October 29, 2008
In This Issue:
» Featured News: Understanding the Green SPECpower Benchmark
» The Latest News on Green IT Strategies
» Expert Insight from our Columns & Blogs
» GreenBiz Radio: Making Progress on the E-Waste Problem
A Note from the Editor
By Preston Gralla
A new specification you’ve probably never heard of may soon become your best friend if you’re looking to find the best mix of power and energy savings for servers in your data center. The SPECpower_ssj2008 benchmark from the Standard Performance Evaluation Council (SPEC) combines power and performance data and distills them into a single metric. At first glance, this might seem to have nothing to do with greening IT — after all, there’s nothing in the metric that appears to measure energy efficiency.
As Andrew Binstock explains in “Understanding the Green SPECpower Benchmark,” the new benchmark can be extremely useful to those wanting to make sure their servers are energy efficient. The core of the benchmark consists of running server-side Java programs and determining the peak throughput capacity of the system. The tests then run at various load, and log the watts consumed by the server at each load level. So if you use the benchmark properly, you’ll be able to determine the number of operations performed per watt of electricity consumed.
It’s not just organizations like SPEC that are increasingly focused on Green IT — consulting firms are getting into the act as well. In one of my blog entries, I give a rundown of advice that Gartner has for those who want to green their data centers. Check out “Gartner’s Six Steps to a Green Data Center” for details.
The Latest News on Green IT Strategies
Microsoft Moves Green Data-Center-In-A-Box to Testing Phase
By GreenerComputing Staff
The company said last week that it had completed the first phase of its new, container-based data center in the Chicago area, and announced that its energy efficiency measures rival those announced by Google recently…. Read More
IDC Brings its Research Cred to Green IT
New HP Desktops Incorporate Green Inside and Out
Shrinking Products, Energy Sipping and Reusing Anything: Electronics Industry Makes Green Progress
Featured News
Understanding the Green SPECpower Benchmark
By Andrew Binstock
In the middle of this year, the Standard Performance Evaluation Council (SPEC) released the final version of the SPECpower_ssj2008 benchmark — a new suite of tests that details power and performance in a single number. Andrew Binstock tells you everything you need to know about this important green specification…. Read More
GreenBiz Radio
Making Progress on the E-Waste Problem
By Matthew Wheeland
The issue of what companies and manufacturers should do with toxic — but still valuable — electronic waste has made lots of headlines recently, and in this interview with GreenBiz Radio Barbara Kyle, the national coordinator of the Electronics Takeback Coalition, explains how companies can get out ahead of their looming e-waste problem…. Listen
Columns and Blogs
Preston Gralla
Gartner’s Six Steps to a Green Data Center
Read more…
Matthew Wheeland
Greening the Electronics Industry: Progress, but in Fits and Starts
Read more…