DVL Group Blog with Helpful Information on Running Your Data Center

2012 / The Year of Big Data (Center)

by Mike Rinaldi on 1/3/12 2:14 PM

As we roll into 2012 a quick recap of the data center related events and milestones that shaped our industry are in order. Fortunately the good people at Data Center Knowledge already compiled a very fine article “Top 10 Data Center Trends of 2011”. In addition, you should examine the excellent body of work compiled by The Green Grid in 2011 especially in the areas of sustainability (WUE, CUE, and soon materials ala MRR) and workload analysis.

If you are making a list of action items and projects to tackle in 2012, one that really must be on your list is to JOIN the Green Gird and attend the members’ forum, March 6 & 7 in San Jose, CA. Email me if you don’t find a membership level that fits your business needs so we can explore other options.

DVL

Back to 2011, perhaps some of the most significant developments are the multi-faceted approaches that organizations began to adopt and deploy in earnest towards not only data center energy efficiency but perhaps more importantly overall computational resource efficiency. With the latter, computational resource efficiency (my term), moving to the forefront as the rush to virtualization began to wane in 2011 with many organizations having hit the ‘wall’ of diminishing returns for their efforts. Not that virtualization is dead by any means, it isn’t and properly integrated to one’s DCIM (new for 2011 and rapidly gaining share of mind) deployment strategy will better enable IT and data center professionals to finally place an all-in energy, material resource, and man-hour allocation to each and every VM instance, application, storage bit, and even data I/O network traffic.

[Jack Pouchet, Emerson]

>> Read More Here

Topics: CUE, Emerson Network Power, data center infrastructure, Data Center, data center design, kW per rack, data center infrastructure management, PUE, robust data center, DVL, electrical distribution

Effective way to distribute power to the racks in your data center?

by Mike Rinaldi on 12/13/11 11:11 PM

How do you distribute power to your racks or pods in your data center?

There are several options for distributing power to racks using bus solutions, depending on the reliability needed by the end user. For some end users, having dual corded loads in rack served by a single power distribution system might be adequate for their reliability needs, while others will require true dual power system (2N) redundancy.

Here is what you will learn in this chapter:

What are the reliability options for power distribution to racks and pods
How to configure optimally power distribution to pods of racks.
How to describe rack power distribution options in a consistent manner.

Topics: Emerson Network Power, data center infrastructure, data center design, robust data center, DVL, electrical distribution, reduce downtime, pod, data center outages

Are you wasting 40% of the power in your data center?

by Mike Rinaldi on 11/10/11 12:21 PM

From Chapter 2 | DVL Data Center Best Practices Guide

In recent years there has been an accelerating trend towards distributing power to racks through the use of overhead or under floor busway. This trend has developed for the following reasons:

Clutter and obstruction to airflow is greatly reduced in raised floor environments
Wiring methods are simplified
Future moves, adds and changes are greatly simplified
Capital costs are reduced

Post your comments here on the blog or check out:

-Here is an example of a comment: ...design the data center with maximum flexibility according to the known elements of the plan, with as many considerations for the future as your budget will allow.

Topics: Emerson Network Power, data center infrastructure, Data Center, data center design, kW per rack, data center infrastructure management, robust data center, DVL, electrical distribution

Data Center Design: 5, 10, 15 kW | What is the optimum kW per rack?

by Mike Rinaldi on 11/3/11 8:14 AM

5, 10, 15 kW per rack - what is your opinion?

There are so many variables that play a part here:

space limitations
power density/availability
cooling capacity

Post your comments here on the blog or check out our LinkedIn page and post your comments.

-Here is an example of a comment: ...design the data center with maximum flexibility according to the known elements of the plan, with as many considerations for the future as your budget will allow.

We will examine the types of rack PDU power connections and how to use that information to match your IT department's kW per rack criteria to implement a distribution system that conserves on capital dollars and runs efficiently.

Topics: Emerson Network Power, data center infrastructure, Data Center, data center design, kW per rack, data center infrastructure management, robust data center, DVL, electrical distribution

Data Center Design Starts With kW per Rack Selection

by Mike Rinaldi on 10/26/11 9:49 AM

Electrical distribution systems put a strain on power capacity and are often overly expensive due to poor kW/rack selection. In this segment, DVL CEO Mike Murphy examines the types of rack PDU power connections and how to use that information to match your IT department's kW/rack criteria to implement a distribution system that conserves on capital and runs efficiently.