Data centers are complex facilities, and efficiency potential depends on a wide range of factors. Data center decisions are subject to influence from many stakeholders—business executives, purchasers, IT operators, and facilities managers. Expertise and knowledge about the topics below is spread across this diverse group. Participation from a team of stakeholders is needed to evaluate efficiency potential and implement
efficiency programs. These questions will help to start the dialogue on data center efficiency:
• Where are servers located? (In server closets in offices; in company-owned data centers; or in leased data center space (co-location)). Are IT services outsourced?
• What is the utilization of server capacity?
• Less than 5% indicates a large opportunity to increase hardware utilization; 20–30% is relatively good, but still may offer opportunity for improvement.
• What is the power density (W of IT equipment per square foot (SF)) of data center space?
• Less than 100 W/SF indicates server densities are low. More servers could likely be added through retrofit programs.
• What is the data center power utilization effectiveness (PUE, see description below)?
• 1.5 is a reasonable target for retrofit efforts; industry average PUE is about 2.0.
• Who (which department) pays for data center energy and operating costs?
• Who is responsible for IT strategy and data center investments?
