Big Blue Launches Big Green

NEW YORK -- IBM stepped up its efforts around data center power and cooling today, unveiling a slew of new products and services and boasting $1 billion in energy initiatives. (See IBM Unveils Energy Plan and IBM Deploys 'Low Carb' IT.)

In scenes reminiscent of Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth, IBM execs talked up a storm about global warming, energy crises, and carbon footprints in a Manhattan theater. They also used the opportunity to push their virtualization and blade server agendas. (See UPMC Deploys IBM Virtualization, Virtually Secure, Blade, IBM Team, and Will Blades Cut Path for 10-Gig?)

With users wrestling with exploding demands for power and cooling, IBM is now looking to turn itself from "Big Blue" to "Big Green," boosting its revenues in the process. (See Summer Storage Survival and The Big Chill.)

That cute reference isn't ours. In "Project Big Green," the vendor is launching a set of services aimed at monitoring temperature, airflow, and overall energy efficiency within data centers. Also on offer is a new form of cooling technology. IBM execs claimed that these efforts could deliver energy savings of 42 percent in the average 25,000 square foot data center.

"Climate change [and] energy efficiency are top of mind these days," said Val Rahmani, general manager of IBM's infrastructure management services. "This energy crisis is not something abstract to us, it is something very real."The Data Center Stored Cooling Solution is an 80-square-foot device that connects to a corporate air conditioning system, replacing power-hungry chiller cabinets. IBM claims to have slashed energy costs at one of its own data centers in Quebec by 45 percent thanks to this technology.

The solution, set to ship July 1st, starts at around $750,000.

Other services unveiled by IBM today include a Data Center Energy Efficiency Assessment, priced from $50,000, and a service for measuring airflow against a firm's cabling infrastructure, costing from $2,000. Both of these services will also ship next month.

IBM also offered a peek into some of its energy research projects today, such as its Mobile Measurement Technology (MMT), a portable measurement device that draws thermal data from up to 100 wireless sensors.

At least one analyst warned that IBM may have its work cut out getting the different parts of this message across to users. "It's a complicated story," said Charles King, principal analyst of Pund-IT research, adding that companies, like individuals, are not always open to new ideas. "Behavioral change is always a sticking point."One firm that has opened its doors to IBM is San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), which has used the vendor's MMT and Airflow assessment services to check for hot spots and air leakage. (See PG&E Collaborates With IBM.)

This is critical, given the changing nature of PG&E's IT infrastructure, according to Rajesh Arora, the firm's IT manager. "In the last year or so we have gone through a huge expansion in our data centers," he said. The firm now has more than 40,000 square feet of data center space at facilities in San Francisco, Fairfield, and Diablo Canyon in California.

PG&E is now using the data compiled from the MMT and airflow services to reorder its facilities, consolidating nearly 300 Unix servers onto six pSeries servers from IBM. Arora estimates that PG&E will be able to shave up to 25 percent off its annual energy costs when this project is complete, although he would not provide a dollar amount.

This is not the first time that PG&E has teamed up with an IT hardware specialist. Last month, the utility announced an energy partnership with Copan, offering financial incentives to PG&E customers that buy MAID gear from the storage vendor. (See Copan Pushes Power Savings, Copan Validates MAID, and SNW: First Take.)

The utility also has similar deals with virtualization and server vendors and is now looking to set up a rebate deal involving IBM products, according to Brad Whitcomb, PG&E's vice president for customer products and services. "It's to be determined. We're looking at the whole [IBM] portfolio," he said.During today's event, IBM execs referred to virtualization and blade servers almost as often as power and cooling, clearly hoping to use Project Big Green as a springboard for selling additional hardware and software. "The most important thing that we can help a client do is get as much utilization as possible [from their data center hardware]," said Bill Zeitler, senior vice president of the vendor's Systems and Technology group, adding that virtualization tops the list of enablers.

IBM also announced that it is allocating $1 billion to push green initiatives inside and outside the company. Initially, the firm will create a global "green team" of almost 1,000 energy efficiency specialists to advise customers and IBM itself on environmental issues. The vendor also explained that it is implementing the services and products unveiled today across its own infrastructure.

Other vendors, including rivals Sun and HP, have also been cranking up their efforts in the energy space over recent months. (See Sun Unveils Project, Sun Claims Fastest Blade Server, Sun Glints Off Blades, and Green Grid Addresses Efficiency.)

James Rogers, Senior Editor Byte and Switch