I recently finished reading an insightful book called “The Third Industrial Revolution” by Jeremy Rifkin, an accomplished author and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, among various other titles… Read more »
Featured Post:
Six Air Containment Solutions Will Help You to Save Energy in Your Existing Data Centers
For an existing traditional data center, hot air and cold air mixing can lead to more than 25% waste of the cooling capacity. As a result, the cooling system is… Read more »
posted: May 6, 2013
Featured Post:
Schneider Takes Home Alliance Awards – and Our Customers Win, Too
It’s no secret that Schneider Electric is a big fan of strategic alliances. Perhaps you’ve read previous blog posts on the topic by my colleague Tony Despirito, such as this… Read more »
posted: April 2, 2013
Featured Post:
Cruise Ship Lines Could Learn Lessons from Data Center Operators
A few days ago a colleague emailed me a photo taken on the ill-fated Carnival Triumph cruise ship, the one that was stranded in the Gulf of Mexico for about… Read more »
posted: February 26, 2013
Featured Post:
How Energy Efficiency Efforts Can Spell Trouble When the Power Goes Out
A number of important trends are helping companies save lots of money on electric bills by making their data centers more efficient. While this is certainly a worthy and justified… Read more »
posted: February 12, 2013
Featured Post:
Build Better Data Centers Faster: Use a Reference Design
IT is becoming more critical all the time and trends such as the explosion of big data are only adding to the requirements that IT groups must meet. To keep… Read more »
posted: January 29, 2013
Cloud Computing: A solution for ‘too much IT’
May 6, 2013
360 views
Is your organization finding it a challenge to keep up to date with the best available IT hardware and software? If yes, you’re not alone. The tremendous rate at which… Read more »
Getting comfortable with elevated data center temperatures
May 6, 2013
559 views
Running data centers at elevated air temperatures cuts energy costs by reducing energy for cooling, but only recently has the industry started to get comfortable with the practice of running… Read more »
Don’t miss the Gorilla in your Data Center
May 2, 2013
447 views
Don’t let your focus make you overlook simple ways of improving the energy efficiency of your data center. A study shows that when focusing on a specific task, the human… Read more »
Congrats to The Green Grid – a 2013 Computerworld Honors Laureate in Sustainability
May 2, 2013
264 views
Regular readers of this blog may have picked up on the fact that Schneider Electric is a big supporter of The Green Grid, a global consortium dedicated to promoting resource… Read more »
The Green Grid’s Data Center Maturity Model Can Delivery Big Energy Savings
April 30, 2013
394 views
Something rather remarkable has happened over the course of the last year at The Green Grid (TGG) that anyone who owns and operates a data center ought to know about…. Read more »
In Advance of Hurricane Season, It’s Time to Conduct a UPS Checkup
April 29, 2013
772 views
According to the National Weather Service, hurricane season begins on May 15 for the Pacific and on June 1 for the Atlantic – mere weeks away. Given the various weather… Read more »
Dimension Data and the Co-Location Opportunity with Data Center Software
April 26, 2013
381 views
Founded 28 years ago in 1983 in South Africa, Dimension Data today operates in 51 countries in five regions – Middle East & Africa, Europe, Asia Pacific, Australia… Read more »
Data Center Lifecycle Principles: Part 2 of 2 – Continuous Improvement
April 26, 2013
713 views
As examined in my last post, a key principle in the lifecycle approach to data centers is to design facilities with change in mind. However, once a data center is… Read more »
Funding the Unfunded: Energy Savings Performance Contracts for Federal Data Center Consolidation
April 18, 2013
867 views
2013 marks the third year of the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI) and inches agencies closer to its shared 2015 deadline with the coinciding Presidential Memorandum; disposing of unneeded… Read more »
Harmonizing Global Metrics for Data Center Energy Efficiency
November 26, 2012
6,267 views
A pivotal tool of modern business and government is the advanced data center. You want the data center to be advanced, to have capabilities to deliver all the tools of… Read more »
Data Center Key Performance Indicators – A Look At PUE and Other Numbers to Evaluate Performance
March 2, 2012
6,181 views
Metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) for data centers used to be inward looking. In the not so distant past, KPIs tended to be “about the box,” measuring factors like… Read more »
The 3 Common Pitfalls of Data Center Infrastructure Management
July 18, 2012
6,169 views
Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solutions are immensely valuable when it comes to operating a data center. With the right system in place you can see major cuts in operating… Read more »
Podcast: Close-coupled Cooling Delivers Big Energy Savings
April 18, 2012
5,549 views
If you run a small- to medium-sized data center, here’s a way you may be able to save about 20% on your cooling system energy bill: implement close-coupled cooling. Close-coupled… Read more »
Why DCIM Can Bring Together What ITIL Alone Can’t
November 5, 2012
5,470 views
In an enterprise, the information technology function actually should be viewed as a service. In essence, the value of IT comes from what it can deliver for business functions like… Read more »
Pushing the Data Center Boundary Blog: HACs vs. CACs – Do we really need to have this conversation?
September 19, 2011
5,350 views
I was reading some articles online recently and I’m astounded by the lack of understanding of HACs (Hot aisle containment) versus CACs (cold aisle containment). Let’s get right to the… Read more »
How much should a modular data center cost?
February 16, 2012
5,348 views
One of the advantages that modular data centers enjoy is lower build costs than traditional or legacy facilities. But this was not always the case and the capital cost of… Read more »
Conspiracy Theories and Facts: AC versus DC update
April 17, 2012
5,280 views
I thought it might be worthwhile to give an update regarding the ongoing debate of AC versus DC in data centers since I posted my last blog on January 30th…. Read more »
From the Data Center Trenches Blog: Learning from Nuclear Subs to Lower Human Error in Data Centers
October 10, 2011
4,984 views
Data centers and nuclear submarines may seem like completely different beasts, but the similarities between a mission critical data center and a mission critical nuclear propulsion plant are striking and… Read more »
4 Quick Tips for Optimizing Management of Remote Sites
September 12, 2012
4,720 views
If you’re an IT administrator or manager of some sort, it’s increasingly likely that you’re responsible for more than one site. In many cases, it may be more like 5,… Read more »
4 Ways to Reduce Energy Consumption in Any Data Center
February 1, 2013
2,259 views
If your data center energy bill is a bit higher than you’d like, you are certainly not alone. By their nature, data centers consume a lot of energy and there’s… Read more »
8 Common Mistakes in Building an Operational Sustainability Model
September 27, 2012
1,466 views
I often see companies putting huge amounts of money into new data centers, bringing in design experts, architects and the like. They create buildings that look great and certainly have… Read more »
Podcast: Close-coupled Cooling Delivers Big Energy Savings
April 18, 2012
5,549 views
If you run a small- to medium-sized data center, here’s a way you may be able to save about 20% on your cooling system energy bill: implement close-coupled cooling. Close-coupled… Read more »
Leaving Las Vegas, IBM, and Rock Stars: how they all mesh together…
March 6, 2013
1,998 views
Last night, I watched Train perform in a private concert at the IBM Partnerworld event in Las Vegas. I didn’t hate it. What happened to music with an edge? Give… Read more »
Calculators for Data Center Facilities & IT Planners, Designers, and Stakeholders
April 27, 2012
9,766 views
Too often, data center project decisions are made based on gut feels or having been burned in the past. We find that often times, customers spend too much time detailing… Read more »
Funding the Unfunded: Energy Savings Performance Contracts for Federal Data Center Consolidation
April 18, 2013
867 views
2013 marks the third year of the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI) and inches agencies closer to its shared 2015 deadline with the coinciding Presidential Memorandum; disposing of unneeded… Read more »
Careful Planning Is Required for Effective Fire Suppression in the Data Center
February 18, 2013
1,413 views
An effective fire suppression plan for the data center should be at the top of any facility manager’s priority list. In the event of such a calamity, the first priority… Read more »
Sensors for Measuring Chilled Water Production and Use (Useful Data Center tools and formulas)
February 20, 2013
1,034 views
It’s said that “good things come in threes”, like a DJ’s turntables and a microphone, or those three unit-less constants called the “proportional”, “integral” and “derivative” that dominate the operational… Read more »
Data Center Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast
January 21, 2013
3,032 views
Earlier this month I attended the Schneider Electric “Leadership Forum” – an annual get-together where the company’s strategy is shared, discussed and then disseminated. It’s not unusual for these events… Read more »
How to Protect IT Equipment in Small Businesses and Branch Offices
July 24, 2012
2,161 views
IT equipment deployed in small businesses and in branch offices of larger businesses are often installed in areas that are less than conducive to proper performance. Maybe it’s a cramped… Read more »
