page green tag IT devices that consume more energy than they need to , and the inefficient management of the storage , in the first place . In fact , both are connected so we ’ ll explore these together .
Control at your fingertips If a device is not managed it will run on full power whether it needs to or not . That means wasted power , increased CO2 emissions and high energy bills . This problem has already been addressed and solved in the consumer market . Customers can use technology to remotely turn on / off heating , for example , when they ’ re not at home , saving the cost of heating an uninhabited home . Conceptually , a storage array shouldn ’ t be any different . Why have idle disks on full power 24 / 7 when they could be managed according to use .
By using a management tool and setting automated policies per RAID , rather than across all drives in the storage system , administrators can transition idle disks onto a lower power usage . Removing power from where it ’ s not needed means more power is available where it is . Take back ups for example . By using an automated management tool for back ups , you can limit power usage in between scheduled back up to disk protocols . During an overnight back up , drives operate at full throttle without any performance limitation . The following morning , once back ups are finished , the management tool automatically initiates a power saving setting . Costs saving could be up to 87 per cent . Furthermore , this frees up more energy for other systems that need to do heavy lifting during the day .
Output to outage On a continuing practical note , IT departments are looking for storage that does not require more energy ( for power and cooling ) because there comes a point when the building simply cannot support it . Even if you had money to burn on high energy bills , you don ’ t want to blow the systems and cause an outage . But , with increasing data storage and accessibility demands , data systems need to pull power – and a lot of it . So , it ’ s key to find top notch storage performance that won ’ t burn through resources .
Beyond CO2 Even if the environment isn ’ t a concern , or part of a company ’ s current CSR strategy , there are other reasons to move to more efficient storage . Efficient storage takes up less floor space . As data grows , so will storage requirements . This can max out the physical space an organisation or data centre has very quickly , and can incur costs if the company then needs to rent additional floor space for additional racks of inefficient storage . Ultra dense storage solutions help organisations increase capacity while cutting energy consumption and rack space by up to one third .
So , the arguments are pretty strong . Whether it ’ s for more space , reduced costs or love of the planet , choosing storage solutions that include energy efficiency as an integral component of product design , companies can gain energy and costs savings without losing performance . So as data continues to grow , ensure you have the performance you need without all the wasted resources .
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