Article: “Changing The Oil In Your Data Center”

This is just a quick update before everyone heads out for the holiday weekend.

If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to check out the May 16, 2008 issue of Processor magazine (Vol.30, Issue 20). Drew Robb interviewed me for his latest article, entitled “Changing The Oil In Your Data Center.”

Maintenance neglect is an all-too-frequent cause of unplanned data center downtime. This people-related problem stems from improper documentation of the maintenance process, failure to adhere to a set maintenance schedule, and the overlooking of critical systems. In the article, Robb talks with me about the value of implementing a scheduled maintenance plan to ensure reliable data center operations.

He also includes insights from several other data center professionals, including Steven Harris, director of data center planning at Forsythe Solutions Group (www.forsythe.com), and James Rankin, a CDW technology specialist (www.cdw.com). To read the full article, please visit the Processor website at http://www.processor.com/).

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend!

The National Data Center Energy Efficiency Information Program

Matt Stansberry, editor of SearchDataCenter.com, posted a blog entry on the National Data Center Energy Efficiency Information Program. I'm echoing his post here because energy efficiency is such a critical issue for the industry.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have teamed up on a project with aims to help reduce energy consumption in data centers. In addition to providing information and resources which promote energy efficiency, the National Data Center Energy Efficiency Information Program is reaching out to data center operators and owners to collect data on total energy use.

In the words of the EPA’s Andrew Fanara:

We've put out an information request to anyone who has a data center to ask if you would measure the energy consumption of your data center in a standardized way and provide that to us. That will help us get a better handle on what's going on nationally in terms of data center energy consumption.

Hear the EPA’s Andrew Fanara talk about the program in this video from the Uptime Institute Symposium:



If you’d like to get your data center involved, more information can be found at the EPA's ENERGY STAR data center website and the DOE's Save Energy Now data center website.