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Rationalising hardware 'can cut data centre operation costs'
25/11/2009
Data centre operators should start to rationalise their hardware in order to cut their facility's costs, according to an industry expert.
Research firm Gartner said that this involves taking out those systems that are old or where the workload can be run on more efficient ones.
It added that clients have reported that they are using between five and 20 per cent fewer servers by cutting their hardware.
Firms should also consolidate their data centre sites into a smaller number of larger ones in order to save money on things such as rent, servers and cooling.
Energy and facility costs are one of the major talking points in running a data centre. Gartner recommended that outside air can be used as an alternative to air conditioning, while the level of cooling required can also be greatly reduced by operating the facility at 24 C.
Earlier this year, SearchDataCentre.com said that firms should scrap or renegotiate their support contracts with contractors to give them some big bottom-line savings.
