But in an era driven by capital creation and dependent on the massive distribution of data, GE also recognizes that companies consuming a large portion of the world's electricity need industrial solutions that go far beyond the change a single light bulb can bring. Focusing on the core of all the information flowing through the data center—the backbone of 21st-century industry—GE Critical Power provides data center solutions that combine efficiency with high quality and the near-perfect infrastructure they rely on.
The Demand:
In an age where information surrounds us virtually everywhere, average consumers often fail to realize that data must be securely stored in a central location, where even the slightest disruption could cause an international catastrophe. Not only could emails be lost or websites crash, but businesses could collapse and stock markets freeze. This dependence on data has undoubtedly created the need for uninterrupted power supplies, as well as a strong focus on improving efficiency.
It is a challenge that almost every company must face, and while data centers have developed many technical capabilities, creating a failover plan has become a challenge. Data must be distributed, protected, and controlled, while ensuring that the infrastructure continues to function under any circumstances. To achieve this, data centers must be equipped with critical power distribution, surge protection devices, parallel switches, and most importantly, some type of uninterruptible power supply (UPS). These technologies must not only work together but also be sustainable in the long term. Any failure could have serious consequences, so GE Industrial Solutions has sought to create a reliable UPS infrastructure.
The Consumer:
In any business on a global scale, IT professionals and business executives must evaluate the total cost of ownership (TCO) for their own companies to better understand long-term costs and large-scale energy expenditures. However, for most, calculating the TCO is very difficult to quantify due to the many variables involved in data center energy expenditures. As continuous energy users, data centers represent a significant portion of energy expenditures within a company and are therefore a key focus of GE's efficiency improvement plans. Just as individual businesses may require more customized solutions to meet their energy consumption needs, GE provides its customers across various industries with comprehensive solutions of products and services that ensure the reliability and security of their
business's electrical infrastructure. With the aim of offering companies not only a way to save money and energy, but also to provide them with a cleaner and more reliable system in which to use their technology, the Data Centers created by GE take into account not only the current interests of consumers, but also their future needs.
The Solution:
Considering the inherently high energy consumption of data centers, even small nominal gains in energy efficiency translate into significant impacts on the total cost of ownership. Technological improvements, along with the pursuit of methods to enhance energy efficiency, have enabled GE to improve its energy infrastructure, resulting in considerable savings for its customers.
How much could be saved?
While many factors must be considered when planning individual infrastructures for energy efficiency, new research conducted by the company revealed that just a 1% improvement in the UPS deployment of a 10 MW data center (from 93% to 94% efficiency) would result in savings of approximately $1.4 million over 10 years. And with GE's latest UPS technologies, which deliver up to 96.5% efficiency, researchers believe the savings could reach nearly $3.4 million over the same 10-year period. Looking at the long-term value of such critical infrastructure, data center managers should consider energy efficiency not only in terms of upgrading installed hardware but also as a vital factor in long-term CTP assessments. And as such a vital part of the business, longevity and sustainability should be considered in the planning for every data center.
With GE, efficiency doesn't mean compromise. With immediate power backup through UPS and reduced system disturbances, and continuous efficiency improvements, GE Critical Power products are capable of achieving up to 99.9999% power availability, resulting in only a few seconds of downtime per year.
