Increase in Power Bill Raise The Importance of Energy Efficient Data Center

In Hong Kong, China Light and Power (CLP) has asked the government for permission to raise the Power Bill by 9.2 percent next year in 2012, whereas Hongkong Electric (HKE) demanded a 2.64 to 6.08 percent fee hike. The increases requested by both power companies far exceed the rate of inflation. They will add considerably living expenses to residental customers and operation costs to businesses which require large amount of power and energy consumptions.

Adopted from South China Morning Post (SCMP)

Data centers, which come in different sizes and provide mission critical functions for most businesses, consume large amounts of energy and require many investments of significant financial resources to continue operations. Despite of the high demand of data centre in Hong Kong, many organizations are looking for new ways of doing more with less, reducing IT budgets or curtailing the incidental costs associated with data center operations and even expansion.

Saving Energy Consumption and Power Bill

Data center efficiencies can be attained through increasing compute densities, creating cold aisle containment systems or more effective use of outside air, but the key component over time is to have an easily understood metric to gauge data center efficiency, and how much improvement is taking place.

Strategic Media Asia (SMA), which is vendor independent and accredited by British computer Society (BCs), provides data centre and IT professionals with top level understanding of best practices in energy efficient data centre from a series of certificate courses and training seminars focusing on international green standard, financial and regulatory, facilities management, hardware management and software / system networks of Data Centre.
Completion of the accredited courses and examinations will be awarded 3 certificates granted by BCS:

Foundation Certificate in Green IT
Intermediate Certificate in EU Code of Conduct in Data Centre
Intermediate Certificate in Energy & Cost Management in Data Centre

The 3 certificates equips you and your team and data centre to apply for
Certified Energy Efficient Datacentre Award (CEEDA)

We aim at teaching several aspects: (1) Data Centre Utilization (2) Data Centre Facilities (3) Cooling (4) Power Equipment (5) Data Centre Cost Savings (6) Monitoring. Each unit is principally assessed by examinations that lead you through all the steps needed to arrive at a baseline of a modern green data centre and energy saving.

Furthermore, we bring you a unique opportunity to learn from our lecturers and apply the knowledge immediately to your own facility with assistance from our experts. An additional on-site audit services for your own data centre with full audit report can help you achieving the criteria of best practice design and energy efficient in data centre after the series of training programmes.


Target Audience

Data Centre and Facilities Managers
Data Centre Operators
Data Centre Design Consultants
Data Centre Technicians and Engineers
Sales Engineers from OEM Vendors
CSR / Environmental Champions in technology departments
IT Purchasers (Hardware & Software)
IT Architects and Solution Consultants

For more information, please contact (852) 3796 3026 or download our Training Event's Brochure.

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

PUE & Cost Savings - Why go Green?

PUE and other efficiency measures on data centre are useful, but we more likely chasing the money now!
Efficient data centres have always made an effort to meet commercial needs – but the economic side of the movement may soon eclipse the “green” side, environmental issues and corporate image.

The move to the cloud is driving this. “Cloud-based services [like Facebook and Google], have the ability to build efficient data centres in locations where there is cheap power, and to highly utilise the IT equipment,” said Mark Monroe, executive director of the The Green Grid. “Their primary function is to drive the cost of a transaction down as low as it can be.”

The Green Grid has just had its annual European conference, over two days in Paris and London, and is reacting to this world, where it is all about the lowest cost for transactions. “Amazon can deliver a CPU-hour, for 10 cents,” said Monroe. He would have delivered the same measure for $3.75, two years ago, when he worked on Sun’s sustainable data centres.

It’s more about the money than the tech

The Green Grid has been known for the PUE measure of effiency, which has been picked up by various interantional bodies, and is regularly quoted for any new efficient data centre development.
At first sight, its other work looks like a continuation of that sort of effort, providing yet more ways for centres to measure their performance and compare themselves, including the still-under-development CUE and WUE measures of carbon-usage and water-usage respectively.

But alongside these measures, the group is coming up with a wide range of other material, which is increasingly designed to look hard-nosed, practical and, let’s face it, commercial.

Saving money, not PUE

The latest Green Grid White Paper surveyed members’ use of economisers, the cooling system which offers free air cooling and replaces the use of chillers.  Economisers trumpeted as a way to improve PUE. According to the survey, however, they do improve efficiency, but have no discernible effect on PUE.

“There was no statistically significant difference between the PUE reported by those who use economizers and by those who do not,” the report found.

They are taking off rapidly amongst Grid members, however, they save money. Around half the members surveyed are using economisers, and they are using them for almost all the hours allowed by the local climates (which turns out to be around 4,000 hours). They are doing so, because they are saving money – around 20 percent of the energy bill, with a payback time of around 20 months, according to Monroe.

Training program and Best Practices in Energy and Cost Savings for Data Centre

The British Computer Society is now launching an advanced certificate in Energy and Cost Savings in Data Centre. Strategic Media Asia is an Approved Training Provider in Hong Kong which is qualified to deliver such professional certificate training programme with Chartered Engineers (CEng). For more information and detailed syllabus, please contact (852) 3796 3026 or download brochure here.

The First Well-structured Green Data Centre Trainings in Hong Kong

Get ready to become a data centre energy specialist and prepare for an international data centre award in energy efficiency - CEEDA

Today, many organizations are looking for new ways of doing more with less, reducing IT budgets or curtailing the incidental costs associated with data center expansions. And data center managers need to focus on creating efficient operating environments to augment the life of existing data centers. Data center efficiencies can be attained through increasing compute densities, creating cold aisle containment systems or more effective use of outside air, but the key component over time is to have an easily understood metric to gauge data center efficiency, and how much improvement is taking place.

StrategicMedia Asia (SMA) provides any data centre and IT professionals with top level understanding of best practices in energy efficient data centre management from a series of 3 accredited certificate courses and training seminars (below) which focus on international green standard, financial and regulatory, facilities management, hardware management and software / system networks of Data Centre.

 Data Centre Facility and Infrastructure Engineering

The section is fundamental for executive and data centre owners, managers and operators to enrich their basic knowledge beyond the industry jargons and terminology. We provide a general introduction of the critical infrastructure system that supports typical Data Centres and environments. It also prepares you to fully understand the main components that facilitate Data Centre design & build, operation and management.

Green IT

The training provides a fundamental qualification for ICT engineers who are involved in creating sustainable and energy efficient data centre or exploiting the role of IT in helping deliver sustainable ICT operation and more efficient business practices to other areas of the organization. It also introduces different Green Standards such as ISO 14000 Series (Energy Measurement), Energy Star and PUE / DCiE (From The Green Grid).

Energy and Cost Management in Data Centre

This section explicitly deals with an organization's strategy as it relates to the effective use of energy by software, ICT systems and support infrastructure (mechanical and electrical systems) within the data centre. It will impart an understanding of the use and cost of energy in data centres with an appreciation of the contributing factors, awareness of best practices at a high-level and strategies to control and manage energy consumption and cost in data centres. Key area include:

Cost & Energy Monitoring and Reporting in Data Centre

How to Manage Energy and Cost

Interdisciplinary Teams’ Interactions and Communications

Energy Management and Energy Performance Efficiency

Efficiency Metrics

Metering

Reporting Energy and Carbon e.g. for CRC

Reporting Cost - The challenge of per cost accounting

The Roles for -

Estate Management, Facilities Management, Data Centre Manager,

IT Management, IT Analysts, Business Management

EU Code of Conduct in Data Centre

The training will impart an understanding of the purpose of the EU Code of Conduct and how to apply the Code's best practices at a high-level as well as helping you to develop a common language around energy efficiency. Key area include:

The reason of implementing best practice in the Code of Conduct

The bodies who use the EU Code of Conduct

Energy Measurement and Metrics

Best Practice - Interactions and Interdependencies

Best Practice - In detail

- Data Centre Utilization, Management and Planning

- IT Equipment and Services

- Cooling

- Data Centre Power Equipment

- Other Data Centre Equipment

- Data Centre Building

- Monitoring

- Practices to become minimum expected

- Items under consideration

Green Data Centre Best Practices Translated into Energy and Cost Saving

Data Centres come in different sizes - whether it's four servers in a closet or hundreds of servers in a building - they provide mission critical functions for most businesses. Meanwhile, Data Centres consume large amounts of energy and require the investment of significant financial resources to continue operations. In recent years, the Data Centre management professionals have begun to focus on ways to minimize energy consumption and overcome emission challenges. More importantly, the findings tell us that sustainable practices can be translated into financial savings.

Strategic Media Asia (SMA) is vendor independent and professional training provider, which is currently accredited by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, in green data centre qualifications in Hong Kong. The green program provides you with top level understanding of best practices in energy efficient data centre management from a series of 3 accredited certificate courses and training seminars which focus on international green standard, financial and regulatory, facilities management, hardware management and software / system networks of Data Centre.

(1) Green IT (3-day, accredited by British Computer Society)
(2) EU Code of Conduct in Data Centre (2-day, accredited by British Computer Society)
(3) Energy and Cost Management in Data Centre (3-day, accredited by British Computer Society)

PLUS 2-day training seminar on "Fundamentals of Data Centre Facility and Infrastructure Engineering" organized by SMA at the beginning of 3 certificate courses.

The Green Data Centre Training Framework

Completion of the accredited courses and examinations will be awarded 3 certificates granted by BCS:

Foundation Certificate in Green IT
Intermediate Certificate in EU Code of Conduct in Data Centre
Intermediate Certificate in Energy & Cost Management in Data Centre


The 3 certificates equips you and your team and data centre to apply for
Certified Energy Efficient Datacentre Award (CEEDA)

SMA aim at teaching several aspects: (1) Data centre utilization (2) Data Centre Facility (3) Cooling (4) Power equipment (5) Data centre building (6) Monitoring. Each unit is principally assessed by examinations that lead you through all the steps needed to arrive at a baseline of a modern green data centre and energy saving.

DOWNLOAD BROCHURE