Hitachi tests its own green IT theories with new data center project

Hitachi Group is celebrating Earth Day with the groundbreaking of an expansion to its data center in Yokohama, Japan.

The new wing boasts technology advances that are part of the massive technology company’s CoolCenter50 project. It also plays into the company’s corporatewide Harmonious Green Plan, which calls for it to reduce 330,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2012 through various green IT products.

Hitachi’s green data center design plays off its own software and hardware ideas from all over the green IT spectrum, including storage virtualization and thin provisioning, data deduplication software, and its “ecology” server.

Here’s a visual depiction of the data center’s interior, showing how various functions, such as the electrical power facilities and the uninterruptible power supplies are located.

Other elements of the Hitachi data center design include: - A 3-D thermal hydraulic simulator called AirAssist, for optimizing hardware layout and cooling placement. - A new air-conditioning controllor that allows it to more closely meet the load requirements of the various servers and storage devices in the facility. - Accommodations for direct current power supplies and water-cooled servers and racks. - A rooftop garden that is expected to aid with the nighttime cooling requirements of the building (reducing indoor temperatures by up to 3 degrees Celsius after dark).

The new data center wing is expected to be up and running by July 2009. The company expects its overall Power Usage Effectiveness measure to come in at 1.6 or lower.