For organizations that want to consolidate servers but have few options because of a variety of physical constraints, Solar-powered Microservers may be a perfect short-term option to enable the consolidation efforts.

1. MICROSERVERS AND CONSOLIDATION
MICROSERVER HIGH-VALUE
SCENARIO
One Use Case Scenario Where MicroServers and Solar Power Can Make a
Real Difference For Your Business.
Page 1

2. MICROSERVERS AND CONSOLIDATION
MAXED-OUT DATA CENTERS
In many studies of where IT is going to spend money in 2012 and 2013, Server
Consolidation is still at, or near, the top of the list as a strategic priority. However, many
organizations are at an impasse with how to consolidate without first increasing the
number of servers they have in the data center. Some organizations simply do not have the
room, electricity or cooling to put in more servers prior to the consolidation effort. It is
something of a check mate, where any move on premises is problematic. Further, the
backup and recovery environment requires additional new servers, networking and
storage to provide adequate redundancy of the proposed new consolidated environment.
Many organizations keep the consolidation perpetually on hold because of these vexing
issues.
ENTER MICROSERVERS
The MicroServer market today is mainly characterized by MicroServers at the low end for
entry-level server computing, and by highly proprietary MicroServers at the high end for
HyperScale computing. Large vendors that make server systems seem unwilling to
produce a product that cannibalizes their existing mid-range server revenue stream. So,
you see very few compact, powerful and energy efficient MicroServers that are low cost
and run traditional server workloads. One exception is the US Micro CriKit MicroServer
http://www.crikit.info . It uses Intel Xeon Processors, healthy amounts of memory and
Solid State Disk Drives to achieve a degree of high capacity that can’t be accomplished
with the current breed of low end, entry-level MicroServers. The CriKit MicroServer is at
the junction of small, powerful and low wattage. It is this combination that makes it an
excellent candidate for the consolidation scenario where the IT environment has few
options because of constrained space and power/cooling resources.
CRIKIT MICROSERVER
A CriKit MicroServer is a new entry into the MicroServer space. It uses a 64 Bit Intel Xeon
Processor with 4 cores and 8 threads, up to 32 GB of RAM and can be configured with one
or two 2.5 inch hard drives that operate at 6 Gb/Sec, SATA III Speeds. Further, they draw
less than 100 Watts at peak and about .8 amps. This low power consumption means they
generate minimal heat while providing significant computing power.
Page 2

3. MICROSERVERS AND CONSOLIDATION
Further, because of the low power consumption, they can be run directly from a Solar
Panel system.
THE SOLUTION
You may have already figured out that I am advocating putting a Solar Panel system in the
parking lot to provide the electricity to the CriKit MicroServers to accelerate the
consolidation efforts. The MicroServer is the size of a book so no rack space is required
and it can be cooled by normal Air Conditioning. Because you have already done an
inventory of your server systems and their workloads, you select the smaller, older
servers first – those with 1 or 2 processors and minimal RAM – and perform a physical to
virtual conversion on them and start running the virtual machines on the CriKit
MicroServers. A single CriKit MicroServer can easily run 3 virtualized servers that only
had 4 GB of memory and a single processor. Once you have the workloads on the
MicroServer, you can remove the old servers and install the newer server that you wish to
permanently consolidate onto. Then, just move the virtual machines from the
MicroServers to the new server and you are ready to test the environment. You can easily
repeat the process as many times as you need and do it without being rushed so you can
test more thoroughly. You may even discover that the entire computing environment can
be run via Solar Power and MicroServers, but those are subjects for another paper.
SUMMARY
Compact, powerful and low-wattage MicroServers like the US Micro, CriKit MicroServer,
are allowing organizations to find unique solutions to their consolidation, cost-cutting and
carbon footprint reduction efforts. The use of Solar Power and low-wattage MicroServers
provides organizations with cost-effective and versatile solutions across a broad
spectrum of use cases, in addition to server and workload consolidation.
For More Information – http://www.crikit.info
Page 3

4. MICROSERVERS AND CONSOLIDATION
Company Information
US Micro PC
Bellevue, WA
Tel 800-874-5505
http://www.usmicro.com
Page 4