Dell has released its first energy-efficient servers. The firm’s new PowerEdge Energy Smart 1950 and 2950 reduce power consumption by 20 percent compared to standard models by using low-voltage dual-core Xeon processors, fans and power-supplies that slow down when not needed, and changes to factory-set Bios controls.

“The whole energy-efficiency issue has come to the fore in boardrooms so it’s important we can point customers in the direction of something exemplary,” said Hugh Jenkins, Dell enterprise marketing manager.

Jenkins said he expects the sweet spot for Energy Smart servers to be firms with a “significant estate, perhaps 100 or more servers housed in a datacentre so the energy equation is more of a concern [than pure performance].”

Dell also offers a Datacentre Environment Assessment Service, aimed at helping customers plan power and cooling requirements, and runs a Power and Thermal Lab in Austin, Texas to remotely simulate customer requirements and predict the effect of changes.

IT vendors are racing to present their green credentials in order to reduce power costs and answer corporate social responsibility demands. Late last month, HP made its big move, detailing a strategy called Dynamic Smart Cooling that promises datacentre power savings of up to 45 percent. HP plans to link servers to heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems to automate controls.

Paul Miller, vice-president of marketing for industry-standard servers and blades at HP, described the approach as “building a bridge” between IT and facilities management departments.

Many experts believe standardisation in blade servers would be a major step forward. However, competition between suppliers means the prospect remains some way off.

“Blade servers are inherently energy-efficient but there were vendor marketing reasons for differentiation and even power cord positioning is non-standard,” said Tony Day, chief engineer at power management firm APC.