The Grocery Store & Green IT

What do grocery stores and data centers have in common? Or rather what should they have in common? They both have a need for to supply cooling, for the grocer, it's to the perishable food products, and for the IT manager, it's for the hot servers. On a recent visit to Net Apps remarkable data center, I saw many innovative practices they use to minimize power consumption: automatic wireless sensors to regulate cooling, flywheel technology for back-up power supply, a state-of-the art control center. All really cool stuff, but the thing that struck me most was their use of simple clear PVC strips, just like those found in a typical grocery store to keep hot aisles hot, and cool aisles cool. Deploying simple plastic strip curtains results in a big gain in cooling efficiency without hindering access to servers. This simple relatively low-tech innovation, borrowed from grocery stores, was also coupled with heat sensors so that the curtains would automatically fall to the floor, so as not to obstruct sprinklers in the event of a fire. Kudo's to Net App for pioneering this simple, inexpensive idea.