11/16/2006 12:00:00 AM ... Data Center Users` Group survey confirms that increased densities, consolidation and energy efficiency are driving change in the industry
Columbus, Ohio (November 15, 2006) — Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson (NYSE: EMR), and the global leader in enabling Business-Critical Continuity™, today released results from a new industry survey highlighting the impact of rising densities on data centers. Bob Bauer, Emerson group vice president and Liebert Worldwide president, previewed the results during his keynote address at Emerson’s recent AdaptiveXchange 2006™ customer event.
The survey was conducted by the Data Center Users` Group (DCUG), a group of influential data center and facility managers formed by Emerson Network Power. It posed questions to the DCUG membership on a variety of data center topics, including power management, precision cooling, energy efficiency, technology implementation and consolidation. One of the major findings of the survey is that 96 percent of current facilities are projected to be at their capacity by 2011.
“The data center lifecycle is shrinking,” said Bauer. “Aggressive corporate growth plans, along with the use of new, more powerful server technologies are pushing data centers to their limits. Many facilities have the physical space to add more equipment, but lack the power and cooling capacity to support that equipment. The only way companies are going to overcome this obstacle is by designing for higher densities and employing adaptive IT infrastructures that allow greater flexibility to adapt to change.”
The survey confirmed that heat and power density are major IT concerns, with 40 percent of respondents citing either heat density or power density as the biggest issue they are facing. Other issues included space constraints (19 percent), adequate monitoring capabilities (8 percent) and availability/uptime (7 percent). Forty-four percent also cited either power or cooling as the major constraint on their data center capacity.
According to the survey, consolidation is also gaining momentum in the industry with 56 percent of respondents having either completed, or being in the process of consolidating data centers. An additional 18 percent said they were evaluating the option.
“Data center consolidation is easier with today`s network performance, and can significantly reduce IT operating costs,” said Bauer. “This, in turn, is requiring higher availability and driving the need for mission-critical protection beyond the large data centers and into many network applications. Emerson Network Power is committed to making it possible for companies to easily adapt to these changes, and to support future technologies while maintaining high availability and containing costs.”
The survey also showed that data center energy efficiency is fast becoming a priority in the industry, with 42 percent of survey respondents saying they have either analyzed efficiency or are currently analyzing it. Respondents perceived the greatest opportunities for energy efficiency to be in the areas of cooling equipment (49 percent), servers (46 percent), power equipment (39 percent) and storage (21 percent).
Founded in 2003, the DCUG contains approximately 1,000 members that come together semi-annually to collaboratively discuss the most relevant issues affecting the reliability, availability and cost of operation for mission-critical installations. The group`s membership comprises executives with a wide variety of IT and facilities management expertise from an assortment of companies, including board member companies Capital One, Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions, JPMorgan Chase and Northwest Airlines.
AdaptiveXchange 2006 attracted more than 2,200 IT, facility and data center managers. The event featured participation from Aperture, Cisco, Dell, Hewlett Packard and Sun Microsystems; 120,000 square feet of exhibit space showcasing simulated data center, computer room, telecommunications and remote network environments; and 48 technical sessions. The event also showcased new technologies and services surrounding high-density blade-server cooling, high availability power protection and distribution, proactive performance monitoring, and more.
For more information about Liebert technologies and services from Emerson Network Power, visit www.liebert.com.
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