Data Center Energy Management Leader, TrendPoint Systems, Launches Four Point Plan for 'Green Data Centers' Aimed at Reducing Energy, Carbon Emissions

Data centers, projected to be one of the world's biggest energy users, face rapidly rising costs and tough carbon regulations SAN RAMON, Calif., Aug. 26


SAN RAMON, Calif., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- TrendPoint Systems, a leader in
data center energy management solutions, today announced a four-point plan
aimed at dramatically reducing energy costs and carbon emissions at data
centers. A recent study by McKinsey & Co. predicted that data centers will
surpass the airline industry as the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions
by 2020 and called for data centers to double their energy efficiency by 2012.
TrendPoint projects that by implementing only a part of its plan -- focused on
managing cooling costs -- data centers can reduce energy cooling costs by a
third or more.


The four point plan from TrendPoint provides a comprehensive approach for
actively monitoring and managing energy use in data centers in order to help
companies tackle this urgent problem. The plan will enable companies to set
and manage energy budgets at the user and departmental level, allowing them to
comply with proposed regulations on energy emissions, such as those slated for
enforcement in the Western United States and Canadian Provinces by 2012. This
group has established the Western Climate Initiative to follow the lead of the
U.K. and other European countries in establishing "cap and trade" regulations
on energy use. Businesses that comply will be able to trade their energy
savings on the open market in an "energy exchange."


According to Bob Hunter, CEO of TrendPoint, it is critical that data
centers get control of their energy use, especially as these new regulations
loom that will require energy and carbon reductions. Reducing energy use will
be especially difficult, given the rapid increases in server processing power,
resulting in more power consumption, and a greater demand for cooling in data
centers.


"Data centers will soon be hit with a 'perfect storm' in terms of coal and
natural gas driven utility cost increases coupled with the new carbon caps.
These sites already have energy densities that are ten times greater than that
of commercial office buildings, and their energy use is doubling every four
years. The combination of rising energy usage coupled with significant
electricity price increases and carbon caps creates a very troubling picture
for data centers. Companies need a complete solution to deal with this pending
crisis and that is exactly what we provide. We've taken a comprehensive
approach to the issue, giving data center owners and users the ability to set
energy budgets and the tools to manage their energy efficiency over both the
short and long term. That's the only way to take control of this rapidly
accelerating problem."



TrendPoint's four point plan for "green data centers"


TrendPoint recommends a four-point plan for companies interested in
dramatically cutting their energy costs if all elements of the plan are
implemented cohesively. An overview of the plan can be found on the TrendPoint
website at http://www.TrendPoint.com/press/082608.html. The plan includes:



Set an energy budget -- In the same way that companies set and manage
travel and other line-item budgets, data centers need to be able to set energy
and carbon budgets that can be broken down among users, departments and sites.
TrendPoint is unique in offering each user and group a secure view of their
energy and carbon usage. Companies can then set budgets and give each user
access to manage their individual energy and carbon usage against assigned
metrics. Co-location facilities, in particular, need to be able to provide
each customer with the ability to manage their own energy and carbon usage and
to provide a system to bill back customers appropriately.



Virtualize servers -- Companies can reap instant savings by consolidating
underutilized data servers onto virtual machines on a physical server.
TrendPoint has seen that virtualized servers generate significantly more heat
visa-vis the under-utilized machines and, therefore, need careful attention
with their cooling management. Without proper cooling, virtualized servers,
like all highly utilized systems, can develop "server thermal inversions"
within a data cabinet. Just as smog recycles and builds up in an atmospheric
thermal inversion, a hot server can create a thermal inversion that causes
cool air to be trapped and recycled, wasting cooling resources. "Server
thermal inversions" can reduce potential energy savings and lead to costly
heat-related downtime.



Equalize heat and cooling balance -- Data centers waste enormous amounts
of energy by over-cooling the majority of their data cabinets. This is because
CRAC units and control systems make macro-cooling decisions. By matching
cooling resources (from floor vents or liquid cooling units) to the actual
needs of each individual cabinet, data centers can realize significant savings
on cooling energy use of 25% or more. In addition, further savings can be
achieved by balancing heat loads on an intra-cabinet basis. By grouping
servers in a minimum of 2 and preferably 3 zones within a cabinet and moving
towards equalized heat loads between the zones, "server thermal inversions"
are avoided and users can reap additional cooling savings of 10-30%.



Manage to the metrics -- As data centers add, move, and change servers and
equipment, managers need to continually monitor and manage IT equipment heat
generation and cooling. TrendPoint provides the perfect solution for managing
energy usage with real-time views and long term trends of the new standard of
Power Usage Effectiveness -- PUE -- as proposed by the Green Grid. The
TrendPoint solution also enables organizations to create the proper metrics
and then manage the effectiveness of any energy savings plan they may
implement both now and in the future.



EDS saves 25% of cooling energy costs, ROI in less than one year


TrendPoint is already proving the effectiveness of its plan at some of the
world's largest data center "brands." In a study done at an EDS data center
near Newcastle, England by site management firm, Carillion, PLC, cooling
energy costs were cut by over 25% using the TrendPoint system to target
cooling resources to the heat generated by individual data cabinets. The
Carillion study also reported an ROI of less than one year for the TrendPoint
solution. According to Carillion, the TrendPoint solution will be extended to
additional sites over the next few years.



About TrendPoint


TrendPoint provides the industry's first turn-key data center energy
management solution. For data centers with a mandate to become more energy
efficient in order to reduce energy usage and its environmental impact, the
TrendPoint solution provides the perfect solution. With the TrendPoint
approach, data centers can, for the first time, accurately measure energy
consumption within data cabinets, target cooling resources where needed and
continue to actively manage energy efficiency over the long term. With
installations at some of the world's largest data centers, TrendPoint provides
customers with an unrivaled ROI in less than 18 months. TrendPoint is
headquartered in San Ramon, California. For more information, visit
http://www.trendpoint.com. For more information on the new proposed energy
regulations, visit http://www.westernclimateinitiative.org.



SOURCE  TrendPoint