Green IT Project: The Business Case Indumathi Lnu University at Albany DATE
We will discuss Identifying green IT projects Funding green IT projects Building the business case Case study: University at Albany s storage consolidation project
Green IT Projects IT equipment and facilities related projects that reduce energy usage and costs % Energy Usage Focus on the big ticket items Don t ignore the low hanging stuff
Partial List of Green Projects: Servers Servers Follow the standards- 80Plus, Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC) s performance-per-watt benchmark, LBNL+EPA specifications, Energy Star labeled servers Not all these standards are in place yet ENERGY STAR servers 30% more energy efficient than standard servers
Partial List of Green Projects: Servers Server and Storage: Consolidation and Virtualization Eliminate physical servers Increase utilization of servers and remove idle/dead and underutilized servers Savings: About $1200/server/year Thin Client: Shift all processing to servers for maximum server utilization Only user interface, some heavily used applications and networked operating system on the client Savings: $10 to 25/device + lower cost of terminal device
Partial List of Green Projects: Servers Enable Power Management: Not many reliable tools; AMD has good power management capability Advanced Configuration and Power Interface developed by HP, Intel and Microsoft may cause problems on Linux servers Potential for 20% reduction in energy usage
Partial List of Green Projects: Power Supply High Efficiency Power Supply: Consider power supply efficiency vs. server load profile when selecting power supply Right-size power supplies Power supply must deliver 80% efficiency across a range of low load levels Consider power supplies that are Gold certified by 80Plus.org Certified power supplies are at least 33% more energy efficient than standard power supplies Install Power Distribution Units as close to the rack as possible to limit conductor run
Partial List of Green Projects: HVAC Efficient HVAC System: Life Cycle Cost analysis on new data center or upgrades Modular chillers or chillers with VSD compressors with high part load efficiencies Chilled and condenser water reset strategies Low pressure drop diffusers and filters Increase supply air temperature as feasible to provide adequate cooling Variable Frequency Drives for AHU, cooling tower and other HVAC fans and chilled and hot water pumps Premium efficiency fan and pump motors
Partial List of Green Projects: HVAC Water or Airside Economizer: Integrate economizer with mechanical cooling Air economizer vs. filtration issues: Could use indirect but requires space Water side economizer required a water-cooled system Design economizer for medium temperature air and install controls to avoid unnecessary humidity loads Economizers can reduce cooling usage by 20% in NY climate
Partial List of Green Projects: HVAC Mechanical Airflow Management: Eliminate mixing and re-circulating hot equipment exhaust air: Hot aisle/cold aisle isolation, rigid enclosures, blanking unused racks, racks with good internal airflow Maximize return air temperature by supplying air directly to the loads Provide adequately sized return and supply ducts/ plenums CFD software for efficient airflow and cooling design
Partial List of Green Projects: Lighting Efficient Lighting and Controls: High performance T8 or T5 fixtures, maybe even LED Occupancy based lighting controls Reduce lighting load as well as load on air-conditioning Ensure heat load from lighting is effectively removed Savings: 30-50% of lighting loads
Partial List of Green Projects: Other Energy Management System: Consider real-time energy and demand monitoring for various data center systems including IT loads, cooling system, HVAC fans and pumps, and power supplies Provide trending capabilities that allow analysis of data for decision-making Provide controls for temperature and humidity, fully integrated economizer cycle, and part load operation of cooling and fan systems Retro- and Re-Commissioning: Develop schedules and process for re-commissioning including schedules for recalibrating control sensors
Identifying Green IT Projects Two Approaches One: Conduct a preliminary audit and develop master plan Flex tech services from NYSERDA or NGRID Two: Upgrade to energy efficient measures when purchasing/replacing equipment Typical IT refresh cycle: 5 years? Only look at incremental costs Easier to develop business case Drawback: may not be comprehensive but could be if guided by master plan/audit
Funding Green IT Projects Internal sources Capital funds Operating funds (utility budget) ITS and/or Facilities Department External grants NYSERDA NGRID Private sponsors: manufacturers, vendors, etc. Federal grants
Business Case: TCO Total cost of ownership: Half is capital expenses; other half is operating expenses Annual energy savings: utility cost savings Operation and maintenance savings Reliability Service contracts Staff proficiency and productivity gain System performance improvement and end user satisfaction Physical space savings Current and future capital cost avoidance
Business Case: Getting Started Define problem Define technical and performance goals for the project Research solutions Prepare a comparative matrix using the goals document Provide metrics for each solution : PUE, Watts/usable terabytes, annual cost savings, % energy reduction, etc. Highlight advantages of proposed solution
Business Case : The Metrics Gather data Initial cost of proposed project and alternatives: equipment, labor, internal staff time Avoided capital cost (current and future) : life expectancy of existing equipment vs. proposed Metered energy data Current and proposed staff time (hours and $$) : may not result in cost savings but increased efficiency Current and proposed service contract $$ Current and proposed space requirement Other quantitative data Other qualitative data Available grants and incentives
Business Case : The Analysis Analysis Vendor: beware of exaggerated savings ITS staff: may need assistance from other departments such as facilities, energy office Consultant: could be partially funded by grants/incentives Use simple payback for simpler projects Use cash flow analysis or life cycle cost analysis for more complex projects Include all recurring annual cost savings Clearly state assumptions Prepare an executive summary as well as detailed report Present to senior management and/or grant sources
Case Study: UA Storage Consolidation Problem Identification Distributed approach to data storage (16) fiber attached storage systems 60% of systems >4 years old : nearing end of useful life Limited growth capacity Underutilized Inability to achieve site redundancy High overhead costs: different interfaces each with periodic updates and maintenance, staff proficiency Storage not adequate to meet needs of server virtualization
UA Storage Consolidation: Opportunity Need to add storage capacity to meet campus needs Traditional approach Add two more storage devices to existing (16) Keep existing problems and add to it Lowest first cost No staff re-training
UA Storage Consolidation: Opportunity Virtualize existing storage systems using appliance-based abstraction layer Examples include the IBM SVC and the NetApp V3140 Allowed for data replication via SAN fabric Thirteen of the sixteen existing storage systems were not integrated in the SAN: migration a project in itself Old storage systems would still remain Still need to purchase (2) new storage systems Total (18) storage systems plus redundant storage virtualization appliances = twenty-two systems Management, maintenance costs, power, cooling and rack space issues would only be exacerbated
UA Storage Consolidation: Opportunity Storage Consolidation : Preferred Solution NetApp FAS3160 storage solution: met our technical and performance goals Unified storage architecture Consolidate (12) storage systems in the primary data center into one new system and (4) storage systems currently in the alternate data center into an identical new system De-commission (16) storage systems Higher first cost Staff need to be re-trained
Storage Consolidation: Benefits Consolidation of # of systems Replaced many relatively low density disk drives with higher density disk drives Same usable disk space with less disk drives Allow staff to develop proficiency in one system Occupy less space : we have a cubicle for a data center Future Growth Accommodation Accommodate disk space requirements served by (16) systems : 80% of usable disk space Can accommodate 1-2 years of future storage growth needs
Storage Consolidation: Benefits Site Redundancy Positions UAlbany to continue with server, application and data redundancy projects Continue server virtualization projects to take advantage of storage and site replication Failover strategy with little or no data loss with a recovery time within one to two hours for the server virtualization environment
Storage Consolidation: Benefits Lower Total Cost of Ownership 17 kw or 68% reduction in average power demand; 75% reduction in watts per usable terabytes 152,137 kilowatt-hours savings per year or 8% savings in data center energy usage $15,822 in annual utility cost savings 234,260 lbs of CO2 emissions reduction Better centralization and automation of storage administration and support better storage per administrator ratios
Storage Consolidation: Benefits Lower Total Cost of Ownership 43% savings in rack U s required for storage (54 rack-u instead of 95) Upwards of 80% capacity utilization (compared to 25-30%) and 99.995% availability 30% increase in disk capacity by increasing disk space from 55.3 to 72 Terabytes Ability to more proactively manage storage needs Capacity to address data redundancy and disaster recovery A foundation for the concurrent Server Virtualization project
Storage Consolidation: Benefits Lower Total Cost of Ownership Eliminate $63,675 per year in maintenance contracts; 3- year maintenance included in the new hardware purchase Avoided current capital cost to purchase (2) systems: $300,000 (Not to mention 7kW increase in power and more space requirement) Restart the replacement cycle with new hardware Avoided future capital cost to replace the (16) systems over the next 4 years: $844,300
Storage Consolidation: Project Economics Project economics without NYSERDA grant Energy Cost Savings ($/Yr) $15,822 Maintenance Cost Avoidance ($/Yr) $63,674 Total Annual Cost Savings ($/Yr) $79,496 Total Project Cost ($) $638,679 Current Capital Cost Avoidance ($) $300,000 Future Capital Cost Avoidance ($) $844,300 Current Incremental Project Cost ($) $338,679 Simple Payback (Yr) 4.3 Typical IT refresh cycle: 4-5 years Maintenance cost avoidance is only for 3 years Not an impressive business case
Storage Consolidation: Project Economics Project economics with NYSERDA grant Energy Cost Savings ($/Yr) $15,822 Maintenance Cost Avoidance ($/Yr) $63,674 Total Annual Cost Savings ($/Yr) $79,496 Total Project Cost ($) $638,679 Current Capital Cost Avoidance ($) $300,000 Future Capital Cost Avoidance ($) $844,300 Current Incremental Project Cost ($) $338,679 NYSERDA Incentives $200,000 Final Net Incremental Cost to UAlbany $138,679 Simple Payback (Yr) 1.8 Had no problems selling this project to senior management
Storage Consolidation: Current Status Project is 100% complete New high capacity storage system in primary data center Redundant storage system with equal capacity in secondary data center (16) old storage systems decommissioned Visitors welcome
Questions? University at Albany contacts Indumathi Lnu Energy Officer 518-442-3183 Brian Heaton Associate Director, Systems Management and Operations 518-442-3842 Nancy Beck Data Center Manager 518-591-8627 THANK YOU