Samsung is the 2013 underwriter of the Uptime Institute Server Roundup awards. As part of the sponsorship, Samsung Semiconductor’s VP of Marketing Jim Elliot will be presenting on the latest advances in IT hardware components at Symposium next week. You can read more about Jim’s presentation and Samsung’s commitment to Server Roundup here.
In this video, Samsung’s Director of Strategic Marketing, Dr. Sylvie Kadivar provides a preview of the keynote.
Stay tuned for more blog posts from the event, and I look forward to seeing all of you in Santa Clara next week.
Yesterday we profiled the 2013 Green Enterprise IT Award-winning case studies. Today we’ll provide a brief introduction to the case studies that were named Finalists or were recognized with an Honorable Mention.
Audacious Idea – Recognizes new, unprecedented ideas for realizing energy and resource efficiency.
Microsoft‘s Data Plant in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was named the Finalist in this category. This pilot project locates a data center at a biogas source in an attempt to demonstrate that if facilities can operate reliably independent of the utility grid, owners will have greater flexibility in siting choices and more data centers can achieve carbon-neutral status.
The judges recognized a patent-pending freestanding chilled air duct developed by QTS (Quality Technology Services) with an Honorable Mention. The duct delivers in-rack cooling directly to IT equipment, reduces the amount of underfloor static pressure required, minimizes hot and cold air mixing without the need for containment, and eliminates the need for perforated tiles.
Facility Design Implementation – Recognizes cutting-edge data center projects that demonstrate energy and resource efficiency in a new, operational data center.
Both the Finalist and the Honorable Mention in this category were brownfield re-developments in conservation settings. As Finalists, the judges recognized Melbourne Water‘s new green data center designed by Norman Disney & Young. This facility uses an indirect free cooling design and promises to save over 600 tons of CO2 annually compared with their previous facility.
The venerable University of St Andrews IT Services department received an Honorable Mention for its new data center, which uses energy procured from renewable sources only. The facility recently received a Gold award from the British Computer Society’s Certified Energy Efficient Datacentre Award (CEEDA) program.
Facility Design Innovation – Recognizes cutting-edge data center designs that focus on energy and resource efficiency.
The judges named TELUS Corporation‘s Intelligent Internet Data Center, which features prefabricated modules provided by Skanska, as Finalists. The facility is Tier III design-certified by Uptime Institute, built to LEED Gold standards and reports a 1.15 PUE rating.
eBay‘s modular green data center in Utah received an Honorable Mention. This facility, designed by Winter Street Architects with engineering firm AHA Consulting Engineers, incorporates fuel cells for onsite power generation and reports a PUE of 1.13 or better with 100% free cooling.
Facility Product Deployment – Recognizes facility infrastructure products that significantly improve data center energy and/or resource efficiency, as demonstrated in a user deployment.
The judges designated the case study submitted by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and SynapSense Corporation as Finalists. In this project, the Lab retrofit variable-speed drives on constant-speed fans in the Computer Room Air Conditioners (CRACs), then controlled the speeds by deploying the SynapSense Active Control system and ThermaNode DX units. The PUE for the cooling system improved by 24%, even in the face of increased IT load.
Facility Retrofit – Recognizes data center facility retrofit projects that significantly improved energy and/or resource efficiency in an existing data center.
Schuberg Philis and engineering consultant De Vlieg Techniek will be honored as Finalists for their cooling system refit accomplished with zero downtime. In this project, the data center was equipped with a demand-controlled redundant cool water distribution system combined with free cooling via cooling towers. During the winter, the excess cooling energy produced by the cooling towers is stored in deep wells to be used during the summer months.
Green Digital Infrastructure Strategy – Recognizes exceptional energy and resource efficiency beyond an individual data center.
The judges recognized Avnet as Finalist for its company-wide approach to IT-enabled energy efficiency. In addition to numerous cooling, virtualization and storage upgrades in the data center, Avnet employs a system hibernation script, encourages telecommuting and video conferencing, and uses energy-efficient, motion-triggered lighting in warehouse spaces to save energy.
IT Product Deployment – Recognizes IT products that significantly improve energy and/or resource efficiency, as demonstrated in a user deployment.
The case study submitted by NTT DATA and Intel Corporation was recognized as the Finalist in this category. NTT used dynamic server power provisioning technologies to manage peak loads and ensure business continuity during the long-term power shortages Japan experienced after the 2011 earthquake in that country.
IT Retrofit – Recognizes projects in which IT operations staff significantly improved energy and/or resource efficiency while improving IT effectiveness.
The judges recognized Stanford University‘s server room consolidation project as Finalist in this category. By consolidating two server rooms and migrating to a new facility, the University increased compute capacity, improved PUE from 2.0 to 1.3, and regained valuable real estate for research efforts.
All honorees are invited to profile their case studies in the GEIT Awards Showcase (May 13, 2013) at Uptime Institute Symposium 2013 (May 13-16, 2013, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA). Although attendance at the Showcase is free, preregistration is required.
For five years, Uptime Institute’s Green Enterprise IT (GEIT) Awards have spotlighted the most innovative data center projects on the planet, and this year is no exception. Our 2013 Winners include an example of industrial symbiosis, a facility with a nine-foot raised floor, data centers featuring nontraditional power and cooling, and tens of millions of dollars in energy savings.
Audacious Idea – TeraCool
This Award recognizes new, unprecedented ideas for realizing energy and resource efficiency.
The winner is TeraCool’s proposal to locate data centers in close proximity with liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals to improve the energy efficiency of both facilities. The system would use the refrigeration energy created when LNG is vaporized to cool the data center, and use the waste heat from the data center to vaporize LNG. The system then adds an additional refrigeration loop to the circuit in which the refrigerant is pressurized, warmed and vaporized. The expanding refrigerant drives a turbine coupled to a generator to produce electricity in a combustion-free, emissions-free process.
Facility Design Implementation – National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), The RMH Group and H+L Architecture
This Award recognizes cutting-edge data center projects that demonstrate energy and resource efficiency in a new, operational data center.
The winner is the new high-performance computing (HPC) facility operated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) under the auspices of the National Science Foundation. The NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center incorporates a high-efficiency closed-water cooling system and a low-pressure drop design in a nine-foot raised-floor environment. The facility is LEED Gold-certified and designed to achieve a PUE of 1.08.
Facility Design Innovation – TD Bank Group
This Award recognizes cutting-edge data center designs that focus on energy and resource efficiency.
The winner is TD Bank Group’s new facility that integrates sustainable design elements (e.g., rainwater harvesting, onsite renewable energy generation, heat recovery systems, natural lighting) with efficiently meeting its IT goals through server virtualization, tiered storage platforms, energy-efficient infrastructure, overhead cabling and more. This phased construction project is Tier III certified by Uptime Institute and LEED Platinum certified by USGBC.
Facility Product Deployment – University of Leeds, Iceotope and 3M Company
This Award recognizes facility infrastructure products that significantly improve data center energy and/or resource efficiency, as demonstrated in a user deployment.
The winning case study is the University of Leeds’ replacement of its HPC servers with Iceotope’s liquid-cooled server system, which uses a coolant produced by 3M Company. The server unit is closed and runs silently, which means it can be deployed in almost any setting. Because liquid cools more efficiently than air, the system significantly decreases the amount of energy used for cooling. In the University’s deployment, the hot output water from the system is reused to heat the lab via domestic radiators.
Facility Retrofit – Interxion
This Award recognizes data center facility retrofit projects that significantly improved energy and/or resource efficiency in an existing data center.
The winner is Interxion, for its use of seawater to cool its Stockholm data centers. In the system, seawater is used to cool multiple data centers in a process that is more efficient and uses less water than conventional seawater cooling systems. The warm water is used to heat local offices before it is returned to the sea. The system has helped Interxion reduce its energy costs on its Stockholm campus by 80 percent, free IT capacity, and improve PUE to a reported 1.09.
Green Digital Infrastructure Strategy – Cisco Systems
This Award recognizes exceptional energy and resource efficiency beyond an individual data center.
The winner is Cisco Systems, for the comprehensive Lab Energy Management Program employed in its 1,600+ labs worldwide. Teams audit individual labs to identify inexpensive, fast fixes for airflow, cooling and power. Next, labs implement energy-efficiency upgrades and deploy monitoring technologies. An employee engagement program helps maximize results, and information is shared throughout the organization to help other divisions implement their own energy-efficiency projects. The program is on track to reduce the labs’ energy costs by up to $9 million annually.
IT Product Deployment – Arc Productions and TSO Logic
This Award recognizes IT products that significantly improve energy and/or resource efficiency, as demonstrated in a user deployment.
The winning case study is Arc Productions’ deployment of TSO Logic’s server power management software to monitor power use on a per-application basis, identify idle servers, and manage server utilization. The data center is now on track to save 56% of its electricity costs without compromising performance.
IT Retrofit – Avnet
This Award recognizes projects in which IT operations staff significantly improved energy and/or resource efficiency while improving IT effectiveness.
The winner is Avnet, for its comprehensive program to upgrade its IT environment, saving over 1.75 megawatt hours of energy and avoiding a multi-million dollar power buildout for its data center. Projects included deploying a new storage environment, implementing virtualization, and upgrading the physical infrastructure to improve energy efficiency. As a result of these efforts, the organization has saved more than $18 million in energy costs while significantly increasing its IT and storage capacity.
All winners will present their case studies at Uptime Institute Symposium 2013, taking place May 13-16, 2013, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, Calif.
Tomorrow we’ll profile the case studies honored as Finalists and recognized with an Honorable Mention.
Kenneth G. Brill is the Founder of the Uptime Institute and the Site Uptime Network. Many data center industry innovations over the past 25 years can be traced back to his original concepts, including dual power, the industry’s Tier system for evaluating and classifying data center facility performance, and IT/facility energy efficiency and productivity measurement. Mr. Brill’s research into the Economic Meltdown of Moore’s Law, Data Center Productivity and Energy Efficiency, and IT’s declining economics form core knowledge to be taken into account by corporate leaders charged with business performance, profitability, and sustainability.
In 2008 through 2010, Brill was an IT columnist for Forbes.com. His essays for senior executives combine uncommon common-sense ideas with real-life illustrations to set practical IT management priorities. We’ve compiled a selection of his best columns on a range of topics, including data center energy use; effective cross-department communication; and the changing nature and future of the IT industry.
You can download a PDF of Ken Brill’s advice for data center and IT professionals by clicking here.
Why should you invest the time to complete an application for Uptime Institute’s Green Enterprise IT Awards?
Because implementing a successful project isn’t enough — you’ve got to TELL people about it.
Winning a Green Enterprise IT (GEIT) Award does just that. When you win a GEIT Award, the Uptime Institute — The Global Data Center Authority — announces on the world’s stage that your project demonstrates thought leadership, adherence to best practices, and bold innovation.
Winning a GEIT Award enhances your stature within your organization and increases the credibility of future projects you might champion. Winners receive a complimentary registration to present their case study at the annual Uptime Institute Symposium, so you’ll be able to share your Award-winning project with your peers in a 30-minute session. And because delegates will recognize you on sight as a GEIT Winner, your networking opportunities increase exponentially. After Symposium, your presentation and case brief are posted on the Symposium website for the benefit of the global community.
Winning a GEIT Award is smart business. Your project has already provided significant benefits in terms of increased productivity and cost efficiency, but winning a GEIT Award amplifies that benefit: When an independent team of international experts examines your project in a rigorous double-blind review process and determines that you’ve implemented the very best solution to produce the highest-impact result possible, clients sit up and take notice.
Uptime Institute is now regularly publishing online videos: profiling data center leaders, commenting on new tools and metrics and showcasing data center operational excellence in its Network membership. 
