Data Center Equipment Getting "Miles-Per-Gallon" Measurement Standard
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 11.18.08
Photo via Paul Hammond
A major measurement used in figuring out the efficiency of a data center is PUE, or Power Usage Effectiveness. However, that measures the efficiency of data center cooling and power supply. What about the efficiency of the equipment humming away within the data center?
The Green Grid, a consortium of IT firms that is gaining industry clout, plans to give data centers a satisfactory way to measure how efficient their equipment is, and give everyone else a standardized way to make comparisons.
The Green Grid is hoping that by next year, they’ll have a set of standardized metrics that companies can use to figure out the energy efficiency of servers, storage systems, and networking equipment.
As would be expected, a major reason why standardized measurements haven’t already been established is that various IT manufacturers bicker over just how to measure, since different methods make their equipment look better or worse compared to others. But, as Green Grid Director Jim Pappas stated:
"If you take the analogy of the car industry fuel efficiency figures for new cars are published and that helps drive progress and innovation. Having these new metrics will ensure that the companies that do innovate on energy efficiency are rewarded. We really do have a who's who of IT vendors signed up and they are behind this initiative."
With a standard way of looking at energy efficiency, companies will be forced to better their products, rather than find a different way to twist the numbers.
The standardized metrics will also allow IT companies to develop solutions for monitoring energy use of different software applications that are run within the data center, and then reorganize what is running when and how to optimize energy use.
More on Data Center Efficiency:
Power Assure Works with Facebook on Data Server Savings
Microsoft to Google: My PUE is Getting Better Than Your PUE
Designing Radically Efficient and Profitable Data Centers
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This would be progress, even if the internet wasn't proliferating faster than nukes. Not everyone will care how much power their servers use, but I suspect most will at least take that into consideration with other factors that are important to them.
And you're right ... having a familiar metric for fuel efficiency in cars has driven a lot of innovation, along with letting people make informed decisions.
The analogy to MPG is not a very good one. The PUE tells you how many of the total powerusage is used by the auxiliary equipment. It doesn't state how efficient the used computer equipment is.
So even with a very good PUE the center could be very inefficient.
Compare it to the car: it doesn't give a mpg, but it tells you the ratio between the nominal horsepower of your car and the effective horsepower, measured at the wheels.
So, you still could be driving a '60s V12, but because you've got no airco, radio and lights in your car, it seems very efficient.