Intelligent Data Centres Issue 12 | Page 23

INDUSTRY INTELLIGENCE POWERED BY THE DCA it is now, no doubt, upgraded. So, what ‘was’ high-performance is now painfully slow compared to a modern machine and a data centre using the latest commercial hardware is capable of very high performance indeed. That is not to say that every server suits every application for type of load, quite the opposite, nor is it true to assume that software is being improved in resource efficiency, again quite the opposite is the reality. This subject of matching the server to the application and ensuring high utilisation through right sizing and virtualisation is a key feature of the open www.intelligentdatacentres.com source designs of Facebook but it has to be noted that having such a single and simple application helps them achieve very high performance that few others are able to emulate. But that must be the target: refreshing the hardware every sub-three years and heavily virtualising must become the norm in enterprise and colocation facilities if we are to meet our zero carbon targets. Critical Facilities Consulting (CFC) is a DCA Corporate Partner, owned by Professor Ian Bitterlin, a Data Centre Industry Expert. ◊ That must be the target: refreshing the hardware every sub- three years and heavily virtualising must become the norm in enterprise and collocation facilities if we are to meet our zero carbon targets. Issue 12 23