In an article for InfoWorld Ted Samson discusses Facebook’s startup attempts for its custom data center in Prineville, Oregon. Initial predictions suggest that the data center will be highly energy efficient and will have a PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) of 1.15. To put that number into perspective, Samson cites Google’s PUE of 1.19.
Samson states that the PUE measurement measures the energy used for actual work like computing in comparison to how much is wasted on non-productive tasks. In 2006 the average PUE was 2.0, and that number is expected to decrease to 1.9 in 2011.
Jonathan Heiliger, the Vice President of Technical operations at Facebook, states in the article that the low PUE will be achieved through various energy saving techniques of which include:
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Free cooling (Outside air will be utilized to cool the building)
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Reusing server heat to warm offices during cold months.
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Adoption of a propriety uniterrutable power supply to reduce electricity usage.
The organization will also pursue LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold-level certification.
Click here to read Ted Samson’s article in its entirety.
IMF Related Report:
Brandi Landreth Director of Continuity Management and Data Center Strategy for the Allstate Insurance Company discussed Allstate Insurance’s green IT initiatives at a recent IMF web forum and stated that the Allstate data center strategy began with a movement forward to consolidate Allstate’s existing footprint from four data centers to two. Some of the reasons for this movement were centered on economies of scale, operations efficiency, simplifying the environment, and improving availability and recoverability. Through the execution of this data strategy it became evident that there were some additional opportunities around energy efficiency that provided a different perspective on the construction of the data center, but also in the operation of the existing IT infrastructure.
Download Brandi Landreth’s “Innovation at Allstate-Green IT” report.
How is your organization accomplishing green IT initiatives? Tell us on Twitter @ITInfoForum
An article from Tony Bradley from PC World outlined 11 hidden digital security threats that may often be overlooked by unaware individuals who navigate the Internet terrain. He provided details on each threat and how individuals can prevent their data from being compromised. Many of the threats are interrelated and can affect one particular medium. Consider the social networking realm for instance. Individuals who visit social networking sites have the potential to be affected by shortened URLs, data harvesting of their profile, and imposters. .gif)
