Enterprise Servers to have Energy Efficiency Rating

[SYNACK]

Looks like the EPA are going to be mandating energy efficiency stickers on new server gear to make picking a 'green' server easier. Yay, it looks like my new servers will have energy stickers like my fridge . Anyhow this is set to include a power usage vs performance aspect which is sure to stir up the CPU manufacturers regarding the tests involved.

 

Full details on monday (US) apparently so we'll have to wait untill then to find out how many more stickers will need to be removed from new servers.

 

Energy Star server ratings to include power profile | Green Tech - CNET News

The first version of an Energy Star rating for enterprise servers is poised for release on Monday, with about one quarter of available servers expected to meet the standard.

 

The specification, which has been under development for a few years, is designed to give buyers a starting point for evaluating the energy-efficiency of servers, according to Andrew Fanara, a program manager for Energy Star at the Environmental Protection Agency.

 

It includes a common "power and performance data sheet" that reports energy data in a common format. Compliant products will also have relatively efficient power supplies, which means they will give off less waste heat.

[FN-GM]

If picking a server i would pick one that is right for the job not how energy efficient it is.

[localzuk]

If picking a server i would pick one that is right for the job not how energy efficient it is.

 

And an energy efficient server is one of the things high up on my list when I choose them...

 

Although, I can see it being an issue if management who aren't clued up on IT (not just in education) start questioning why energy inefficient servers are being bought instead of the ones with a sticker...

 

And I can see organisations buying several energy efficient servers to do the task of a non-efficient one, just to be able to say 'all our servers are efficient!' in their marketting...

[FN-GM]

Its peoples personal preference at the end of the day, just saying myself i would rather get the best server for the job

[SYNACK]

Energy efficiency has been a consideration in my purchases for a while now. I actually dropped a couple of hundred mhz off my last purchase to get the more efficient parts. These had more cache and allowed us to have it running within our existing thermal envelope and UPS setup rather than adding a continuous cost of the extra power, cooling and backup power.

 

I am hopeing that this little endevor by the EPA helps focus some of the big brands a bit more on competing activly in this field as it will mean rather large saveings for everyone in the long run.

[john]

I would expect most of the latest generation big names like HP, Dell, Sun, IBM etc all to meet it fairly easily and quickly it won't be worth there names being held against it.

[Butuz]

I think it is a good thing - generally your servers spend well over half their life not doing idle, thus energy efficiency is more and more important factor to consider when buying.

 

I would expect most 5500 Xeon based servers to meet the standard ad the 5500 is a step above the 5400 in terms of energy efficiency when idle. Also Many Opteron models should meet the standard already.

 

Butuz