Part 1: Does DC have a place in the data center?
Summary
So, in response to a gentle e-mail earlier today from a kind reader, this is the first of a couple columns about using direct current (DC) as an energy option in the data center. Im writing about this issue for two reasons: First, because there seems to be some new innovation surrounding this technology and, two, its pretty clear that The Green Grid is starting to debate its own position on the topic as I mentioned in an earlier post. To me, the whole thing is kind of like a VHS vs. BetaMax debate or substitute-your-favorite-format here argument, although the electric grid is a heck of a lot more ubiquitous and stands to have a bigger impact on our lives. The bottom line: Validus believes that its technology can save up to 50 percent of the raised floor space in todays typical data center and reduce the energy consumption. By way of further making the DC case, Kraus notes that the internal guts of pretty much anything electronic these days -- including computers, lighting and so on -- run on direct current already.