Linux Ready to go Green, next is Windows vs. Linux comparison?

News.com interviews Linus Torvalds at linux.conf.au, saying Linux is ready to go Green.

In an interview at the linux.conf.au conference, the developer of the Linux kernel admitted that the operating system was lagging behind on power-management and energy-diagnosis tools.

"It is an area we were pretty weak in a few years ago and just building up the infrastructure took a long time, but now we are at a point where we have most of it done," Torvalds said.

"That doesn't mean we are done. Now we have an infrastructure in place... we have the tools to measure power and notice when the power is higher and why that is, which is pretty important. Before, it used to be a black box," he said.

This is just the start of putting power management in the OS, now they are going to have the work of making drivers power aware.  All it takes is one legacy driver to keep a system in a higher power state.

With Windows Server 2008 default power management turned on and shipping power management since Windows 2000, it will be interesting to see power comparisons between Windows and Linux in regards to performance per watt.

But, I think to do big power savings in a green data center you need a power management system which works across multiple systems.  The amount of power you'll be able to save on individual machines is best when you can turn them off.  Linux is playing catch up to Windows, but they could  change the game by providing the infrastructure to do power management across systems.

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Google Hires Former State Senator to Manage Community Relations in Lenoir, NC, protecting its $165 mil tax break for data center operation

Again thanks to the analysts at www.t1r.com for sending me the local paper article about Google's data center in Lenoir, NC. It's great the press is on top of this. My previous post on why 200 employees has had a of traffic, and this one should get your attention as well.

The globally ambitious, California-based Internet giant is working to establish itself in a close-knit world that's decidedly un-Silicon Valley, mixing with local civic groups and donating charity Christmas trees for a public display, amid strict secrecy the company says its project requires.

Lenoir native Stephen Clay, 57, is so pleased about Google's arrival that he hung a "Clay Insurance Welcomes Google" banner outside his business near downtown. He also attended a Google AdWords training seminar to learn about how its advertising works.

But he and others said they still wish they knew more about the center and how it will benefit the community. Visitors aren't allowed on the construction site, which is ringed with barbed wire.

Residents who have tried to sneak a closer peek say they've been run off by security guards. And employees are limited in what they can say about the project's specifics.

"People talk about it all the time," said Anita Watters, 40, the assistant manager of Miller Hill Grocery, just up the street from the data center. " `Area 51.' It's all this secretive stuff. They're so hush-hush about what they're doing over there ... I hear all kinds of (speculation)."

The most interesting nugget though is that Google has hired a former state senator to manage the community relations. It's a small price to hire the senator to protect google's 30 year $165 million tax break.

The Lenoir project sparked criticism after it was announced last year, in part because it received state and local incentives valued at up to $165 million over 30 years.

As a result, Google has worked to improve its outreach. In April, it hired consultant Matt Dunne, a former Vermont state senator and gubernatorial candidate whose career has focused on bringing together entrepreneurship, community service and politics, to listen to residents and inform them about the company.

Yet he must also manage expectations and explain the competitive reasons data centers are built and operated in secrecy.

In Lenoir, Dunne said, he's encountered a mix of hope and concern: Hope that Google will single-handedly transform the economy and worries that the company won't hire any local workers; excitement about a second building phase and concern that Google employees won't live in or near Lenoir.

Google is not going to be another Broyhill or Bernhardt - furniture companies that for decades were dominant and paternalistic employers in the region - nor is it moving its headquarters to town. Though large, the data center will employ about 200 people, not 8,000, Dunne said.

I wonder how much pressure Google is going to be on to prove they have 200 employees. In this article they listed 3 Google employees, 197 more to go. If the press could get access to the permits they could see the # of parking spaces applied for.

Google declined to say how large the data centers will be, but permits on file with Caldwell County call for one $15.4 million, 139,797-square-foot building and another, $24.5 million, 337,008-square-foot building.

Those permits, incidentally, are not listed under Google, but under the name Lapis LLC. Ask to make a copy, and you'll be told it needs to be cleared by a lawyer first.

"I just wanted to be a part of (Google), a part of the culture," said Jennifer Crump, 35, of Morganton, a former stay-at-home mom who earned an associate's degree in information technology and was hired earlier this month as a data center technician assistant. "It's so different from what we have around here."

Lenoir native Walter Brameld, 30, worked in an Atlanta data center but got burned out and moved home, figuring he'd have to take "a McJob." Then he found out about Google. Once the site location became public, he'd drive past it to reassure himself it was really coming. He was hired in October.

Jacobik, 42, an Air Force veteran and father of seven who previously managed a data center for Oracle in Austin, Texas, oversees Google's Lenoir operation and another planned outside of Charleston. In and around Lenoir alone, he has addressed more than a dozen civic groups, including Rotary, Kiwanis and Ruritan clubs.

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North America behind Europe and Asia in Green IT, says Info-Tech Research Group

Here is a press release by Info-Tech Research with specifics how North America lags Europe and Asia in Green IT.

When it comes to taking action on green IT initiatives, a new study by Info-Tech Research Group finds that enterprises in North America lag behind those in Asia and Europe. Respondents from North America are also less concerned with their carbon footprints than those from the rest of the world, with nearly one-fifth reporting low to minimal levels of concern about climate change.

"People in North America tend to believe that newly industrialized countries like India and China wouldn’t have the means or interest to support green technologies," said Aaron Hay, research consultant with Info-Tech Research Group. "In reality, the study paints a very different picture as North America is failing to keep pace with the adoption rates of green IT techniques in emerging economies."

In addition to the implementation of quick win policies, the study revealed that almost double the amount of respondents from Asia reported the adoption of major initiatives such as "green RFPs" favoring acquisition of energy-efficient solutions and technologies.

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HP's Consolidation Project runs into Organizational Issues, needs CEO Support

WSJ writes an article about Taming Technology Sprawl and how consolidation is HP's main method to save energy and costs.

Consolidation is a strategic tenet of H-P Chief Executive Mark Hurd, who has trimmed costs and improved operations since he was named to the post in early 2005. Mr. Hurd's goal for the IT project: Cut the percentage of annual revenue spent on IT by more than half. In 2005, Mr. Hurd says, H-P spent $4.2 billion -- about 5% of 2005 revenue -- to maintain its IT systems; he wants that to drop to 2% by the end of this year.

They ran into typical issues like underestimating the # of computer programs and not allocating a large enough budget as a result.  But, the bigger problem they ran into is vice presidents who didn't want to take orders from the CIO.

In H-P's case, obstacles surfaced as early as December 2005. At the time, several vice presidents "really dug in" and resisted, says Mr. Mott. Some units said, "'We're not going to give you a cost-benefit analysis (for why we use the IT we have). We're just going to tell you what product we want,' " the chief information officer says.

In the end HP needed support from their Board and CEO to make the project continue.

To address such issues, Messrs. Hurd and Mott got a mandate supporting the project from H-P's board. Mr. Mott says he also learned the importance of telling employees about the consequences of not cooperating. He told difficult executives that doing a cost-benefit analysis of their IT use "isn't really a choice," and, backed by Mr. Hurd, threatened some with termination. "Saying 'this is a policy and if you don't follow it you'll be in violation' was a powerful thing," Mr. Mott says.

"There are going to be booby traps all along the way if you have a culture like we do at H-P," Mr. Hurd cautioned the chief information officers, adding that the solution is to get management support from the top. "Getting the CEO lined up is hard, and that's the key person," he said.

This is a good lesson to learn for a big Green/Energy saving project in your data center like a consolidation project.  Without support from your executive staff, the VPs and other business unit owners are going to be one of your top organizational issues in going Green.  As soon as you start talking about PUE, and equipment efficiencies executives will wonder why you are bothering them with the details.  At the core of any green program is change.  And change will be resisted by organizations who don't see the downside of not supporting the change. Don't bother the execs with the technical details, focus on the issues of instituting changes required to support a Green Data Center.  List those changes that need to be supported, and get the support from your management.

Note: part of the inspiration for this post is a question from a friend who wants to discuss Green Data Centers at an executive conference.  We're stuck in that the details appeal to CIO and his staff, but without the buy-in from the CEO too many projects will fail as business units resist the changes required to go Green.

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