The Green Data Center
Click here to download now
(0)Overview: After an intensive study of server and data center energy efficiency for Congress, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that the U.S. data center industry is in the midst of a major expansion period spurred by increased demand for IT capacity to support busi-ness growth. The Agency listed several trends that are stimulating this demand, including:
• Increased use of online banking and electronic stock trading
• Adoption of Internet-based communications and entertainment
• A shift to using electronic medical records for healthcare
• Globalization of competition
• Government regulations requiring digital records retention.
In recent surveys, 73 percent of U.S. senior decision makers surveyed said they were planning expansion in the next 24 months, while 67 percent of senior decision makers in European markets said they were planning to do so.
To satisfy this robust demand for computing capacity, IT executives are increasing both the numbers and the density of their servers and storage devices. IBM and consultant studies project that the server installed base will increase by a factor of six between 2000 and 2010, while storage is expected to grow by a factor of 69.4.
