1. Executive’s Guide to the
Next-generation Data Center
The Brands You Trust.
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Business-wise, Future-driven.TM
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2. Data Centers
Schneider Electric Table of Contents
Executive’s Guide to the Data Center Business-wise, Future-driven.
Introduction..................................................................3
The Next-generation Data Center.................................4
Virtualization.............................................................4
Bridging the IT/Facilities Gap....................................5
Extending the Life of Your Data Center.....................6
Conclusion...................................................................7
Table of Contents
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3. Business-wise, Future-driven.
Schneider Electric 3
Data Centers
Executive’s Guide to the Data Center
One of the looming challenges in today’s data center is the rapid data
growth. One study finds that the amount of data is growing between
25 – 50 percent annually, and by the end of 2015 we are predicted to
cross the zettabyte threshold. For reference, one zettabyte is equal to
about 250 billion DVDs-worth of data!
File sharing, streaming high-definition video, and social media are in part
responsible for such rapid growth, but the digitization of everything from
medical records to bank transactions means every business owner will
have to prepare their data center for higher densities and more computing
capacity.
The problem is, most traditional,
“brick-and-mortar” data centers are already
approaching the limits to their power,
cooling, and space capacity. So what can
you do to prepare? Here are three big trends
that many businesses are adopting in order
to adapt to increasing computing demands:
1. Virtualization
2. Bridging the IT/Facilities Gap
3. Extending the Life of Your Data Center
Although these trends are not new, there are
some important things to consider before
applying them to your data center.
Read on to find out!
Figure 1: Data Growth, Virtualization and Consolidation
Introduction
1
Dines, Rachel A., “Build or Buy? The Economics of Data Center Facilities,”
Forrester Research, June 27, 2011. Pg. 2
2
Barnett, Thomas, “The Dawn of the Zettabyte Era,” June 23, 2011.
http://blogs.cisco.com/news/the-dawn-of-the-zettabyte-era-infographic/
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4. Business-wise, Future-driven.
Schneider Electric 4
Data Centers
Executive’s Guide to the Data Center
Embarking on a virtualization project, using DCIM software to bridge the
IT/Facilities gap, and extending the life of your data center with a modular
approach not only expands your data center’s capacity, ensures more
uptime, and enhances performance — it also saves you money. In some
cases, these three trends dovetail and synergize with one another, since
they’re all part of the high-density, next-generation data center. Here are
some important considerations that you may not already know about
virtualization, bridging the IT/facilities gap, and extending the life of your
data center.
What to consider with Virtualization:
1. Servers on average operate at just 15 percent of their capacity.
Virtualization can increase server utilization by fourfold or more,3
and
can save about $7,680 on the total 10-year TCO cost per server
eliminated.4
2. In order to see the significant energy savings, pairing virtualization with
dynamic data center physical infrastructure (DCPI) managed with DCIM
software is absolutely necessary. If power and cooling systems are not
scaled to accommodate fewer servers, you can actually degrade your
PUE.
3. In a virtualized environment, the cooling system needs to be dynamic
and accurate, with row cooling and variable speed fans that can handle
high densities and migrating virtual machines (VMs). DCIM software
is at the core of capacity management in a dynamic, high-density
environment, because migrating VMs are constantly changing the power
and cooling requirements.
4. When DCIM is included in a virtualization project, it can often increase
electricity savings by double or more compared with the savings
achieved by virtualization alone.5
The Next-generation Data Center
3
“Server Consolidation” VMware. http://www.vmware.com/solutions/
consolidation/consolidate.html
4
Rasmussen, Neil, “Implementing Energy Efficient Data Centers,”
APC by Schneider Electric White Paper #113, pg.6
5
Niles, Suzanne, “Virtualization: Optimized Power and Cooling to Maximize
Benefits,” APC by Schneider Electric White Paper #118, pg.3
Figure 2: Savings of virtualization
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5. Business-wise, Future-driven.
Schneider Electric 5
Data Centers
Executive’s Guide to the Data Center
What to consider with Bridging the IT/Facilities Gap:
1. Traditional data centers often waste at least 50 percent of infrastructure
capacity because they aren’t engineered to scale and don’t have
overarching management capabilities.6
Bridging the IT/facilities gap
has been talked about for a while as a solution, but until all-in-one data
center infrastructure management (DCIM) software entered the picture,
there wasn’t a catalyst capable of uniting the two historically disparate
domains.
2. Integrated DCPI and DCIM software make bridging the IT/facilities gap
possible. Integrated DCPI is composed of modular, scalable supporting
infrastructure managed via all-in-one DCIM software. It’s easier to make
managerial improvements so that facilities and IT managers talk to one
another and work collaboratively, but the major benefits of bridging
the gap — right-sized DCPI, improved availability, 30 percent energy
savings, a PUE of 1.22 or better — are very difficult to achieve without
using modular architecture and DCIM software.
3. With IT refresh cycles of 18 – 24 months and facilities refreshes every
10 – 15 years, it’s difficult to imagine these two entities working together
coherently without DCIM management software.
Figure 3: Bridging the IT/Facilities Gap
The Next-generation Data Center
6
Torell, Wendy. “Data Center Physical Infrastructure: Optimizing Business
Value,” APC by Schneider Electric White Paper #117, pg. 8
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6. Business-wise, Future-driven.
Schneider Electric 6
Data Centers
Executive’s Guide to the Data Center
What to consider with Extending the Life of Your Data Center:
1. The primary issues with aging data centers are a lack of floor space,
outdated, low-density IT equipment, and rigid infrastructure that cannot
adapt to changing business needs and, in turn, might even hold back
your business.
2. IT equipment life is now measured in months instead of years, and to
the only way that DCPI can adapt to the demands of increasingly high
density IT equipment is to use modular, scalable infrastructure managed
via DCIM software. Modularity allows you to scale capacity “on-
demand,” and makes upgrades and repairs much easier than custom
arrangements.
3. Floor space limitations are solved by well-executed consolidation/
virtualization projects using modular infrastructure, which can reduce the
number of servers by 10 – 30 percent, in turn reducing OpEx expenses.
Remember that virtualization must be paired with integrated DCPI and
DCIM software in order to realize the full savings potential and avoid
equipment failures caused by hot spots.
4. New data center designs can result in a 30 percent reduction in cost, a
50 percent reduction in space requirements, a 60 percent reduction in
power requirements, and can more than double the life span of a data
center.
Figure 4: An integrated DCPI system
The Next-generation Data Center
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7. Business-wise, Future-driven.
Schneider Electric 7
Data Centers
Executive’s Guide to the Data Center
The traditional “brick-and-mortar” data center is not going to be able to
handle the coming explosion in data growth. Businesses with outdated
data centers will have to make some upgrades to their data center — a
virtualization project, bridging the IT/facilities gap through integrated DCPI
and DCIM software, and/or extending the life of their data center with a
modular approach — or else face a severe uphill battle to stay competitive.
Conclusion
Check out this astonishing infographic, “The
Internet in 2015: The Dawn of the Zettabyte
Era” to learn more about the approaching
zettabyte threshold.
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