New power management software targets "unused" servers

1E, the self-proclaimed market-share leader in power management software for client PCs with 4 million licenses deployed, is now targeting servers.

1E CEO Sumir Karayi figures, based on another independent study, that approximately 4.7 million of the servers in use today are wasting energy to the tune of about $3.8 billion (including cooling costs). His company is pledging to help customers with at least 1,000 servers in operation to save about $1 million in power costs over four years (with about half of those savings coming in the first year). These figures are all based on the assumption that your data center operates with a PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) of about 2.0.

According to a new survey conducted by Kelton Research and commissioned by 1E in conjunction with the Alliance to Save Energy, approximately 72 percent of server managers use CPU utilization as their gauge of server efficiency. Roughly the same number report that their company's mandate to ensure high levels of IT service internally get in the way of their efforts to measure and address efficiency.

OK, so we KNOW that no company is going to compromise quality of service in their data center to improve their power consumption. That's just NOT going to happen. That's why the server edition of 1E's NightWatchman power management software has a different focus than the software that was designed for desktops and notebooks.

The software, which has just begun shipping, includes two features that are of particular interest to data center managers:

1. Useful Work Analysis - This measures the energy that a server is using when it is doing "useful" work versus when it is running patches or other administrative and maintenance tasks.
2. Drowsy Server - This capability places the server into sort of suspended animation when it isn't doing any Useful Work (as determined by a data center manager). It essentially throttles back the CPU, without compromising server availability. In theory, deploying this feature can save an average of 12 percent of energy costs related to that server.

Karayi declined to disclose pricing for the server edition of NightWatchman, saying only that the company is aiming to provide a return on investment within the first year. The company will next turn its focus on managing consumption levels for printing and networking equipment.

1E is holding a Webinar on Oct. 22 for prospective customers here's a link to check on the focus of the session.