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Approximately $200,000 would be saved in electricity costs per year (ignor-
ing the cost of cooling).
Acquisition costs for the new hardware would be balanced by the savings in
operating costs achieved in the first year after its purchase.
How can you achieve such savings?
Workload consolidation is the process of implementing several computer work-
loads on one computer. It is not the same as the concept exemplified by installing
multiple programs on a desktop computer, where you are actively using only one
program at a time. Instead, a server with consolidated workloads will have mul-
tiple programs actively using the same CPU(s) at the same time.
Most computers that are running only one workload are under-utilized: There
are more hardware resources than the workload needs. The result is inefficient
use of an organization's financial resources. Which costs more: five computers
to run five workloads, or one of those computers if it can run all five workloads?
Of course, it is impossible to purchase exactly the right amount of computer. For
example, it is not possible to purchase a computer with one half of a CPU for a
workload that needs only one half of the compute power of a single CPU.
Figure 1.1 shows the amount of CPU capacity used by two workloads, each
residing on its own system. Approximately 70% of the investment in the first sys-
tem's CPU is wasted, and 60% of the second system's CPU goes unused. In this
arrangement, the cost of a CPU—not to mention other components like the frame
and power supplies—is wasted.
Figure 1.1 Two Under-utilized Systems
It is possible—and often desirable—to run another workload on that same sys-
tem instead of purchasing a second computer for the second workload. Figure 1.2
 
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