Practical Steps To Green The Data Centre

Equally important, Metreweli noted, is that many data centres have relatively new servers that are badly underused and could support virtualisation, while other, much older servers are still running and supporting relatively little work. He said that these older servers could be taken out of operation and their work shifted to newer platforms that still have plenty of capacity.

“We’re starting to see companies getting assessments of their data centres,” Brown noted. “They have to sell the CIO that there has to be some investment made in their data centre.”

Brown noted that, in many cases, an accurate assessment, plus some simple moves such as improving the efficiency of the data centre, will not only pay for themselves but will bring enough of a return that companies can take next steps, such as server consolidation and perhaps server upgrades.

Contributing Analysts Wayne Rash can be reached at wrash@eweek.com