Chip maker and leading server manufacturers form association to save energy

AMD is adopting an “all-green” approach in response to a worldwide call to save datacentre energy.

The chip maker has rallied a group of its leading server manufacturers to launch The Green Grid, a non-profit association aimed at reducing power and cooling levels in server datacentres for the benefit of both businesses and the environment. Hewlett-Packard, Sun and IBM are among the founding members.

However, both Intel and Dell are conspicuous by their absence.

AMD has said that the goals of the group are supported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Alliance to Save Energy.

The Green Grid will serve as an interactive resource for IT professionals for sharing proven practices in datacentre energy management, as well as identifying new industry standards and metrics related to energy. Founding membership is also open to system integrators, ISVs, VARs, analyst firms and utility companies.

Electricity costs are rising, while blade servers and other high-performance server technologies require increasing amounts of electricity to run. The cost of running servers is being emphasised by some manufacturers – including those in the Green Grid – to differentiate their offerings from the likes of Dell and Intel.

Marty Seyer, senior vice-president, commercial and performance computing at AMD, said: “Datacentre power consumption is a growing global concern on both a business and environmental level.

“The Green Grid was founded to bring the brightest minds in the industry together to help define innovative energy solutions that will improve performance-per-watt across the industry, today and tomorrow. It represents not only a call to action for other IT leaders, but also a natural next step for a technology industry that is coming of age with respect to solving the world’s more pressing problems and challenges.”

Andrew Fanara, of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star programme, said: “We believe energy efficiency-focused technology innovation is key to addressing the significant impact that this growing energy use will have both on today’s businesses and our environment.”

Ed Hunter, director of the Eco Responsibility Initiative at Sun, said: “As the demands on IT increase, it is the industry’s responsibility to help customers make smarter choices around all datacentre issues, including energy consumption.”