A growing list of data-center operators are looking to buy tech to help them reduce their energy consumption. Which is why startup SynapSense, which provides such monitoring tech, is looking to expand and has raised a $16 million round from VCs. Read more »
On Thursday morning, GE will host a day-long event where it plans to announce the latest winners of its $200 million smart grid challenge that are specifically focused on energy use in the home. Read more »
In five short years, cloud computing has gone from being a quaint technology to a major catchphrase. Amazon and others are now moving at Internet speed, trying to offer better security, faster networking, more compliance and a host of other products that are attempting to meet the demands of startups, consumers and enterprises alike. On GigaOM’s Structure channel, we cover the gear and software that comprises the cloud, the services and the people who are changing the industry. Now for the first time, we’ve decided to condense that knowledge into the Structure 50, a list of the 50 companies that are influencing how the cloud and infrastructure evolves. All of these players, big or small, have people, technology or strategies that will help shape the way the cloud market is developing and where it will eventually end up. Companies mentioned in this report include Amazon, Rackspace, Cloudera, China Telecom and SeaMicro. For a full list of companies, and to see the Structure 50 as one full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The CEO of Vigilent (formerly called Federspiel Controls) Mark Housley, says there’s been so little technology introduced into cooling systems for data centers “it’s almost criminal.” Vigilent provides smart software via a wireless sensor network to manage and optimize these cooling systems. Read more »
Startup Power Assure has new software to align data center cooling and servers power use — along with a new metric for measuring server energy needs that could become a new standard for the industry. Underwriters Laboratories is on board with the metric as are industry players. Read more »
Is the greentech industry headed for a breakout year or is it retrenching for hard times to come? The first three months of 2011 provided evidence that could support both assertions, with a big rise in venture capital investment and a big drop-off in global energy financing. Solar power remained the largest green technology sector in terms of venture capital investment, while in the world of electric vehicles, GM’s Chevy Volt hybrid and Nissan’s all-electric Leaf — the first two mainstream plug-in vehicles — hit the showroom floors in significant numbers. Meanwhile the smart grid sector’s relative dearth of VC investment was more than made up for by the massive round of acquisitions. Companies mentioned in this report include NRG Energy, Microsoft, Silver Spring Networks, Tesla and BrightSource Energy. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Data centers are becoming greener across the board, and the latest proof of this came from Facebook. Here’s a list of 10 innovations from entrepreneurs and engineers that are leading to more energy efficient, and less carbon intensive, data centers. Learn more at Green:Net 2011! Read more »
We’re thankful for the trend of more energy efficient data centers finally offering a competitive advantage for companies, and so are startups. Wednesday morning, Racktivity, which makes energy efficient gear and software for data centers, announced it has raised funding. Read more »
General Electric and some high-flying venture capital partners have named 12 winners of the first $55 million of a $200 million “ecomagination challenge” they launched this summer. The list is full of some already well-funded companies, including several that GE is already investing in. Read more »
There are many tech-paved roads that lead to reduced energy use in data centers, from software-centric solutions to those that put sensors on every server and fan. But the paths to commercializing those technologies are, by comparison, relatively few. Read more »
The first step in any data center efficiency project is to figure out the problem. After all, analyst Katherine Austin says in a GigaOM Pro report (subscription required), “You can’t control what you don’t monitor.” And one of the chief ways that startups are addressing the […] Read more »
Data centers are a critical component of many businesses these days, but because of the amount of electricity they consume, they are extremely expensive to run. However, a great deal can be done both to cut costs and reduce their environmental footprint, simply by making them more energy efficient. Online technologies and applications are creating skyrocketing demand for new data centers, and most enterprises are now seeking “greener” solutions, both in their own facilities, and in the facilities with which they do business. This report looks at innovations in green data center design and identifies key players — from major data center operators to startups solving specific issues — leading the charge. Read more »
Startup SynapSense said today that it has pulled in $7 million in financing for its wireless energy-efficiency systems, designed to cut down the carbon footprint of energy-hungry data centers. The Folsom, Calif.-based startup also says it is pushing its technology into other, non-data-center markets, too — […] Read more »
