An overwhelming trend is taking the data storage industry by storm. "Green" is redefining the framework of data centers across the globe. Is the green movement just a trend or is there something more substantial behind corporate sustainability?

A resounding consensus confirms that there is more behind green data storage than meets the eye. Studies show that .3 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions worldwide are produced by data centers, according to the Uptime Institute). The IT industry is seeing costs related to power, cooling, and space impact the bottom line. In 2010 the estimated energy bill for data centers will be $11.5 billion; up nearly $3 billion from 2007, according to the Uptime Institute. In a typical data center, it costs $75,000 annually to power and cool a high-end system supporting 1 Petabyte of data. This type of system occupies as much as five rack units of space. Although most of us are aware of the growing impact of data centers on the environment, we find it hard to sacrifice the elements that business dictates is necessary to grow and expand. The good news for those wishing to go green is that new storage solutions have actually improved technology, enabling data centers to run more smoothly and efficiently.

Managing Data in a "Green" Way

As the storage industry continues to grow and expand, so does the market need for accessibility. How do we balance the requirement for green with the need to manage more data and deliver it immediately across the network? These requirements are no longer at odds as the industry shifts paradigms towards performance-built, energy-efficient solutions.

In the past, the top storage concern of IT professionals was capacity. With today's data-on-demand applications, capacity is no longer the single criteria driving IT decisions. Performance, scalability, and manageability are also key requirements. Previously, companies added more disk drives to achieve the level of performance needed. More disks and more capacity meant more units, which translated into higher costs for power, cooling and management. Even with additional systems, end-users were often disappointed with underutilized storage solutions that failed to meet performance expectations. These suboptimal solutions required thousands of dollars to maintain. This impractical approach to storage has been replaced by new technology that is redefining how data is stored and accessed.

New innovations have lead to disruptive technology that not only addresses the need for better capacity and performance but revolutionizes the way we look at storage. New systems employ a high-density form factor featuring hundreds of massively parallel disk drives. These new systems deliver five to 10 times the computing power of conventional systems while requiring only one-fifth the rack space. High-density alternatives increase the levels of performance while providing the necessary capacity and scalability to meet growing requirements. In addition, these new systems facilitate less complicated management and operation, providing IT professionals with peace of mind. New systems offer storage virtualization to help increase the overall utilization of the system, enhance data availability, and improve management through a single pane of glass.

Understanding Green Storage Metrics

New solutions also bring green savings. Considering that data centers are one of the fastest growing and largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, we as an industry must take the necessary steps to minimize our impact. We must also understand that some green solutions are inherently superior to others. There are a couple of key areas that should be given serious thought when considering energy efficient storage.