A sense of power
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Energy will be a critical factor in shaping the information age, says Information Age's editor Kenny MacIver.
Back in early 2004, Information Age editors first started hearing about “the data centre power problem”. At first it seemed to encompass an arcane set of issues – kilowatt density, air-conditioning, the layout of racks – that had more to do with building and facilities management than IT.
But at lunches and conferences, when we met with the heads of IT and data centre managers, the scale of the problem took on a much more concrete dimension: we heard about server farms shutting down as temperatures rose; about energy bills soaring to painful levels; about ‘full’ data centres that were impeding business growth. Given IT’s position as the engine of many modern businesses, these were not just technology issues but ‘class A’ business issues.
In the background, two other issues smouldered. The unreliability of the electricity supply – not helped by Met Office warnings of exceptionally hot summers and bitter winters – and new pressures on business to be ‘carbon-efficient’ in the face of global warming and an impending energy shortage.
This month’s issue of Information Age seeks to bring these far-reaching business and technology issues into sharp focus. As part of our research, we talked to a wide constituency of people: IT executives, data centre operators, technology suppliers, policy advisors, environmental groups, and even carbon emissions trading specialists.
Our cover story, ‘IT’s energy crisis’, tells of how some are being battered by a ‘perfect storm’, as multiple factors act together to precipitate ‘meltdown in the data centre’. Not surprisingly, many of those agreed to open up on condition of anonymity. Others, to be fair, did not share their sense of crisis, and, indeed, the issue has still to feature in the ‘Top CIO Concerns’ lists compiled by analysts such as Gartner.
But with IT accounting for a third to a half of the power consumed by many businesses, the evidence is clear that the issue of power use (and carbon output) will be a defining factor in shaping the next phase of the information age.
