Data centers are large collections of information technology equipment. Large amounts of data are processed within a data center. Data centers are intended to create a reliable, efficient environment for business-critical data.
Availability is of great importance! Despite the clustering of all activities, data centers use a lot of power to keep all applications running. This is one of the reasons why there is a temporary stop on building new data centers in the Amsterdam region. Unfortunately, data centers cannot operate without power, but could these data centers perhaps operate more energy efficiently?
Current data centers, but also new data centers to be built, are dependent on cooling. This cooling is necessary for the proper functioning of the information technology equipment. Cooling is the second largest energy-consuming component in a data center and therefore a high cost item. It turns out that many data centers operate with lower temperature set-point values than at which the equipment continues to technically function. This means that considerably more energy is consumed than necessary. These values are often part of a Service Level Agreement (SLA). This records, among other things, the availability of the data center and how this is guaranteed, but also indicates the indoor climate values. These SLAs are static and do not grow with new market standards. So this is a missed opportunity and a quick saving!
(Already) In 2008, new climate guidelines for data centers were drawn up by the ASHRAE TC 9.9. In this guideline, the information technology equipment continues to function and availability is guaranteed. The ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.9 consists of the information technology equipment (ITE) suppliers. This committee determines and records, based on the technical capabilities of the equipment, under which indoor climate conditions it will continue to function. This guideline, 'Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments and Data Centers', is generally accepted and endorsed by suppliers of information technology equipment, making it the market standard. The ASHRAE TC 9.9 continuously updates this guideline based on new developments and experiences. Based on this guideline, data centers can operate at higher and wider indoor climate setpoint values and thus save significantly on energy, while availability is guaranteed!
Due to the current form of the SLAs, these technical developments are difficult to implement in data centers. A number of limitations are encountered, such as growth and energy saving options. Consider energy network capacity and energy network peak load. An even more important, valuable and sustainable point is the energy savings that can be achieved by expanding the climate set points. This allows significant energy savings and the residual heat also has a greater value, which in turn can contribute to the possibilities for residual heat reuse from data centers! And one of the stings may possibly be removed from the temporary construction stop measure in the Amsterdam region.
Optimizing availability when expanding the set points from, for example, 20°C to a bandwidth of 18°C – 27°C can be carried out without risks if the air seal is perfected.
How to realize this in an SLA? Which conditions must be met? And what savings can be achieved? This will be discussed in detail in the workshop 'Availability and efficiency determines the SLA' during the IT infrastructure event on November 12 in Amsterdam. Niek van der Pas and Marius Klerk, both data center experts and members of the NEN standard committee “Computer spaces and data centers” will discuss the SLA during the workshop and provide guidance on how to implement it for climate control in order to achieve energy-efficient operation of a data center where availability is permanently guaranteed. is becoming.
Would you like to participate in this event and attend this workshop?, please register here.
Nederlands