It's Within Your Power
According to research firm IDC, at least 15 percent to 17 percent of a company's operating expenses typically are consumed by power and cooling costs related to the data center. If you couple that fact with the pent-up server refresh and the consolidation cycle that some solution providers are experiencing, as well as the rise of 64-bit x86 server and multicore technology that is displacing or at least taking up residence along with mainframes and other high-end kin in the data center, the proposition around power becomes brighter.
For the past several years, the bigger power management technology companies such as APC, Liebert, MGE and Tripp Lite have seen the light and positioned practices and products for VARs and systems integrators willing to tackle the converging IT and facilities consulting proposition associated with the morphing data center. VARs seeking to become data center experts of this sort will find themselves chatting with building managers just as much as the CIO's office.
Intel and AMD have also stepped up their power management messages in this increasingly eco-conscious, energy-anxious $70-per-oil-barrel age. AMD even teamed up a couple of months back with Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sun Microsystems as founding members of The Green Grid, an organization that proposes to set forth best practices for data center power management, design and construction. By the way, VARs and solution providers are encouraged to become involved.
If your solution is one that builds out from the x86 server platform and you've been overlooking broader data center issues, it's time to reconsider. By preaching proven cooling techniques, you could turn up the heat on sales.
What's the voltage for your power management practice? HEATHER CLANCY, Editor at CRN, welcomes letters at [email protected].