Whether you are building, remodeling, maintaining your data center, or even going green, use this track to learn more about how to do it in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible.
The following sessions are from the Spring 2008 conference:
F01: How Optical Connectivity Optimizes Performance in the Data Center
Doug Coleman, Manager of Technology and Standards, Corning Cable Systems
Optical connectivity contributes to the overall efficiency of the data center. Optical cable with OM3 fiber provides bandwidth capabilities that support legacy and future data rate applications such as 16G to 100G and beyond without having to re-cable. In addition, optical fiber cable optimizes pathway and space utilization, ease of installation and testing, as well as supporting high electronic and patch panel densities. This presentation will discuss the transmission, pathway and paces, installation and testing, and power and cooling benefits of OM3 optical fiber connectivity in relation to 10GBASE-T connectivity in the data center.
F02: Sticker Shock: The High Cost of Modern Data Centers (and What You Can Do About It!)
Richard Sawyer, Principal and Vice President Critical Facilities Assurance, EYP Mission Critical Facilities
The need for reliable data centers is growing, especially in the small- to medium-sized business market. So too is the price of data centers, both in terms of first cost and total cost of ownership as equipment, service and utility costs continue to escalate. How is a data center manager going to support an IT-based business strategy that hinges on high availability at a reasonable business cost? Insource? Outsource? Build? Lease? This presentation looks at factors driving data center costs, their impact, how they can be controlled, and how to justify the data center you need.
F03: Redefining the Data Center: A Provocative Look at Tomorrow’s Technologies Today
Giovanni Coglitore, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Rackable Systems
As issues around space, power, cooling and overall inefficiency continue to grow for data centers around the globe, so does the need to challenge existing assumptions about data center architecture, design and deployment scenarios. Will a truly green data center ever exist? Can today's form factors survive the shrinking power envelope? Is the future of the network as we know it at stake? This session will define an industry vision for the data center of the future, highlighting innovative strategies and technologies that will change the way we think about IT environments. It will examine the extraordinary gains we have seen in the past five years juxtaposed with decreasing efficiencies of energy-starved data centers. The discussion will also focus on unique server, rack and data center level technologies being developed today – many driven by the thought leadership of IT administrators at some of the world's largest Internet data centers – to support data center designs of tomorrow.
F04: Debunking the Top 10 Myths of Network, Systems, Application, Security and Facilities Monitoring
Jamie Lerner, President and CEO, CITTIO
How many different ways does your organization monitor its critical systems? How many tools are used; are they the right ones? Getting a good view into the performance of any one network, system, application or facility is challenging enough. On top of this, issues with security and compliance add unforeseen difficulties with complicated, manual monitoring systems and it begs the question: Isn't there a better way? Most companies have multiple monitoring systems in place, some have more than 100, making straight answers challenging and costs excruciating. This session will debunk the top myths about networks, systems, applications, security and facilities monitoring. Learn the top misconceptions others have repeatedly fallen for and gain actionable best practices to cost effectively receive the visibility and security your organization needs.
F05: Case Study: How the Dutch Police Force Consolidated 26 Data Centers into Eight
Jan Wiersma, Manager R&D Data Center, Dutch Police Force, ISC
This is a case study of how the Dutch Police Force consolidated 26 smaller data centers into seven twin-center data centers and one high-secure data center. This was a six-year project that encompassed 55,000 workstations and approximately 60,000 employees. The discussion covers how they handled consolidation, availability (Tier I–IV), security, EU standards, disaster/recovery planning and more.
F06: Data Center Construction, Expansion and Renovation Methodologies
Tad Davies, Executive Vice President, Bick Group
Gary Hickerson, IT Manager, Production Services, Smurfit-Stone Container Enterprises, Inc.
Every data center manager is bombarded with vendor requests and claims. Almost all vendor marketing efforts are accurate and trustworthy. The question is which approach is right for you and your data center. The goal of this session is to help you make informed vendor selections, learn how to benchmark facility infrastructure projects, and compare industry best practices in the expansion, construction and renovation of a data center. The methodologies will be evaluated from an industry perspective and the perspective of a data center manager.
F07: Digital Design Comes of Age
Timothy Meier, President, IDC Architects
Scott Barton-Smith, Architect, IDC Architects
Advancements in digital design software have opened a new world of virtual simulation and design documentation. Digital tools have streamlined the architectural and engineering process from conception through facility operation. These tools provide opportunities for more informed and timely decision making in the early stages of a project. The creation of building information models (BIM) allows for the coordination of the architectural and engineering systems into a virtual simulation of the building's physical and attributed properties. BIMs can be leveraged beyond the design process into construction and building management. The ability to digitally explore, experience, and validate design decisions reduces risk and adds significant value to the project.
F08: LEED and the Impact on the Data Center
Bill Weekes, Project Design Manager, Fancom Network Integrators
This presentation will discuss the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design methodology and its impact on the design of new facilities and data centers.
F09: The Green Data Center: Increasing Efficiency and Reducing Your Carbon Footprint
Steven Yellen, Vice President and Market Strategy, Aperture Technologies
Today’s data center managers are faced with the challenges of managing capacity, meeting rising business demands, and reducing the company’s carbon footprint. Through better resource management, data center managers can address each of these three key areas and at the same time, significantly reduce power consumption. This presentation will discuss how to decrease a data center’s impact on the environment by increasing efficiency. Also discussed will be the importance of decommissioning, real-time monitoring, and balancing resources like space, power, and cooling to operate the data center at the optimal level. The concept of what is good for the environment is good for business will be examined.
F10: Peeling the (Green) Onion: What Does Green Really Mean for Data Center Power?
David Perkins, Chief Technical Officer, Active Power, Inc.
A famous frog once sang, "It's not easy being green." Most of us would agree that a green data center, while ideal in theory, proves to be quite challenging in fact. What are the various elements of green-ness when it comes to power and space requirements? What is required? What is recommended? What does it really mean to be a green data center? With momentum building for tougher environmental legislation, we no longer have the luxury of maintaining the status quo. What organizations exist that can help get data centers on the right path toward greening their facility? Who can you turn to for help? For example, many utility companies offer rebate programs for facilities that conserve energy; however, many data centers are not even aware of these programs. This presentation will cut through all of the clutter and provide the tools and resources to get you started on the path to helping green your business.
F11: The Green Grid’s Work in the Development of Standards for Energy Efficiency
John Tuccillo, Board Member, The Green Grid
The Green Grid is a global consortium of companies dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and computing ecosystems. The Green Grid does not endorse any vendor-specific products or solutions, and will seek to provide industry-wide recommendations on best practices, metrics and technologies that will improve overall data center energy efficiencies. This session will provide attendees with an overview of The Green Grid's goals and objectives for developing meaningful, platform-neutral standards, measurement methods, processes and new technologies to improve the energy efficient performance of global data centers. It will review the scope and complexity of defining energy efficiency and the steps The Green Grid's technical committee is taking to reach a usable metric for overall data center efficiency. The session will also describe how attendees can get involved in the consortium to provide feedback on the technology deliverables currently in development.
F12: Will Liquid Cooling Solutions Save Energy?
Terry Rodgers, Senior Associate, Syska Hennessy Group
Vali Sorell, PE, Senior Associate, Syska Hennessy Group
Recent technology advancements by IT equipment manufacturers have resulted in high heat producing hardware that pushes the envelope of traditional air cooling methodologies. In response, various infrastructure vendors have introduced liquid cooled solutions as a viable alternative that can accommodate as much as 30 kW per rack or more. This presentation will discuss the energy efficiencies of the various cooling solutions available today and some possible cooling solutions that may be introduced in the near future.
F13: Viva la (Data Center) Revolution!
Bill Vassallo, Director of Sales, Pentadyne Power Corporation
A literal revolution has occurred to increase UPS reliability while decreasing power continuity costs. Now with more than a decade of proven reliability, flywheel energy storage technology is seen as a cost-cutting reliability enhancement to mitigate the frailty and cross-your-fingers approach to UPS energy storage. In redundant applications, such as at a Tier IV data center in Cincinnati that will be described in the presentation, second-generation flywheels serve as the first line of defense against all power quality interruptions. Whether covering a split second voltage dip or bridging the time gap to a smooth handoff to the generator, flywheels keep the redundant lead-acid batteries blissfully unaware of any cycling events.
F14: Cost Containment for Air Cooling Data Centers
Ian Seaton, Manager Technology Marketing, Chatsworth Products, Inc.
Energy costs for cooling a data center today can begin to approach the costs for powering its equipment. This presentation will explain how to apply strategies for isolating supply air from return air in concert with chiller economizers to reduce data center cooling costs by 50 percent to 80 percent, without introducing liquid cooling plumbing into the IT equipment space.
F15: Top 10 Ways to Save Energy in your Data Center
Chris Loeffler, Product Manager, Eaton Corporation
Electricity consumption in data centers has been increasing dramatically and is typically one of the top two drivers of operating costs. With energy costs projected to increase over the next five years, data center managers need to look for opportunities to save energy. This presentation will identify opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of the top three components contributing to high-energy costs: servers and other IT equipment, power distribution and backup protection systems, and cooling systems. With best practices and the right choice of equipment, data center managers can reduce energy consumption by nearly 50 percent.
