Energy efficiency in datacenters: The Esselunga case study from the IEE-PrimeEnergyIT research project

The IEE PrimeEnergyIT research project was proposed in 2009 to further enhance market development for energy efficient central IT equipment based on the previous initiatives and with a focus on so far largely uncovered IT hardware, including storage and network equipment as well as new power management technologies. The best practice examples collected and presented in the research project are focused on cooling and airflow optimization, combination of free cooling and other energy efficiency measures. In this paper will be presented the two success histories of the refurbishment of an existing datacenter and the development and the operation of a new datacenter constructed in 2011–2012 by Esselunga, a large supermarket chain in Italy. The headquarter and IT infrastructure are located in the suburban area of Milano, northern Italy.