Is it accurate to say that reducing power consumption of your server and data center infrastructure used to be way down on the task list…sort of a "nice to do" type of an item. That is generally not the case anymore. Many data centers are just plain out of power and cooling capacity and the cost of building a new data center is often prohibitive.

Would you like to reduce power consumption of your existing server infrastructure? What items should you consider when purchasing new servers? This video provides insight on how to reduce system power when servers are less utilized or sitting at idle. It also covers some things to consider before make new server purchases.

This is part 2 of a 2 part series. Feedback welcomed. Let me know what you think.

Energy consumption and energy efficiency issues are becoming more prevalent in the datacenter. This short podcast hosted by the Register provides some insight on topics that IT manager should consider to improve energy efficient performance in the datacenter.

http://www.podtech.net/home/5116/energy-consumption-in-the-data-center

Last week, the first part this video series focused on the energy efficiency benefits of 45nm. The 2nd part of this video (below) is focused on the benefits of 45nm for virtualization and the intel processor roadmap including what's next in 45nm processor technology - the Dunnington and Nehalem-EP products

Is this information useful to you? why or why not?

Chris

Following a recent interview I conducted with the Register on a related subject, I was asked to talk more about Intel's current 45nm technology and our roadmap for new technology later this year. Join me in a two part video series where I discuss 45nm and beyond.

Part 1 (below) discusses the technology and benefits that 45nm xeon processors deliver for IT today.

Tune in next week to hear Part 2 - what we have planned for future enhancements to today's xeon products - the Nehalem Processor and Intel QuickPath architecture.

Chris

Technology moves at such a rapid pace - it can often be mind-boggling. Even working directly with the product teams at Intel, I sometimes have difficulty keeping pace. The good news is that there is a tremendous opportunity today to be captured thanks to this rapid innovation, as well as a steady stream of advanced technology that IT can use to better support business and gain a competitive advantage. Recently I was interviewed by Tim Phillips from the Register about the current 45nm Quad-Core Intel Xeon products and the next generation Intel platforms based on the Nehalem processor.

A few years back, Intel fundamentally changed the way we design and develop our underlying micro-processor technology. We streamlined our innovation and accelerated it's pace. Internally, we call this new model Tick-Tock. I like to call it shrink and innovate.

A "Tick" is a manufacturing process shrink that delivers smaller silicon with higher speeds, more transistors and lower power consumption (example: moving from 65nm to 45nm process technology). The 45nm quad-core xeon processors (available since Nov '07) utilize unique materials (a high-k, dielectric) that are delivering industry leading performance / watt as measured by the industry's first and only standard benchmark, SPECPower

A "Tock" represents a more extensive architectural innovation (ex. Intel Core Microarchitecture) introducing new micro-architecture features and functionality fully utilizing the higher transistor count set up by the shrink. For Intel Xeon-based servers, the next "tock" is Nehalem. In addition to the new micro-architecture based on 45nm, a system re-design will incorporate next generation memory, I/O and virtualization technology for high performance, high bandwidth solutions compatible with today's leading software solutions

I recently found this simple animation that breaks down the Xeon processor family into bite-sized chunks and explains which Xeon-based servers are best suited to meet common IT and business needs.

I shared it last week when traveling with customers in Taiwan and it was well received.

What do you think of this video?

Watt do you care about more?
the Power Consumption of your servers (watts) or the Power Efficiency of your servers (performance / watt)
... or maybe you prefer the Performance per Watt per SqFt argument

I have spent a lot of my time the last several years discussing this topic with IT professionals around the world - and there are a lot of varying opinions.

I believe that Performance per Watt is a better measure of overall value for the data center and server room.
The power consumed by a server is an important measure, but power only comparisons can be misleading.

Example: If server ‘A' consumes 50W less power than server ‘B', then it can save IT $79 per year per server in power and cooling costs (assumes $0.08 kW/hr power costs and cooling costs equal to power costs). Scale that $79 savings per server across a data center with thousands of servers and it can be a pretty impressive number.

However, if a server with 50W lower power delivers lower application performance ... is the power savings worth it? The answer of course depends ... but generally in my experience the answer is a resounding No.

Example: What if server A (the 50W lower power server) underperforms server B by 33% in performance. This means that you need to deploy more ‘A' Servers to get the same performance as ‘B' Servers. In fact, with a 33% performance advantage, you need only 3 ‘B' servers for every 4 ‘A' servers. The higher performance per Watt delivered by server B reduces acquisition costs, reduces power consumption (less servers) and minimizes space and eases manageability. This example is shown graphically above

What do you think? What power and performance metrics do you look at before purchasing servers
... Lower Power or Higher Performance per Watt?