New Research on U.S. Data Center Markets

Do data center professionals in Dallas see the industry differently than their counterparts in New York? How do the views of government data center specialists in Washington compare to those of Internet executives from Silicon Valley?

New research from DataCenterDynamics brings together snapshots from major data center markets around the U.S. throughout 2007, and provides interesting insight into the leading areas of concern and opportunity. The research, gathered at DataCenterDynamics events, provides individual market reports for New York/New Jersey, the Washington DC area, San Francisco/Bay Area, Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and Chicago.

DataCenterDynamics Coming To Washington

DataCenterDynamics will hold its first conference in Washington, D.C. next Friday, May 18, with a full schedule of presentations on data center facilities and engineering. The event will include sessions on energy efficiency initiatives from the U.S. Department of Energy and the EPA Energy Star program, and numerous presentations on managing the rising power usage and cooling requirements for data centers.

There are also several sessions on practical approaches to environmentally-aware green data centers, including facilities that qualify for the The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, the national benchmark for the design and construction of green buildings.

In 2006 DataCenterDynamics held 13 conferences worldwide, with 5,194 data center professionals attending. Its New York event in March featured a strong showing of attendees from the financial community. The 2007 schedule includes events in San Francisco (July 13), Chicago (Sept. 12) and Dallas (Dec. 6).

HP to Save $8 Million With Smart Cooling

HP generated a lot of buzz earlier this year when it announced Dynamic Smart Cooling, its new system for advanced management of data center power and cooling. The product won’t be available until this fall, and enters full production in early 2008. In the meantime, HP executives are evangelizing the new offering at industry events.

On Tuesday, HP blade system infrastructure technologist Ken Baker briefed attendees at DataCenterDynamics 2007 in New York on the capabilities of Dynamic Smart Cooling (DSC). Baker said HP is currently implementing DSC at the six new data centers it is building in Atlanta, Austin and Houston as part of a massive consolidation of its worldwide data centers. “We’re going to eat our own dog food on this, because we really believe in it,” said Baker, who said early estimates suggest DSC could save the company about $8 million in power and cooling costs in just one of its new 100,000 square foot facilities in Austin.

Dynamic Smart Cooling is designed to provide precise targeting of air-conditioning systems in response to changes in server temperatures. The system deploys sensors throughout the data center, which communicate with the AC systems. The “smart” piece is the system’s use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to understand the flow of air within the data center and route the cold air to the hot server. HP says the approach can cut cooling costs by 20 to 45 percent as it turns AC systems on or off as temperatures rise and fall.

Baker said HP spent a lot of time investigating its cooling options while contemplating DSC. “We tried a lot of different technologies,” Baker said. “At the end of the day, good old air fan cooling has proven to be the way to go in most cases.”

Liquid Cooling Adoption Picks Up

When attendees at yesterday’s DataCenterDynamics 2007 conference in New York were asked whether they had implemented liquid cooling in their data center, only three hands when up. But Roger Schmidt, a Distinguished Engineer in IBM’s Server Group, says there will be more very soon.

“In the New York area, multiple data centers are looking at including liquid cooling as an option,” said Schmidt, who led a session on liquid cooling in Tuesday’s event at the New York Hilton. Schmidt said many companies are “running out of room to ventilate racks in a data center. The next step is to put liquid cooling next to the rack. There’s definitely improved energy efficiency, and it’s a lot easier to pump liquid than to pump air to where it’s needed.”

The panel was part of a full day of information sessions at DataCenterDynamics, which was marking its fifth year in New York. The NYC show is one of 22 industry events DataCenterDynamics has on this year’s schedule.

Schmidt heads the committee developing best practices for liquid cooling through ASHRAE, the global standards body for the HVAC industry. Schmidt’s committee, known as TC9.9, recently published Liquid Cooling Guidelines for Datacom Equipment Centers. “The book incorporates the experience of liquid cooling from the mainframe days,” says Schmidt. “Liquid cooling is a proven technology, and the book provides a good central source of liquid cooling information from the datacom equipment to the facility level.”

DataCenterDynamics NYC Event Today

DatacenterDynamics New York 2006 is taking place today at The Hilton New York - Avenue of the Americas. This is the fourth annual DatacenterDynamics event in New York, with a program covering all the big questions and hot topics in the data center world. Data Center Knowledge is a media sponsor for this event, and I’ll be on hand to take in some sessions, soak up some knowledge and hopefully meet some readers. News tips are always welcome.

Datacenter Dynamics Outlines 2005 Schedule

DatacenterDynamics, a leading global knowledge exchange for data center professionals, has unveiled a schedule of 12 worldwide events, which may be the largest series of global datacenter conferences yet. DatacenterDynamics New York on March 28 kicks off this years’ series of 12 educational and networking conferences which will take place at major datacenter locations around the globe. Further events will take place in Mumbai (April 20), Singapore (May 10th), Amsterdam (June 6th), San Francisco (July 27th), Sydney (August 24th), Frankfurt (Sept 22nd), Chicago (October 5th), Hong Kong (November 16th) and London on November 28-29. Events in Dallas and Dubai will also be confirmed shortly.

“The indefinite postponement of larger shows like COMDEX provides a strong illustration that the market has moved towards more focused trade show model,” said George Rockett, Conference Director, DatacenterDynamics. “Certainly in the technology sector, we have found that exhibitors and attendees are questioning why they should support shows which have broad appeal, when a targeted regional or technology-specific approach helps them speak to a more focused audience. With footfall at many technology exhibitions generally on the decline, the expansion of this years’ event program would indicate that niche conferences like DatacenterDynamics is where the market is heading.”