Networks go green and save money

It's not just server technology that promises new energy efficiencies in IT infrastructure.

Energy efficiency ratings

Finally, standardized measurements of energy efficiency have started to appear on some networking equipment. Juniper Networks, for example, includes an Energy Consumption Rating (ECR) on the data sheets for some of its products. ECR is a draft specification, created by the ECR Initiative consortium. Lawrence Livermore Labs, Ixia and Juniper developed the specification, which measures performance per energy unit for networking and telecommunications equipment.

Both Cisco and Juniper are backing the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Standards' Telecommunications Energy Efficiency Rating (TEER) specification, which ATIS introduced last year.

However, neither specification has been universally accepted. Juniper supports ECR but doesn't include the rating on all of its products' data sheets. Cosgro says HP hasn't included either of the energy-efficiency standards in its data sheets because users don't understand the metrics. "What they care about is the number of watts used by the solution," he says.

Another strike against the specifications, Cosgro says, is that they lack a detailed, open rating methodology. That means vendors can choose rating firms with methodologies that best suit their needs.

That kind of truly open specification isn't likely to appear until later this year, when the EPA's Energy Star rating for large networking equipment should be released. (The EPA developed an Energy Star Small Network Equipment specification last December, but most enterprise networking equipment will be covered by the upcoming Large Network Equipment specification.)

According to an EPA spokesperson, the agency plans to announce a draft specification for data centers in June 2010, and in late 2010 for data center networking equipment. The new specification, which will cover components such as power supplies and internal chips, Energy Efficient Ethernet and overall power consumption for a device, will be "the key energy efficiency standard" going forward, Cosgro says.

The easiest way for network administrators to increase energy efficiency today is to buy new equipment, but that's likely to be a gradual process because administrators must weigh the age of equipment against potential efficiency gains. While a 15% cut in energy costs adds up when spread across thousands of servers, on a few racks of switches the total savings are much smaller.

Even for a single rack, the cost per kilowatt usually won't support an upgrade. "Most people will not save enough energy in the short run to justify replacing their equipment," warns Burton Group's Reeves. "Stay on your regular life cycle."

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More about Accenture AustraliaATISAustralian Securities & Investment CommissionBurton GroupCiscoCiscoGartnerHewlett-Packard AustraliaHPIEEEIxia Network Visibility SolutionsJuniper NetworksJuniper NetworksRockwell

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