Greg Regan Principal Computing Officer Desktop Applications Team

Greg Regan Principal Computing Officer Desktop Applications Team PC Power Management

A few statistics about Plymouth 5 th largest university in the UK Recently ranked 1 st in the UK of 119 international universities when dealing with green issues Multiple campus’ across Somerset, Devon & Cornwall ~ 30, 000 FTE students ~ 3, 500 staff 1, 800 student PCs (approx 60 dual boot to Linux) 3, 000 staff PCs 500 laptops 300 Macs Condor Grid Computing pool of 1, 000 student Windows PCs More than 200 Windows Servers + few Linux, Solaris & Unix Predominantly a Microsoft site

Current/recent initiatives include: Project Objective Plym. Net 5 Upgrade network to 10 gigabit backbone 80% Plym. Store Consolidate & increase storage whilst reducing overheads 80% Plym. Serve Virtualize & rationalize the server infrastructure to reduce the total no. of CPU cycles used, increase flexibility and reduce total overhead 80% Plym. Tel Deploy IP telephony university wide to create a more flexible working environment, particularly for remote & peripatetic workers 90% Plym. Print Deploy free standing multi-function devices to replace inefficient and costly personal devices 100% Plym. Mac 5 Replace legacy Apple Macs – leased on 3 year cycle 100% Plym. Lap 5 Replace legacy laptops – leased on 4 year cycle 100% Plym. Desk 5 Replace legacy desktops – leased on 4 year cycle 100% NB – Responsible disposal of legacy hardware is built into all contracts % complete

Today I will show the University of Plymouth will: 1. Reduce its Plym. Desk 5 carbon footprint; and 2. Reduce its Plym. Desk 5 power bills by more than £ 276 k over the next 3 years

A brief history of Plym. Desk Date Results Pre 2002 PCs were purchased & maintained by individual Schools/Faculties Dozens of different specification PCs, a second rate, inconsistent & costly service 2003 Introduced leased fleet of 5, 000 PCs (Windows XP Pro), managed and maintained by central ICT using SMS 2. 0 (upgraded to SMS 2003 in 2004) and Faronics Deep. Freeze (student PCs only) First class consistent user experience using only 3 different PC specifications Deployed 2 nd generation leased fleet of 4, 800 PCs introducing Dual Core processors & Intel v. Pro technology – specifically Active Management Technology, to assist with PC maintenance Immediately reduced power consumption by 40% (estimated) (Plym. Desk 4) 2007 (Plym. Desk 5) The downside is the PCs need to be powered up 24/7 to allow Deep. Freeze and SMS to interact effectively Effective PC power management using Group Policy Preferences and AMT further reduces power consumption

Plym. Desk 5 technologies Technology Purpose Intel Active Management Technology Allows low level remote-control of a PC – built into the motherboard. PCs should be pre-provisioned by OEM prior to delivery – cost = free (some OEMs may charge) Intel SCS server Allows secure provisioning of AMT PCs once deployed – cost = free SMS 2003 Manages OS patching, application deployment and PC re-imaging via SMS OSD add-on – cost = free SMS 2003 Intel SMS add-on Allows management of AMT devices via SMS for instance power cycling etc. – cost = free Microsoft Group Policy Preferences Allows enterprise control of XP power policies applied by Group Policy Object – cost = free Faronics Deep. Freeze Maintains the state of a PC - installed on all student PCs – cost ~ £ 3 / PC /p. a. Condor windows client Allows PC to be used on Plym. Grid – installed on the PC & activated by Group Policy – cost = free NB – whilst all the power saving solutions are effectively free there is a server and system admin overhead

The Plymouth solution All PCs are AMT provisioned All PCs are a member of an Active Directory security group Each of the above security groups has a different Windows power policy defined by a Group Policy preference moving the PC into standby after a period of inactivity Intel SMS add-on wakes up or turns on PCs to perform OS updates or application deployments The defined power policy returns the PC to a standby state

Power Management Components

You may ask why AMT? Wo. L technology didn’t work on our network Extant enterprise products were either not robust or too expensive The timing of the renewal of our leased fleet coincided with the maturity of Enterprise AMT

Some of the lows Dealing with new technologies – OEM was learning on the fly causing issues Blending the technologies into Uo. P infrastructure Issues with Intel SMS add-on Lack of real accessible information BIOS and BIOS upgrade issues Changing user & support staff misconceptions, i. e. v. Pro power managed PCs Uo. P under-resourcing the project

A few highs Uo. P senior management buy-in – all PCs ‘have’ to be power-managed, opt-out may only be achieved by completing a registration form Working with new technologies Working in partnership with Intel Achieving solutions and successes Our Apple Mac fleet wherever possible emulates the behaviour of the PCs

Estimated ROI

The future Prove that we are making real savings – aiming to look at this later this year, the findings will be published Microsoft have embraced the AMT technology Upgrading from SMS 2003 & SCS to SCCM 2007 SP 1 – effectively unifying SMS & AMT

For more information gregory. regan@plymouth. ac. uk