Optimizing Data Center Infrastructure for Efficiency

Around the world IT  operations is the most crucial aspect. One of the main concerns is business continuity; companies totally rely on their information system and if a system become unavailable than the company may be stopped completely, for that reliable infrastructure is very necessary to decrease the chance of disturbance. A data center must therefore provide a secure environment and network performance.

Data centers are physical or virtual depository which involves storing, processing and serving large amounts of data and information . It generally includes backup power supply , data communications connections, and environmental controls. Temperature must be controlled in the data center. The temperatures in a data center will naturally rise because the electrical power used, heats the air. Air conditioning is used to control the temperature, but energy is the major issue now a days, so modern data center  use economizer cooling where they use outside air to keep data center cool. Etsy, an Ecommerce company took forward its steps to enhance data center infrastructure for efficiency.

Etsy is an Ecommerce website which is diverse, unique and focused  on handmade and vintage items as well as unique manufactured items. Items cover a wide range like clothing, food, jewelry, quilts and toys. The philosophy of the company is directed around “designated ops.” Designated ops are highlighted across the entire company, not just developers and operations. Mike Rembetsy said that “It’s a mistake to think of these topics as domain expertise of one particular group”.  Rembetsy highlight that true efficiency totally depend on the communication between the people or on human interest.

Etsy’s designated ops are totally different from dedicated ops. In designated ops the person within the operations team will involve themselves into other team, their job has to help smooth operation mindset in the process of development.

Etsy has also expanded into Equinix’s  Silicon Valley SV5 International Business Exchange data center. This minimizes the downtime of the company and provide good speed or service to its customers. Mike Rembetsy, said that “Etsy was founded to help connect makers with buyers and we have a singular focus to support a positive buyer- seller experience through technology innovations.”

Etsy now gets into web hosting business

Etsy recently launched a website for seller to create a more customized experience service  called Pattern by Etsy, and it includes web hosting, customization tools and automatic integration in Etsy store, for $15 a monthMany sellers are interested in launching separate sites. This could help bring in reccuring revenue in its service seller segment. They provide 30 days trial to build a user base.

Etsy’s Data Centers and efficiency

  • The Company uses maximum renewable energy. They want to provide renewable energy as well as onsight generation. Data centers mainly focused on reliability.
  • They use newer cooling technology that use less water.

Rembetsy said that “Since then, when choosing another data center, we’ve continued with the idea of efficiencies, renewable energy, and design,”

  • Began making racks as thick as possible going from 2kW per cabinet to 5-6kW per cab.
  • Hadoop servers uses supermicro boxes, were nice and cool but pretty hot from the back so for that they switch from 145w processors to 90w CPUs for a power efficiency perspective.

Conclusion

Manage energy well. Better energy data collection would not only help to quantify the energy load and highlight the importance of energy efficiency improvements and evaluate the energy savings. By some modern techniques you improve 20% efficiency with little capital investment .