May 17, 2012

CFD Modeling Podcast: Get a Handle on Your Data Center Airflow

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Listen to the Computational Fluid Dynamics Podcast Jamie Davis as been working in and around data centers for some 25 years, so when he gets excited about any given data center technology, you can bet it’s with good reason. And he is absolutely excited about how computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology is being used to create 3-dimensional models that help data center engineers make solid decisions on data center layout and cooling infrastructure.  Listen to this information packed Podcast to get all the details. “Gartner says by 2013 all data center design is going to be done with 3D modeling,”… Continue Reading ›

The Role of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) in Proper Data Center Design

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Long gone are the days when companies would design their data center by scratching out a diagram with pen and paper. Today, most firms use tools such as the Microsoft Visio diagramming software or a computer-aided design (CAD) tool such as Autodesk Revit. Either tool will enable you to create a nice, accurate depiction of how your data center will be laid out, says Jonathan Caserta, Physical Infrastructure Solutions Architect with Carousel Industries. If you follow industry best practices in terms of data center layout, you’ll likely be able to create a good, energy efficient data center. At least at… Continue Reading ›

Addressing the Security Issues that Virtualization Presents

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Virtualization technology is helping companies save money by consolidating data center infrastructure while increasing their agility in terms of being able to meet business requirements. But the more companies delve into virtualization, the more they realize it’s also creating substantial new challenges in terms of security. Limited Visibility with Virtual Servers The problem stems from the fact that much of the data traffic in a highly virtualized environment is completely invisible to traditional network monitoring and security tools. As Peter Peter McMullen, Cloud Security Specialist at Juniper Networks explained during a recent conversation, “The reason is these tools – whether… Continue Reading ›

6 Keys to Saving Energy in Your Data Center

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As companies look for ways to reduce expenses, energy savings is a rather obvious target. That’s especially true when it comes to data centers, which can consume 100 times more energy than the offices they support, according to David Cappuccio, Research VP with Gartner. But there are ways to ease the pain. Here are six key actions every business should consider when working to deploy a modern and highly energy efficient data center. 1. Perform an Energy Audit The first step in planning for efficiency is determining how much energy your data center is consuming. Areas to examine include your… Continue Reading ›

How To Plan Effectively For Your Server Virtualization Project

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At Carousel, we pride ourselves on properly planning our IT projects to ensure success, and virtualization projects are no different. After working on dozens (hundreds?) of virtualization projects over the years, we’ve come up with a number of planning steps that can help ensure your project goes more smoothly – and ends in success. Take Inventory Before Diving in to Virtualization Before you can start virtualizing servers, you need to have detailed data on what your IT infrastructure looks like, which means performing an IT audit. Only with this data in hand can you make informed financial and functional decisions… Continue Reading ›

Tidbits Picked on the Show Floor at the Gartner Data Center Conference

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I love those columns that sports writers seem to specialize in, full of short tidbits that don’t warrant full columns on their own but collectively make for a great one. “Emptying Out the Desk Drawer of the Sports Mind,” as Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe puts it. With this post, we want to steal that idea and pass along a few tidbits picked up at the Gartner Data Center Conference in Las Vegas this week. Desktop virtualization is poised for growth In a session called “Reshaping Storage Infrastructures to Support Virtualization and Big Data Initiatives,” Gartner research director Gene… Continue Reading ›

How to Build a Business Case for a Server Virtualization Project

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Chance are you’ve heard about all the benefits that server virtualization technology promises, from increased resource utilization to improved agility. But as with any IT project, you’ve got to build abusiness case for it before you get the green light for your own initial or expanded virtualization project. The good news is the case is not terribly hard to make, as IT projects go. That’s because virtualization is one of those rare technologies where the benefits are readily quantifiable and offer a rapid return on investment. Here are some of the criteria you can use to build your own case.… Continue Reading ›

4 Ways to Save on Data Center Cooling Costs

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Reducing the energy consumption of their data centers should be a top concern for every IT department, simply because it can save so much money. As we’ve discussed previously, upgrading hardware is certainly one way to save on data center power costs.  But nowhere is the savings greaterthan in cooling systems, according to a blog post at arstechnica.com: The price for power also tends to get magnified at the data center level. [John] Haas [of Intel] said that, based on his company’s estimates, one watt saved at the server can save 2.84W at the data center level, while Google’s Chris… Continue Reading ›

A 4-Step Strategy for Big Data Center Energy Savings: Schneider Electric / APC Podcast

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Too many companies are leaving money on the table when it comes to their data centers – or, more accurately, tossing it out the window. That’s because they don’t spend the time and effort to ensure their data centers are as energy efficient as they can be, and wind up spending more than they have to on data center power and cooling. Take a listen to this information packed podcast to get some tips on how to remedy the problem from Russell Senesac, the director of data center business for APC by Schneider Electric, a Carousel partner. As you’ll hear… Continue Reading ›

Feds Make Progress in their Push to the Cloud; TAG to Help States and Others Follow Suit

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It’s been nearly a year since former U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra issued his call for government agencies to shift to a“Cloud First” policy, which states: When evaluating options for new IT deployments, OMB will require that agencies default to cloud-based solutions whenever a secure, reliable, cost-effective cloud option exists. To facilitate this shift, we will be standing up secure government-wide cloud computing platforms. Agencies were required to identify at least three services that could migrate to the cloud. And they’ve apparently been making steady progress, as they’ve idendtifed at least 78 systems that have or are in the progress of… Continue Reading ›