IBM, Syracuse University and New York State have entered into a multiyear agreement to build and operate a new computer data center on the University’s campus that will incorporate advanced infrastructure and smarter computing technologies to make it one of the most energy-efficient data centers in the world.

The data center is expected to use 50 percent less energy than a typical data center today, making it one of the “greenest” computer centers in operation.

Through its “Smarter Planet” initiative, IBM is helping clients take advantage of the fact that the world is becoming more instrumented, intelligent and interconnected. IBM is working with SU and New York State to use smarter technologies in the new data center. For example, the project will focus on the actual infrastructure of the data center itself, not just the computer hardware and software. A key element will be an on-site electrical co-generation system that will use natural gas-fueled microturbine engines to generate all electricity for the center and provide cooling for the computer servers.

The $12.4 million, 6,000-square-foot data center will feature its own electrical tri-generation system and incorporate IBM’s energy-efficient computers and computer-cooling technology. SU will manage and analyze the performance of the center, as well as research and develop new data center energy efficiency analysis and modeling tools. IBM will provide more than $5 million in equipment, design services and support, which includes supplying the electrical cogeneration equipment and servers such as IBM BladeCenter, IBM Power 575 and an IBM z10 systems. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is contributing $2 million to the project.

Through its vision of Scholarship in Action, the University is building on its historical strengths and pursing cross-sector collaborations with partners from all sectors of the economy-collaborations that simultaneously enrich scholarship and education and address the pressing issues of the world.

The project will address a critical concern for modern data centers run by businesses and organizations around the world: ever-spiraling energy consumption and cost driven by growing demand for computer services such as Internet communication, entertainment, global commerce and services. Data centers in the United States consume annually more than 62 billion kilowatt hours of electricity - equivalent to the amount used by approximately 5.8 million U.S. households - for a total cost of about $4.5 billion. If current trends continue, that usage could double by 2011.

The project will feature an on-site electrical tri-generation system that will use an array of natural gas-fueled microturbines to generate all the necessary electricity for the center and provide cooling for the computer servers. The data center will be able to operate completely off-grid.

IBM and SU will create a liquid cooling system that will use double-effect absorption chillers to convert the exhaust heat from the microturbines into chilled water to cool the data center’s servers, with sufficient excess cooling to handle the needs of an adjacent building. Server racks will incorporate IBM’s Rear Door Heat eXchanger “cooling doors” that use chilled water to remove heat from each rack far more efficiently than conventional room-chilling methods. Sensors will monitor server temperatures and usage to tailor the amount of cooling delivered by each Rear Door Heat eXchanger-further improving efficiency.

The project also will include the creation of a direct current (DC) power distribution system. In a typical data center, alternating current (AC) electricity is delivered by a central power plant through the local utility’s electric grid and then converted to DC to power the servers. This conversion process results in power loss. By directly generating DC power on-site, transmission and conversion losses are eliminated.

Syracuse University will conduct research and analysis of the data center’s power and cooling technologies and develop models and simulation tools to monitor, estimate, plan and control energy use to achieve the goal of reducing average data center energy use by 50 percent.

This will include determining the optimum data center layout and cooling system, thermodynamic models to predict energy consumption, analyses of plant and chiller energy efficiency, evaluating the energy savings advantages of on-site tri-generation systems and DC power supply for data centers, and testing and measurement of the performance of water-cooled server racks.

The data center is expected to be completed by the end of 2009.