Bryant University boosts energy efficiency with a solution from IBM and IBM Alliance Partner APC

Based in Smithfield, RI, Bryant University has 3,200 undergraduate students from 31 US states and 32 countries around the globe, and a further 400 graduate students. Bryant has a proud history of excellence and innovation, and was recently named one of the “Top 25 Most Connected Campuses” in The Princeton Review.

Rapid growth in the use of IT by students and faculty members was putting Bryant’s infrastructure under intense pressure. The organization lacked a true enterprise-class data center, and its existing computer sites were reaching their limits in terms of space, power and cooling capacity.

By selecting an IBM Scalable Modular Data Center solution with APC’s InfraStruXure® architecture, IBM designed and built an energy-efficient data center for Bryant at a fraction of the cost of a typical solution. Art Gloster, CIO, comments: “The IBM and APC solution delivered significant capital and operational cost savings, providing a compact yet highly scalable infrastructure. We estimate that the solution is 30 percent more efficient in power and cooling terms alone, both reducing expenditure and underlining the University’s commitment to environmental sustainability.”


Out-of-the-box solution

Bryant’s decentralized infrastructure—75 servers across three rooms—was inefficient, with average utilization under 10 percent. Most of the servers had no UPS, raising the risk for the organization, and the lack of standardization made them difficult to manage. Bryant embarked on a program of centralization and consolidation, planning to virtualize its existing servers and run them on standardized hardware in a purpose-built data center.

“We consulted several vendors, and it was clear that IBM had the edge in terms of innovative ideas,” says Gloster. “IBM brought APC to the table, and together they showed how we could gain a robust, compact and highly efficient data center at less than 20 percent of the cost of a standard raised-floor alternative.”

IBM proposed a complete turn-key data center solution using the IBM BladeCenter servers and the IBM Scalable Modular Data Center infrastructure, utilizing the APC InfrStuXure architecture, for a complete, energy- and space-efficient solution. The IBM solution provided the necessary power and cooling, which is both modular and scalable, utilizing a targeted InRow™ cooling solution, which is very energy efficient compared to perimeter cooling, which simply pumps cold air through the entire data center, even in areas where it is not needed.

During the design phase, the location of the data center changed several times; IBM and APC were flexible enough to be able to adjust the design rapidly and at low cost.

“The joint team planned the deployment extremely well, and the bulk of the actual installation was completed within just four days,” says Rich Siedzik, Director of Computer and Telecommunication Services. “The quality of the engineering work and project management from IBM was outstanding.”


Targeted cooling

Bryant virtualized its 75 physical servers, moving them to just 40 physical servers in the new data center. Any new systems the University decides to implement will also be virtualized and run on the existing physical servers, significantly reducing the ongoing expenditure on hardware.

“We expect to add one new virtual server every month, and there is still plenty of capacity on the current 40 physical servers,” says Gloster. “Previously, that would have meant buying and installing 12 new physical machines, then paying the additional power and cooling costs over their full lifecycle.”

“When they come into the data center, many people remark that it feels too warm—they are accustomed to heavily air-conditioned data centers,” says Siedzik. “The IBM and APC solution is more efficient, targeting cooling on the components that need it, rather than wasting energy chilling the surrounding air.”


Faster and greener

Beyond the cost and energy efficiency advantages of server virtualization, Bryant also benefits from accelerated provisioning. Rich Siedzik estimates that it would typically take up to nine weeks to deploy a new physical server. He says, “We can deploy a new virtual server image almost instantaneously and complete the provisioning process inside a day.”

Art Gloster concludes, “Through consolidation, virtualization and improved data center efficiency, Bryant University will significantly reduce long-term capital and operational expenditure. The IBM and APC solution should also enable the University to reduce its energy consumption and carbon footprint—a consideration that is becoming increasingly important for institutions like ours.”