Comments on: Uptime warns data center pros against being benchmarked on PUE

By: Aernoud

Aernoud — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:05:54 +0000

I agree. A PUE value is meaningless without the information on how (and when) it is measured. Specially in the DataCenter Housing area I have lots of question marks on the PUE value they advertise with.

In my oppinion datacenters should base their PUE value on the total energy spending per year. Commercial Datacenters should make (audited) anual statements that show their yearly energy spending (with specifications and PUE values) over de years. This way they can also show improvements they have made.

If you ever have to negotiate with commercial datacenters. And in their offer they advertise PUE values that you feel are on the optimistic side. Just ask them to translate this into a financial cap on the electricity bill they send you. So with a PUE of 1.3 they can never bill you more then .3kWh for every kWh your ICT is consuming. Usually you will then find soon enough if the PUE value is firm or not.

By: KozmicKid

KozmicKid — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:57:39 +0000

I’ve always had my doubts about PUE. For one thing, a data center manager can consolidate applications on a smaller number of servers, thereby reducing power consumption, but if it puts his UPS, power distribution, and cooling lower on the efficiency curve, his PUE gets worse.

By: FacilityGuru

FacilityGuru — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:25:27 +0000

With so many possible variances between Data Centers how can one truly ‘Match” another Data Centers PUE number. I have been working diligently to improve ours, but isnt that the bottom line? Getting the most from your center as possible is the ultimate goal. If competition works, than so be it, I’m up for a little competition. He who wins, saves money and that’s the goal. Respectfully RPeters.