Saving energy in the data center is old news. The smart companies can easily achieve 1.2 PUE or lower. They are being careful with their capital costs as well to build data centers. More companies are looking at the data center holistically.

Google built its first data center in 2006.

Google is proud to call Oregon home to Google's first owned and operated data center.

We opened our data center at The Dalles in 2006—investing $600 million in the facility and establishing a long-term commitment to the region and state. Now a fully operational site, we've created over 80 full-time jobs on site, and we work hard to support the communities in which our employees live and work.

After 7 years of operation and opening another thirteen data centers, Google has plenty of data to make the next move to design data centers for low maintenance. Google has made no announcement of this idea focusing on maintenance.

I am making this statement because it is the logical progression in the life cycle of running efficient operations.

First phase is you want the facility to work.

Second phase you want to make sure it is available and performs.

Third phase is you drive efficiency and cost reduction while accounting for functionality, availability or performance.

The fourth phase is maintenance affects all these factors, but many times low maintenance was not designed into the data center. You can only reduce maintenance costs so far. Think of the per mile maintenance costs of your Ferrari vs. your Toyota. Audi wins Le Mans because the cars are design for maintenance events.

With years of operation data, you can now design for operations and maintenance. Low maintenance should use less resources which is greener and ideally lower cost.