Green Notes

Of course they do! While unfortunately smaller players in the business might not have a veritable choice in the matter, there certainly are certain location based factors that contribute towards a sustainable facility. Douglas Alger, Cisco’s IT Architect for Physical Infrastructure in his book on Data Center physical design, “Build the Best Data Center Facility for Your Business.” Some of the useful pointers that he has listed include:

· A location with a lower carbon emissions factor. You may get some info on it at http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/how-clean.html .With the help of your zip code , Power Profiler will determine your power grid region, compare the fuel mix and air emissions of the electricity in your region to the national average and calculate the impacts of electricity use in your home or business.

· If your data center will be taking advantage of air cooling to save on energy bills, then obviously a location that tends to be colder year round would be a consideration. Other environmental factors might include amount of rain, if you are planning on using rain water for recycling.

· Regional building codes and property zoning are worth checking on to find out if your data center plans are feasible.

· Proximity to employees’ residences and their ease/mode of commute.

· The air quality. Air pollution could damage IT equipment

· Nearby sources of electromagnetic interference (also called radio frequency interference) such as telecommunication signal facilities and airports.

· Nearby sources of vibration such as railroads, major roads or construction.

· Political stability. Healthy laws and conditions for the smooth running of datacenter.

It goes without saying that one of the top considerations for Data Center locations remains power rates. In the United States, City level examinations tend to be more accurate than a State mean. In general it is advisable to always favor an area with regulated utility markets due to increased stability.

Datacenters seem to be imitating the fashion world at least when it comes to certain recent computing trends. Thin clients, a throw back to main frame computers of yesteryears has reemerged as an emphatic shift away from a PC based network. Thin clients offer server based computing consisting of a display only device that only display applications run on dedicated servers. Such centralized computing comes in response to increasingly complicated evolution of desktops that require constant upgrades, reconfigurations, maintenance, manpower and higher costs. We are also faced with more and more compatibility issues as hardware and software become more multifaceted. On the other hand, these display only terminals require no hard drive, no local software and no storage devices. With the use of powerful servers and simple terminals involving just screen display, keyboard and mouse , we save on cabling and cooling requirements. Less hardware means less stress on landfills and less ecologically damaging wastes like lead, plastics, metals and electronics.As the client merely serves as an access device to the server, it needs only enough power to render the display, the maintenance is minimal with a much longer life span. No upgrades and replacements are necessary as new hardware and software are released. Since all the applications and data are in one place, it allows for easy sharing by just plug and play. Centralized information on server accounts for a more secure storage of data. Thin clients also require lower deployment costs as they can be remotely configured, do not need to be set up individually and need less management costs as compared to PCs. Last but certainly not the least thin clients are quite economical as compared to standard PCs.

It all sounds great on paper. But are thin clients suitable for your particular need? Though thin clients have come a long way since their bare bone days, some still lack advanced graphical interfaces that we take for granted these days and could have problems running MS windows compatible applications. To assess the design and network of thin clients necessary for the cause of your data center, it is always best to enlist the service of professional consulting organization like Green Rack Systems to help with the deployment. Our team will first try to understand the datacenter’s particular needs along with the needs of each thin client user. We will take an inventory of printers and peripherals to assess the amount of storage that will be needed and of applications currently running on desktops for efficient conversion. Our consultants would then help you arrive at an exact number of servers required to support the thin clients. Next we would help anticipate any potential network and server problems in the transfer and finally synchronize the system for successful completion of the process. It should be kept in mind that not all desktops might be suited for a thin client transfer. For an on-site assessment of your facility for a thin client initiation and other green IT solutions, please contact our sales team at 408-213-8144/ sales@GreenRackSystems.com

Cloud computing is a kind of scalable service provided by distant vendor servers over the internet. The data storage and management tasks are assigned to a set of infrastructure, platform or software over a network or “cloud”. This type of computing certainly comes with inherent flaws such as a danger of becoming too vendor dependant , a shrinking on-site IT department, questionable security and reliability issues etc. Also cloud computing requires a lot of investment which has led many detractors to suggest that this type of computing service would lead to an unfair monopoly of the big players in the business. But cloud computing is still in a stage of technological infancy, so it is only a matter of time before these concerns are ironed out.

Cloud Computing provides datacenters with immense potential to save on energy, infrastructure and staffing issues. The advantages are numerous. Smaller scale datacenters can benefit from access to sophisticated super computers leading to increased competitiveness in the market. More moneyed ventures who have the means to invest in new infrastructure, on the other hand can offer their services to others increasing their potential and diversifying their line. Computational power and storage borrowed from a third party decreases the load in your data center thereby leading to less energy consumption on the home front. Also you pay for what you use and use resources on a need to basis. Services on the host side, run on shared infrastructure at high utilization as not all users will be accessing service at the same time. Therefore there is less computer idling and a lot more of energy saving. While some argue that cloud computing just shifts the energy consumption from the data centers to the hosts’ side , even with all the additional overhead costs and single computer power usage , there is considerable decrease in net power as you take other systems offline and pay a whole lot less for cooling. When we add virtualization and alternative energy sources like solar power to the midst, we really mean green business! Green rack systems provides a high tech solar powered co-location facility as an optional service for our clients. Those intent on keeping things in house but would also like to cut down on energy bills, should consider professional third party services like ours for secondary and non-critical applications while retaining main frame operations close to home. Cloud computing is also a great way to go for startups that cannot afford to maintain a professional standard data center. Please contact us at 408-213-8144/ sales@GreenRackSystems.com for an in-depth consultation on what option would suit your business model.