Eaton Replaces Data Centers; Fed IT Doesn’t Know Its PUE

Eaton Corporation has opened two new data centers projected to deliver $23 million in energy savings.

The data centers in Louisville, Ky., and Simpsonville, Ky., will replace two data centers located near Cleveland, Ohio, one of which is 43 years old. Both of the old centers are beginning to run short of space and power and do not meet the company’s sustainability standards, Eaton says.

The new facilities will use a number of Eaton’s own technologies in the realms of energy efficient power distribution, power quality, power management and airflow management.

Eaton has installed its 9395 Uninterruptible Power Systems (UPS) at the new facilities, along with its 400V ePDU product to extend the capabilities of its UPS technology line, allowing users to run servers at 230V. This increases efficiency and reduces distribution costs, Eaton said.

To monitor and manage energy use at the new data centers, Eaton deployed its Foreseer Enterprise Power Monitoring software, which works in conjunction with building management systems (BMS) to provide a comprehensive and “real time” view of the electrical, mechanical, life safety and security systems.

To protect mission-critical electronics and servers, Eaton installed its Wright Line Heat Containment System (HCS) technology, which features the scalable Paramount Enclosure System. These enclosures can lower air handling-related power usage by up to 30 percent, Eaton says.

Eaton Corporation is a diversified power management company with 2010 sales of $13.7 billion. It produces electrical components and systems for power quality, distribution and control; hydraulics and pneumatics systems; aerospace fuel; and truck and automotive drivetrain and powertrain systems.

“As a power management company, finding innovative ways to enable our customers to reduce energy costs and to use power more efficiently, effectively, and safely is central to Eaton’s mission,” chairman and chief executive officer Alexander Cutler said. “Our new data centers are energy efficient by design, deploy Eaton’s most sophisticated power management technologies, and support our company’s growing data processing needs while conserving energy and water.”

The Simpsonville location has received LEED Gold Certification and the identical Louisville site is expected to gain certification later this summer. The new data centers’ design will target an aggressive Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating, Eaton says, and the company expects the two data centers to support its needs for the next 20 years or more.

In related news, although 84 percent of federal agencies have data center consolidation as a priority, only 23 percent of federal IT decision-makers say that their IT departments can fully track consolidation savings, according to a report by MeriTalk and NetApp.

The study of 157 federal IT decision-makers also found that 67 percent of respondents do not know average kilowatts per rack electricity usage across their data centers and 77 percent do not know the power usage effectiveness (PUE) of their data centers, compared to just 18 percent in the private sector.

Federal CIO Vivek Kundra has announced that 137 data centers will be closed this year with the goal of closing another 600-plus by 2015.