SAN JOSE, Calif. — Cassatt's new technology, announced this week, controls the energy use of inactive or idling servers to reduce the total power consumption in data centers.

IT admins set the policies that define how Cassatt's Active Power Management software interacts with the servers, and the program continually optimizes power consumption based on the time of day, demand, curtailments imposed by power companies, or any other guidelines. Cassatt found that preliminary tests of the program saved their customers as much as 50 percent in power usage by switching off idling servers.

"Data centers have been big energy wasters because they operate on a one-application-per-server principle to ensure 100 percent uptime during peak usage, resulting in massively over-provisioned systems constantly running at full power even when they're not needed," said Bill Coleman, chairman and CEO of Cassatt. "Now customers can have 100 percent uptime -- and cut their energy costs nearly in half."

Cassatt's Active Power Management is policy-based, allowing admins to determine when, where, and how to shut down idle servers, rather than leave them running 24-7. The program also knows when and how applications can be systematically shut down and brought back up safely and efficiently, and can track the interdependence of applications across multiple servers. And the company said that because the program works across any platform, it doesn't require any new hardware or software configurations.

The new technology is the first step in a broader platform of programs and services Cassatt will offer to help customers make their data centers greener, which the company will announce later this month.