11th Best Practice hidden in Microsoft's 10 Best Practices

I've been staring at the Microsoft's Best Practices for Energy Efficiency in Microsoft Data Center Operations that they published as part of Steve Ballmer's announcement at Cebit, thinking about how to use the document. I checked with some Microsoft friends and there have been 640 downloads of this document from the press release site in one week. The number will go up significantly when the content gets hosted in a higher traffic Microsoft area like TechNet. The early feedback has been good and customers are asking for more.

For those of you haven't downloaded the document here are the 10 best practices:

  1. Engineer the data center for cost and energy efficiency.

  2. Optimize the design to assess multiple factors.

  3. Optimize provisioning for maximum efficiency and productivity.

  4. Monitor and control data center performance in real time.

  5. Make data center operational excellence part of organizational culture.

  6. Measure power usage effectiveness (PUE).

  7. Use temperature control and airflow distribution.

  8. Eliminate the mixing of hot and cold air.

  9. Use effective air-side or water-side economizers.

  10. Share and learn from industry partners.

The one thing I really liked about the list is the order. The order in which you run a Green Data Center project is the most important best practice and can be listed as the 11th Best Practice.  You can fine tune the order for your organization, but you get the idea of looking at the big picture first, putting in your green infrastructure, implement, and learn more.

    • Big Picture
      • Engineer the data center for cost and energy efficiency.

      • Optimize the design to assess multiple factors.

      • Optimize provisioning for maximum efficiency and productivity.

    • Green Infrastructure
      • Monitor and control data center performance in real time.

      • Make data center operational excellence part of organizational culture.

      • Measure power usage effectiveness (PUE).

    • Implement
      • Use temperature control and airflow distribution.

      • Eliminate the mixing of hot and cold air.

      • Use effective air-side or water-side economizers.

    • Learn More
      • Share and learn from industry partners.

This is the first step anyone should take in Greening their data center.  Answer the question:

In what order will you implement Best Practices?

This will have the largest effect on the success or failure of the project.