Digital Media Buzz > Virtualizing a Future in Green IT

Virtualizing a Future in Green IT

By Moria Byrne

As the IBM senior-certified IT architect for IBM Global Business Services, John Lamb works as part of an influential group of architectural engineers changing how IT departments approach energy usage.

An information technology leader who has worked on IT systems for the New York Stock Exchange and other industry leaders, Lamb implements new money and energy-saving techniques as part of IBM’s Project Big Green project. The project will redirect USD $1 billion per year to increase energy efficiency of IBM products and services. As part of a team of technology engineers building data centers for a South African mobile phone company, Lamb helped the company provide energy and services to the local community without expending energy resources.

As part of the IBM Global Business Service team and author of more 50 white papers and two other books on technology, Lamb shares his technical expertise on energy-saving techniques with businesses in the U.S. as well as IT businesses with in his latest book, The Greening of IT: How companies can make a difference for the environment. Lamb explains how cloud computing, more efficient cooling systems, increased use of energy metrics, incentives and better hardware are all changing the role of IT operators from energy users to energy watchdogs. His book is intended for both CEOs and technical engineers by providing both the why (savings and increased productivity) and the how (a technology guide of how to apply energy savings techniques) of energy-saving IT techniques. Lamb recently spoke with DMB’s Moria Byrne.

What are the major trends in IT Green Technology right now?
There is a growing awareness about energy consumption in the IT business community. Also, the economic downturn has forced companies to look for ways to reduce costs.

Fortunately, even in this bad economy, electricity is doing well, which means IT will continue to grow. For example, Google has 450,000 servers and keeps growing. What this means is that the company needs to keep building upon a tremendous database.

Does cloud computing play an important role in IT energy conservation? Absolutely! Ten years from now, everything will be done through cloud computing. It is a way to optimize a data center.

IBM consulting expects the number of server shipments to grow by six times and the number of server databases by 69 times. Information technology keeps growing. It reflects how data centers keep growing. In South Africa, we are working with a mobile phone company with a tremendous customer service database. A lot of the information is regulation customer information, etc. The company has 2 Pedbites of information; that’s 10,000 GB! This is a tremendous amount of data. Overall, IBM is building more than 70,000 GB of new information a day.

Were you able to save a lot of energy by using cloud computing for the South African mobile phone company?
IBM moved all 10 database servers into a private cloud where the energy is shared. IBM worked with a company to make their system of 1,000 data servers more efficient. It was hard to keep track of 1,000 servers and going around to keep up the power supply. Now, their power is all in one server. Companies can save a lot by consolidating data servers.

It’s important to create a network, to consolidate and centralize data centers. Cloud computing makes a global network possible. Currently, IBM has 10 virtual servers. Energy costs were greatly reduced by cloud computing. Yet, consolidating data center isn’t enough; companies must moderate metric systems by new standards.

And cloud computing is your way of virtualizing data centers?
Before laptops and the like, which was 40 years ago, every department had their own terminal. It turns out if you wanted to share energy from one center to another, you couldn’t. We decided to go back to the future and make computer systems highly available, uninterrupted service with high-end supplies of energy. This way when the power goes out, the computers keep running. Now, the power is all in one data server.

You save a lot of energy. It’s like taking 10 houses and turning them into an apartment building in which residents are sharing the same heating system. With cloud computing, we don’t have to think about the servers running out of power.

Virtual just means you don’t have separate servers but systems sharing (like a printer) a bigger storage device. For instance, if you have two stand-alone servers with 10-percent capacity and one is using at 5-percent capacity and [another one is] using at 10-percent capacity, it’s better for the two systems to work together. As one is underused and the other is used to its capacity, you still have 5 percent energy capacity to spare.

Do you think that IT departments will be responsible in 10 years for keeping their energy consumption in check?
Absolutely. IT departments will be responsible for their own energy bills. Currently, there is no repercussions when an IT department wants an additional server. There isn’t a good chargeback system in place.

IT departments would have a certain number of GB of storage per month or fiscal quarter.  If a department decides that they need 100 GB more, they will be charged for the additional GB out of their departmental budget. IT departments take responsibility for their electric bills and consider energy needs carefully before increasing GB storage.

Do you think government incentives are going to become increasingly important in pushing IT companies to use energy more efficiently?
I think there will be an increase over time in the number of government rebates available. More government-sponsored incentive programs to push companies to change would make a difference. The government of California put pressure on BGE. Now, the company receives rebates for reducing energy costs in California.

In 1977 or 1978, there was a big energy crisis. IBM was concerned about cutting servers. Then, energy suddenly got cheaper again. Things are going to get bad if you don’t give people incentives. Would they make the same energy choices without it? I’d like to think so. I think things are changing, I think this is a permanent change.

How are you changing IBM applications for maximum energy efficiency?
It’s not just about saving energy by using more efficient hardware and better infrastructure, it’s about the applications, too. You can do 50 percent of your work in 50 percent of the space. If you optimize your applications, you can save up to half your energy.

Both Google and Amazon use private clouds to store their information. Clouds allow large companies to make their information available and transferrable to staff in India or Beijing as readily as someone in NYC.

Do you think all companies will be using cloud computing in the future?
Yes. Ten years from now, every company will be using cloud computing. Most large companies will use private clouds to consolidate different data centers. This way, the company information is protected and only available to specific employees. Smaller businesses will use public clouds or not have a data center at all.

How can the Internet support these new clouds?
High-bandwidth is on the rise in major international cities and cloud computing internationally will be more easily accessible. Already, I have seen strong bandwidth in international cities such as Bangalore, India, where IBM currently has 70,000 employees.

And as bandwidth grows within companies, the need for more space will also continue to grow within data centers. Companies will increasingly be able to house information where ever they choose. For example, IBM has data center operators in Brazil that manage the data centers physically housed in Chicago.

Do you see any other countries other than the U.S. leading the way in Green IT?
China is on its way to becoming the world’s largest producer of renewable energy, yet it remains one of the most polluted countries on earth. India is also on a green IT boom.

To diagnose how to have energy used in data centers download the following online software tool from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Moria Byrne is a freelance journalist and editor. Her work has been featured in: Baltimore Business Journal, Maryland Daily Record, The Jewish Times and The Narragansett Times.