The Green Grid is a global organization that strives to advance energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems through developing and promoting standards, measurement methods, processes and new technologies to improve data center performance against the defined metrics.

The organization is comprised of about 200 leading technology organizations, including Dell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, and most recently, AT&T Services.

Based on the organization's standards, EDSA has enhanced its Paladin Live power systems diagnostics software to automatically present users with The Green Grid's Power Usage Effectiveness and data center infrastructure efficiency ratings in real-time.

A somewhat scaled-down screenshot of the Paladin power reporting control panel.

Coupled with the use of Paladin Live's new Paladin BlackBoard option, data center operators can make changes or propose "what if" scenarios to their operations, enabling them to project any implications of those changes on the calculation of Power Usage Effectiveness and Data Center Efficiency metrics.

The Green Grid introduced these metrics in a white paper it released in February 2007 called "Green Grid Metrics: Describing Data Center Power Efficiency," where the organization first proposed the use of PUE and its reciprocal, DCE, which was later renamed to DCiE.

PUE is the ratio of a facility's total power to the power being drawn by IT equipment, which falls on an effective scale of 1.0 to 4.0. Lower scores are more desirable, and ideally, a facility should strive for a score that is lower than 2.0.

DCiE, on the other hand, is the percentage of IT equipment power to total facility power. Therefore, the higher the percentage a facility receives, the better its DciE rating.

The metrics have since received wide adoption in the industry, including companies like Digital Realty Trust. They enable data center operators to estimate the energy efficiency of their operations, compare the results against other data centers, and determine if any energy efficiency improvements need to be made.

"Because Paladin Live analyzes and diagnoses data center power infrastructure in real time every second - and down to the smallest detail - it presents facility operators with a wealth of vital information about system health, reliability, capacity, and energy efficiency to guide facility planning," says Kevin Meagher, chief technology officer for EDSA. "By pulling the data values needed to calculate energy utilization, and presenting that data in the manner specified by The Green Grid's PUE and DCiE requirements, Paladin Live is the first commercial software product to present this crucial operating information automatically and provides the ability to project or see how changes will effect these critical metrics."

The Paladin Live PUE-DCiE Advisor works by using the Paladin DesignBase computer-aided design modeler to allow power systems engineers to design, simulate, and analyze the power systems model in a way that optimizes energy usage.

Once the facility is constructed and fully operational, EDSA's Paladin Live platform continually assesses the facility's performance by comparing its results to the design model, enabling operators to determine, isolate, and resolve any discrepancies.

Paladin Live presents its findings in PUE and DCiE format, enabling data center to assess the energy efficiency of their facilities, and develop strategies for ensuring that their operations are as dependable and energy efficient as possible.

EDSA develops software solutions for the computer-aided design, modeling, real-time analysis, energy management, and preventative maintenance of complex electrical power systems.

The company says its Paladin software products have been used to help reduce the energy consumption of thousands of commercial, industrial, governmental, and military applications around the world.