At GCG, we’re all about business value. As much as we love the new new thing, it has to pencil out.

That said, we sat in on IBM’s “Mainframe Gas Gauge” teleconference to learn more about monitoring power usage and temperature on System z9. Since May 2007, z9 Business Class and Enterprise Class systems have shipped with Driver 67 installed, which enables detailed, easy-to-read graphic displays on the Hardware Management Console. You can see kilowatts consumed, BTUs per hour, and temperature in nifty bar graphs.

More information is more better, we like to say, and this appears to be a good tool to have in one’s consolidation/ cost-cutting kit.  Beginning Nov. 2, IBM will offer tables on its Energy Efficiency website that detail typical savings:  http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/energy_efficiency/

 
Our excitement about energy savings is always a bit tempered by the realization that even massive savings of 80-85% and their accompanying floor space and networking reductions generally yield only about 10-12% total IT cost savings. And if, in order to achieve these energy savings and data center floor reductions, you have to change applications, are you still saving money? If you are, we’re all for it. If not, then look for the same technology to come to Unix and x86 servers and operating systems in the near future…