IBM to craft $86 Million Green data center

In a press release issued today, IBM announced that they will be investing a modest sum of $86 million into a new data center expansion. An expansion that supposedly will be given a ”Green” status with the extra effort put into making it energy efficient:

IBM announced today an $86 million data center expansion that will add an additional 80,000 square feet of data center space to its Boulder facility. IBM will use state-of-the-art technology to build a "green data center" to help IBM and its clients reduce energy costs.
The expansion will greatly increase the size of the datacenter, making it one of the largest IBM datacenters worldwide. As for energy friendliness, a lot of technologies used will come from their “Project Big Green” initiative, which was launched in May. This varies from using recycled materials for manufacturing to using low-power processors and chipsets, including some manufactured by VIA.

IBM is probably taking a “lead by example” approach, in an attempt to get more interest in their newer technologies. Power concerns are huge, and more companies are seeing it better, for both public relations and ultimately for business, to work “green”.

Another method for energy savings has been to increase virtualization use and overall computing density. With a smaller physical footprint often comes a smaller environmental footprint, and virtualization has long been considered a future potential to better share resources. The construction of the building will also play a part, though the press release is sketchy on any details. Construction of the expansion will be finished before April of next year.