LONDON, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- IT equipment in UK data centres is wasting UK companies GBP10m a year and releasing 50,000 tonnes of unnecessary CO2 into the atmosphere, just on flashing lights, according to recent research conducted by infrastructure specialist, LS Simple.

Legion upon legion of IT equipment, such as switches and routers, routinely and pointlessly flash LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) in UK data centres. With 21 million LEDs flashing in data centres alone, cash and energy are being wasted, and additionally, the wasted energy could ultimately pose a threat to continuing data centre operations, and even business survival.

Paul Eo (regional manager Europe of LS Simple) says is the very small tip of a fast melting iceberg. "With many data centres consuming hundreds of Megawatts of power, the LED power consumption is a tiny fraction. However, when Intelligent Power Management is deployed, Data Centre operations can often save 30% of their consumed power."

If a data centre is consuming 250 Megawatts of power - that's a massive saving of 75 Megawatts of power and 375,000 tonnes of CO2. This can be saved by each data centre, with the assistance of Intelligent Power Management.

The UK Government supports companies who invest in Intelligent Power Management. It offers them a form of accelerated tax relief called the Enhanced Capital Allowance, redirecting cash to the business and accelerating their investment returns.

Receiving Government cash to save money and the planet seems a particularly potent secret as the economic storm clouds continue to gather, threatening the bottom line.

Paul Eo adds, "There are things you can change and things you can't change, but most of them can be managed. IT managers must decide to either seize the initiative or expose their organisations to impending and costly legislation, as well as business disruption.

Applying intelligence to the management of power also makes business sense. Omnipresent threats to energy supply, combined with rampant cost increases threaten data centre availability and maybe even, company survival.

Not many people realise that the IT sector shamelessly creates the same amount of CO2 as the aviation sector, with each accounting for around 2% of global emissions. The aviation sector is taking action, determined not to remain the ecological pariah for much longer. Where does that leave IT?

LS Simple offers a full range of tools that allow power consumption to be measured and managed, if necessary, to the level of individual outlets, in individual cabinets. Its main strength comes from its ability to collect and trend data, providing Managers with the intelligence to make sound operational decisions. An example would be which rack to place a new Blade Server into. It is best to pick the one that is not on the limit of its thermal or power capacity, and the LS Simple Intelligent Power Management range can do that.

Note to editors:

There is little evidence available to measure precisely the cost of running LEDs in a data centre. The cost figures are based upon our own work and our basis of calculation is set out below. We confidently expect this to be understated. - One LD typically operates at consumes around 25mA, 12 volts (0.3 watts). - Power consumption is 0.025 Amps X 12 Volts = 0.3 Watts. - Assume 60% (flashing) duty cycle and this means that each LED consumes 0.18 Watts. - UK data centres have 10,000 racks of equipment with 210 LEDs per rack. Total 21,000,000 LEDs. - 21,000,000 LEDs each consuming 0.18 watts means that this LED load equates to 3,780 kW. At 0.5 kg of CO2 per kWh, this equates to 1.89 tonnes of CO2 for UK data centres. - Total UK data centre LED energy usage in kWhours is 3780 times 8760 (hours per year) giving 33,112,800 ie 33Mega Watts of power. - At GBP0.09 per kWh the cost is GBP2,980,152 and 16556 tonnes of CO2 is produced. - There must be at least twice this number of LEDs in PC boxes, screens and printers in homes and offices around the UK, hence 3 times the power and CO2 that is calculated for data centres alone.

For further press information please contact: Katrin Naefe on: +44(0)70-7470-7061 e-mail: knaefe@turtleconsulting.com or Phil Turtle on: +44(0)70-7470-7080 e-mail: phil.turtle@turtleconsulting.com Turtle Consulting Group

For further press information please contact: Katrin Naefe on: +44(0)70-7470-7061, e-mail: knaefe@turtleconsulting.com; or Phil Turtle on: +44(0)70-7470-7080, e-mail: phil.turtle@turtleconsulting.com