Press Release: Ultimate cost-effective low energy hosting methodology

Published 10th September 2008

ACC YOTTA SWITCH ON THE ULTIMATE IN AFFORDABLE LOW ENERGY HOSTING: SERVERS THAT SWITCH THEMSELVES OFF

Server nodes save huge amounts of power by automatically switching on and off dependent on data-centre load

ACC Yotta, a specialist in the researching and sourcing of energy efficient hosting solutions, announces its latest hosting methodology 'YotENV II' is now qualified for live use. Based on a diskless, energy efficient server platform, new to YotENV II is the capability for server node 'bare metal' to be switched on and off depending on the amount of CPU load that is being placed on hosted servers. The result means that for the majority of time outside of peak usages hours, a YotENV II based system draws dramatically less energy than a conventional 'always on' server setup.

The nerve centre of the pioneering solution is Virtual Irons XEE (Extended Enterprise Edition) 4.4, which recently went general release on September 5th 2008. New to VI XEE 4.4 is 'LivePower' - the key feature which gives server management systems the ability to monitor CPU resource use across nodes. This means that if configured resource policies are satisfied, hosted virtual servers migrate off under-utilized nodes in live state, before switching the now unused node off to conserve power. Conversely, during peak hours when load ramps spare nodes are automatically powered up and virtual machines appropriately re-allocated to the newly available hardware.

Virtual Iron XEE 4.4 is one of only two currently shipping Virtualization platforms that support 'LivePower' type functionality, but crucially, Virtual Iron is by far the most competitively priced platform.

Jeff Rhys-Jones, founder of ACC Yotta commented: "Whether an organisation is running servers in rented 'co-located' hosting facilities, or in data centres on-premises, the technologies we have selected to build the YotENV II hosting methodology around will dramatically reduce the energy and heat footprint normally associated with running multi-server operations."

"Rather than banging on about planting trees - we think that reducing power draw is the most environmentally responsible, and financially sensible hosting strategy. Power is money, heat and of course, CO2. The best way to significantly reduce the amount of energy your hosting operation uses is to use a hosting methodology which enables you to turn servers off when you don't need them. Shops lay on more staff to cover the lunch hour rush - so now you can do the same, as servers automatically power up, just to cover the busy periods."

The Best Bang For Buck For AMP

The first configuration that passed hardware qualification is built around high performance, low profile dual socket quad core Supermicro servers, and utilizing Intel’s Low Voltage XEON LV range of quad core processors. In lab tests, ACC Yotta found that these servers in particular represented the best 'Bang For Buck For Amp'. Qualification of more hardware platforms, including blade centers are currently in progress.

Rhys-Jones added: "We deliberately chose to qualify a non-blade platform first, because we felt that a 'standalone' solution was ideally suited for organisations unable to deploy blade systems due to size and power requirements in the data centre. A YotENV solution runs totally standard server interfaces and connectivity and can be snapped in, using minimal power and space along side existing hardware assets, making for a much easier migration than to a blade architecture. "The Supermicro based hardware is dual socket, quad core, and packaged in a low profile '1/2 U' chassis. If necessary, these servers can be fitted 'back to back in rack', housing 16 cores in just a single unit (U) of rack space."

For more information on YotENV II methodology specifications, energy performance figures or demonstrations, please contact Jeff Rhys-Jones at ACC Yotta.

ABOUT ACC YOTTA

ACC Yotta, a division of ACC International Ltd, specialises in research and development of server hardware technology. The company has spent the last two years focusing on low energy hosting environments, and created its first hosting methodology which it christened 'YotENV'.

"Hosting Without The Toasting"

In its first incarnation, YotENV I uses dedicated server hardware running in diskless configurations, in conjunction with a powerful SAN back end, and high performance application accelerators on the front end. On the new Virtual Iron virtualization platform, YotENV II will be more widely compatible with various makes of server hardware. Previously, SAN booting diskless servers required careful provisioning and identical servers even down to BIOS level in order to guarantee cross hardware compatibility when booting different hardware off different volumes.

YotENV I remains the first choice methodology for customers seeking low energy hosting solutions on dedicated, non-virtualised hosting environments.

PRESS CONTACTS
Jeff Rhys-Jones @ ACC Yotta
Phone: +44 207 0436093
Email: Jeff@acc-international.co.uk
Website: http://www.acc-international.co.uk/

Michael Cowdroy @ Peppercom
Phone: +44 207 0332660
Email: mcowdroy@uk.peppercom.com