Networked Enterprise Featured Article

Words like “huge” and “massive” get used a lot these days, and it's almost to the point where such terms are overused. But how else can one describe a market poised to increase from $23.41 billion in 2014 to $95.66 billion by the closing days of 2020? That's just the market picture that the global green data center market is looking at, according to reports, and the reasons behind it are all the more exciting for those involved in this skyrocketing market.

That market growth—which represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.44 percent—is due in large part to rapidly-increasing demands for data storage space, matched by increasing government regulations that want ecologically-friendly solutions for that data storage, among other things. Thus data centers are looking not only for powerful solutions, but also those that don't consume a lot of power in the process, giving green data centers the green light for growth.

With a green data center, companies can reduce the amount of power used to store data and route said data to where it needs to be, making it a more efficient operation, with less waste, and therefore lower power bills in the process. Since data centers as a whole use about two percent of the total power generated on Earth and reportedly account for 259 million metric tons of carbon added to the atmosphere, it's clear there's some room here for savings and cost-cutting.

A host of technological developments are already being put to use, reports suggest, as well as a slate of new designs being made ready to join the fray. Reports further suggest that, once all these systems come online and contribute, power consumption should drop by almost 80 percent. While many of the greener systems technologies are much more expensive than the less ecologically-sound companions, the costs should be recovered in the long-term due to reduced spending on maintenance and upkeep as well as power.

Indeed, we're already starting to see some of these systems contribute; Panduit recently brought out a new line of 28AWG cabling systems, which are much smaller than the current 24AWG standard. That reduction in size can help improve the amount of space placed between cables, giving better access to routing plugs and the like, as well as improving management, as well as reducing costs. Not so long ago the company also brought out its Quick-Build Harness Board System, which offered up a whole new way to build wire harnesses as well. It's not just Panduit doing new and unusual things in this space, of course, as recently one of Alibaba Group's data centers was spotted using water from nearby Qiandao Lake to help cool servers and reduce energy costs.

Whether it's reducing the size of the cables, creating new and innovative solutions, or just finding new ways for things that have been around for years, reducing power consumption isn't just about a feel-good eco-granola experience. Reducing power consumption also reduces costs, and that's a bottom line impact that most any company can get behind.