Dell is getting a new line of servers ready for the coming world of DC-powered data centers.
Dell will work with NEI to manufacture and market the servers, based on Dell's PowerEdge R710 platform, the two companies announced Tuesday. The move puts Dell alongside competitors such as Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems that now have DC-powered servers on the market.
Electricity grids deliver power in alternating current, or AC. But servers and other computer equipment use direct current, or DC. Converting AC to DC is mostly done with power converters for each individual device or server rack.
But powering an entire data center with DC power could save the inefficiencies associated with this method, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. That includes reducing the inefficiencies in converting incoming grid AC to DC, and then back again, several times to filter out grid power glitches, which many data centers do (see DC For Data Centers?)
"You get much more efficient power usage by making them DC across the board," said Jeff Hudgins, NEI's vice president of marketing. "It's a growing trend."
The telecommunication industry has used central DC power for some time, he added. Japan's NTT DoCoMo unveiled a DC-powered data center in February, one it said could cut energy use significantly, with a goal of a 50 percent reduction in associated greenhouse-gas emissions (see NTT DoCoMo Tests DC-Powered Data Center).
Consider it one of many ways data centers are trying to squeeze energy efficiency out of their operations. Data centers consume about 1.5 percent of the electricity in the United States, but that use is set to double by 2012, requiring the equivalent of 10 new power plants, according to an EPA study (see Data Centers Could Hit 'Resource Crisis').
That's a problem for data centers that are facing rising power bills, or may be unable to expand because they've maxed out the power available from their utility's local distribution grid. It's also a problem for utilities, some of which are offering incentives to data centers that can show efficiency improvements (see PG&E Wants to Give Away More Money, See Fewer Email Attachments).
That's led to lots of new investment in more efficient equipment, cooling systems and power delivery systems, as well as a push into server virtualization and new sensor and control networks to keep a closer eye on data center energy use (for examples, see stories here, here, here and here).
Server makers see the data center energy crunch as an opportunity to speed up the typical cycles for replacing old equipment by offering more energy-efficient gear (see Will Energy Accelerate the Computer Refresh Cycle?).
