Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Green Data Centre Cut UK Council’s Energy Costs

The Council of Dumfries and Galloway, a region of 148,030 inhabitants in the UK, is expecting to cut US$32,132 in energy costs per year through its recently completed data centre.

This new (Green) data centre will serve as the main storage for all information collected and stored by the Dumfries and Galloway Council. It was designed to meet the Council’s needs for the next ten years.

The Council spent £400,000 (US$642,640) on the project. The return of investment is expected to arrive in less than five years.
As part of Green IT project, the number of the Council’s servers across the region was scaled down to 75 from the previous 32. The Council’s hardware was virtualized, as well.

The new data centre was built inside a restored historical landmark in Dumfries. Its design and construction, lasting six months, was done in conjunction with IBM.

Graeme Mcllorum, Technology Services Manager of Dumfries and Galloway Council, said the main challenge in constructing the new data centre was safeguarding the condition of the historical landmark while installing the required facilities.

“In addition to a number of administrative applications, the data centre also has to run our call centre and other critical council systems, providing care to vulnerable people around the clock, as we upgraded the data centre,” said Mcllorum. To respond to these challenges, the project was designed to boost availability while reducing the risk of disruption.

The new data centre is equipped with a cooling system that uses outside air for cooling (‘Free Cooling’) the ICT machinery. The Dumfries and Galloway government will use this cutting edge cooling system for six months a year, slashing the council’s energy use and costs in air-conditioning down 25 to 30 per cent annually.

The new data centre room is 94 square metres wide, holding approximately 25 racks. It is rated at 144 kilowatts, with an average of four to five kilowatts per rack. The old data centre remains active for back up and recovery.

Adopted from http://www.futuregov.asia

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