Live From Data Center World in Las Vegas: Tuesday, April 1

By Michelle Savage

April 2, 2008 —  (Page 1 of 4)
LAS VEGAS — Data center managers from around the world are meeting at AFCOM’s Data Center World in Las Vegas to address key industry issues, such as including green technology, energy use optimization and carbon footprint reduction.

Michael Manos, senior director of data center services for Microsoft, in his keynote entitled "The Changing Face of the Data Center,” described how data center economics have changed. While the cost of physical space used to be the primary concern in data center design, the focus has now shifted to power and cooling.

Manos stressed that sustainability regulation is just around the corner. However, when asked how many people knew what carbon emissions were for their data center, the audience was quiet. According to Manos, this shows a huge problem in the industry overall. Some of the other challenges he noted are as follows:

•    Shrinking inventory: Manos advised managers to fully optimize their data centers so there is no wasted space.

•    Increasing power densities at the rack level: The density of power per rack is growing, he said. “As power costs go up, the amount of cost efficacy is significant.”

•    Sustainability reporting/efficiency reporting: Manos warned that sustainability  regulation “is” coming.

•    Green washing: Is it more of a marketing ploy? Manos said that IT managers need to be aware of what is important and what is unnecessary.

•    Expertise shortage: “Finding new people to step in and understand the complexities of the data center world is increasingly hard to do,” he said. “The pros of tomorrow need to a grounded and significant understanding of both facilities and IT.”

•    Organizational structure: When IT and facilities are run by different organizations, relationships can be challenging. “At Microsoft, facilities people who support IT and IT people all report to one organization,” he said. “It drives people to work closer together.”

•    Increasing capital cost barriers: Data center infrastructure costs continue to rise even as real estate prices fall, because the costs of data centers are 80 percent electrical and  mechanical.

Related Search Term(s): Data Center World

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