Smart Data Centers Feature Editorial

One of the biggest trends in telecom is energy efficiency, particularly in data center environments.

 

Or, as Michael Tresh, director of product management from Viridity, told TMCnet Group Editorial Director Erik Linask (News - Alert) during a video interview at Interop, people are looking at dong more with what they've got that's already in their data center.

 

"It's one of the problems we're trying to address," Tresh told Linask. "There's been a greater visibility in to the cost in running a data center -- electricity is a primary cost in that. And a secondary driver is running into space issues. Is there capacity in my data center? So you've got these two metrics that are forcing people - where in the past might have solved it by adding more electricity to the data center or expanding to a new building - they don't' have that capability anymore. They're looking at ways of doing more with what they've got"

 

To help enterprise clients make better use of what they have, Viridity prides itself on taking a different approach. Specifically, Viridity technicians focus in on how much energy is being consumed at the server level - and how that amount can be reduced.

 

"There's a lot of companies out there that will tell you how much supply your electricity is as it runs through the data center. It's good information to have, but it's only good until about the plug," Tresh told Linask. "But on the other side of the plug is the server, and it's the server that drives the business and if you don't understand what that server is using as far as consumption goes, you really don't have a tie back to the business." 

 

In other words, it's all about analyzing the actual amount of electricity that's being used - real usage versus maximum usage.  

 

"We take the approach of measuring energy consumption at the server level," Tresh said. "And by doing that we can say 'this server is using a certain amount of electricity' and help you see there is value in that server, and if there's no value in that server we can let you know that."