IBM to track mainframe power use

IBM claims to have invented an accurate way for its customers to track the energy consumption of its z9 mainframes.

The software it has created could be useful for companies that want to track exactly how much energy their largest systems are using so that they can conform to environmental rules.

The metering software, which IBM has dubbed the "Mainframe Gas Gauge", but which has no formal name, will fit in with current systems on mainframes that are used to monitor the wattage used each hour. IBM says there are approximately 1,000 such systems in place.

The company says the new metering system is being launched with an application that "consolidates real-world consumption figures by model for System z9".

IBM has summarised the data on all its mainframes since August, when the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the report to the US Congress on Data Centre and Server Energy Efficiency.

While collecting the data, IBM says it established that typical z9 energy use is normally 60 percent of the maximum possible power usage.