Home > Storage > Data Storage Essentials > Storage Admin > The Next Generation PowerMax - Balancing Performance with Efficiency and Sustainability > Overview
Traditionally, the focus in designing next generation high-performance storage arrays was primarily on maximizing performance, often neglecting the power consumption aspect. Next generation storage design mantra typically had called for the use of more powerful processors, faster bus speeds, increasing amounts of memory, and faster storage media all to deliver more performance compared to the previous generation. This emphasis on increased performance often came at the cost of increased power consumption which often was disproportional with the resulting performance improvements these next generation systems delivered. While these next generation storage systems certainly delivered increased storage performance, they also delivered higher energy bills, increased cooling requirements, and a larger carbon footprint to customers.
With the growing concern for environmental sustainability and rising energy costs, striking a balance between performance and power efficiency in the enterprise data center has become imperative. Businesses are facing increased regulatory pressures and requirements about data center power consumption, so energy-efficient operations and systems are no longer optional. To meet these increased power efficiency requirements, data center equipment is now evaluated using metrics which specify unit of work performed / wattage consumed. For storage systems, this means that simply designing to deliver customers the most IOPS or most capacity is no longer enough. Next generation storage systems must be designed to provide a balance of performance and power efficiency that deliver the most IOPS / watt and most storage capacity / watt using the smallest possible footprint.