Greater energy efficiency in data centres

Data centres can account for half the power consumption of a company and on average 37 percent of this is used for cooling. By integrating Rittal RiZone with IBM's MMT (Management and Measurement Tool) a comprehensive energy management solution is available for all parts of a data centre that can monitor, actively regulate and reduce their data centre's energy consumption by more than 10 percent.

Linking them enables cooling power to be adjusted. IBM tested the behaviour of the systems in part of its own data centre and through the use of MMT and Rittal RiZone, found it was possible to change the ideal set point for the ambient temperature from 20°C to 24.63°C on the cooling system by using optimization algorithms. These higher flow temperatures provide greater potentials for saving on climate control.

Climate control is steered actively and automatically based on comprehensive rules and control loops. The energy-efficient arrangement of the dynamic IT infrastructure is performed while the system runs through a systematic diagnosis and analysis of all infrastructure parameters such as temperature, humidity or CPU usage.

Rittal RiZone recognises IBM MMT as an SNMP-enabled terminal device. While RiZone monitors the data from the data centre, MMT ensures the optimisation. The interaction of both solutions provides a complete view of the entire infrastructure and enables MMT to regulate and control active processes such as the server standby or the cooling units.

Apart from climate control, RiZone also monitors, regulates, and manages access, power supply and security of data centres in a modular and scalable way. This means that the solution can be used in applications ranging from an individual rack in a data centre to a company's complete information technology setup. It can also be combined with a management system such as IBM MMT, which is based on real-time sensor networks and summarises the data from various sensors such as those for temperature, air flow, power and corrosion to a physical analysis application.