Cutting power consumption in half is achievable with Sun best practices

Making the datacenter greener can be a hard sell. Most people are concerned it will cut into profits or performance. Say, for example, that an organization cuts over 4100 metric tons of carbon emissions from its facilities. Most decision makers will find this laudable — but wonder whether the impact upon the enterprise is as significant as the benefit to the environment. Plus, the need for organizations to respond quickly to new challenges often obscures green initiatives — just ask the IT and real estate team at Sun.

When Sun decided to consolidate more than 200,000 square feet of datacenter space in the San Francisco Bay area into a new facility in Santa Clara, California, environmental concerns were just one of several considerations. Time was critical, with a goal of completing the move in just 12 months. Reducing energy costs and floor space was also paramount, and the team knew that if it could meet those objectives, environmental benefits would follow. To meet space and budget requirements, the new environment would need to support the same amount of users (and more) in less space.

At the end of its aggressive 12-month schedule, the team succeeded in compressing 202,000 square feet of datacenter space into just 76,000 square feet — and reduced power consumption by over 60 percent in the first phase alone. "A simplified approach that combined new energy efficient hardware and innovative power and cooling solutions made this possible," says Dean Nelson, director of Global Lab & Datacenter Design Services (GDS) for Sun. Replacing hardware made the space and utility reduction targets possible, while also enabling Sun to avoid more than $9 million in construction and infrastructure costs.