Microsoft's Christian Belady says time to move on, PUE was the past, Time to optimize the WHOLE

I've had the pleasure of getting to know the two HP engineers who started PUE, Christian Belady at Microsoft and Chris Malone at Google.  here is the HP presentation from March 2007 that Christian gave.

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This references the Sept 2006 paper Chistian and Chris co-wrote on PUE.

PUE is over 4 years old.

Matt Stansberry has an interview with Christian to discuss what is next.  And starts with discussing PUE.

Your data center efficiency metric PUE has been public for about four years. What do you think of adoption at this point?
Christian Belady: I think it's pretty good. If you talk to anyone running a major data center operation, they're using PUE. There are perceived issues with it, comments about people cheating on PUE reporting. But who cares?

Then jumps to what is the next metric.

What do you think about the next level of efficiency metric: measuring the useful work of the data center? Will that kind of metric be available in the future?
C.B.: This is going to take a lot of effort. Look at PUE and see how difficult it was to get buy-in from various stakeholders. A data center productivity metric will be an order of magnitude more difficult to get broad acceptance. It's a very complex metric, and I'm very supportive of it, but it will be really hard to get agreement.

What is Christian working on in Microsoft Research?

But I'm all about the interfaces: the big opportunities are not to dive deep in one area, but to look across disciplines. In my new team, the eXtreme Computing Group, I get to look at the opportunities across hardware, software, applications and security interfaces. What can we do if we really stripped all our legacy IT requirements? What if we blurred the lines between these disciplines and developed a new cloud ecosystem from ground zero. What could that ecosystem look like? How can we see an order of magnitude reduction in cost.

My interest always lies way out in the future. How do we change the game? All the guys in this series have demonstrated that they have made significant changes in the industry. My challenge to all of us is [to ask] how we take the next big step. That's what excites me more and that is what I am working on. Stay tuned!

It is interesting to see how two guys who started down the path of a data center metric like PUE now work on the bigger data center picture.

If you are down in the weeds, maybe you should pop your head up and look at the bigger picture and figure out how what you do affects the whole.

Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon are thinking about the whole, and many others do too.  Also, these are the people who know how to green their data center as they understand the environmental issues and how it affects the long term sustainability of their operations.

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If 25% can achieve status will it motivate the other 75%, EPA announces Energy Star for Data Centers

The EPA announced its Energy Stare Labe for Data Centers.

EPA Announces Data Centers Can Now Earn Energy Star Label

Release date: 06/07/2010

Contact Information: Enesta Jones, jones.enesta@epa.gov, 202-564-7873, 202-564-4355

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that stand-alone data centers and buildings that house large data centers can now earn the Energy Star label. To earn the label, data centers must be in the top 25 percent of their peers in energy efficiency according to EPA’s energy performance scale. By improving efficiency, centers can save energy and money and help fight climate change.

The metric is defined using PUE.

EPA uses a commonly accepted measure for energy efficiency, the Power Usage Effectiveness metric, to determine whether a data center qualifies for the Energy Star label. Before being awarded the Energy Star, a licensed professional must independently verify the energy performance of these buildings and sign and seal the application document that is sent to EPA for review and approval.

Which I am sure The Green Grid and other PUE supporters are happy with.

But, will a standard that says 25% of the top performers in PUE earning an ENERGYSTAR label drive others to follow?

The standard implies that running energy efficient servers will help you run improve data center energy efficiency.

Data centers can improve energy efficiency in many ways, such as purchasing Energy Star qualified servers and ensuring that all HVAC equipment functions properly.

The efficiency of the IT load actually could hurt your PUE, because you would need less power, and the lower load on the data center infrastructure makes it harder to achieve a low PUE.  If you are focused on a low PUE you want a nice consistent high load on your infrastructure that allows your equipment to run at optimal conditions.

Would you rather run a higher PUE with a lower total power usage or a lower PUE with a higher total power usage.  If you are paying the electricity bill you want the lowest bill.

This can be confusing, and only time will determine if the other 75% will be motivated by the 25% who have ENERGYSTAR for their data center.

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Real-time and Long-term Efficiency Montoring, example from Lincoln 2011 MKZ Hybrid SmartGauge - leaves and flowers

GoodCleanTech has a post on the SmartGauge in the 2011 Lincoln MKZ hybrid that add long term fuel efficiency monitoring to the real time MPG numbers.

2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid to Get Upgraded SmartGauge
Categories: Automotive
The upcoming 2011 Lincoln MKZ hybrid, which is based on the existing Ford Fusion hybrid, will feature an updated SmartGauge layout, AutoblogGreen reports.
The twin 4.3-inch LCDs will bracket a centrally mounted speedometer as before. But the gauges will feature a newer, green-gold design, plus long-term efficiency indicators in the form of apple blossoms.
You read that right: after the first 4-6 weeks, if you've been driving efficiently over time, the first flowers will begin to appear.
The flowers start out as little buds, and then grow into smaller and then finally larger flowers, the report said. According to Ford, earning all of the flowers on the display means you saved about $8,000 in fuel costs and 30 tons of CO2 emissions over the lifetime of the car; I imagine that last achievement will take a while.

In this instrument gauge to the right is the SmartGauge.

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The idea is good, but a challenge to apply to data center efficiency monitoring in there isn't a simple metric like PUE that measure the overall efficiency of resource consumption and work done.

Lincoln did usability testing to figure out this gauge.  There are ways to develop a gauge like this for data centers, but it requires integration of the work performed by the data center which requires a visibility to the SLAs for services run in the data center.

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ARM Servers used in Smart Meters

Will the millions of Smart Meters that have a high percentage of ARM processors be the largest server count?

A server is a hw/sw system that provides services to clients that is expected to have high availability.

In computing, a server is any combination of hardware or software designed to provide services to clients. When used alone, the term typically refers to a computer which may be running a server operating system, but is also used to refer to any software or dedicated hardwarecapable of providing services.

I found information about the Smart Meter architecture which provides the services of a server.

Utility companies are starting to deploy electronic metering systems that capture and transmit usage information with the long-term goal to empower and educate users as to the real-time cost and impact of using an appliance at a particular moment in time.

Request More Information

Optimized ARM Smart Meter Block Diagram

The ARM® design philosophy is centered on low power, energy efficient design and we have spent over 10 years supporting silicon companies that need to design platforms under stringent power dissipation requirements.

ARM processors are architected to minimize current draw, both when systems are fully operational and when they are inactive, providing incredibly power efficient processing for tethered applications. While important for mobile products like phones, this is incredibly important for meters which are expected to operate for periods up to 20 years on a single battery. The highly economical approach of the embedded processors can be coupled with ARM Physical IP power management kits, to reduce the power of the complete SoC. These kits incorporate an optimized set of physical IP libraries, memoriesand standard cells to further improve the useful workload/joule metric of the complete system.

When you look at ARM's definition of what is required for an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), it sounds like a web server solution.

For the vision of AMI infrastructure to be realized, the smart meter must:

  • Communicate with other intelligent appliances inside the residence or enterprise. The strategy for providing this communication path varies from country to country and in some cases region to region. Zigbee has gained significant adoption in early trials. However, both WiFi and HomePlug offer benefits for certain deployments.
  • Communicate information securely across the network to preserve sensitive user information.
  • Incorporate enough latent horsepower to enable the delivery of future services without the need for a truck roll.

Actually when you look at what is defined by AMI you get this in Smartphone as well.

ARM servers are showing up as the always on devices providing services to clients.

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Smart Grid Reality - growing pains hit startups, moving at the pace of Utilities

CNET News has a post on the Reality of Smart-Grid and how one company GridPoint has adapted its strategy.

Smart-grid companies feel growing pains

by Martin LaMonica

If you think utilities will swiftly adopt smart-grid technologies, consider the story of GridPoint.

Despite being only seven years old, the high-profile energy start-up has adjusted its strategy a few times and made a string of acquisitions. At first, it planned on selling home energy management systems and batteries to consumers, then shifted its focus to selling smart-grid equipment to utilities, such as software to manage home energy or charge electric cars.

Start-ups with a business model that move at the pace of Utilities.

Utilities typically negotiate with public utility commissions on how they will recoup the costs of capital investment, such as smart meters, batteries, or in-home energy displays for consumers. That investment cycle, coupled with utilities focus on reliability, means they don't have big incentives to move quickly, said Rob Day, an investor at Black Coral Capital.

Bad business model.  I don't think the VCs really thought through the problem of consumer adoption via Utility companies.

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