15th August 2007

The Green Grid, a non-profit consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems, has announced its technology roadmap and key deliverables for 2007. For the next several months, The Green Grid will focus on data collection through the documentation of existing standards and the evaluation of metrics; data assessment through a market study of current efficiency practices; and technology proposals that outline The Green Grid’s recommendations for the future of energy efficient data centers.

Specifically, as part of its technology roadmap, The Green Grid has announced the following deliverables:

Data Collection

Data Center Standards and Metrics Inventory (Q3’07) – this study will document existing standards and metrics for energy efficiency, identify coverage gaps and make recommendations for future development.

The Green Grid Metrics: Describing Data Center Power Efficiency (Q3’07) – this study will be an update to The Green Grid’s existing study on data center efficiency metrics and will look at workload classification through a data center segmentation model.

Operationalizing Energy-Efficiency Data Collection (Q4’07) – this study will identify the requirements for collecting and aggregating data center power consumption data. Data Assessment

Data Center Efficiency Baseline Market Study (Q3’07) – this study on the current state of the industry will allow The Green Grid to identify key factors driving companies to take action on data center power consumption and the challenges in doing so. Collecting and analyzing this data will help to provide companies with a baseline to compare their own initiatives, goals and performance.

Operational Best Practices (Q4’07) – these studies will focus on right-sizing the data center and will outline best practices in the adoption of virtualization and consolidation technologies.

Database for Data Center Performance (Q4‘07) – The Green Grid will begin development work on a database focused on data center characteristics and performance schema.

Technology Proposals

Initial Technology Roadmap (Q4’07) – this roadmap provides an initial assessment of existing and emerging technologies affecting data center efficiency and performance, taking into consideration both return on investment and risk to the end user. Power Distribution Options for the Data Center Study (Q3’07) – this study will look at the qualitative advantages and disadvantages of data center power distribution configurations.

Cooling Options Study (Q4’07) – this study will focus on the qualitative advantages and disadvantages of data center cooling architectures. These technology deliverables will be launched over the next two quarters and are aimed at bringing together industry leaders and end users from critical segments of the data center ecosystem to develop a unified voice around data center efficiency issues.

“Despite the fact that power consumption is one of the most important issues facing IT today, there is a lack of guidelines and resources available for those looking to drive a change,” said Lawrence Lamers, director of The Green Grid. “The Green Grid is focused on building the foundation and launching the key technology deliverables required to improve data center energy efficiency – both for existing data centers and for the design and operation of future ones.”