resources

As the demands on data centers increase, creating higher costs and power usage, the industry is looking for ways to increase efficiency and decrease operating costs in the data center. One potential area of increased efficiency lies in the power distribution configuration within the data center and its IT equipment. In early 2007, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) posted results of a direct current (DC) demonstration project, which operated from June to August of 2006. Here, a peer review of that study is provided, including a critical review of the results as well as a discussion of next steps in the evaluation of this and other power distribution topologies.