Greening Your Information Systems Unit V – Chapter 1 Greening Your Information Systems

Selecting Metrics Power Usage Effectiveness and Datacenter Efficiency. Two metrics have recently been introduced that help measure data center efficiency: Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Datacenter Efficiency (DCE). PUE is defined as PUE = Total facility power/IT equipment power whereas DCE is defined as DCE = IT equipment power/total facility power Total facility power is the power as it is measured at the meter for the datacenter. IT equipment power is defined as the power needed to manage, process, store, or route data within the datacenter.

IT equipment power includes the load associated with all the IT equipment, including the following: • Computers • Storage • Network equipment • Switches • Monitors

Total facility power means everything that is used to support that equipment, including the following: • Uninterrupted power supplies • PDUs • Batteries • Cooling system

These metrics can tell you various information: • When you can improve your datacenter’s operational efficiency • How the datacenter compares with competitors • If datacenter processes are improving with your changes • Opportunities to repurpose energy for extra IT equipment

Datacenter Density: Datacenters with more rack density and higher space utilization score higher. Storage Utilization: This metric compares how much storage you are using, compared with how much you have available to use. Storage Density: Comparing the amount of storage to your datacenter’s area. This helps you determine whether you are making the best use of your facilities. CPU Utilization: This measurement examines the percentage of utilization of your servers’ CPUs. This can be measured with a number of commercially available performance measurement tools.

SWaP When considering purchasing new servers, there’s more to consider than just overall performance. Sun Microsystems has developed a metric that calculates such issues as floor space and power used, along with performance. The metric, known as Space, Watts, and Performance (SWaP), is expressed as: SWAP = PERFORMANCE/SPACE * POWER CONSUMPTION On its own, the metric doesn’t mean a lot. For instance, let’s consider a server with the following characteristics: • 400 operations • 4 rack units • 300 watts

Tracking Progress Once you make your initial readings, it’s important to make note of those measurements. You can do this simply using a tool such as Microsoft Excel and just add data as your project progresses. However, other tools are available that you can use.

1. BI Tools: They give you a visual summary of the data you want to track as well as an at-a-glance understanding of business conditions. 2. Online Analytical Processing (OLAP): This feature allows some information systems to analyze data from different perspectives and give you the results. 3. Reporting software: These applications generate aggregated views of data you are tracking. 4. Data mining: This allows you to go back through your data and search for a specific piece of information. Microsoft PerformancePoint Microsoft SQL Server

Change Business Processes The way you run your business also has a huge impact on the environment in how much power you consume and waste you generate. To reduce the amount of waste you generate in the following areas: • Worker time • Power • Inefficiency • Paper • Materials

Customer Interaction Your company can save a lot of time and money by making some changes to the way it interacts with its customers.

Customer Relationship Management

Customer Facing Operations: face-to face interactions, telephone calls, instant messaging, web chats, e-mail. Internal Collaborative Functional Operations: IT, billing, maintenance, planning, marketing, finance, and manufacturing. External Collaboration Functions: suppliers, vendors, distributors, lobbying groups, and trade associations. Customer Advocates and Experience Designers: These are the people and technologies that help deliver value to the customer and profit to the organization. Performance Managers and Marketing Analysts Customer and Employee Surveyors and Analysts

Technology The technological components of your CRM system include the following: Database Customer Intelligence Business Modeling Learning and Competency Management Systems Analytics Collaboration

Paper Reduction SharePoint Server Workflow Management (scanned and save on SAN)

Green Supply Chain Green Procurement: When you need to acquire products, you can ensure you’re doing so ecologically by engaging in green procurement. A good green procurement program will include these steps: Get organizational support Conduct a self-evaluation Set goals Develop a strategy Run a pilot project Implement the plan Review the program

Improve Technology Infrastructure Reduce PCs and Servers: Virtualization (Installation) Thin Clients Rationalization : Are there any servers that you, honestly, don’t use anymore? Software as a Service (SaaS) ASP (application service providers) Differences Telecommuting Shared Services Hardware Costs Cooling