Green IT is the environmentally friendly and resource-sparing
application of information technology. The main focus here is on the
operational energy costs. In data centers there is a two-fold energy
cost: the more energy required to run the computers, the more energy is
needed to cool them. The increased performance of modern
processors, coupled with the simultaneously increasing integration,
causes more warmth per unit to be generated, which increases the demand
for energy in the cooling systems. Power management mechanisms,
usually found in mobile devices, generally are not used in server
systems: operational energy cost optimization can best be realized
by getting the most out of the existing hardware. In the following you
will find several ideas on how these savings can be implemented.
Server Consolidation
Server consolidation is just what it sounds like: Various server functions
are concentrated in as few pieces of server hardware as possible. IBM had
already recognized the advantages of software consolidation in the Mainframe era
and integrated appropriate mechanisms into their soft- and hardware. For
example, the LPAR (Logical Partition), which divides up the hardware into
virtual systems, or the IBM operating system VM
(Virtual
Machine).
The IBM VM is a program that creates virtual systems on the software level. Both
of these solutions enable the hardware to be used simultaneously by different
and independent systems. The type of data processing is hereby apportioned out
to different times of day. Programs for data acquisition are executed during the
employees' work hours, while the processing of the data is often done overnight.
Another approach to consolidation are blade systems. With a blade server
solution, system groups such as network parts or disk systems of individual
computer systems are consolidated, resulting in savings in energy consumption
and TOC (total cost of ownership).
Virtualization
Virtualization also enables one to run various independent
software systems on one piece of hardware. Virtualization is, as opposed to what
is understood under server consolidation, a pure software solution. There is a
multitude of virtualization products on the market, the market leader in this
field is the company
VMware. VMware enables PC platforms to run several independent guest systems on
one host system.
Server Centric Computing
Server Centric Computing refers to the concentration of
computing power and program processing in one central, powerful system.
The employees are connected to this system via relatively low-performance and
minimally equipped Thin Clients or – in earlier times – terminals.
In addition to the advantages gained in ease of administration, resulting from
the centralization and simplification of where the employees' data are actually
being processed, there is also a reduction in total energy consumption. At the
employee's workplace there is no powerful PC being used, whose CPU, with the
typical workloads generated by text processing or data acquisition, usually is
running at no more than 10% of its capacity.
For years, HOB has been actively supporting all the
above-mentioned technologies. HOBLink
Terminal Edition and HOBLink J-Term are
powerful terminal emulations that provide performant connectivity to central
Mainframe systems. The platform independent RDP client
HOBLink JWT, together with the
accompanying server extensions, greatly expands the possibilities in deploying
Microsoft
Windows Terminal Servers. Server Centric Computing or Server-based Computing,
are thus also supported. With HOB RD VPN,
HOB further extends Internet-based Server Centric Computing. Blade systems for
the deployment of low-maintenance and energy-saving thin clients are supported
by HOB Desktop-on-Blade.
HOB
Desktop-on-Demand is HOB's solution for secure remote access to individual
PCs, whether in the company office or at home. With this solution the employee
can remotely boot and access his or her PC or laptop over the Internet at any
time. This remote booting feature also contributes to energy savings. HOB didn't
invent the term Green IT, however, HOB has practiced it from the very beginning.
Cost-reducing and energy saving ideas that also get high performance from
existing hardware are the basis of all HOB-developed software. |
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