Solar Data Center Hosts Live Earth Site

Solar data center operator AISO.net's commitment to the environment has gained the company a high-profile hosting assignment this weekend. AISO is hosting the web site for Live Earth, the series of global concerts to address climate change. The company customized a dedicated setup to power Live Earth's web site using energy efficient IBM BladeCenter servers and AMD Opteron processors.

Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series scheduled for tomorrow (07/07/07) to combat climate change. The web site is part of a broder effort to encourage supporters to lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Live Earth's organizers were attracted by the fact that AISO actually uses solar power to operate its data center, differentiating it from other hosts marketing their pro-environment philosophy, most of whom purchase green energy credits but don't use renewable energy in their operations.

"We are very excited about Live Earth choosing AISO to host their Web site, showing the world that AISO.Net truly cares about our environment," said Phil Nail, technology manager for AISO.Net. "We are doing everything we can do to be totally responsible and being the industry leader in environmental Web hosting. We can run the Live Earth Web site on IBM BladeCenter and get great performance without having the power draw we would have had with rack servers."

AISO.net powers its data center with 120 solar panels that generate DC power, which is then run through an inverter and stored in batteries.The company also uses cooling systems from Freus Inc. that use less power than coinventional chillers.

AISO - short for Affordable Internet Services Online - is making additional enhancements to its data center to align with the practices advocated by Live Earth. AISO is installing new carpeting made from recycled content, replacing all of its Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs with LED lighting, repainting the building using only LEED certified paint and installing an underground grey water tank that will provide for outdoor landscaping.

The organizers of Live Earth expect the music event to be viewed by as many as 2 billion people. Live Earth includes concerts in New York, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Hamburg, and will feature music acts including The Police, Genesis, Bon Jovi, Madonna, Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson and the Black Eyed Peas.