STAMFORD, USA: The energy, space and technology problems currently facing data centre managers are set to worsen in 2010, according to Gartner, Inc.

These issues will continue to plague users in 2010, and data centre and IT managers need to find pragmatic ways in which to deal with them.

Six tips for green data centre storage

Rakesh Kumar, research vice president, Gartner, said: “Energy costs are the fastest-rising cost element in the data centre portfolio, and yet data centre managers are still not paying sufficient attention to the process of measuring, monitoring and modeling energy use in data centres. They need to realize that removing a single x86 server from a data centre will result in savings of more than $400 a year in energy costs alone.”

Gartner has identified the critical questions that managers need to focus on in order to overcome the challenges they face:

Q: Is there a standardized way to break down my data centre costs?
There is no single, standardized method to account for data center costs. Gartner advises users to define a chart of accounts that specifies all the cost elements that constitute the overall cost and the key portfolios or categories that are part of that cost.

Data centre energy gauge still raw

Q: Do you have any pragmatic tips for helping me to cut my data centre costs?
Gartner has a number of suggestions:
1. Rationalize the Hardware. This involves taking out those systems that are underutilized or old, or where the workload can be run on more-efficient hardware. Gartner clients have reported that rationalization and consolidation programs have resulted in five percent to 20 percent fewer servers being deployed.

2. Consolidate Data Centre Sites. Consolidating multiple sites into a smaller number of larger sites will often result in financial savings.

3. Manage Energy and Facilities Costs. Tools and techniques for managing the energy cost curve include: raising the temperature of the data centre to around 24 degrees celsius, which reduces the level of cooling required; using outside air as an alternative to air conditioning where possible; using hot aisle/cold aisle configurations, blanking and economizers; and using server-based energy management software tools to run workloads in the most energy-efficient way.