30, 2007 09:29 AM

August 28, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Linux, Windows duke it out over energy efficiency

The battles for energy efficiency aren't just being fought by chipmakers, server and PC vendors, and other hardware companies out there. There's a similar battle heating up on the OS layer between Microsoft and Linux.

Microsoft, Linux, green technology Linux appears to have an advantage at the moment: Companies are becoming increasingly open to adopting the platform both in the server room and on the desktop. Big-name vendors like IBM, HP, and Novell are giving the penguin a push in the datacenter, framing it as a flexible and energy-efficient platform. The fact that Linux offers greater virtualization opportunities than Windows (a sentiment recently expressed by the VMWare CTO Mendel Rosenblum) only strengthens the platform's green standing.

Microsoft isn't resting on its laurels, though. It plans to make power-management tools a central part of Windows Server 2008. Further, it's advancing its own virtualization strategy.

The Linux Foundation has spelled out plans to bring improved power management to the OS in an effort called the Green Linux Initiative. The workgroup's efforts could bring longer battery life to battery-powered mobile devices and lower operating costs in the server room.

Some of the projects the Linux Foundation envisions includes:

Developing a tickless kernel, which enables the processor to sleep between tasks
Creating power-aware applications and policies
Boosting power management for USB peripherals
Improving suspend and hibernate reliability
Fixing bugs in userspace applications that cause unnecessary processor usage

"At the Linux Foundation, we've realized that while there have been many recent advances in Linux power management, there are still new, untapped ways to make Linux more green," said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, in a written statement. "Our Green Linux initiative will leverage the power of our members ... to enhance these improvements. We expect Linux to be a leader in this area and for Linux customers, and the environment, to realize the gains brought about by our members' efforts."

One company heavily involved in the big green push is Big Blue. In conjunction with the Linux Foundation, IBM announced its own Big Green Linux initiative to help customers further integrate Linux into the enterprise so as to "to reduce costs and energy consumption by building cooler data centers," according to the company.

IBM is making noise about the energy-saving consolidation potential of Linux in conjunction with its own hardware, particularly its System z mainframes. Eating a healthy helping of its dogfood, IBM is consolidating approximately 3,900 of its own servers onto about 30 System z mainframes running Linux.

Joining IBM and the Linux Foundation in the green push is Novell, which is touting the greenery of its flavor of Linux. "With every release of our SUSE Linux Enterprise platform, Novell finds new ways to help customers reduce power consumption through improvements in policy-driven power management and system monitors for servers, along with better suspend functionality for laptops," said Roger Levy, senior vice president and general manager of Open Platform Solutions for Novell, in a written statement.

It doesn't end there: HP is also singing the praises of Linux, noting that it has a key role in next-generation datacenter strategy. At LinuxWorld earlier this month, Ann Livermore, executive vice president of the Technology Solutions Group within HP, talked up the penguin, according to an IDG News Service report. "The energy efficiency of all servers has become the issue 'every customer wants to talk about,' she said and applauded the new functionality added to the Linux kernel that improves energy efficiency by putting Linux systems into low-power states when there's a pause in computing."

Microsoft isn't blind to the high demand for more energy-efficient systems. The company went to great lengths to talk up the power management features of Vista and has green aspirations for the next version of Windows server. In a recent interview on SearchDataCenter.com, Stephen Berard, program manager of the Windows Platform Architecture team, detailed some of the future OS's power-management features.

Among them, he says that, "in Windows Server 2008, you can lock a processor in a state right off the bat. We also have finer-grade controls for thresholds that can address cases where the default settings don't fit what you want to do. The defaults that come out of the box are going to be good for the vast majority of people."

Posted by Ted Samson on August 28, 2007 03:00 AM

August 02, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Is IBM's Big Iron also Big Green?

As part of Project Big Green, Big Blue is pushing its System z mainframes as an energy-efficient alternative to server racks

IBM, project big green, mainframes, big iron As the list of arguably green technologies continues to expand, it's interesting to observe how many of the candidates are by no means new. Virtualization has technically been around for years, for example, as have thin clients. But one of the more surprising technologies to make the list is the mainframe.

Yes, mainframes. Big Iron. Those big ol' data-crunching behemoths regarded by some as the dinosaurs of the datacenter. Pundits have periodically predicted they'll go extinct -- or at least pondered aloud how long they'd be around.

But mainframes have continued to evolve -- and seemingly thrive. According to both IBM and IDC research, mainframes sales remain strong. And with green fever infecting the business world, Big Blue hopes that Big Iron will soon be regarded as Big Green Machinery.

As part of its billion-dollar Project Big Green endeavor, IBM revealed this week that it's partaking of a giant bowl of its own dog food, moving the workload of 3,900 of its 8,500 servers to 30 virtualized System z9 mainframes running Linux. (Yes, Big Blue says it will properly recycle those machines.)

"The cost of energy, power to run computers, storage, and networking equipment, as well as the power to the cooling equipment, is becoming the highest single cost of managing a datacenter," says David Gelardi, VP of industry solutions at IBM. "IBM took a look at these very interesting plums coming to the forefront at the same time. We have an opportunity with systems management tools, with Linux, and with virtualization, to be able to take the workloads that are principally running on much smaller, underutilized Unix servers and move them over to those 30 very large mainframes."

Big Blue anticipates the move from 3,900 servers to 30 mainframes will cut energy consumption by around 80 percent, a healthy cost savings no matter how you slice it. Specifically, the company anticipates reducing its total annual energy consumption, including power and cooling, from 3,266 kilowatts to 629, and total expenses from $2.86 million to $551,000.

Reports from Robert Frances Group (RFG) lend credence to IBM's claims that mainframes can deliver processing power more efficiently than standard servers. In a white paper titled "Mainframe Computing and Power in the Data Center" dated Feb. 16, 2007, RFG reports the following:

"Mainframe systems consume less power, both in absolute and relative terms [than standard servers]. Typically, mainframe power densities are less than half of those of current rack and blade distributed systems. When looking at like workloads, the amount of energy consumed falls precipitously, in some cases the costs associated for power needed for an application are reduced by a factor of 600."

Part of the can be attributed to the fact that "mainframes are designed with a central AC/DC power converter, which operates at over
90 percent efficiency, compared with many existing rack server power converters which operate at 70 percent," according to a separate RFG report.

Also a boon: more precious floor space, moving from 11,045 square feet of occupied space to 1,643 square feet with the 30 mainframes.

Is IBM's Big Iron also Big Green?, IBM, project big green, mainframes, big iron Meet the machines
IBM's z9 mainframes are 64-bit machines, packing "specialty processors" designed for processing eligible Linux, Java, and data workloads as well as encrypting and decrypting certain data.

The machines' HiperSockets technology provides fast communication among all the virtual servers contained in a single machine, according to IBM. "By contrast, in a distributed environment, where many physical servers are connected by networking cables, lag time may be greater," the company argues.

Additionally, IBM says the machines can handle massive workloads. "The mainframe recently achieved the world's largest core banking benchmark result, delivering a record 9,445 business transactions per second in real time based on more than 380 million accounts with three billion transaction histories."

"Thank God for Linux."
Green ambitions -- both in terms of ecofriendliness and slicing energy bills -- are just part of the picture here. Linux's maturity stands to boost the mainframe's appeal, Gelardi says. "If you were to talk to just about any software company in the world, they would tell you the same story: "Thank God for Linux, because the 37 Unix variants were making us crazy. Linux is attractive because it's ubiquitous. You couldn't find too many products in the industry that don't support Linux."

Also appealing, according to Gelardi: the potential savings on software licenses, which are generally sold on a per-CPU basis. Moving from 3,900 servers, which might have, on the low end, 7,800 CPUs, to the 30 mainframes, which represent, at most, 1,920 CPUs (64 per mainframes), means a substantial reduction in software bills.

Finally, IBM is making the fairly familiar case the having fewer machines means you can free up IT staff to work on other projects.

Geraldi stresses that the mainframe isn't suited for all server tasks, which is why the company isn’t trading it its remaining 4,000-plus servers for mainframes. Typically, mainframes have been used for bulk-data processing tasks such as ERP and financial transaction processing. "There are lots of workloads that will still favor other architectures. We do not today, and as far as I can tell, for the future, have this notion of this being one size fits all."

Posted by Ted Samson on August 2, 2007 03:00 AM

June 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

IBM aims to double datacenter space, maintain energy use

CIOL (CyberMedia India Online) has an interesting nugget about IBM's Big Green datacenter initiative: As part of Big Blue's $1 billion-a-year service initiative to build and redesign its datacenters to consume less energy, the company plans to double its datacenter capacity from 6 million square feet to 12 million square feet over the next three years -- without increasing wattage.

"There are two ways we will be attaining energy efficiency: One is to reduce the power usage in the existing facilities and also put in energy-efficient systems in the new ones. We are aiming to double the datacenter capacity that will consume as much energy, which is used today. Thus there will be no addition in wattage used, but 40 to 50 percent of power will be saved," IBM Vice President of Global Site and Facilities, Global Technology Services Steven Sams told CIOL.

Posted by Ted Samson on June 12, 2007 11:45 PM

May 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)

IBM crafts carbon-measuring toolset, 'cold battery'

Big Blue reveals more details of Project Big Green, including CO2-measuring tools and an efficient 'cold-storage system'

Like awkward teenage males hitting puberty, more companies are becoming self-conscious of the size of their footprints -- specifically their carbon footprints.

As part of its recently announced billion-dollar Project Big Green iniative, IBM today announced in the United Kingdom plans to offer a toolset for measuring organizations' carbon footprint, available through the company's Zodiac consulting services.

The Zodiac tool draws from a large database "to establish the total power consumption and carbon footprint of a customer's server banks, across all platforms," according to The Inquirer.

IBM also will provide a free questionnaire-based tool on the Web, helping organizations determine the energy efficiency of their data center. Later in the year, the company will deilver a tool to help companies uncover information about government incentives for adopting more energy-efficieny hardware and practices.

"The aim is to not only let customers see the staff and space savings that come from server consolidation, but also the energy and CO2 savings," Steve Bowden, green computing consultant at IBM's Systems and Technology Group, told the UK-based ITweek. "It means firms also have the information they need to offset their emissions if they choose."

The toolset will likely be of interest to companies that are becoming increasingly concerned with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions such as carbon dioxide, which has been linked to global warming. A recent study from The Conference Board found that 75 percent of organizations are "actively measuring" their carbon footprints. And while 95 percent said they envisioned "a carbon-concerned future creating both business risk and opportunity," just one half said they had a program in place to "actively reduce or offset GHG emissions.

IBM also revealed plans for a new "cold battery," according to the UK reports. Situated between the a company's chiller and HVAC unit, it would act as a cold store: Companies could run their chilling units at full force -- during off-hours, for example -- until the battery was "full," then power them down or off.

The cooling system, due out in the U.S. in July, could HVAC-power consumption by 45 percent, according to reports.

Posted by Ted Samson on May 25, 2007 01:00 PM

May 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)

IT has the power to cultivate a greener world

IT has the power to cultivate a greener world Consensus continues to grow among political leaders around the world that global warming is a very probable threat that needs to be addressed. The latest evidence of this shifting mindset is the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report, released last week. The report is a major one, given its scope and number of countries involved, representing a large drop in a bucket of governmental studies and legislation aimed at addressing climate change.

Whether or not business leaders take seriously the threat of global warming, they would be well served to start finding ways to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions at their companies -- both in terms of their operations as well as their products. Acting sooner rather than later means they can stay ahead of stricter laws, as well as on top of the energy crisis that's already being felt in some datacenters.

"Energy grids are being constrained such that they can't deliver the energy that companies needs. Legislative schemes are being put into place to control [carbon emissions]," says John Frey, manager of corporate environmental strategies at HP. By not acting, companies themselves will be "inhibited from a growth perspective, or find themselves legislated or taxed into a corner. Most companies don't want to find themselves in that situation."

Frey concedes that legislation can help spur a change in a company's operations and its products, but waiting for laws to guide you isn't a prudent approach. "Legislation is not going to drive innovation. It is going to bring the high bar up a little bit for those that have not sought a leadership position and gotten in front of the issue."

Another benefit to staying ahead of the legislative curve: You get to participate in how legislation evolves. "As legislators are looking at whom they can invite in for a dialogue, it's interesting and satisfying that companies like HP are the ones that get invited to the table first," Frey says.

A member of the WWF's Climate Savers Program, HP has long employed sustainable IT practices, according to Frey, which has positioned the company well to stay ahead of legislation. Most recently, the company announced ambitious plans to reduce its energy consumption by 20 percent by 2010. And driving these company's efforts is indeed green -- both of the monetary and environmental perspective. "This is the right thing to do, just looking at energy efficiency from a cost of ownership perspective... When you look at it from the environmental perspective, it becomes an even better decision. It's not a logical leap a lot of companies make: 'Hey, our IT group can contribute to reducing our environment footprint.'"

Indeed, the IT industry has a major role to play in a day and age where servers, PCs, networking gear, storage, and applications are vital organs for just about any business, keeping that essential data flowing and operations moving. Frey observed that IT was not explicitly referenced in the IPCC report: "When this issue is talked about in a legislative framework ... the assumption is that all these segments, from power generation to general industry, all have an IT component."

That puts the IT industry in a potentially powerful and influential position as businesses worldwide adapt a greener, more sustainable state of mind, says Edan Dionne, director of corporate environmental affairs at IBM. (Dionne sent me some very thoughtful answers to my e-mail questions, which I am posting here for you to read.)

"Improving the energy utilization of IT equipment and datacenters is important because the application of IT to business and societal energy-efficiency challenges offers us the opportunity to transform the way that society uses energy," Dionne says.

"For example, IT applications can manage power grids to reduce losses and enable distributed generation," she continues. "IT can introduce congestion-pricing schemes that reduce road traffic and encourage the use of carpooling and mass transit. IT enables businesses to improve manufacturing processes and supply chain efficiencies to reduce waste and energy usage. IT allows people to work remotely to reduce commuting requirements."

Big Blue, like HP, is a participant in WWF's Climate Savers Program, and it, too, has been tackling energy-efficiency issues for years. Just this week, the company announced its Big Green initiative, a $1 billion-a-year service initiative aimed at building and redesigning datacenters that consume less energy. The company also recently garnered recognition from the EPA for pledging to reduce total global GHG emissions by 7 percent from 2005 to 2012.

Dionne offers this advice for companies struggling with how to tackle reducing their energy costs and environmental footprint: "Do what IBM and some other leading companies have done: Assess their own potential impact on the environment; change the necessary policies, processes, and procedures; set benchmarks for achievement; establish a management system to monitor and report progress on those benchmarks; and take corrective action when needed."

Posted by Ted Samson on May 11, 2007 03:11 PM

May 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Big Blue's enviro guru explores garden of green opportunities

Political leaders and business leaders alike are scrutinizing causes of global climate change, as we saw in the recently released IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report. And they're devising solutions to the problem. And just as some countries are ahead of the game insofar as devising regulations to combat greenhouse gas emissions and reduce energy waste, so too are some tech companies out there.

Among them is IBM, which has had its eye on the green prize for years now. While social responsibility and environmental stewardship have played a role in its leadership, the business opportunities and potential cost savings have been there, too.

Edan Dionne, IBM's director of corporate environmental affairs, provided some very insightful answers, via e-mail, to my various questions about the IPCC report and concerns about global warming, as well as how they affect business -- and vice versa. Following is our e-interview.

InfoWorld: Why should companies care about the IPCC report, as well as the general growing concern about global warming and climate change?

Edan Dionne: Global climate change presents both challenges and opportunities to the business community. As there is strong scientific consensus that global warming is real and is significantly affected by emissions of greenhouse gases related to human activities, it has become clear that all sectors of society, the economy, and governments worldwide must participate in developing solutions to climate change.

Additionally, public awareness about the impacts of climate change is also swelling demand from employees, clients, investors, and other opinion leaders to know a company's stance on this issue and evaluate how "green" that company is.

Many companies, like IBM, have been taking actions to manage and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions for many years, while others have initiated actions more recently.

The IT industry has the opportunity to play several roles in addressing climate change. IBM has consistently improved the computing power delivered per unit of watt applied with each new generation of products. Over the last several years, IBM has brought its focus on innovation to improving the energy utilization of IT equipment.

While much progress has been made, there is still more work to do. IBM's announcement of "Project Big Green" details the next critical steps that IBM plans to take to improve the energy efficiency of its datacenters and its clients' operations.

Improving the energy utilization of IT equipment and datacenters is important because the application of IT to business and societal energy-efficiency challenges offers us the opportunity to transform the way that society uses energy.

For example, IT applications can manage power grids to reduce losses and enable distributed generation. IT can introduce congestion pricing schemes that reduce road traffic and encourage the use of carpooling and mass transit. IT enables businesses to improve manufacturing processes and supply chain efficiencies to reduce waste and energy usage. IT allows people to work remotely to reduce commuting requirements.

IW: What do companies need to do to address the problem? What's the drawback to putting it off, both from a business perspective as well as an environmental perspective? And what is IBM doing?

Dionne: Let me answer the last part first. IBM has focused on taking concrete actions to address climate change in its operations, products, and services, including: conserving energy (thus reducing direct and indirect emissions of greenhouse gases); increasing its use of renewable energy; reducing its direct emissions of greenhouse gases from manufacturing and facilities processes; designing energy-efficient products and developing solutions to help our clients reduce their energy use and improve efficiency; participating in voluntary climate protection programs with both government and nongovernmental organizations; and sharing best practices.

Other companies should do what IBM and some other leading companies have done -- assess their own potential impact on the environment; change the necessary policies, processes, and procedures; set benchmarks for achievement; establish a management system to monitor and report progress on those benchmarks; and take corrective action when needed.

It is important to take action today, because addressing the challenges of climate change is a long journey. It is not something that can be handled with one or two quick fixes. As mentioned above, all sectors of society, government, and the economy need to be involved and committed.

Collectively, we need to take available actions today -- like aggressive energy conservation and efficiency programs and diversification of our energy portfolio to increase the contribution of non-CO2 or low-CO2-emitting energy sources to our portfolio. And we need to encourage research and development efforts to develop the new technologies and innovations that we will need in the future to take the next steps beyond those available today.

IW: Should companies be worried about the cost required or the impact making changes will have on doing business? What about current and forthcoming regulations?

Dionne: As I mentioned earlier, climate change presents challenges and opportunities.

Companies need to assess the impact of a carbon-constrained world on their operations, determine the potential risks that carbon and other greenhouse gas constraints represent to those operations, and plan appropriate contingencies and actions. In many cases, the required actions like energy conservation, making logistics or manufacturing operations more efficient, and diversifying a company's energy portfolio will result in reduced operating costs, more efficient operations, and provide a competitive advantage.

However, a company must make investments to their facilities and operations to realize the savings. IBM estimates that, over the past eight years, annual savings from its focus on pollution prevention and design for the environment have exceeded environmental expenses by an average of two to one, so worrying about the cost required may not be necessary for all companies.

Policy, legislative, and regulatory discussions regarding climate change encompass a wide range of suggested measures including demand side management, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, nuclear power, carbon capture and sequestration, alternative fuels for transportation, alternative transportation systems, pricing practices, and a host of other ideas.

Early, voluntary actions help companies develop an inventory of their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, develop experience in managing their operations with a focus on energy use and its effect on the company's emissions, and capture operational efficiencies that improve their bottom line. This early work helps position a company to manage effectively in a carbon-constrained world. It also allows them to analyze the potential impacts of climate change regulations from a position of experience and offer meaningful, substantive commentary on approaches to carbon management.

IW: What's the good news here? What are the benefits of reducing emissions, both from a business perspective and a global, environmental perspective?

Dionne: The good news is that responses to climate change offer opportunities along with the challenges. Companies will have to manage effectively in a carbon-constrained world, and there will be a variety of operational and financial impacts that companies will need to address.

At the same time, there are many opportunities to become more efficient, reduce spending, improve competitiveness, and introduce products and services to assist a company's clients in managing these same issues. These efforts can benefit the environment, enable and promote the global effort to address the challenges of climate change, and strengthen a company's business results.

Posted by Ted Samson on May 11, 2007 03:10 PM

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