IBM Greening Up Data Centers
Hot on the heels of Apple pledging to be more green, former computer manufacturer IBM is doing the same. Where Apple talked about reducing toxic wastes generated during the production of its home computers and iPods, IBM is talking about increasing efficiency in its massive collection of worldwide data centers.
A data center is basically a building full of computers droning away in air-conditioned rooms to serve up the world's data. These centers consume huge amounts of power -- so much that when Google built its latest data center, it specifically chose a location close to hydro-electric dams so it could get cheap electricity.
IBM operates eight million square feet of data centers worldwide, and it plans to spend $1 billion to make those data centers more efficient. The plan includes small steps, like enabling individual servers within centers to suspend themselves when they are not used. It also includes more radical innovations like the use of liquid coolant to turn the heat generated by the servers into power. IBM is ostensibly doing this to become more environmentally friendly, but it also stands to save huge amounts of money if it can reduce the energy draw of those data centers. A win-win for business and the environment? Imagine that.
From 'USA Today'
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