A strong Arm when it comes to reducing data centre carbon footprint?

Bamboo Systems has released a whitepaper “Reducing Your Data Center Carbon Footprint with Bamboo Arm Servers” which analyzes the energy used by different types of data centers. Bamboo found that an Arm server-powered data center reduces CO2 production by 74 percent, equivalent to almost half a million barrels of oil.

Bamboo’s whitepaper model calculated the energy used by a medium-sized data center with 750 racks of conventional 1U servers, assuming the servers comprise about two-thirds of the floor space and that the equipment space accounts for 65 percent of the total. This translates to a roughly 62,000 square-foot data center. Knowing server power consumption and the ratios for the various equipment categories, the model uses simple algebra to calculate the energy consumption for each subsystem.

Using the formula, Bamboo calculated the amount saved by using energy-efficient Arm servers, like the B1000N, and compared it to a standard 1U x86 system. Each Arm server required about one-quarter the electricity of a standard server. The algebra shows an Arm data center uses only 26 percent as much electricity (152,409 MWh/year) compared to one based on x86 systems.

An Arm server-powered data center saves energy to the equivalent of:

•         45,459 fewer cars on the road

•         486,749 fewer barrels of oil used

•         367,076 fewer passengers from JFK to LHR

•         4357 fewer homes with emissions

“The proof is in the numbers. Arm server-powered data centers are more energy efficient and better for the environment. We’ve known that all along,” said Tony Craythorne, CEO, Bamboo Systems. “Now, we have the proof in a tangible and logical formula. In addition to the CO2 reduction gains, Arm-server powered data center emissions cuts are valuable in the market for carbon offset trading, generating more than $4 million annually depending upon the carbon trading requirement. It’s time for the world to embrace Arm server solutions.”

Bamboo Systems’ patented Parallel ARM Node Designed Architecture (PANDA) delivers more throughput performance in significantly less rack space than traditional servers. PANDA design delivers up to 75% less energy consumption and 74% less CO2 output at 50% of the cost compared with today’s typical data center architecture. Additionally, Bamboo PANDA-based Arm servers have been shown through many customer POCs to run both off-the-shelf and custom applications with no or minimal effort.