NMCI's virtualization initiative has been recognized with a Green 15 Award by InfoWorld, a leading information technology (IT) publication.
“This year's Green 15 winners demonstrate, once again, that green IT projects can be a win-win proposition. These organizations have not only helped the planet by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, preserving trees, and keeping e-waste out of landfills,” said Ted Samson, senior analyst at InfoWorld.
In early 2008, HP began consolidating 2,700 physical servers that support NMCI down to about 300 virtual servers by the end of 2009.
“The move will save the Navy more than $1.6 million annually in energy costs or about $700 per virtualized server. This level of decreased power consumption means we essentially eliminate four tons of carbon emissions per server, per year. That is the equivalent of taking 2,800 cars off the road each year,” said Robert Pearson, vice president NMCI Operations.
Virtualization will also enhance NMCI's operations by moving the account away from the constraints and limitations of its physical infrastructure to better utilize its resources through:
- Saving physical space, energy and money
- Improving operational performance
- Allowing NMCI to do more with less
- Ensuring business continuity
Generally, a single physical server is partitioned into multiple virtual servers. Each partition has a dedicated operating system as well as layered infrastructure and applications software. The result is more efficient use of each server with fewer physical servers to install, support and manage. The average 40-50 percent capacity utilization rate that is typical for physical servers is greatly improved through virtualization.
“HP will also save $1 million in our technology refresh budget,” added Greg Burke, director of NMCI's network operations center services. “We will need to buy hundreds of servers instead of thousands. It also allows NMCI to reduce its physical footprint by about 40-70 percent.”
For more information, view the Virtualization home page.
The award is part of InfoWorld's Green 15 special feature that was published on Earth Day, April 22.