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Making Data Centers Smarter

SynapSense CEO Pete Van Deventer and Maryrose Sylvester of GE Intelligent Platforms explain how technology is helping data centers consume less energy.

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[So, Pete, tell me about SynapSense. ]

[SynapSense is a company based in Sacramento, California,]

[and we develop wireless instrumentation solutions for the data center market]

[to help drive energy efficiencies. ]

[You're talking about data centers and]

[improving the environment there. ]

[Why is this so important in today's environment?]

[When you take a look at data centers, they are rapidly growing]

[because of the increased use of smart phones,]

[information technologies, data storage, ]

[and managing those centers is an expensive proposition. ]

[It's not only expensive, but many of those data centers only have a certain amount of power,]

[and they can only put so much information into those rooms before they]

[run out of space for those servers.]

[So we're providing a technology that lets them optimize that space]

[and get the most out of it. ]

[Companies that install the SynapSense platform]

[generally get a return on their investment in under 24 months. ]

[In many cases, with utility rebates, they can get them in a couple of months' time.]

[SynapSense is doing a lot of interesting things with improving the data center. ]

[Talk about specifically what you're doing. ]

[Well, when you're thinking about the data center in the server room, ]

[that has a floor that's about 3 feet raised off the main floor,]

[and under there goes cold air. And the cold air goes under there and comes up]

[to the servers and cools those servers off. ]

[You've got areas where there is too little cold air coming up]

[through that floor, and so you get a hot spot, or you've got too much cold air coming through]

[that area, and you've got a cold spot. That's resulting in wasted energy]

[one way or the other. And so what we do is--SynapSense provides that technology]

[that instruments that space, lets you know where you're too hot, ]

[where you're too cold, and not only provides you the business intelligence]

[on what to do about it, but we also provide an automated system]

[that controls that environment and starts to optimize that space]

[all the time, 24 hours a day. ]

[So how, specifically, is SynapSense working with GE?]

[We're working with GE in 3 different ways. ]

[First, GE is a customer, and they're using us in many of their data centers]

[around the country. Second, GE has invested in SynapSense]

[through GE Energy Financial Services,]

[and they've taken an equity position in our company. And third, we're going to market]

[with GE with the Intelligent Platforms group. ]

[We're going to offer a unified platform to the marketplace. ]

[This partnership we have with SynapSense, I think, is truly exciting. ]

[We're bringing together 2 very innovative]

[companies that have technology at its foundation. ]

[One of the little-known facts about GE is that we are $4 billion ]

[in software revenues, which makes us the 14th largest software provider in the world. ]

[GE helps bring market reach for SynapSense. We are in data centers all over the world, ]

[whether it's GE Intelligent Platforms or uninterruptible power supplies.]

[When you're bringing a new technology to market, you want to be able to stand]

[in front of your customer with 100% confidence this technology is going to ]

[deliver on its promise. We're promising our customers 10% electricity reduction.]

[Data centers consume 3% of the U.S.'s energy. If we can save 10% of that, ]

[that's a terrific opportunity. And the usage of data centers is doubling]

[every couple of years. So we're on our way from 3 to 6 percent. ]

[So we have the opportunity to make a huge impact on energy consumption. ]

[Thanks for joining us for this month's edition of GE's Ecomagination CEO Series.]

[This is Robert Reiss, your host, and remember--]

[it's all about people, the planet, and profits. ]