Power-saving systems gain the green light

Chip and server vendors are attempting to halt spiralling datacentre power demands

Datacentre heat is a growing problem

Sun, IBM, AMD and Intel have all announced plans for more power-efficient products as concerns over energy efficiency, floor space and social responsibility force IT firms to focus on green issues.

Sun last week released servers based on its new Niagara chips, now officially named UltraSparc T1, and promised to reduce the power requirement of similarly specified x86 machines by up to a factor of five.

Blade servers and other ultra-dense equipment are contributing to problems, causing firms to redesign datacentres and add cooling kit. Dell has launched a service to address this issue.

Firms bearing the brunt of inefficient servers are calling for new designs. “Cooling is our first issue, power is second and floor space third,” said Rene Wienholtz, IT chief at hosting firm Strato. He added that if he could replace all earlier Sparc servers with new lines, they would only use 10 to 15 percent of the power and space.

Matthias Schorer, chief architect at German banking systems integrator Fiducia IT, said Sun’s new T1000 and T2000 server lines would cut a g1m electricity bill to a little over g100,000.

Makers of rival processors also aim to reduce power requirements. IBM and AMD last week discussed developments in process technologies and materials for 65 nanometre chips. The firms said new combinations of technologies will result in a 40 percent increase in transistor performance without detriment to power consumption or heat dissipation.

Intel and QinetiQ have also demonstrated a transistor for future chips, promising 50 percent more performance using a tenth of the power.

Some firms could also gain kudos – or at least avoid criticism – by displaying their sense of social responsibility. Greenpeace last week protested against HP’s use of fire-prevention compounds that some scientists believe are toxic.

Meanwhile, UK reseller Channel Hardware was recently fined £5,000 for not properly managing IT waste.