Reaction to 'Microsoft Eliminates Server Fan, Despite PUE Hit'

This story/announcement definitely points to why PUE can’t be the “Holy Grail” for Data Center energy efficiency measurement and comparison. We have seen similar realities and results within clients doing aggressive virtualization. In both cases their overall power consumption goes down on the IT load side but their PUE goes up.

Reality is PUE is a result that can be manipulated. Google did it the other way, they moved a 9v battery (for back-up) onto the IT load side (into their custom server) thus eliminating UPS load from the Infrastructure side resulting in a lower PUE calculation.

Bottom line, reducing the IT load side of the equation without corresponding reductions of power consumption (via efficiency gain) on the Infrastructure/Facilities side will indeed lead to an increased PUE!

The goal of measuring PUE and all other efficiency exercises for that matter should be to reduce overall Power Consumption. What the client does with the overall gains (Savings, Add Manage-able load, increase redundancy, Avoid build out) is up to them. Seems Microsoft is correctly focused on that goal!!!

Is PUE a bad thing? I don’t think so, it has people looking at power consumption, IT load efficiency and Infrastructure/Facilities efficiency. It gives organizations a means to measure and compare the impacts of their actions in their environment. Most importantly it has organizations working to reduce overall consumption and improve efficiency. Good for their bottom line and the planet. Will it remain the key benchmark? For now, but make no mistake some form of watt per useful work/compute unit of measure and comparison will be on the horizon, but not for a while.

What’s it mean for NER and our iOS Solutions? We should continue to drive great value and efficiency on the Infrastructure/Facilities side with our industry leading Cooling Optimization Solutions. Cooling and moving air is the single largest component/variable of the Infrastructure/Facilities Power consumption equation. With products and solutions that can reduce Power Consumption for Cooling 40-80% (when combined) we are well positioned to help people achieve reduced PUE. In every case, we can and will significantly improve a Data Centers Infrastructure efficiency.