Savvis
At a Glance
Industry
Internet, Software, Hardware and Technology Services
Project Type
Commercial Energy Efficiency
Year
2009
Location
Chesterfield, MO
Summary
Sachin Kapasi investigated potential energy savings due to data center virtualization.
Goals
Sachin Kapasi, a MBA student at University of North Carolina, spent his summer at Savvis, a leader in outsourced Internet infrastructure services for the enterprise. Kapasi was asked to conduct a scientific experiment to quantify the energy savings that could be achieved by undertaking a virtualization strategy for data centers.
Solutions
Virtualization, in its simplest form, means consolidation of multiple application workloads, currently residing in separate under-utilized systems, onto a common platform with shared resources, and is a fundamental building-block of modern cloud computing. Consolidating workloads with virtualization technology saves energy and reduces energy costs.
For the study, Kapasi worked with Savvis' Cloud solutions team to set up a cloud environment and tested a virtualization management algorithm on 17 servers with simulated typical workloads. The results of the study demonstrated substantial energy savings; virtualization of 17 servers resulted in a cumulative annual saving of more than 20,000 kWh.
Potential Impact
This could be used as a future framework to help data centers quantify and estimate the extent of energy savings achieved by pursuing a virtualization strategy.