The data centers housing today's enterprise networks depend on an array of equipment to monitor network performance, troubleshoot problems and maintain uptime. An enterprise normally supports its high-speed network infrastructure with dozens of monitoring devices, perhaps hundreds in the case of data centers in multiple locations, and the resulting energy costs generated by this array of devices are considerable.

According to a study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), data centers in the United States consumed 61 billion kilowatt hours in 2006, more than double the amount consumed in 2000. The EPA indicates that data center power consumption could double again by 2011.

Another report, by the analyst firm IDC, notes that the average equipment rack 10 years ago held seven servers that each consumed an average of 100 watts; the number today is up to 22 servers per rack, with power consumption at an average of 400 watts per device.

The majority of businesses surveyed by IDC are not aware of the energy consumed by devices used for network monitoring or how much power is being consumed per square foot in their data centers. If the average monitoring device consumes 450 watts at full load, then, for example, a company with 600 monitoring devices deployed in its data centers would consume more than 270 kW per hour.

Cooling is also part of the energy-consumption issue. The IDC study indicates that data center managers are not focused on reducing the overall thermal footprint of their data centers. Cooling challenges are often addressed by pushing more cold air through raised floors or rearranging equipment in hot/cool zones, so air intakes on certain devices are drawing cool air.

More efficient power management and device usage is one way to cut power consumption, but why not simply cut the number of devices using a matrix switch? A matrix switch is like an electronic patch panel controlled by software. It enables the dynamic reallocation of monitoring equipment, thus reducing the number of devices needed to maintain total network visibility and, in turn, lowering overall power consumption.

A single monitoring device is connected to a matrix switch, which then connects to an entire array of Layer 2 switches, which is more cost effective than the conventional approach, where each monitoring device is connected one-to-one to a dedicated Layer 2 switch. The matrix switch implementation assures the same instant device access as the conventional one-to-one deployment, but does so in a way that utilizes fewer total devices, therefore consuming less energy overall.

The data center with 600 devices, for example, can cut the total number of installed monitoring devices down to 200 by deploying a set of matrix switches. Fewer monitoring devices results in a reduction in power consumption. Having fewer active devices also reduces the data center's thermal load, which, in turn, reduces the cost of cooling the facility.

Jason Perlewitz is a professional services manager at APCON, Wilsonville, Ore.

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