Fusion-io to acquire IO Turbine. Fusion-io (FIO) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire IO Turbine, Inc., a provider of caching solutions for virtual environments. Fusion-io will pay up to approximately $95 million, subject to purchase price adjustments, for all outstanding securities of IO Turbine. Integrating the IO Turbine software with Fusion-io’s platform will enable traditional storage infrastructures to keep up with the increasing demands of virtualized servers and expands Fusion’s market opportunities to both new and existing customers. “IO Turbine’s software is uniquely architected to take advantage of flash memory in the server to solve the I/O bottlenecks, the inhibitor to the adoption of enterprise virtualization,” said David Flynn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fusion-io. “We believe integrating ioMemory and IO Turbine adds a critical and previously missing performance component to virtualized IT environments that will accelerate the adoption of Fusion-io technology. This acquisition also underscores our focus on providing customers with an enterprise solution that features software and hardware components designed to accelerate their business’ full suite of applications.” Twenty IO Turbine employees will be added to the Fusion-io engineering team upon closing.

Level 3 acquisition of Global Crossing approved.  Level 3 Communications (LVLT) announced that stockholders of both companies voted to approve Level 3′s proposed acquisition of Global Crossing (GLBC). ”We are very pleased that stockholders of both companies have given their support to this transaction,” said James Crowe, CEO of Level 3. “We believe that the combination of our two companies will create immediate and long-term value for our stockholders and customers. We continue to work to obtain the requisite regulatory approvals needed to close the transaction and begin the process of integrating the companies to realize the synergies and opportunities expected from the transaction.” The companies continue to expect the transaction to close before the end of 2011.

Eaton offers 480/277V power distribution.  Eaton Corporation  announced 480 volt (V) configurations for its ePDU power distribution product line. Eaton introduced a new line of 400V ePDU products in March and continues to drive efficiency gains with this new 480/277V AC offering. Since utility power in North America typically enters a facility at 480V AC, Eaton’s 480V ePDU products remove the need for step-down transformers, reduce distribution costs and power high-efficiency 277V power supplies. The higher voltage allows for more efficient power distribution, resulting in less loss than at 208V. ”We’ve noticed a trend with many of the new, cutting-edge data centers choosing a 480V power scheme and 277V custom power supplies that are extremely efficient,” said Joe Skorjanec, ePDU product manager, Eaton Distributed Power Solutions. “Power distribution units at this voltage are usually only available as custom solutions. Eaton is among the first in the industry to offer 480V as part of our ePDU catalog offering in order to better meet the needs of server manufacturers.”

The cabinets in the data halls in Eaton's new data center in Louisville, which use the Wright Line Heat Containment System (HCS) technology to return waste heat via the chimney (Photo credit: Eaton Corp.).

Power and cooling vendor Eaton Corporation recently opened two new data centers, located in Louisville and Simpsonville, Kentucky. The facilities showcase Eaton’s strides in energy efficiency and will upgrade the company’s global data center infrastructure. Eaton expects to realize $23 million in energy savings due to the improved efficiency of the new data centers.

Eaton has housed most of its server, storage and network infrastructure in two data centers located near Cleveland, Ohio. One of the facilities is 43 years old, the second is a third-party leased facility, and both are beginning to run short of space and power.

“Our new data centers are energy efficient by design, deploy Eaton’s most sophisticated power management technologies, and support our company’s growing data processing needs while conserving energy and water,” said Alexander M. Cutler, Eaton chairman and chief executive officer. “As a power management company, finding innovative ways to enable our customers to reduce energy costs and to use power more efficiently, effectively, and safely is central to Eaton’s mission.”

Gold LEED Certification

Eaton’s data center in Simpsonville, Kentucky received LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certification, as rated by the US Green Building Council. The Louisville site is expected to be certified later this summer because the two facilities are identical.

Eaton;s new facilities feature its 9395 Uninterruptible Power Systems (UPS) and new 400V ePDU product to extend the capabilities of its UPS technology line, allowing users to run servers at 230V increasing efficiency and reducing distribution costs.

To monitor and manage energy use, Eaton deployed its Foreseer Enterprise Power Monitoring software, which works in conjunction with building management systems (BMS) to provide a comprehensive and “real time” view of the electrical, mechanical, life safety and security systems. The cabinets in the data halls feature Eaton’s Wright Line Heat Containment System (HCS) technology.

Here are photos from the new data centers:

The entrance and lobby of the data center.

In 10 years the rack has evolved and should be considered a critical part of the data center efficiency equation. As a tool the author suggests that the new vision of the rack should be that of a plenum, the duct in which AC units return air. However in the case of a rack that return space houses critical IT infrastructure. As with any serious analysis the key is measurement. The author discusses a series of benchmarking methodologies using virtual models coupled with testing to find problem areas and improve airflow containment. He also outlines the five airflow fault areas of racks complemented with images.

Learn more about the fundamental way the rack can enhance airflow and its role in data center energy management.

Research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) expects global spending by enterprises on cloud services to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 26 percent between 2009 and 2013, from $17.4 billion to $44.2 billion. Within a matter of years, experts predict, most businesses will utilize at least some cloud-based applications and services.

Yet for all its capacity to streamline management and boost agility, cloud computing poses unique power, cooling and availability challenges as well. To meet them, data center managers must increase the strength and resiliency of both their electrical and mechanical infrastructures.

This white paper from Eaton examines some of the forces behind rising adoption of cloud-based solutions, explores how cloud architectures impact data centers and discusses a series of concrete best practices and technologies that can help companies collect the benefits of cloud computing without compromising uptime or overwhelming their power and cooling systems. Click here to download this white paper.

What then, can data center operators do to optimize UPS availability? As this white paper from Eaton shows, the conventional answers to that question are often not the best ones. UPS reliability is ultimately less a function of UPS design than of overall power system design. In the end, the surest way to increase UPS availability is to focus on minimizing repair time and maximizing redundancy, both inside your UPSs and across your power protection scheme as a whole.

In addition, this white paper also explains why, contrary to popular belief, modular UPS designs provide superior availability even though they typically contain more parts that could potentially fail. Click here to down this white paper on maximizing UPS availability.

Legacy UPSes—those five to 10 years old—could be squandering as much as 10 percent of incoming energy in the course of doing their jobs. Since most of the power lost by a UPS is dissipated as heat, an inefficient UPS costs more in cooling as well. New, groundbreaking UPSs maximize efficiency by operating in multiple modes, changing their operating characteristics to adapt to the electrical conditions of the moment. By engaging internal components only as necessary, these multi¬mode UPSs can achieve exceptional efficiency—up to 99 percent across a very broad load range.

However, multi¬mode UPSs from different manufacturers vary considerably in how they work, the level of protection they can offer, and their true efficiency under real¬world load levels. This white paper looks at five questions you need to ask before selecting a high¬efficiency, multi¬mode UPS for your data center. Click here to download.

New, groundbreaking UPS units maximize efficiency by operating in multiple modes, changing their operating characteristics to adapt to the electrical conditions of the moment. By engaging internal components only as necessary, these multi¬mode UPSes can achieve exceptional efficiency—up to 99 percent across a very broad load range.

However, multi¬mode UPSes from different manufacturers vary considerably in how they work, the level of protection they can offer, and their true efficiency under real-world load levels. This white paper looks at five questions you need to ask before selecting a high-efficiency, multi¬mode UPS for your data center.

A simple change in your power system can pay for itself many times over— and return thousands of dollars to your IT budget. To read this white paper and learn more click here.

Wright Line is based in Worcester, Mass., and provides customized enclosures, rack systems, and air flow management systems to store and power mission-critical IT data center electronics. The company has more than 350 employees, and over the last 12 months had sales of approximately $101 million.

Eaton Corporation is a diversified power management company with 70,000 employees and 2009 sales of $11.9 billion, and is a major player in the market for data center uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems and power distribution equipment.

“Broader, More Robust Solutions”
“The acquisition of Wright Line significantly enhances Eaton’s ability to bring a broader, more robust set of solutions to help CIOs and IT managers address the challenges associated with today’s modern data centers,” said Jerry R. Whitaker, president-Americas Region, Eaton’s Electrical Sector.

“Combining Wright Line’s strong enclosure and air management portfolio along with Eaton’s market leading UPS and power distribution offerings creates a strong solution to help our customers deal with the challenges associated with energy efficiency, thermal management and capital deployment. We have been impressed with the Wright Line team, operations and channel to market, and look forward to working with them to act on our vision for growth in the business.”

Patented Heat Containment System
One of Wright Line’s notable products is a patented heat containment system which uses a “chimney” to remove air directly from a server cabinet. The Wright Line HCS captures heat exhaust from IT equipment to the top rear of the rack enclosure, were it is ducted to the data center’s air conditioning units through a ceiling plenum or hot air return. Here’s a two-minute video overview of Wright Line’s heat containment system:

As a result, data centers of every size are looking for ways to power ahead through today’s difficult economy. The strategies discussed in this Eaton white paper represent five strategies for protecting the environment and boosting your bottom line

Indeed, the cost of electricity is already outpacing the cost of hardware. According to The Green Grid, a non-profit organization focused on data centers globally, $1 million worth of servers purchased in 2009 will consume $1.2 million of electricity over a three-year lifespan. Moreover, servers in aggregate account for approximately two percent of US electricity usage. It’s no surprise, then, that for many data center operators electrical power now constitutes the largest component of total cost of ownership.

However, any organization can get past this predicament by tapping into a different kind of power. This white paper explores five specific steps you can take to power your way through these difficult times. Click here to download this white paper.

Many companies are therefore utilizing virtualization and blade servers to pack more computing power into existing facilities. Virtualization enables a single physical server to support multiple “virtual machines,” each running its own operating system and applications. This allows IT departments to consolidate underutilized servers onto bigger, more powerful host devices, conserving data center floor space while lowering hardware procurement and maintenance costs. However, precisely because they dramatically increase compute densities, both virtualization and blade servers also place greater demands on electrical circuits and cooling systems than conventional servers do, raising per-rack loads from 5 kW on average to 10, 15, 25 kW or more.

Thus, the two most effective strategies for coping with the world’s insatiable hunger for information continually leave data centers searching for more power and more cooling. This white paper from Eaton examines the underlying roots of today’s data center power and cooling crisis and outlines five steps businesses can take to support intensifying IT requirements economically by removing inefficiencies from their power and cooling infrastructure. Click here to down load this white paper on power and cooling strategies.