New, Cutting-Edge IBM Data Center Goes 'Green' - Blizzard Sector

**NewsDude** · 08-07-2008, 04:10 PM

IBM recently opened its "greenest" data center in North America at its Boulder, Colo., site. The 115,000 square-foot, energy-efficient facility includes 70,000 square feet of raised floor space and is part of a $350-million investment by the corporation in Boulder to help meet customer demand worldwide for green data centers, while helping IBM and its clients reduce energy costs.
The new data center features numerous leading-edge technologies and services, including high-density computing systems utilizing virtualization technology, along with energy-efficient power and cooling technologies. These, in conjunction with the center's energy- efficient design and construction, will allow IBM to reduce its overall carbon footprint compared to standard data centers.
This latest initiative comes one year after IBM launched Project Big Green, committing $1 billion per year to deliver technologies that help customers increase the level of energy efficiency in their data centers.
To build the new data center, IBM retrofitted an existing office building on the Boulder campus. It reused 98 percent of the original building's shell, recycled 65 percent of the materials from the original building, and 25 percent of newly purchased material came from recycled products.
The facility will be partially powered by alternative energy sources, including more than one million kilowatt hours per year of wind-powered electricity purchased by IBM.
Given Boulder's geographic location and existing infrastructure reliability, the site is an optimal location to leverage energy efficiency. When exterior temperature and humidity levels are favorable, the data center switches to free-cooling mode-utilizing a water economizer to reduce energy use.
The facility's mechanical system design is 40 percent more efficient than one without heat exchangers for free cooling, equating to a reduction of approximately 6,550 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Its capacity is expandable to meet future technology requirements.

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08-07-2008, 04:10 PM	#1 (permalink)
NewsDude Status: *** Elder Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: News Office Posts: 1,884** Tournaments Joined: 0 Tournament Wins: 0 Spent time on board: 0:05:24 Hours Rep Power: 4	IBM recently opened its "greenest" data center in North America at its Boulder, Colo., site. The 115,000 square-foot, energy-efficient facility includes 70,000 square feet of raised floor space and is part of a $350-million investment by the corporation in Boulder to help meet customer demand worldwide for green data centers, while helping IBM and its clients reduce energy costs. The new data center features numerous leading-edge technologies and services, including high-density computing systems utilizing virtualization technology, along with energy-efficient power and cooling technologies. These, in conjunction with the center's energy- efficient design and construction, will allow IBM to reduce its overall carbon footprint compared to standard data centers. This latest initiative comes one year after IBM launched Project Big Green, committing $1 billion per year to deliver technologies that help customers increase the level of energy efficiency in their data centers. To build the new data center, IBM retrofitted an existing office building on the Boulder campus. It reused 98 percent of the original building's shell, recycled 65 percent of the materials from the original building, and 25 percent of newly purchased material came from recycled products. The facility will be partially powered by alternative energy sources, including more than one million kilowatt hours per year of wind-powered electricity purchased by IBM. Given Boulder's geographic location and existing infrastructure reliability, the site is an optimal location to leverage energy efficiency. When exterior temperature and humidity levels are favorable, the data center switches to free-cooling mode-utilizing a water economizer to reduce energy use. The facility's mechanical system design is 40 percent more efficient than one without heat exchangers for free cooling, equating to a reduction of approximately 6,550 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Its capacity is expandable to meet future technology requirements. More...