[virtualisation was supposed to reduce energy-intensity but the opposite has happened; while per capita energy (oil in particualr) continues to rise, the Internet has become a major new consumer. Mark J.] FT.com: 'Internet hotels' threaten to sap London's power By Matthew Jones Published: July 30 2000 21:06GMT | Last Updated: July 30 2000 22:20GMT London's electricity network is to be put under pressure by plans to build at least 10 huge "internet hotels" that will boost power demand in London by around a fifth . Internet hotels, sometimes known as "telco hotels", house file servers and other essential information technology hardware for web-based businesses. The trend for increasingly large centres is driven by rising internet use and companies' needs to improve the reliability of their sites. The vast data centres, each expected to cover an area of up to 50,000 square metres, will require enough electricity to power two cities the size of Bristol. Much of the energy will be used to power the water coolers needed to avoid overheating of the servers. Silicon Valley in California, the world's greatest concentration of new economy businesses, is already struggling to cope with the impact of the internet hotels springing up around San Jose. Last month Pacific Gas and Electric Corp, the region's largest utility, was forced to cut power at short notice to 97,000 customers to avoid overloading the network. Up to now London Electricity, the capital's power distribution company, has been able to cope with the increase in demand. But industry experts warn that private power plants may have to be built to accommodate the scale and speed of internet hotel construction in the next four years. Ian Bitterlin, a director of ICW Power, an independent power plant provider, said he expected turnover at his company to more than double in the next year. But he warned that the decline in old economy businesses might mean power providers will not be able to keep up with demand. "We are finding it very difficult to get enough quality staff because no-one wants to go into traditional engineering at the moment. The lead times for the components needed to make our plants are also becoming longer and longer because everyone is trying to source them," he said. London Electricity said it was aware of the problem and was confident it could avoid the power cuts that had occured in the US. "London is experiencing an unprecedented boom in power demand but we are on top of it. We are in close contact with all of the data centre builders and with the National Grid," an official said. Companies building internet hotels include Level 3, Global Crossing, Colt Telecom and Telehouse. More than 200 such centres are expected to be built across Europe in the next four years. _______________________________________________ Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist
