Cool school

Bryant University sees a 20% drop in data-center power costs by consolidating servers and using in-row units to cool them down

When Bryant University wraps up its proof-of-concept analysis of its new data center - a next-generation, blade-server-based computing facility with in-row cooling - it anticipates no surprises. The school expects to see energy savings of about 20%, or as much as $20,000 a year, compared with its old setup. That's what the results of the analysis, expected out within weeks, should show, says Richard Siedzik, Bryant's director of computing and telecommunications services.

More case studies on high-efficiency data centers

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When Bryant University wraps up its proof-of-concept analysis of its new data center - a next-generation, blade-server-based computing facility with in-row cooling - it anticipates no surprises. The school expects to see energy savings of about 20%, or as much as $20,000 a year, compared with its old setup. That's what the results of the analysis, expected out within weeks, should show, says Richard Siedzik, Bryant's director of computing and telecommunications services.

More case studies on high-efficiency data centers

Bryant is working with its primary vendors, IBM and American Power Conversion (APC), to document the efficiency of the new data center's computing and energy infrastructures. In December, it installed IBM's recently updated Systems Director Active Energy Manager software to determine specific energy savings. With the software, Bryant can monitor energy use, and with that data determine the best way to deploy workloads or cap power use to prevent cost overruns.

Bryant, a private school in Smithfield, R.I., powered up the $900,000 data center last May. Representing the latest in modular design, the data center lets Bryant add server, storage and network capacity as needed. That sort of dynamic capability is the hallmark of today's universities. As elsewhere, the 3,600 Bryant students come predominantly from the Internet and cell-phone generation - now they're all into social networking through MySpace, Facebook and the like, too.

"Every time students come back from semester break, they come back with more and more mobile devices," Siedzik says.

The new data center is helping IT keep up with the crazy demand - while maintaining highly efficient computing and power infrastructures.

Bogged down by inefficiencies

Bryant's IT department provides each student with a laptop computer and has made wireless Internet access available throughout the 420-acre campus. Bryant also has converted to an IP-based campus telephone system; in the wake of last year's fatal shooting rampage at Virginia Tech University, it also set up an IP-based emergency notification system.

As computing demand surged from such initiatives as these, Bryant's infrastructure - servers scattered about in various campus buildings - became increasingly inadequate. "We spent most of our time managing around our shortfalls and our inefficiencies," Siedzik says.

Consolidating IT resources in a new data center made good sense, but one challenge loomed: The ceiling heights at available campus sites were too low for a traditional layout of servers and storage with a raised floor and a plenum beneath for cabling and air circulation. Among all participants, only IBM submitted a design taking this limitation into account, Siedzik says.

IBM's design features BladeCenter servers and in-row cooling in which APC cooling units are placed between racks of servers. (Compare Blade Server products.) In-row cooling differs from the more traditional approach of placing computer room air conditioners (CRAC) around a data center. The problem with the CRAC approach, Siedzik says, is that sometimes the units work at cross purposes - one unit might be cooling the air while a second dehumidifies it and a third humidifies it.