Syracuse University and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority have flipped the switch on the world's greenest data center using direct current energy thanks to IBM's help in leveraging modern power capabilities to replace aging and expensive current use.

The new data infrastructure runs on a Validus DC system that provides DC infrastructure power and cooling options. The technology lets enterprises significantly cut energy consumption while improving system stability.

"Direct current power is native to all computers throughout the world," says Christopher Sedore, VP for IT and CIO at Syracuse University. "By delivering power native to the computer we eliminate losses and equipment historically required to deliver AC to the server. Leveraging the Validus and IBM technology allows us to be much greener while improving overall systems reliability."

One reason for the energy efficiency boost is the introduction of the IBM System z10 server into the infrastructure. According to IBM, Syracuse's legacy data center was powered by AC, even though all the servers ran on DC. The Validius solution lets AC power be efficiently converted only once to direct current. This means less energy loss, lower maintenance costs and better reliability.

And those benefits are due to the fact that IBM's Power and z series servers accept either 380 or 575 volts DC directly, according to Edward Seminaro, an IBM chief hardware systems engineer.

Today's increasing data workloads translate to increasing costs across the board in housing, storing, managing and accessing the data. On the operational side, gaining cost efficiency comes down to how many units of work are completed per watt of energy, explains Rudy Kraus, CEO at Validus.

"Syracuse University and IBM are leading through example, demonstrating how the modern data center can leverage direct current to deliver the most processing possible per watt of electricity purchased," said Kraus in a press statement.