Michael Manos who is currently a Sr. VP at Digital Realty Trust and previously was a data center executive at Microsoft has one of the better blogs on datacenter efficiency. I added him to the blog roll for those of you who may not already read his stuff. He tends to write meaty, thought-provoking posts.
If you can work your way around the pot shots at marketing his latest post is no exception as it details some shortcomings of the Green Grid’s Power Utilization Effectiveness ratio. Through a new construction and roll-out scenario, he contrasts the difference between design target PUE and various forms of assessed PUE (like annual average and annual peak), crisply demonstrating how the numbers dramatically change over time, despite generally adhering to best practices.
As Mike says, the actual PUE rating doesn’t really mean anything; it’s the discussion of what’s behind the number and how it’s changing that’s important.
The Data Center Efficiency Lifecycle
In addition to effective and simple metrics (PUE is certainly a start) the industry needs consistent and regular measurement. Today this practice is actually far harder to find in the wild than self-proclaimed, seemingly low PUE ratings. As I’m sure others have pointed out (please let me know who), data center efficiency is a journey not a destination. To guide our way, we need to define a high-level process and standardized data collection which provides not only credible point-in-time metrics, but allows us to track our progress over time. Only then can we not only consistently assess our efficiency, but also document the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of various transformations. To this end, I propose the Data Center Efficiency Lifecycle. Far from rocket science, I know (I modified it from the widely used process which enterprises use to manage IT security.) Feel free to edit the content of the steps to suit your needs, or to add additional steps that would tune it to your environment. As with PUE itself, the point is not that the exact same process apply to everyone, but simply that we have a continuous process to foster regular improvement, drive a dialog across the organization, document progress over time, and (perhaps) support regulatory / compliance requirements.
What do you think? Are you already doing something like this at your organization?
