The Soft Pitch

I wanted to write about Avnet’s award for the “greening” of its data center, then I saw that one of our IT directors has written about it internally and he has provided a much better write up than I could – so this comes from Bruce Gorshe, IT Director – Data Center Operations.  The list of small and big things show, Kermit the Frog got it all wrong. It can be easy to be green, you just have to be a little bit innovative:

Green Computing, Energy Efficiency and the Data Center – Avnet won!

Avnet was selected as the winner of InfoWorld’s 2009 “Best Practices in Green Computing, Energy Efficiency and the Datacenter.”

Jennifer McConnell (Director, IT) accepted the award for Avnet at the “Storage Networking World” annual storage convention held in Scottsdale, Arizona. The award represented the cumulative efforts of multiple teams and demonstrates how Avnet is a leader in the Green IT space.

Jennifer McConnell Accepting SNW Award

The winning entry included these main points, specifically, Avnet:

• Consolidated more than 300 pieces of hardware by retiring or collapsing systems into larger vertically-scaled servers.
• Created a heavily virtualized environment with 24 VMware ESX hosts supporting 378 virtual guests
• Deployed 15 product AIX frames, representing 538 systems across only 39 physical systems.
• Installed StorageTek’s Virtual Storage Manager system to move a storage area network environment.
• Replaced older less efficient air conditioners with newer air conditioners, which were more power efficient.
• Re-foamed the ceiling of its datacenter roof and applied additional insulation.
• Installed “subzero” air flow leakage cubes and high-flow perforated tiles.
• Replaced 250 T12 lighting ballasts with more efficient T08 ballasts.
• Developed a script that would run on all desktop and laptop systems connected to the datacenter to automatically place idle systems in hibernation.

The gains from these changes included:

• Avoided spending more than $5 million to expand the power supply to its datacenter.
• Decreased power consumption by 44% per image through its vertical scaling and virtualization efforts. It also freed a considerable amount of valuable raised flooring space within Avnet’s datacenter. Avnet now has 5,000 square feet of available raised flooring, up from 1,000 square feet, allowing Avnet to avoid structural build-outs costs.
• The new room air conditioners are 20% more efficient.
• Re-foaming the datacenter ceiling and applying additional insulation lowered Avnet’s datacenter cooling costs by $7500 per year, and increased the longevity of the cooling systems and roof.
• The “subzero” air flow leakage cubes and high-flow perforated tiles helped improve air flow by 90%.
• The new power efficient lighting reduced related costs by 30%.
• By placing idle computers in hibernation during non-business hours, Avnet will save an estimated $150,000 annually. Also, it significantly reduced Avnet’s power consumption. A desktop PC consumes approximately 137 watts of electricity; however, by placing it in hibernation, it only consumes one watt.

As a follow-up to my post “Ahead of the Power Curve”  we won!  Check out the press release:

September 24, 2008 – Avnet, Inc. Named an Honoree in Computerworld’s Inaugural “Best Practices in Green IT” Awards Program

Avnet Recognized for Its Commitment to Improving Energy Efficiency in Its Data Center

PHOENIX — Global technology distributor Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT) today announced that IDG’s Computerworld selected the company as an Honoree in the inaugural “Best Practices in Green IT” Awards Program. Computerworld’s “Best Practices in Green IT” Awards Program identifies and acknowledges excellence among early adopters and industry leaders in the green IT movement. Avnet received its award in the “Green IT in the Data Center” category based on its three-year project to create a more energy-efficient data center.  more

Last week we learned that Avnet has been named as a finalist in Computerworld’s Green IT awards for “Green IT in the Data Center.”  “Green IT in the Data Center.”

We’re in with some pretty big company (IBM and Unisys were also named finalists in our category). But just being named a finalist I think shows a recognition of some things we take very seriously in running our business.

It’s become very cool these days to tout everything “green,” and sometimes we all get ahead of ourselves. So, I’m realistic. Avnet is on a journey to become more of a green company, we’re not perfect, but we’re looking at everything from coffee cups in our break rooms (we switched from Styrofoam to paper and regular old mugs) to use of plastic water bottles (we recently stopped using them at our large corporate functions) to big things like energy conservation.

Our journey in the data center began in 2005, when we needed to expand. The IT team worked closely with our facilities management team. Some things we did to get ahead of the power consumption curve:

ü     Using virtualization we consolidated our servers and decreased power consumption per image by 44 percent.

ü     We replaced “down flow” air conditioners with new ones which were 20 percent more efficient.

ü     We added more insulation. For a data center located in Arizona, where temperatures can reach more than 115 degrees, this investment resulted in a more efficient building, lowered cooling costs by $7500 per year, and increased the longevity of cooling systems and the roof.

ü     We replaced 250 T12 lighting ballasts with more efficient T08 ballasts.  This reduced Avnet’s lighting costs by 30 percent.

Winners will be announced September 18^th at Computerworld’s Green IT Symposium.  I have my fingers crossed.

Now that most of us have accepted that we need to do something to save energy, reduce greenhouse emissions and basically save the planet for future generations, “green iniatives” are popping up everywhere.  As much as everyone talks, of course there’s still much to be done and change isn’t always quick to come when there are sacrifices to be made.  Many CFO’s just can’t justify the money to “go green” when in the short run additional expense will negatively impact profits.

Ok, I confess.  I don’t do sports.  Growing up, my dad was from Canada and when I was a kid, the only US hockey team was the Kings. Living in LA, I went to few games with him when the Montreal Canadiens were in town, but that was about it. So, I had no sports coaching as a kid, so to speak. I know a little bit about being outside the ring for a 3-point basket and that it’s 10 yards to a first down. I sing a fairly decent “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (which means I know all the words) during the seventh inning stretch, but that’s about it. As Al said in his post, I do camp and I love it. I go for the outdoors stuff.  So I’ve been whitewater rafting in Utah (Class 4), zip-lining in Hawaii, skydiving in the Arizona desert, and soaring in California, Nevada and Washington. This summer, I’m planning a week on a schooner off the coast of Maine. My story is not the same as die-hard-Cub’s-fan Al, but it’s my story nonetheless.  I do wear pearls to work, but never on the weekend, and maybe one day I’ll tell you the story of my blue pearls. In the meantime, one of the things I’ve learned in my career is that everyone, simply everyone, has a story to tell.

In this blog, we want to share with you the stories from Avnet you may not have heard about — or provide some insight on the stories you have heard about.  There’s a lot of interesting people doing some pretty cool stuff at Avnet. 

Take the virtualization blog started by Tim of Avnet Technology Solutions.  I’ve known Tim for years, he’s a self-described “propeller head,” which means when I need a simple explanation of something technical, he’s the guy I call.  He’s also one of the people who have been championing using social media to engage with our communities internally and, now, externally.  Server virtualization is a trend that took off a few years ago, and Avnet itself headed down the virtualization path in order to be more efficient. We walk the virtual talk, so to speak.  We’re also working on a green strategy for Avnet.    EBV Electronik, an Avnet company with its headquarters in Germany, is leading the way.  They just published a special issue of The Quintessence on ecodesign. Included with every copy is a packet of tree seeds to encourage readers to take personal action.  If all the seeds distributed are planted and grow into trees, they could absorb the same amount of CO2 as that produced by more than 23,000 people every year!

Michelle Gorel

VP Public Relations

Avnet, Inc.