Competing for Top Data Center Talent - energy efficient vs. Green/Sustainable

Green Data Center is a topic that gets discounted by many.  But, talking to a good friend who is passionate about green data centers, he made the point how often being environmentally responsible comes up in his hiring.

If you are hiring someone who is in their 20s.  (Note: I am turning 50, so I am twice as old as the people you are hiring)  If all things are equal between companies are they going to pick your company because you are passionate about energy efficiency or passionate about the environment?

Here is an Google post were efficiency is discussed.

Google is looking for highly motivated individuals to provide leadership and oversight of our state-of-the-art datacenter facilities. Our datacenters are industry-leading examples of innovative capital- and energy-efficient designs in action.

Mike Manos posts on his Uptime Symposium presentation on CO2K.

This year my talk was about the coming energy regulation and its impact on data centers, and more specifically what data center managers and mission critical facilities professionals could and should be doing to get their companies ready for what I call CO2K.   I know I will get a lot of pushback on the CO2K title, but I think my analogy makes sense.  First companies are generally not aware of the impact that their data centers and energy consumption have, Second most companies are dramatically unprepared and do not have the appropriate tools in place to collect the information, which will of course lead to the third item, lots of reactionary spending to get this technology and software in place.  While Y2K was generally a flop and a lot of noise, if legislation is passed (and lets be clear about the very direct statements the Obama administration has made on this topic) this work will lead to a significant change in reporting and management responsibilities for our industry.

Think we are ready for this legislation?

If you are young and idealistic, realizing the past ignorance of environmental impact is making the world worse, who would you pick?  Working for Google or Mike Manos?

It is hard to find passionate intelligent data center staff who want to do the right thing.  But, it is much easier if you make a Green Data Center part of your recruiting.

Some have stumbled on the green data center recruiting benefits, and they feel good.

Do you?

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Right Time To Push Climate Change, Obama calls for action

For those of you who thought Climate Change was a dead issue in the US, the BP spill has created an opportunity to push for climate change.  NYTimes reports on president Obama's latest call to action.

Obama Tells Congress to 'Seize the Moment' on Climate Legislation

Published: June 16, 2010

President Obama challenged the country last night to unify behind a "national mission" to reduce its reliance on oil and coal, using his first Oval Office address to pressure Congress into acting quickly on clean energy legislation.

Can you imagine being a oil industry lobbyists, trying to tell Congress why climate change is bad for the economy?

Obama promised to make the oil giant place billions into a holding account that would be used to compensate people who've lost wages, before pivoting into a sweeping promotion of a renewable power economy that would prevent future disasters like the spill while creating jobs.

"Time and again, the path forward has been blocked -- not only by oil industry lobbyists, but also by a lack of political courage and candor," Obama said. "The consequences of our inaction are now in plain sight."

"We cannot consign our children to this future," he added. "The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now. Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash America's innovation and seize control of our own destiny."

The push is on for climate change.

"I think it's the right push at the right time," said David Hunter, director of U.S. policy with the International Emissions Trading Association and a former climate aide to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key swing vote on climate legislation. "It gives an opportunity to get legislation done this summer. It's a narrow window, but it is there."

Are you ready to report your data center carbon emissions?

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Santa Clara Valley Water District restricts water use

Water is a topic that few discuss in data centers, but more and more thanks to companies like Google and data center leaders like Mike Manos water is discussed much more than 2 years ago.  Water is a category I added from the beginning to this Green Data Center blog.

I am in SJ for the last few days, and the SJ Mercury had the Water Crisis Over? on the front page.

Water crisis over? Everywhere in the Bay Area but Santa Clara County

By Paul Rogers

progers@mercurynews.com

Posted: 06/15/2010 06:24:25 PM PDT

Updated: 06/15/2010 09:04:58 PM PDT

Grass is green. Reservoirs are brimming. Rainfall in San Jose is 114 percent of normal. The Sierra was thick with snow all spring.

Yet, despite the wettest spring since 2006, Silicon Valley's largest water provider on Tuesday voted to keep in place mandatory water conservation measures for this summer, becoming the only Bay Area water agency to demand reductions from the public this year rather than asking for voluntary savings.

"Don't be fooled by the rain. Our worries aren't over," said Dick Santos, chairman of the Santa Clara Valley Water District board. "From now on, conservation is a way of life. We have the same amount of water today as when Adam and Eve were on Earth. Now we have billions of

One of these days water conservation will be a standard practice for the majority of data centers.  Don't just think of the cost of the water and sewage, but the risks to your data center operations for a given amount of water use?  I bet most data centers would run out of water before power if the facility was islanded due to utility infrastructure failure.  The trucking in of diesel for generators is manageable.  Trucking in water could be a magnitude more .

Water is one of the most under appreciated Earth's resources. 

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Data Center Technical Targeting Analyst

Data Centers are complex systems, but there are many more complex systems that have had a bunch of smart people thinking about how to solve tough problems.

I've been going down the path of what others do and found this job post for a CIA Technical/Targeting Analyst.

Technical/Targeting Analyst

Work Schedule:
Full Time

Salary:
$42,209 – $136,771

Location:
Washington, DC metropolitan area

Do you have an aptitude for solving challenging puzzles? Are you able to focus on technical details while maintaining a “big picture” perspective? Do you enjoy writing and briefing on the important results of your work? The Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Science and Technology is seeking candidates to serve as Technical Analysts and be part of a dynamic team that unites three disciplines—analysis, development and operations—to maximize our collection advantage.

As a Technical Analyst you will be a pivotal member of a mission that pioneers solutions that enable the DST to collect intelligence against our nation's highest priority threats in a global environment that is often hostile, fast-paced, and technologically savvy. We are looking for high-energy, intellectually curious individuals who thrive on tackling the most difficult all-source analytic efforts in support of cutting-edge operations using specialized, state-of-the-art tools and technologies. This work is increasingly complex and highly dynamic, affording the successful candidate considerable opportunity to address high-profile intelligence issues and apply the full-range of analytic tradecraft to sophisticated, challenging DST mission covering many regional areas including: the Middle East, East Asia, South Asia, Europe and Latin America as well as developing substantive expertise on terrorism, proliferation, cyber threats, narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

Couldn't you take the first paragraph and apply it to data centers?

Do you have an aptitude for solving challenging puzzles? Are you able to focus on technical details while maintaining a “big picture” perspective? Do you enjoy writing and briefing on the important results of your work? The Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Science and Technology Data Center Agency (DCA) is seeking candidates to serve as Technical Analysts and be part of a dynamic team that unites three disciplines—analysis, development and operations—to maximize our collection  Data Center advantage.

Hiring a CIA spook could be an interesting way to gain insight.

Data Centers are ready for change and the analyst role could be a key tool to figure out a better way.

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Sea Micro defines a little green server

I've been blogging about the idea of a Little Green Server watching for companies who embrace the idea that smaller is better.  I checked my blog and I wrote about the idea Intel Atom Servers in July 2008.

Sea Micro came out of its quiet period, and made quite a bit of noise. 

image

The one I am waiting for next is ARM Servers.

From the momentum it looks like the idea of Intel Atom servers is going to be deployed.

SeaMicro in the News

June 14, 2010

Wall Street Journal: SeaMicro Tries to Rethink the Internet Server

Not many people start computer companies these days, with fierce competition and dog-eat-dog pricing making other businesses seem much more appealing. But SeaMicro is going for it, in an unusual way.

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June 14, 2010

EE Times: Startup SeaMicro packs 512 Intel Atoms in server. SM10000 seen as first in wave of Atom, ARM-based servers

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Startup SeaMicro announced Monday (June 14) a server that packs 512 Intel Atom processors in a 10U chassis to deliver the same performance at a fraction of their power and space as systems using conventional server CPUs.

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June 13, 2010

Venture Beat: SeaMicro drops an atom bomb on the server industry

Coming out of stealth, SeaMicro is dispelling the Silicon Valley myth that you can’t innovate in hardware anymore. The startup is announcing today it has created a server with 512 Intel Atom chips that gets supercomputer performance but uses 75 percent less power and space than current servers.

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June 13, 2010

GIGAOM: SeaMicro’s Low-power Server Finally Launches

SeaMicro, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based startup building a low-power server using Atom chips and its own specially designed silicon to manage the networking, has finally unveiled its hardware, and it’s pretty darn impressive.

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June 13, 2010

IDG/PC World: SeaMicro's Cloud Server Sports 512 Atom Processors

SeaMicro has developed a server that packs in 512 low-power Intel Atom processors on miniature motherboards the size of credit cards, the company announced Monday.

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June 13, 2010

Fast Company: Google's Power-Hogging Server Farms Versus SeaMicro's Super-Efficient Supercomputers

The computer server industry may not sound like a hotbed for innovation to you, but SeaMicro thinks differently. It's just rocked the server world with a super-computer-like product that's smaller and more power-efficient than any rival's.

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June 14, 2010

DailyTech: SeaMicro Launches Microtransaction Server Featuring 512 Atom CPUs

Taking multi-core to an extreme

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June 14, 2010

earth2tech: SeaMicro Unveils Low Power Server

Get ready to start hearing a whole lot more about stealthy low-power server maker SeaMicro.

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June 14, 2010

Data Center Knowledge: SeaMicro Unveils its Low Power Server

Startup server maker SeaMicro today unveiled a new low-power server that promises to slash power costs for companies running large Internet services and cloud computing platforms.

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June 14, 2010

eWeek: SeaMicro Uses Intel Atom Chip in Server Architecture

Startup SeaMicro is unveiling its SM10000 server, which takes advantage of the small and highly energy efficient Intel Atom processors and its own I/O virtualization technology to create a computing architecture that is highly scalable and drives down server power and space costs by as much as 75 percent over traditional systems.

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June 14, 2010

CRN UK: SeaMicro shakes up server arena

Start-up vendor SeaMicro has slammed what it sees as a lack of innovation in the server market as it launches into the UK channel.

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June 14, 2010

Information Week: SeaMicro Intros Server With 512 Atom Processors

Silicon Valley startup SeaMicro has unveiled a 10U rack-mount server that uses 512 low-power, Intel Atom processors to dramatically cut energy consumption and space in the data center.

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June 14, 2010

Wired: Startup Builds Power-Efficient Servers With Netbook Chips

Atom chips are the underpowered CPUs inside most netbooks. But one company has found a way to stitch 512 of them together to create a single powerful server.

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June 14, 2010

CNET: Start-up launches DOE-backed green server

Start-up SeaMicro has launched a green server based on Intel's power-sipping Atom processor. The company is backed by about $25 million in venture capital and a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

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June 14, 2010

AnandTech: SeaMicro Announces SM10000 Server with 512 Atom CPUs and Low Power Consumption

Two years ago when I first covered Intel’s Atom architecture I proposed that Moore’s Law has paved the way for two things: 1) ridiculously fast microprocessors, and 2) fast enough microprocessors.

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June 14, 2010

Server Watch: SeaMicro Launches an Atom-Powered Cloud Computing Server

With 512 Atom processors in a 10u rack mounted unit, SeaMicro is defying not just conventional wisdom of what makes a Web server, but server design as well.

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January 06, 2010

Data Center Knowledge: SeaMicro, More Than Just Low-Power Servers

Stealthy startup SeaMicro isn’t saying much about its technology, which aims to “revolutionize the data center landscape” by slashing the power used in IT operations.

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January 06, 2010

GigaOM: SeaMicro’s Secret Server Changes Computing Economics

SeaMicro, a stealthy server company based in Santa Clara, Calif., today scored $9.3 million from the Department of Energy as part of a program to encourage data center efficiency.

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January 06, 2010

earth2tech: SeaMicro, A Server Maker That Could Change the Game of Computing Power

When the Department of Energy announced that it was awarding 14 data center efficiency projects $47 million this morning, one name piqued my interest: SeaMicro.

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