VMware has announced the Carbon Avoidance Meter (CAM), to provide data centre operators with near-real time “carbon scores” – determined from the level of one’s carbon footprint and energy usage – and recommendations for reducing this footprint.
The CAM bases carbon scores on telemetry data sent to VMware through VMware Skyline, a proactive support technology, in order to encourage energy reduction and inspire sustainable best practices for the industry.
Most data centres today consume power from grids sourced with a mix of power generation sources such as coal, nuclear or wind. VMware customers who subscribe to VMware Skyline can use CAM to quantify the level of VM density and, if viable, recommend higher levels of virtualisation density to further reduce energy use and carbon emissions.
The meter will also enable customers to analyse their power consumption in near-real time and to understand what amount of carbon offset credits should be purchased, or what times of day workloads can be shifted to utilise more sustainable energy sources. With this information, customers can elect to consume power from a more sustainable source, or shift workloads to more sustainable power sources during off-hours.
“An increasing reliance on technologies such as mobile and cloud computing has led to significant energy generation from data centres. To mitigate their impact on the environment, companies need to assess their contributions to climate change and implement products and services that automate and optimize this process, thereby reducing energy outputs,” says Ray O’Farrell, executive vice-president and chief technology officer at VMware. “At VMware, we are committed to empowering our customers with the resources and tools they need to u¬ltimately reduce environmental impact across our vast customer and partner ecosystem.”
Additional capabilities and features of CAM will include near-realtime dynamic computation of load based on CPU types, load calculation[1] of monitored systems and carbon footprint calculation based on consumption for the given geographies of the data Centres. The product also aims to help customers create best practices and set standards for data Centre energy reduction and green computing.
CAM will be available to VMware Skyline customers later this year via the VMware Skyline Advisor, an innovative, proactive support service, developed in-house at VMware.