VMware, the global leader in virtualization solutions, announced the opening of a new green IT datacenter yesterday. Located in East Wenatchee, Washington, the new center will be developed using cutting-edge technology with special attention on maximizing the use of VMware virtualization software. The company is looking forward to attain an ambitions PUE figure and has entered the facility for a LEED Platinum certification by the US Green Building Council.
The new data center is solely powered by hydroelectric energy and maximizes use of airside economization or free cooling. A hot- and cold-aisle containment is included in the design so that the air-handling equipment at the facility can be further optimized. It is estimated that expects airside economizers will bring down the air-conditioning usage by 50-75 percent. The company’s projects, which reduce the power consumption due to shorter air-compressor runtimes, will save $500,000 annually.
The new facility will support VMware’s IT department and serve as testing grounds for the company’s research and development group. In case the LEED application is a success, the center will the third data center in the US to achieve the highest-level award for sustainable design and building practices. The data center’s IT equipment is optimized via virtualization, running the vendor’s vSphere 4 virtualization platform. Server utilization is monitored by VMware’s Distributed Power Management application, which turns off physical machines when they are not needed.
Via: DatacenterDynamics