9/20/2007 12:00:00 AM ... Columbus, Ohio (September 20, 2007) — Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson (NYSE: EMR) and the global leader in enabling Business-Critical Continuity™, today released results from a recent industry survey that provides insight into the actions some data center operators have taken to increase the efficiency of their facilities and identifies the challenges organizations face in driving additional improvements.
The survey was conducted by the Data Center Users` Group® (DCUG), a group of influential data center, IT and facility managers formed by Emerson Network Power. It was completed in coordination with the U.S. EPA and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs to support the EPA`s recently released “Report to Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency.” More than 150 DCUG member companies and non-member Fortune 500 companies participated in the survey, which covered a variety of data center topics including power management, precision cooling, energy efficiency, technology implementation and consolidation.
According to the survey, the majority of respondents have made operational improvements to increase energy efficiency. Seventy-seven percent have their data center arranged in a hot aisle/cold aisle configuration to increase cooling system efficiency, 65 percent use blanking panels to minimize recirculation of hot air and 56 percent have sealed the floor to prevent cooling losses. The survey also shows the growing popularity of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to identify hotspots and optimize air flow within the facility, with 25 percent of respondents having already conducted a CFD analysis of their facilities.
“We have been promoting the value of best practices to optimize the efficiency of existing systems for the last several years, so it is gratifying to see these tactics being widely adopted in the market,” said Bob Bauer, Emerson group vice president and Liebert Worldwide president. “They are among the first – and easiest – steps in optimizing data center efficiency. Now, we as an industry have to address the challenges of taking efficiency initiatives even further.”
According to the survey, challenges that data center professionals face as they try to reduce energy use include “lack of management priority” (40 percent), “not clearly understanding the cost/benefit relationship” (36 percent), “not wanting to risk reliability” (35 percent) and “lack of communication between IT and facilities” (33 percent).
Other survey results show that, on average, 60 percent of the data center electrical load is used to power IT equipment, with approximately 56 percent of that being used to power servers, 27 percent for storage, and 19 percent for network equipment. In addition, 41 percent of survey respondents said their data center electrical usage is not metered separately from the rest of their facilities. Forty-one percent of respondents also noted that they did not have a dedicated facility for their data center.
Additional results include the following:
- Eighty-one percent believe that by 2012 they will need additional data center capacity, despite the fact that 64 percent have built or upgraded their data center in the last five years.
- More than a quarter (27 percent) of respondents believe that despite consolidation and the use of virtualization, their server inventory will increase throughout the next five years.
- The average power density per rack is approximately 6.5 kW, while the maximum power density in any one rack averages approximately 12.9 kW.
Founded in 2003, the DCUG contains approximately 1,000 members; the group meets 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 Meijer, among others.
For more information on Liebert technologies and services from Emerson Network Power, visit www.liebert.com.
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About Emerson Network Power
Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson (NYSE:EMR), is the global leader in enabling Business-Critical Continuity™. The company is the trusted source for adaptive and ultra-reliable solutions that enable and protect its customers` business-critical technology infrastructures. Backed by the largest global services organization in the industry, Emerson Network Power offers a full range of innovative power, precision cooling and connectivity products and services for computer, communications, healthcare and industrial systems. Key product brands within the Emerson Network Power family include Liebert, ASCO, Astec, and Lorain. The Liebert Adaptive Architecture creates power, cooling and monitoring platforms for IT systems that combine high reliability and flexibility while delivering the lowest total cost of ownership. For more information on Liebert visit www.Liebert.com. For more information on the full spectrum of enterprise-wide solutions from Emerson Network Power, visit www.gotoemerson.com.
About Emerson
Emerson (NYSE: EMR), based in St. Louis, is a global leader in bringing technology and engineering together to provide innovative solutions to customers through its network power, process management, industrial automation, climate technologies, and appliance and tools businesses. Sales in fiscal 2006 were $20.1 billion. For more information, visit www.gotoemerson.com.