Innovative Thinking Reduces Data Center Energy Consumption Eighty Per Cent
NetApp’s egalitarian culture and down-to-earth management methods catapulted them to the #1 spot on Fortune Magazine’s Top 100 Companies to Work For in 2009. It has also kept them profitable through tough economic times, and infused their green work culture with a uniquely creative, communal flavor.
In Part 1 of our NetApp interview with Vice President, Laura Pickering, the driver of NetApp’s environmental initiatives, talked about their unique e-waste reduction program, creative solutions to going green during tough economic times, and the impact green commitment can have on employee recruitment.
In Part 2, Pickering talks about the efforts NetApp is taking to make their own data centers more energy efficient and extend those learnings to their customers and the industry.
KAREN:
Today’s data centers are the epicenter of the enterprise and the demand for more and more powerful IT equipment just keeps rising. Of course that can have a huge, negative impact on the world’s power grids. What is NetApp doing to make data centers more efficient?
LAURA:
One of the things that we’re focused on is trying to be a leader and help drive standards. Today there are no real greenhouse gas emissions standards for products in our industry. There are protocols and guidelines you could follow, but there aren’t any real standards. So we’ve been working with the USEPA and industry associations to try to figure that out. We’re also working to fine tune our own greenhouse gas emission accounting right now, and trying to figure out what our carbon footprint is as company. Fortunately standards for those areas will be published by the end of 2010.
KAREN:
Back in October 2009 you opened a new NetApp Technology Center in North Carolina that is 80 percent more energy efficient than the average data center. I read that the facility’s energy efficiencies will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 93,000 tons a year and save NetApp $7.3 million in energy costs per year. That’s pretty dramatic results. How are you accomplishing it?
LAURA:
It is dramatic. In fact the energy that the facility is saving is the equivalent of taking 15,400 cars off the road. But to answer your question about how we’re doing it, there are 5 key features that contribute to the data center’s energy efficiency.
First we got rid of the old notions about how a data center needs to be cooled.
Using very innovative design techniques and a collaboration of our IT and facilities organizations, we’ve been able to design our data center to increase the supply air temperature threshold to 74 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 55 to 60 degrees. In addition we use outside air –which is free—67 percent of the year.
We also installed NetApp proprietary technology that uses modulating fans to supply pressure-controlled rooms and regulate the volume of air so we don’t oversupply air and waste energy. Next, we practice cold aisle containment to separate the cold and hot air streams and this protects supply air temperatures from being affected by hot air returning from the racks.
Finally, we use overhead air distribution, instead of pumping cold air up through the raised floors. By taking advantage of cold-hot air buoyancy we eliminate ductwork and reduce the energy needed for fans.
KAREN:
Obviously these are internal initiatives, but they’re also relevant to the services and solutions you provide to your customers. How are your customers responding to your proven success?
LAURA:
We’re definitely taking our US initiatives and pushing those out globally. We’re also learning from our partners in Europe and Asia and bringing their successes back here. Through it all, we’re really trying to focus on customer requirements. Our customers want to see us continue to improve the efficiency inside their data centers and one of the best ways we can do that is to bring their challenges back to our own engineering organization so that we could continue to develop better solutions for them.
KAREN:
You’re really in a great position to play a big role in the greening of global workplaces. It’s got to be a great place to be, if not somewhat daunting at times.
LAURA:
Yes, it’s a broad area to cover, but it does allow us to have a greater impact. At NetApp, there are a couple of things that are part of our DNA. One of those is, we all want to have an impact and we want to do the right thing and I believe, for NetApp, doing the right thing for environment is doing the right thing for the company and that’s where it just makes business sense for us to continue to expand and improve the environmental programs that we have.