Data centres need power and this is only going to increase as the demands of big data surge across the South African market and the Internet of Things (IOT) becomes a reality. The amount of data transmitted, continuously, is putting enormous pressure on the data centre and demanding an inordinate amount of power. Google's data centres (1) use approximately 260 million watts of power, around 0.01% of the world's energy, and it is estimated that Facebook servers process around 2.4 billion pieces of content and 750TB of data every single day.
It isn't just the world's largest data centres that consume power. According to the Datacentre Dynamics 2012 Global Census, power requirements grew by 63% globally up to 38GW from 24GW in 2011. Energy usage is on the rise and the initial results of the 2013 survey (2) have put global energy usage at a staggering 32Twh.
"Not only are the increased power demands of the data centre placing inordinate strain on both the corporate and country infrastructures, it is also having a marked impact on the bottom line," says Craig Heidemann, product manager at Tarsus Technologies. "Organisations are trying to cut costs in the face of a volatile economic climate, not watch the numbers rise alongside their data demands. They can ill afford to compromise on a robust data centre when so much of the business depends on the information it contains."
Eaton has devised a range of UPS solutions for the data centre that offers exceptional efficiency, manageability and energy metering capabilities. The Eaton 5PX UPS has been designed to give the IT manager a clear view of status, capability and demand, allowing for accurate measurement and control of the systems. It can also provide up to 99% efficiency and reduce cooling and utility costs.
"The Eaton 5PX solution has an impressive power factor of 0.9, is compatible with all modern IT equipment and can handle more servers than other UPS systems with similar VA ratings," says Heidemann. "There is also the equally reliable and power-efficient 9PX UPS offering from Eaton that constantly monitors power conditions and regulates both frequency and voltage accordingly."
The 9PX has up to 95% efficiency in double conversion mode online and 98% in high-efficiency mode with the same 0.9 power factor of its cousin, the 5PX. These solutions offer advanced protection within the data centre and allow for far greater control over the power demands of the business so are ideally suited to the South African market.
"These two new UPS products are among the most energy-efficient on the market and have been brought into South Africa specifically for their power-saving capabilities, their energy ratings and their green credentials," says Heidemann. "The channel can utilise these rich feature sets to offer the business a much-needed solution to energy issues and the need to keep those burgeoning power costs at a minimum."
The world is about to finish off 2013 on a carbon bang, with nearly 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide (3) emitted at a 2.1 % increase on 2012 and a 61% increase on 1990. These figures are a harsh wake-up call for the industry, and the channel can utilise solutions offered by vendors such as Eaton to help the business work towards reducing its global impact on the environment, and the cost to the company itself.
Sources:
1. http://storageservers.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/facts-and-stats-of-worlds-largest-data-centers/
2. http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/focus/archive/2013/06/2013-data-center-census-here
3. http://www.livescience.com/41326-2013-carbon-emissions-record-levels.html
Share