Energy efficiency standard for storage next?

The EPA and others drafting the server energy efficiency standard for the data center recently announced that the committee hopes to have a revised, road-tested standard in the next few months -- by December at the latest. The process is moving a lot faster than I expected, and probably faster than others thought it would too.

I don't have any information yet on what manufacturers or models the standard will likely to favor. But the fact that it's pushing through with minimal griping or caveats from vendors makes me nervous that there will be a lot of gray area when it comes to efficiency claims.

As a result of how quickly this process is coming together, people are getting ambitious. IBM recommended that the group look into energy efficiency standards for storage hardware next. Sun Microsystems execs say customers are not pushing Sun to make more efficient storage equipment.

But the fact is, the need for storage equipment is growing faster than servers, according to a recent report from Merrill Lynch. And companies like EMC, 3Par and obviously IBM are looking into the energy efficiency angles.

Hopefully data center managers will have a meaningful measuring stick in the near future for both servers and storage. Check out the draft standard on the EPA's data center site.