▼

Core Services Reduces Its Impact on the Environment and Its Use of Natural Resources

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

MORRISTOWN, N.J., June 2009: Core Services Corporation (“Core Services”), an Oracle Certified Partner, has taken steps to minimize the environmental impact of its data centers’ heating and cooling systems and plans to integrate additional green practices into future data centers. Ongoing green plans and practices are included not just in Core Services’ data centers but also in its physical buildings, sites, and infrastructure.

“It’s clear that all data centers drain power at an alarming rate; this is the major catalyst in our corporate strategy to reduce our overall energy use,” says Jim Bistis, President and CEO of Core Services. “Just about every year since the inception of Core’s first data center, we have seen server power requirements go up as well as our utilities rates.” Bistis continues, “Some of these newer high-density servers can create hot spots and, as a result, the need to add power becomes unending.” Bistis affirms, “Core has taken a long term approach to this problem by investing in more energy-efficient equipment and aggressively consolidating servers where possible.”

There are plenty of power management tools available to the market but many IT managers are hesitant to implement and use them. Recently, Core Services has seen significant benefits to using these types of power management tools. Bistis explains, “We have come to realize that ‘greening’ our data centers has provided encouraging benefits for our business already. We are finding that the use of power management tools actually increases reliability and uptime of our servers by reducing stresses on our data center power and cooling systems. While Core remains focused on uptime and performance, it won’t be exclusive of power management. We are anticipating, as we add more of these power management features, that we will see our overall energy requirements drop by as much as 10 to 15%.”

Additional steps Core Services has taken in the last twelve months in its current data centers include:
  • Consolidated and virtualized servers using the Sun Container technology, which emits less heat for the same footprint;
  • Continued upgrades to energy efficient and more powerful servers – the most recently upgraded servers utilize the “CoolThread” technology offered by Sun in its UltraSPARC T1, T2 and T2 plus processors—with up to 32 simultaneous threads in one incredibly low-power, low-heat processor. With the CoolThread technology, the T1 processors are possibly one of the most eco-responsible ever created (www.sun.com);
  • Refreshed disk storage technology to replace less capacity (<70gb)>140GB);
  • Adjusted the thermostat set point of current data centers to 77F per ASHRAE standards; and
  • Greatly reduced heat dissipation from its tape libraries from 10000 BTU to 733 BTU, and reduced power consumption from 2880W to 215W, by upgrading its LTO-1 tape drives to LTO-4 and by including a VTL/data de-duplication backup solution.
  • As building plans move forward on Core Services’ next datacenter in late 2009 (and future data centers beyond that), green policies have already been put into place and additional options are being considered. Some of these plans include:
  • Implementing “economizers” to allow outside cool air to compliment data center cooling systems;
  • Discussing and researching options for fly-wheel diesel generators;
  • Researching and implementing a solar photovoltaic system;
  • Researching rain water collection systems to supplement cooling towers;
  • Building sites that are walking distance to public transportation; and
  • Providing bicycle storage facilities/bike racks and changing rooms for employees that would utilize alternative transportation options.
Core Services realizes that “greening” its data centers is not just about saving energy, it’s also about saving our future. “We strive to have a positive impact on the environment and community that will support a healthy and sustainable future for generations to come,” says Bistis. “For companies in the IT industry - like Core Services - concerns about affordable energy are more pressing each day.” With the rising cost and environmental effect of our energy uses, and limited energy availability in some areas, companies like Core Services are taking a new and bold approach in designing and managing data centers. Bistis concludes, “We are excited about many of the new technologies and options available and look forward to building new greener data centers that have a positive impact on both the environment and our business.”

Core Services Corporation, an Oracle Certified Partner, delivers Oracle-based business operations solutions and information systems and support to clients worldwide by providing award-winning Oracle Consulting and Oracle Hosting services. Additionally, Core Services is authorized to sell and service Oracle E-Business Suite, leveraging the Oracle Business Accelerators. Focused uniquely on Oracle Applications since 1990, Core Services also offers Managed, Remote DBA, and Disaster Recovery services in addition to Oracle Consulting services for new implementations and upgrades. For more information about Core Services, visit our website at: http://www.coreservices.com.

© 2009
<>