Save energy? Do not by a server farm, buy an eServer, IBM saysArmonk 15 March 2001 z900, the mainframe, running Linux, is an effective energy saving alternative to server farms.
The need to conserve energy and space in computer data centers has taken on new urgency with recent power shortages in California and pending plans for energy deregulation across the nation. The analysts, looking for alternatives to energy-guzzling server farms, found that one z900 could do the job of hundreds of other servers combined.
What makes the IBM eServer an energy-efficient alternative is its ability to run thousands of virtual Linux servers within one box. Application service providers, Internet service providers and Web-hosting companies that in the past required a large number of individual servers and a huge investment in real estate can now save by using one z900 to do the same job.
While a typical configuration of 750 servers costs approximately $620/day in electricity to run, a single z900 -- running the same workload -- costs only $32/day, a power saving ratio of nearly 20-1. The savings are even more dramatic when floor space requirements of a server farm are considered. The average server farm requires some 10,000 square feet of floor space compared with only 400 square feet for a single IBM z900. At an average of 100 Watts per square foot, the savings can be significant.
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