Out of the 300 customers Interact have worked with over the last couple of years, the one problem they all face is how to increase the energy efficiency of their data centres.

Although most data centres are skilled at implementing energy efficiency measures based on the infrastructure of data centres, when it comes to the energy efficiency of the hardware inside these data centres, they simply don’t know where to start.

Energy Efficiency Starts with Hardware

IT infrastructure is responsible for 65% of the energy load of data centres on average. Therefore, it is an obvious first step to tackle hardware energy efficiency if you want to make significant energy reductions within a data centre.

However, it is not as simple as measuring the energy efficiency of the server estate. It is not only the make and model of the server that impacts the server’s energy efficiency, the server’s configuration has the single largest impact on energy use. The age of the machine needs to be factored into the decision-making process, but also the components that the server is made up of. To summarise, component level changes drive efficiency.

This was the challenge Interact took on when they created a transparent grading mechanism based on a per server configuration to help customers accurately measure the energy efficiency of their server estate.

Efficiency Grading Mechanism

Interact’s grading mechanism classifies the server estate from the most performative to the least. The customer supplies five pieces of information (number of CPUs, type of CPUs, make and model of server and total RAM). In return, they are sent a report grading their servers from A+ (most efficient) to F in transactions per watts.

Interact’s grading report is the only place customers can get an energy efficiency grade specific to the configuration of the server as well as to the make and model. Published results are only based on one particular configuration of the server, which means that Interact’s configuration-specific efficiency metric is simply not available anywhere else.

Grading for Project Management

Interact’s grading scale for each individual hardware configuration enables customers to get started on energy efficiency projects.

Using the grading scale, customers can identify those servers which need attention: low performers, high energy users, suboptimal configurations and candidates for upgrade / reconfiguration.

It enables managers to provide a business case for the most impactful projects for their business. These include supporting the most beneficial decommissioning, consolidation and upgrade strategies, identifying servers for product life extension (reducing annualised scope 3 emissions and reducing total cost of ownership for those assets) or planning a new data centre build, based on the most efficient servers for the business.

It is a relatively small project that delivers significant energy efficiency, carbon reduction and financial wins immediately and with no compromise to data security.

Driving Digital Transformation

Interact also provide consultancy packages for data centre optimisation and ultimately for digital transformation.

They can help customers plan projects that have highest impact for their business – to reduce scope 2 and 3 CO2 emissions, reduce total cost of ownership, decrease number of facilities, increase available space or optimise density within the racks.

Building New

Whether managing a legacy facility or planning a new build, data centre managers will soon have to provide figures on how efficient the hardware they are running is.

Interact’s grading plays a useful role for new data centres because it allows management to identify the most efficient make, model and configuration for the particular workload they are running.

It enables customers to get a snapshot of their server estate in terms of energy efficiency even if they have little knowledge of the hardware.

The result? Whether colocation or enterprise, data centres using the grading mechanism can identify millions in cost savings and begin seeing the benefit of this from day one.

Enterprise Solutions

Interact have also built a custom-built API for larger enterprise businesses or DCIMs, that allows Interact to directly integrate with the customers’ DCIM, CMBD, ITAM software and provides real-time grading without any need to be on premise. This is offered as an annual licence.

To find out more about Interact’s solutions, get in touch.