Computers of all sizes — whether servers sitting in data center racks or desktop computers for office workers — drain power and generate heat. And when their useful life is over, they often take up landfill space.

Manufacturers are trying new technologies and techniques to make them more efficient and longer-lasting. Replacing familiar rackmount servers with blade servers is one common approach. Blade servers are bare-bones computers, just a few vital components on a circuit board. A blade enclosure provides a single power supply and cooling system for a collection of blades.

IBM Corp.’s BladeCenter integrates servers, storage, networking and applications into one system. The system reduces the need for server farms and requires fewer employees to manage them, said Tim Dougherty, BladeCenter planning and strategy manager at IBM.

“IBM BladeCenter is much more integrated and energy efficient than traditional rack-based systems,” Dougherty said. BladeCenter uses 30 percent less power than rack-based systems, he said. IBM isn’t alone in pushing blade servers. Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sun Microsystems Inc. each have their own products.

Government agencies considering using blades should have a good idea of where and how they will use the systems. Systems can be specifically designed for high-performance data centers or ruggedized deployment.

Systems integrators should consider what the application requirements will be before selecting a specific kind of blade. A variety of processor technology server choices are available in IBM blades including Intel, Advance Micro Devices, IBM Power and IBM Cell BE-based. Sun Blade systems also support several architectures: Sun UltraSPARC, AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon, Solaris 10 OS, Linux, Windows and VMware in a single common chassis.

There is also a selection of input/output methods including Ethernet, Fibre Channel, Internet SCSI, InfiniBand and SAS fabrics.

“This allows systems integrators to work with the [input/output] they are already comfortable with and best fits the deployment environment,” Dougherty said.

Storage is another key area where environmental impact can be reduced. The general rule of thumb is that organizations use about 20 percent of their storage on a regular basis.

Using environmentally smart storage for the remaining 80 percent of the data helps dramatically reduce a customer’s costs, said Bill Vass, president at Sun Microsystems Federal Inc.

Robotic tape storage can also cut energy costs. Unlike disk architecture, where the storage device and media are one unit, the media is separate from the device in tape systems.

“This means that data that is written to a tape cartridge that is stored within a robotic library is consuming zero amount of electricity,” Vass said. “While the library itself is consuming electricity, it is extremely minimal when compared to disk storage systems.”

Curb power consumption
Reducing how often an organization replaces desktop PCs is another green strategy. And when PCs need to be replaced, using thin clients instead of desktops has big environmental benefits. Pano Logic, of Menlo Park, Calif., produces a virtualized desktop computing architecture that uses server-based virtualization and relies on no software — operating system, firmware or applications software — on the desktop.

Each Pano installation consists of a Pano device on the desktop with Pano management software and existing virtualization technology, such as VMware ESX, installed on a central server.

“By moving all desktop software to the server, the Pano solution delivers a number of benefits, including a dramatic reduction in power consumption, a reduction in IT complexity and cost, a superior Windows desktop experience and the elimination of the PC as a security risk,” said Benjamin Baer, vice president of marketing at Pano Logic.

The diminutive Pano device is designed to have a useful life double that of a traditional PC.

“Pano devices not only become obsolete at a much slower rate, they are also produced using a fraction of the materials needed to produce a traditional PC, Baer said. “The Pano is only 3.5 inches by 3.5 inches by 2 inches — compared to a traditional PC tower, which could be made of well more than 20 times the amount of plastic and other materials.”

Sun Microsystems’ thin client, the Sun Ray Thin Client, is another example. The Sun Ray looks and acts like a desktop. It has a 12-year life cycle in the enterprises versus two to three years for a PC.

The system also enables hoteling, a trend in which mobile workers who visit offices sporadically share offices or cubicles. Using this approach, organizations can substantially reduce requirements for office space.

“Any place you go and put in your smart card, your whole environment follows you,” Vass said. “And it only uses 4 watts vs. 120-220 watts for a PC.”

Compact hardware other than desktops also has environmental benefits. The HP LaserJet P1006 is the company’s smallest and most compact laser printing system for the small office.

The printer has a new spherical toner in a smaller toner cartridge and uses less energy. And with HP Instant-on Technology, a fuser technology, users can print a first page in less than 8.5 seconds from Powersave mode, saving as much as 50 percent in power consumption.

“The ultra-compact HP LaserJet P1006 ships with less packaging than previous products and is engineered to use less energy over an extended period of time,” said Dave Lobato, environmental program manager at HP LaserJet Business. “This product is Energy Starqualified and can also handle recycled paper.”

Infrastructure evaluation
Before launching into an energy saving project, Vass recommends systems integrators carefully evaluate current IT infrastructures.

Eco-friendly isabout saving and using assets more effectively, Vass said.

“In the near future, the CIOs will ‘own’ the power budget for the IT they deploy at the desktop and the data center,” he said. “It has to happen to drive savings for the CFO because power is becoming such a large part of the budget. And computer labs, desktops, and data centers are the biggest consumers of power per square foot of any space in the federal buildings.”

Staff writer Doug Beizer can be reached at dbeizer@110govinfo.com.