Today WD introduces the GreenPower version of its enterprise-oriented RE2 line, marrying the environmental friendliness of the GP series with server-oriented features such as a higher MTBF, time-limited error recovery, and vibration compensation.
|
WD® ENTERPRISE GREENPOWER™ HARD DRIVES REDUCE ENERGY CONSUMPTION, SIGNIFICANTLY LOWERING COSTS FOR DATA CENTERS
|
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s August 2007 report to Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency1 , data centers consumed an estimated 1.5 percent of the Nation’s energy in 2006 (equivalent to 61 billion Kilowatt-hours or $4.5 billion). Furthermore, the agency stated, if left unchecked, data center power consumption will threaten to cost the public and private sectors $7.4 billion in annual electricity costs by 2011.
Fully appreciating the storage-energy dilemma, each WD RE2-GP hard drive consumes an average of 4-5 watts less than competitive hard drives, making it possible for energy-conscious enterprise customers to build servers and storage subsystems with higher capacities, consistent performance, and assured reliability, all while promoting energy conservation. By WD estimates, under typical workloads, the new WD RE2-GP drives will save more than $10 per drive per year in electricity costs. Consequently, a large data center with 10,000 drives can save $100,000 in annual energy costs.
Other 1 TB hard drives typically consume power as high as 13.5 watts. Replacing these drives with WD RE2-GP hard drives will reduce overall annual energy costs, not only through the reduction of drive power consumption, but also through reduced heat and the associated expense of environmental climate controls. To view various needs for a data center, click on WD’s GreenPower calculator for enterprise customers at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/greenpower/estimator.asp
“WD’s RE2-GP enterprise line of hard drives allow customers to expand their storage needs, reduce their total cost of ownership, and improve the environment all at the same time,” said Tom McDorman, vice president and general manager of WD’s enterprise business unit. “Energy efficiency is a huge concern for our customers. GreenPower drives are enabling them to meet their customer’s system requirements for storage capacity, reliability, performance, and cost by integrating an enterprise-class drive that simply consumes far less power.”
Exclusive Intelligent Drive Technology
GreenPower drives from WD deliver exceptional power conservation, run ultra-cool and quiet, while providing solid performance. The following technologies enable the WD RE2-GP platform:
IntelliPower™ – A fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate, and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance. Additionally, GreenPower drives consume less current during start up allowing more drives to spin up simultaneously resulting in faster system readiness.
IntelliSeek™ – Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration.
IntelliPark™ – Delivers lower power consumption by automatically unloading recording heads during idle to reduce aerodynamic drag and by disabling read/write channel electronics.
Active Power Management – WD GreenPower drives monitor work load and automatically invoke idle mode whenever possible to further reduce unnecessary power consumption. Drive recovery time from idle mode is less than one second, providing seamless communication between the drive and the host controller.
Availability and Pricing
WD RE2-GP 500 GB drives (model WD5000ABPS), WD RE2-GP 750 GB drives (model WD7500AYPS) and the WD RE2-GP 1 TB drives (model WD1000FYPS) are available from the company’s online store (www.shopwd.com). MSRP is $149.99, $249.99 and $349.99 respectively. More information about WD RE2-GP enterprise drives may be found on the company’s Web site at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=385
