Our data centers must become immensely more efficient and flexible in order to meet the need for energy while keeping costs in check as the demand for and price of resources continue to rise. However, the realization of this efficiency requires a deep and pervasive transformation in how data centers are designed, managed, operated, populated, and billed, mandating a unified and coordinated effort across organizational and functional boundaries toward a common set of goals.

It is no longer sufficient to address facilities and IT operations as separate and distinct. While significant efficiency opportunities exist in both facilities and IT, a comprehensive smarter data center strategy must look across both of these domains, treating the data center as a single, cohesive whole.

This IBM® Redguide™ publication lists many of the efficiency techniques that can be applied to your data center facility and IT operations and methods to integrate across them for a comprehensive view of your data center environments. Also included are several case studies where IBM has applied many of these solutions for large-scale, real-world savings, both within IBM and among our customers.

In a companion IBM Redpaper™, The Green Data Center: Steps for the Journey, REDP-4413, you will find many of these techniques described in more detail, along with guidance on creating your own smarter data center strategy and pointers on how IBM can help you succeed.