The Green Vision: Q & A with Laurens Rosenthal

TopHosts.com - Posted on: 01-12-2008

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Laurens Rosenthal, Innovation Director of Amsterdam-based data center operator EvoSwitch, discusses practical and ideal aspects of green data centers and green Web hosting.

TH: With the financial crisis we're currently experiencing worldwide, do you expect that data center projects and upgrades will be impeded?

LR: We have not seen any reduction whatsoever in customer demand at EvoSwitch. Demand for data center services is still very high. Just before the summer, we completed EvoSwitch's second phase of development, in which 2000 square meters of new floor space was built on top of the existing 2000 square meters. We expect the area built in the second phase to be filled with customer equipment at the same rate as in phase one. This is scheduled to be followed by the third phase, in which another 4000 square meters will be built.

Market-wide growth in demand for data center services will depend on matters such as the data center's location. After the halt in investments following the collapse of the telecom "bubble" in 2001, data centers are currently being built once again, at various locations in Europe. However, there are only a few locations that have a large appeal, because of the connections they provide, namely Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London. These regions still have a major shortage of space for data centers. The dependency on banks will also play a role in new data center projects. It is obviously difficult to attract investment capital from banks at the moment, and data center projects are cost-intensive developments.

Old data centers will face increasing difficulties owing to their energy consumption and dated specifications. In spite of the presently emerging recession, I expect plenty of opportunities for new data centers, provided they are built according to state-of-the-art concepts.

TH: Since ultimately cost savings are realized with green solutions/options in data center facilities, is it your expectation that these projects will be prioritized?

LR: Web environments will always have to continue operating, even during a recession, but then as efficiently as possible. The presently emerging recession will increase the need for an efficiency drive. By definition, green technology is more efficient, so it can be expected to receive more attention. On the other hand, some large corporate groups are still using data centers based on outdated blueprints of existing data center designs, simply because those concepts have proven themselves in the past.

TH: Are customers asking specifically about eco-friendly, green solutions before selecting a data center operator? Ultimately, do you think this will be a deal breaker between choosing between competing companies for services?

LR: Some of EvoSwitch's customers are specifically looking for eco-friendly data centers. To be truthful, they are in the minority. Specific requests are received particularly from corporate organizations that have adopted sustainable enterprise practices in their business policy. The majority of customers just want a safe and efficient environment where they can install their equipment at a location with good connections. Nevertheless, we often hear from customers that they particularly appreciate the green aspect of EvoSwitch. Green is not a necessity for them, but it may be a sales argument when assessing comparable tenders.

TH: How green can it get in a data center?

LR: EvoSwitch's current PUE* is 1.7, but 1.3 is a very realistic target for the time when EvoSwitch has around 9000 square meters filled with equipment. The larger the scale, the greater the potential energy saving in the data center. 

A PUE of 1.3 is a very low-energy figure. It means that only 30 percent extra power is required to cool the equipment, whereas 100 percent extra cooling power is currently quite common. There are also cases in the market of figures as high as 3.0, which means 200 percent extra energy is required to cool the equipment.

TH: What are realistic energy saving options in a data center, and which are not?

LR: Theoretically, it would be possible to place a data center in a container under water. Google recently announced that it will be experimenting with this but this is not an option for a carrier-neutral data center like EvoSwitch, with a diversity of customers. The equipment stored there has to be properly protected but people have to be able to access it when necessary. The combination of water and server equipment will not appeal to many people either.

Older data centers can also always take measures to improve airflow, by closing off empty racks with covering panels, for instance and ensuring the space under the floor is free of cables. They can also implement a system such as Cold Corridor, in which cold and hot air are divided via separate channels. Green UPS technology, such as Delta Conversion, is also an option for older data centers. New state-of-the-art data centers can also go further by installing Free Cooling, for example, in which cooling makes use of the temperature of the outside air. The latter option has provided EvoSwitch with the greatest saving. We also use a slightly higher inflow temperature, which is perfectly possible thanks to the targeted cooling and more balanced temperatures at various places in the data center.

TH: What factors do you consider the most important in measuring the success of running a green data center?

LR: The only factor that counts is a data center's Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). We are a member of the Green Grid, which recently decided to use the term Data Center infrastructure Effectiveness (DCiE) from now on. The lower the PUE, the more successful the concept of a green data center. Achieving this is a matter of making the right choices between the various green technologies that are available.

TH: Are there any particular servers (or manufacturers) you favor in your data center that enhance your cost/energy savings?

LR: HP is working hard on green technology and energy-efficient servers. Our sister company, LeaseWeb, likewise part of the OCOM Group, has a large space available in EvoSwitch and uses HP servers, amongst others, to enable it to offer green hosting. Dell is also working on innovations. An investment in green equipment easily pays for itself and also leads to much better performance. We'll see more developments from suppliers over the next few years.

TH: What is it that Web hosting providers can do themselves in a data center, to deliver fully green hosting solutions to end customers?

LR: Investment in low-energy hardware is an important starting point. Customers who don't request it can be informed about it. Many customers will eventually opt for more economical equipment once they are presented with the right arguments. Another option may be investment in virtualization and possibly cloud computing. Many EvoSwitch customers have now switched to a virtualized environment and the substantial energy savings achieved are clear to see. I am aware of some customers who used this method who have been able to reduce their hardware to a fifth of what had initially been installed. 

On the other hand, we should avoid overestimating the importance of the environmental aspects of green hosting. Virtualization has other advantages too, such as management flexibility. And using green hardware also generally provides better performance. 


*Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a metric created by members of the Green Grid, to determine the energy efficiency of a data center. The PUE ratio is calculated by dividing the amount of power entering a data center by the power used to run the computer infrastructure within it. Therefore, overall efficiency improves as the quotient decreases towards 1.

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