Green ideas at FOSE: Interview with Ben Grimes of Avocent

March 12, 5:32 PMDC Green Business ExaminerMatt Roberts

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Ben Grimes, Avocent CTO.

Had an informative meeting today with Ben Grimes of Avocent over at FOSE.  He came on two years ago after a career at IBM, and he was kind enough to take some time to talk about the intersection of sustainable practices and information technology during a busy day at the show.

Grimes came to Avocent to be the VP of Strategy and ascended to take over as Executive VP of Corporate Strategy and Chief Technology Officer, and judging by his vision for the future of data center and workflow management, it was a good choice.

Grimes noted in our discussion that while sustainability and energy conservation are priorities in the industry, the ability to establish ROI is critical to seeing greater adoption of sustainable practices.  Without a swift ROI - in his opinion no greater than 12 months - it is difficult to rationalize the investments and justify conservation efforts.

The biggest part of our discussion focused on how data center and infrastructure managers can effectively implement cost-saving activities and sustainable practices - something Grimes indicated was a top priority for the applications and services Avocent provides.

The main point - "You have to know what is in your environment to be able to manage it."  

So many data centers are cluttered with outdated equipment that managers are afraid to unplug fearing that some part of the office still uses it.  In the same vein, many data centers are managed by the estimated power usage and available space that is listed on the faceplate of servers instead of delving in and discerning what the actual consumption and potential for a server rack might be.

How can a manager truly maximize equipment to prevent the acquisition of new data centers or effectively manage energy consumption in IT without accurate information?

Avocent, of course, has a solution.  Real-time energy and data use tracking solutions and data center planning software.

A 2008 Avocent survey of 300 data center IT decision makers revealed that energy conservation was considered the most difficult issue to resolve using currently available tools; managing the total cost of power was a close second. Effective new technologies, such as intelligent power distribution devices and power management software, enable effective, granular monitoring of every appliance in the organization and strategic reductions in energy consumption.

The more interesting of the topics to me was the solutions for real-time energy usage monitoring.  The Avocent technology allows each plug/outlet in a server rack to be independently monitored so that energy usage can be tracked effectively.

With this type of tracking in place, data center managers can establish real baselines of performance - an essential element if any cost savings or efficiencies are going to be realized, and also necessary to be able to determine ROI on any investments.

Also, with real-time monitoring, managers would be able to benefit from time-of-use metering from utilities.  In time-of-use systems on smart grids, utilities would raise the rates charged to rate payers during peak activity on teh grid, and provide a lower base rate during off peak hours.  Being able to effectively manage IT assets and workflow on multiple servers means that IT managers can also find cost-savings in strategic planning of energy consumption.

Avocent also recently released a white paper by Grimes titled "Managing IT in Tough Economic Climates," which offers advice for IT managers looking to reduce overhead and increase efficiencies in the face of shrinking budgets and dwindling resources.

"There has never been a more critical time for IT to align itself with the business to aid in streamlining processes and reducing operating expenses," said Grimes. "In past economic downturns, those companies that focused on cost containment and process improvement emerged victorious. In this current climate, businesses must again look at ways to do more with less and can use the new strategies and tools at their fingertips to help them weather the storm."

Needless to say, we can expect more innovation and applications that enable sustainability down the road from Avocent and its competitors.  As more and more focus is placed on efficiency and cost-saving approaches, these types of applications are critical.