2011 Green Enterprise IT Award Winner Innovation in a Smaller Data Center <1,000 sq ft University of Hertfordshire

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In this session, the winner of the 2011 Green Enterprise IT Award in the Innovation in a Smaller Data Center <1,000 sq ft category will present their Award-winning case study profiling a completed project (IT and/or facilities) that significantly and quantifiably improved energy efficiency in a smaller data center.

The RARE-IDC: Reduction and Re-use of Energy in Institutional Data Centers project ran from September ‘08 – June ‘10.

This project achieved the goals for the University of Hertfordshire, but also provided transferable models both for delivering low power alternatives for ICT services, and for efficient sustainable operational arrangements.

These were of benefit to most HE/FE communities and contribute to the UK’s JISC Institutional Innovation Programme and more specifically to the JISC-funded Managed Environmentally Sustainable ICT in Further and Higher Education (SusteIT) project.

Project Aims

1. Refurbish one of the two existing Data Centers at The University of Hertfordshire into a self-assessed tier-2 facility with cooling and energy provision to ensure a more sustainable and efficient data center
2. Provide a full solution including capacity planning, cabinets, cooling solutions, power and redundancy, and building management (fire suppression, water detection etc)
3. Allow for future growth of at least 50%.
4. Use “Green” solutions wherever possible. Looking at new sustainable technology for Data Centers even if not suitable for the final solution.
5. Reduce the total operational cost of running the Data Center.
6. Reduce the current PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness; the ratio of power delivered to I.T. equipment to the total amount of power used by the Data Center) from 2.2 to < 2.0
7. Fully document all available solutions to form part of a Feasibility study. The winning contractor worked with the University to help identify and deliver the final solution.