Server owners will do almost anything to save costs for electricity, which today is becoming the main expense for operating one's own and hosting physical servers. These actions range from incomprehensible switching off of servers to their relocation to data centers on the other side of the world, where electricity is cheaper and there is a sufficient capacity of optical lines.
However, there are also easier ways to save. Often it’s enough simply to replace the power supply for the server with a new and better quality on with higher efficiency. A new quality power supply costs around CZK 2,000, but savings from it within one year on one machine can be up to double that. Energy savings are also a good argument for distributors and vendors of quality power supplies.
The same also applies for servers located in data centers, particularly in those which even today calculate the price for power consumption based on the tag on the power supply. That of course is not the situation with the Coolhousing data center!
“In this area, we have taken a very progressive approach, since we realise that power supplies with higher wattage are often more efficient, particularly during lower power consumption,” explains Jiří Dvořák, a data center sales specialist for Coolhousing. “Such a 600W power supply can deliver 150 W to the server much more efficiently than a similar 300W power supply, which at such power consumption reaches half of its maximum.” In this example, you can see what the difference can be between the power consumption indicated on the tag and the server’s actual consumption. It is necessary to take this difference into consideration and inform the customer during consultations about investments into IT. In Coolhousing, we not only explain this to customers, but we also take it into consideration when issuing invoices.
In Coolhousing, customers pay based on their actual consumption. The server’s power consumption is always included in a satisfactory category with scaling after 10 W. The server owner can also monitor power consumption online.
Praising during the sale of computer components is fine, but the customer is often more interested in an easy to understand explanation for why to purchase. Another good reason for acquiring a new power supply can be that thanks to better efficiency and therefore savings, the customer can go on vacation each year paid for by the cost savings.
Author: Jirka Dvořák