Blade Watch

NetApp

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC.—July 14, 2010— NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) today announced that its dynamic data center located at the NetApp technology center in Research Triangle Park (RTP) has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) prestigious ENERGY STAR®, the national symbol for protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency. The RTP data center, which opened in 2009, is the first data center to achieve this distinction from the EPA.

EPA’s ENERGY STAR energy performance scale helps organizations assess how efficiently their data centers use energy relative to similar data centers nationwide. A data center that scores a 75 or higher on EPA’s 1–100 scale is eligible for the ENERGY STAR. The RTP data center achieved a near perfect mark by scoring a 99…

..To earn the ENERGY STAR, NetApp implemented the following features in the RTP data center:

• 74°F average supply air temperature: Using a higher temperature threshold on supply air (74°F instead of 55° to 60°F) allows NetApp to dramatically reduce cooling costs.
• Airside economizer: The data center is cooled by using just outside air (free cooling) 67% of the time during the year.
• Pressure-controlled room: Modulating fans, based on NetApp’s proprietary technology, supply pressure-controlled rooms and regulate the volume of air to avoid oversupplying air and wasting energy.
• Cold aisle containment: The cold room separates the cold and hot air streams to protect supply air temperatures from being affected by hot air returning from the racks.

I remain a fan of the NetApp storage platform, well done to them for their achievements with their dynamic data center, it does illustrate the possibilities when evaluating all the aspects of the data center for efficiency. It mentions some interesting concepts used including increasing the temperature of the data center as well as fresh air cooling things I have spoken about with people before, an interesting read, do check it out.

Overhead air distribution: Instead of pumping cold air up through the floors (raised floors), overhead air distribution takes advantage of cold/hot air buoyancy and eliminates ductwork, reducing the energy needed for fans.

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