Part 2 - Computer Power Management
Power Management for your PC and server estate is one of the easiest quick wins your company can implement.
Consider the following example, the average PC combined with the average LCD screen (not a CRT as they are far hungrier) uses 100 Watts. If that PC runs 24 hours per day 365 days per year then it will use around 100 x 24 x 365 = 876 KW hours of electricity which on average is about 11 cents per KWh. Therefore we have a total electricity cost of $ 0.11 x 876 = $ 96.36 per year. That is also equivalent to half a metric ton of C02 emissions per PC per year!
Now bear in mind that Hawaii pays far more per KWh than Kentucky so if you are based in a higher charge state – and lets face it they are all increasing over time, you could be paying far more.
PCs are left on for a number of reasons from pure laziness on the part of the user to IT Directives that insist they stay on so they can be maintained at night.
So How Do We Address This Problem So Easily?
By implementing Power Management, such as Squeeze Technology’s product Powerwise.
Here’s how it works. A lightweight server product is installed on the network and an agent is installed on each PC. An administrator can then configure “power” profiles for groups of computers, and using a sliding bar, can set each group for more normal energy saving to aggressive saving. Normal savings would make sure the computer is powered off at a certain time, powered up in the morning and can also be set to turn the PC and screen on and off at night as many times as required to match any update / patching windows a company might have. On the aggressive front, the software can detect how long it has been since someone touched the computer and put it in sleep mode, if for instance you have gone to a meeting or got distracted at the water cooler.
The entire Powerwise architecture is written with conserving network bandwidth as a priority. The agent refreshes policy data when it starts, and only contacts the server at certain intervals to store report data. This communication is compressed, and only updates and changes are sent.
What Are The Benefits?
For an average company the electricity savings per PC are large, even using the less aggressive modes you can look to cut costs by 70% so our example PC will now only cost $28.90 a saving of $ 67.
If you company has 100 computers you can look at $670 savings per year and if you have 500 computers we are looking at $ 33500 per year.
There are other benefits too. All these PCs idling away throw out a lot of heat, which increases the ambient room temperature, which you then have to spend more money on powering the air conditioning. We therefore have a positive impact on HVAC costs too from running costs, through to maintenance.
The software can be used on servers too, though a little more care has to be taken to ensure you don’t turn off critical 24 x 7 systems. Many servers though are not used at night. The savings from one server are much higher than a standard desktop PC.
The final benefit is the reduction in carbon emissions, leading to an immediate improvement in ‘Green’ credentials. These ‘Green’ credentials of businesses both large and small are of increasing importance to customers, and as part of their Corporate Social Responsibilities are becoming main stream issues for businesses. Indeed the government will no doubt in the future start setting all sorts of targets. Implementing Power Managements puts you ahead of the game!
How Much Will This Cost Me?
The return on investment (ROI) for this type of product is extremely fast and Powerwise can be had for as little as $9 per seat meaning you are making savings from month 2 of operation.
I will be covering more on Powerwise on the Squeeze web site (www.squeezetech.com) and on future blog posts to continue to promote this very easy way to conserve energy and money for the long term.
If you would like more information on this product, a free trial then please email me.
