Smart Grids: A New Framework for Efficient Power Management in Datacenter Networks

The energy demand in the enterprise market segment demands a supply format that accommodates all generation and storage options with active participation by end users in demand response. Basically, with today's high power computing (HPC), a highly reliable, scalable, and cost effective energy solution that will satisfy power demands and improve environmental sustainability will have a broad acceptance. In a typical enterprise data center, power managment is a major challenge impacting server density and the total cost of ownership (COO). Storage uses a significant fraction of the power budget and there are no widely deployed power-saving solutions for enterprise storage systems. This work presents Data Center Networks (DCNs) for efficient power management in the context of SMART Grids. A SMART DCN is modelled with OPNET 14.5 for Network, Process and Node models. Also, an Extended SMART Integration Module in the context of SMART DCN is shown to be more cost effective than the traditional distribution grid in DCNs. The implementation challenges are discussed also. This paper suggests that smartening the grid for DCN will guarantee a sustainable energy future for the enterprise segments.