GreenGrid WP#72 - ICT Capacity and Utilization Metrics

The white paper describes the outcome of an initiative undertaken by The Green Grid in early 2015 to define a metric or set of metrics that can quantify the maximum volume of information and communications technology (ICT) services that can be delivered by a data centre for a given investment (“ICT capacity”) and provide an indicator of the share of that capacity that is effectively utilised (“ICT utilisation”).

Utilization can serve as a useful proxy for the energy efficiency with which the ICT services are being delivered because ICT equipment is generally more energy efficient at higher utilization. A doubling of utilization as measured by workload delivered or data stored can be achieved with an energy consumption increase of 4 to 5% as demonstrated by work performed by other work groups within The Green Grid. Thus, energy use is not currently proportional with workload.

The metrics proposed in this white paper deal with average utilization, which means that the peak and minimum utilization of a resource may be substantially different. The goal of these metrics is to better track and communicate how particular ICT services are being consumed in pursuit of both efficiency and effectiveness in specific IT data centers.

Contacts

• Website: https://www.thegreengrid.org/en/resources/library-and-tools/436-WP#72---ICT-Capacity-and-Utilization-Metrics
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