New NSA $1.5 Bil Data Center has Green Requirements

October 29, 2009 Dave Ohara

InformationWeek Government has an article about NSA’s new $1.5 billion data center.

NSA To Build $1.5 Billion Cybersecurity Data Center

The massive complex, comprising up to 1.5 million square feet of building space, will provide intelligence and warnings related to cybersecurity threats across government.

By J. Nicholas Hoover
InformationWeek
October 29, 2009 01:07 PM

The National Security Agency, whose job it is to protect national security systems, will soon break ground on a data center in Utah that's budgeted to cost $1.5 billion.

The NSA is building the facility to provide intelligence and warnings related to cybersecurity threats, cybersecurity support to defense and civilian agency networks, and technical assistance to the Department of Homeland Security, according to a transcript of remarks by Glenn Gaffney, deputy director of national intelligence for collection, who is responsible for oversight of cyber intelligence activities in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The budget document specifies green features.

Facility design goal will be to the highest LEED standard attainable within available resources and will include: sustainable site characteristics, water and energy efficiency, materials and resources criteria, and indoor environmental quality.

And even the generators have exhaust scrubbers.

Generators will include Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) pollution control equipment, chemical storage tanks and feed
system.

Nuclear Reactor Research at University of Missouri

October 29, 2009 Dave Ohara

I was just in Columbia, Missouri, and the folks I was with took me on campus and we drove by the University of Missouri Nuclear Reactor, a 10 mW facility.

Endowing The Future

The internationally recognized University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR), a
10-megawatt facility, is the most powerful among the dozens of research reactors located on our nation’s university campuses.

Even worldwide, few facilities can compare.

Those at MURR treat it like the unique national resource that it is, employing the facility as a research source – providing products and services that will save or extend people’s lives.

The superior level of the science at MURR helps put the products and services it offers a step ahead, further fueling the depth of its research.

What kind of reactor is it? Here is description and a comparison to a local nuclear plant.

Operations

Power Level: 10MW_th
Power Density, Core: 303 kW/liter, with peaking factor greater than 3
Primary Coolant Operating Temperature, Outlet (T_h): 136° F
Primary Coolant Operating Pressure: 80 psia
Core, Fuel Type: Open pool PWR, HEU aluminide fuel
LEU Conversion Feasibility Study: Currently underway
Reflector: Beryllium and graphite
Flux Trap, Peak: 6 x 10¹⁴ n/(cm²sec)
License Status: 20-year renewal request submitted August 2006 (to extend to October 2026)

General

The University of Missouri Research Reactor Center has an impeccable 40+ year record of safe operation. This safety record is a combination of stringent NRC-directed safety regulations, high-quality technical and operations staff, and a philosophy of proactive, preventive maintenance. MURR operates 6.5 days per week; 52 weeks per year.

MURR’s reliability record is the envy of the industry.

Missourians are no strangers to nuclear energy, relying heavily on Ameren UE’s nearby Callaway plant to cool or heat their businesses and homes and feed their equipment and appliances. But MURR, as a multifunctional research reactor, differs significantly from such a power reactor. As the table below shows, MURR is considerably smaller. While a power reactor such as Callaway needs a source of electricity to cool the reactor core, MURR’s pool is capable of absorbing all the heat from the reactor core without the aid of forced convection.

But the facility is not just for power.

Products & Services

With its reliable and growing Products and Services division, the people at MURR are making possible custom-made quality nuclear services to a global community – offering a full line of off-shelf products, analyses, research and commercial isotopes and radiochemicals, and analytical and neutron irradiation services to its customers.

Radioisotopes/Radiochemicals
MURR’s quality systems, bulk and research grade radioisotopes and radiochemicals and 16 MeV cyclotron makes it possible to deliver tailored products to fit customer needs.

Irradiation Services
Our reactor design and full-power weekly operating cycle make possible an extensive array of irradiation services.

Contract Manufacturing
MURR’s swift and accurate development and production capabilities help meet on-time needs for its customers and colleagues.

Analytical Services
The folks at MURR can’t solve all the mysteries of life, but with Neutron Activation Analysis and an array of other techniques, they can come close.

Business Incubator Facilities & Economic Development
From concept to commerce MURR, with help from the University of Missouri, is the place to be if you’re a small business in need of incubator facilities.

Maybe next time I am in Columbia, I can get a tour of the facility.

And, there are other parts of the University who take a green engineering approach as well.

Engineering goes green

The college’s favorite color connects to more than just St. Patrick

Story by Chris Blose

Illustration by Josh Nichols

Published: March 13, 2008

Around mid-March, a strange thing happens at the College of Engineering: People start wearing a lot of green. The occasional figure shows up dressed as St. Patrick, complete with flowing beard and green robes. The dome of Jesse Hall glows green at night. All of these things come in celebration of Engineers' Week, or E-week.

That’s just one week, though. All year long, students and scholars in engineering take the “green” connection to another level through environmentally friendly research and actions — from electric cars and alternative energy to recycled materials and energy audits.

In honor of E-Week at Mizzou, Mizzou Wire presents a few of the many examples of the university’s green engineering. Let us know if you have more examples.

Intel’s Microserver – 25 watts at idle

October 29, 2009 Dave Ohara

Intel has been attention for the market needs for low power servers – little green servers. CNet news writes on a new ‘microserver’ standard Intel is proposing.

Intel seeks new 'microserver' standard

by Stephen Shankland

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SAN FRANCISCO--In September, Intel introduced its back-to-the-future idea of tiny "microservers." Now the company wants to make the design into a standard others can use, too.

The chipmaker will offer its design specification to the Server System Infrastructure Forum by the end of the year, said Jason Waxman, general manager of Intel's high-density computing group. If the group's board votes its approval for the specification, group members may use the designs royalty-free, he said in a meeting with reporters here.

"Before the end of the year, it will happen," Waxman said.

An Intel 'microserver'

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

The computer industry is in constant tension between proprietary designs and standards that anyone may use. The former can mean tidy profits for companies, as long as the technology is widely adopted, but the latter can spur broader adoption. Intel's primary business, selling processors, benefits more from the latter when it comes to cultivating a new server market segment.

What is inside the Intel’s offering?

What's inside?
The diminutive server consists of a single quad-core processor and four memory banks. Intel showed 16 microservers housed in an 8.75-inch-tall chassis that supplies them all with power, cooling, and a network connection to the outside world. Along the bottom of the chassis is a bay with 16 "sleds" that each has a trio of 2.5-inch hard drives that directly connect to each microserver.

The present microserver uses a 1.86GHz quad-core processor, the "Lynnfield" model of Intel's new "Nehalem" generation. Its top power consumption is 45 watts, but early in 2010, Intel will release a dual-core "Clarkdale" model that consumes only 30 watts when running flat-out.

That's at the top end, though. Intel's goal is for the entire microserver--which also includes memory and supporting chips--to idle at just 25 watts of power.

An interesting part not discussed is how much is the microserver?

Data Center Site Selection – NC rides Apple and Google Wave

October 28, 2009 Dave Ohara

Hickoryrecord.com has an article highlighting 5 North Carolina counties promoting the data center corridor. Below is a picture of Apple’s under construction data center.

5 counties promote data center corridor

Robert C. Reed

Construction is under way on the $1 billion Apple data center in Maiden.

By John Dayberry | Hickory Daily Record

Published: October 28, 2009

Maiden - Scott Millar said establishing an information technology corridor stretching northwest from Charlotte could transform the region's economy.

"Partnering with Caldwell, Burke, Alexander and Iredell counties to market this to the world may give all the counties new business opportunities," said Millar, president of the Catawba County Economic Development Corp.

But what I found mind blowing is there were 40 site selection consultants at the event.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Millar and other economic development officials from the five counties outlined plans for a North Carolina data center corridor during a marketing event that attracted nearly 40 U.S. site selection consultants specializing in data center locations.

The regional economic development group is riding the Google and Apple and wave.

California-based Google opened a $600 million data center in Caldwell County in 2008.

When Apple announced plans for its $1 billion Maiden data center in July, economic development officials saw magnified potential for a data center corridor in the region.

Apple's arrival in the region also heightened interest on the part of site selection consultants from New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and other cities, Millar said.

Attendance at the Data Center Information Exchange blossomed.

"Eight (consultants) came the first year, 18 came last year and 38 came this year," Millar said.

"We're getting attention."

But do you think 40 site selection consultants know how to pick data center sites. I would maybe guess 4 out of the 40 really know what they are doing. But, how do you find the people who know what they are doing? Do you think these guys know where Apple and Google is going to buy next? Why buy where Apple and Google already bought?

There is a even a site selection magazine.

Site Selection Magazine, a nationally recognized publication, recently acknowledged a region anchored by financial data centers in Charlotte, Apple in Catawba County, Google in Caldwell County and the state's data center in Rutherford County as an emerging data center cluster that is attracting attention within the industry.

The site is here.

And, while all these site selection consultants were in NC, I was in Missouri, arriving in Kansas City, stopping in Columbia, and about to head to St. Louis. One of the appealing parts of Missouri is the learning infrastructure.

AFCOM Green IT survey

October 27, 2009 Dave Ohara

Reuters has a news release written by GreenBiz.com.

Green IT Hits the Mainstream in Data Centers

Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:00am EDT

By Matthew Wheeland - Greener World Media

Over on the GreenBiz.com side of my job, we talk quite a lot about the nature of "green consumer" surveys -- how even over the course of 20 years, there's been very little change in the number of people who say they'd pay more for green products (always the vast majority says they will), while the actual market for green products is only growing ever so slightly.

Survey says:

That, however, doesn't seem to be the case for green IT: a study conducted by AFCOM at its recent Data Center World conference finds that the an ever-increasing number of data center and facility managers (71.3 percent, to be precise -- what we could easily call "the vast majority") have already adopted at least some green IT projects.

Conclusions.

What she found most interesting is how quickly and thoroughly the concept of greening the data center has taken off. "Where maybe five or six years ago green IT was a concept that people were starting to look at, it is no longer just a concept: It's here and it's being taken seriously."

The big reason, of course, has to do with exactly those two top results from the survey: green IT saves money.

"[Green IT] extends a positive savings to the corporation, which is looking at data centers as big wasters of energy -- executives are asking what they're going to do about it," Eckhaus explained

Even so, one of the wrinkles in the study shows that despite C-suite concern about data center energy use, the biggest obstacle to implementing these projects is that there's not enough money to get these projects started: 39 percent said budgets were too tight to purchase more efficient servers or cooling systems.

Gap closing between IT and Facilities.

Another interesting finding in the survey is that, even though there may still be gap between the data center and the C-suite, it seems like the longstanding gap between the IT and Facilities departments is closing: of the 436 respondents to the survey, 59 percent were from the IT department and 31% from Facilities.

With this gap closing -- in essence, by making sure that IT managers are also the ones seeing the energy bill for their systems -- it suggests that energy efficiency will pick up all the more quickly.

And, the marketing pitch for the next conference. :-)

As with all trend surveys, AFCOM plans to undertake another one during the next Data Center World, coming up in March in Nashville. But in the meantime, the first round of survey results suggests great progress toward green, efficient IT systems.