Datacentres Weighed Down by Energy Costs
Datacentres Weighed Down by Energy Costs
October 7, 2008: According to a new study from IDC, datacentre energy costs are on the rise, with Western European organisations spending an estimated €1.6 (AU$2.85) billion in 2007 to power servers.
The research shows how the amount of energy required by servers and datacenters is climbing at a worrying speed, growing by more than 13 percent between 2006 and 2007.
In 2007, servers in Western Europe consumed more than 16.3TWh - almost twice the amount of electricity needed every year to power all street lighting and traffic signals in the U.K.
IDC estimates that these consumption levels in Western Europe exceeded a phenomenal 40TWh in 2007, and expected this number to grow to more than 42TWh in 2008.
The trend sheds light on the escalating cost burden datacentres are putting on organisations, particularly as the situation is mirrored around the world.
“Such a rise in energy demands can be explained by the growing number of active servers in the region, but also — and most importantly — by the electricity requirement that machines, on average, have due to multicore technology and enhanced hardware feature,” says Giorgio Nebuloni, research analyst with IDC European Systems and Infrastructure Solutions.
“The efforts that industry players have started to put into building energy-efficient components are not enough to balance the rise of energy needs.”
To contain these rising costs, Nebuloni says that organisations have to act on the infrastructure level, adopting best practices and redesigning their facility to improve cooling and power processes.
“When addressing power issues, everyone naturally links the topic to a general plan of cost saving. What few companies seem to grasp though is the extent to which energy will impact the IT infrastructure bottom line in the next year,’ says Nathaniel Martinez, program director, European Enterprise Servers.
“At a cost of 10.71 euro cents per kWh, electricity is a large source of costs. Last year, €1.6 (AU$2.85) billion was spent on powering servers throughout Western Europe, which translated into €4.4 (AU$7.84) billion for entire datacentres.
“Unless a drastic change in products and company practices occurs, things will not get any better in the future. In 2012, we could face a scenario where for every euro spent on buying new servers, more than €0.80 (AU$1.43) will be needed to power the existing datacentre infrastructure.”
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