Amid the rising fuel prices and growing environmental concerns, organisations are even more interested in operating efficiently and that includes making data centres as “green” as possible. Xiotech's Derek Rule explains that while energy consumption of overall data centre operation and server-related equipment is generally understood, the story is quite different when it comes to storage systems.
Xiotech, the leader in intelligent application storage, advises that it is a noble goal by organisations to reduce energy consumption while maintaining and improving current service levels, especially in data centres. However, the question is, how do companies measure energy consumption and efficiency within the data centre, and in particular, in that data centre's use of compute and storage resources - most commonly implemented as servers and/or mainframes?
Rule believes that while techniques that apply to overall data centre energy consumption and compute-centric functions are understood. “Data storage, commonly implemented as disk arrays and robotic tape libraries, is providing the final hurdle to becoming green.”
Energy consumption of storage devices is often misunderstood or completely ignored. However, not unlike their compute cousins, storage arrays are best measured using efficiency metrics. Rule says this calculation provides valuable insight, given the ever-present budgetary impact of data centre operations.
Xiotech recommends measuring storage “greenness” using a complete efficiency model. Energy consumed by storage devices (kW-hour) for data at rest, over a given time period (fixed or, more broadly, the useful lifetime of the data).
Energy consumed for data being accessed at typical rates (IOPS, GB/sec) as part of a useful compute workload (ie, one that is normal and customary for a particular data centre).
Energy consumed for data being accessed at maximum rates as part of a synthetic workload (ie, one generated by synthetic means other than a useful compute workload).
These metrics must also include economic (cost) efficiency ie, rands per metric.
“Energy consumption and efficiency within a data centre and effective use of compute and storage resources is fast becoming one of the most critical areas in IT,” concludes Rule.
What began decades ago with such entities as the channel-attached I/O controller, SCSI protocol, and Raid techniques has now been put to further scrutiny and found wanting. In response to the challenge, Xiotech has ended the era of inefficient storage with its Intelligent Storage Element (ISE) technology that tightly integrates drive, enclosure and controller software; pools storage (disk drives) into a singular element that is 10 to 20 times the capacity of a typical disk drive; and distributes much of the processing power and cache into the enclosure. The unique ISE design also significantly reduces vibration and improves cooling.The result is a highly efficient storage system that also provides unmatched reliability and performance.
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Xiotech Corporation is one of the world's largest privately held data storage companies and the leader in Intelligent Application Storage. Xiotech's patented Intelligent Storage Element (ISE) technology has rebooted storage fundamentals to better align with evolving application demands, including linearly scalable performance and capacity, industry-leading energy savings and zero-touch reliability. ISE storage blades enable organisations to build systems of interoperable, best-of-breed solutions and overcome the bottlenecks caused by current-generation storage infrastructure in the face of explosive data growth, increasing levels of virtualisation and ever-increasing application intelligence. With a widely acclaimed service and support team and more than 240 foundational storage patents held across a team of storage industry veterans from EMC, Seagate, IBM, Compaq and DEC, Xiotech is setting a new standard in storage.
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