Intel®Xeon®processor 5500 series delivers environmental and cost benefits to Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

Since its founding in 1472 Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) has been a pioneer in sustainability. It continues this tradition today throughthe step-by-step introduction of green IT. Most recently it was keen to reduce the energy consumption of servers in its Siena data centre,replacing them with 352 new servers powered by the Intel® Xeon® processor X5570. By doing so, it has been able to reduce energy consump-tion by 1.3 million KWh per annum, equating to a cost saving of EUR 261,000 (USD 320,000) and a 648-tonne reduction in CO² emissions.

CASE STUDY

Intel®Xeon®processor 5500 seriesEnterprise Server

Gains through green IT

CHALLENGES

• Sustainability programme. Maintain reputation as a pioneer in the area of CorporateSocial Responsibility by introducing a corporate green IT policy

• Latest technology. Refresh servers in the Siena data centre with more energy-efficient,high-performance technology

SOLUTIONS

• Processor evaluation. Assessed the performance of 256 previous-generation serverswith 352 new servers powered by the Intel® Xeon® processor X5570

• Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). Evaluation took into account amount of power en-tering the data centre versus the power used to run the data centre infrastructure

IMPACT

• Reducing energy. Replacing 256 previous-generation servers with a total of 352 newservers reduces energy consumption by 1.3 million KWh in one year, equating to annualcost saving of EUR 261,000 (USD 320,000) and a 648-tonne reduction in CO² emissions

• Maintaining performance. Intel Xeon processor 5500 series has 25 percent faster perform-ance and caches 50 percent larger than the previous-generation Intel® Xeon® processor

“We are committed to reducingenergy consumption, not only inour data centres but also across

the whole corporate network.”

Gianluca Pancaccini, General Manager at the Consorzio

Operativo Gruppo Montepaschi

Founding of an instituion

Colombo has not yet discovered America, atjust twenty years of age Leonardo da Vinciis painting his first important work – the angelin the Battesimo di Cristo at the Uffizi – andall over Europe the exchange currency is theTuscan Florin. It is 1472, and in Siena the Montedei Paschi di Siena (MPS) – the oldest bankin the world – is founded.

As centuries pass, MPS is developing constantly,always in step with the times. In the Twentiethcentury it became an important company atnational and then international level and duringthe nineties it was the first Italian bank todiversify its business into the insurance sector.

At the beginning of the new millennium,when it was listed on the Stock Exchange,it began an intense phase of territorial andoperational expansion, characterised byacquisitions, strengthening of productionstructures and consolidation of activities.

In 2008, the acquisition of Banca Antonvenetaplaced MPS forever among the most impor-tant Italian banking groups at internationallevel. With more than 32,000 employees inmore than 3,000 branches, MPS currentlyoffers its services to more than 6 millioncustomers.

A bank with social responsibility in its DNA

The secret of MPS’s success is to grow, whilemaintaining a close link with local communi-ties and playing an active role in supportingand enhancing the economic structures inwhich it works. These characteristics arepart of the DNA of the bank, established bythe magistratures of the ancient Republicof Siena, to give support to the needy classesand to support the city’s economy. Todaythis is referred to as Corporate Social Respon-sibility – an area in which MPS has alwaysbeen one of the pioneers in the Italianbanking market segment.

For MPS the sustainability of its own activitiesis one of the cornerstones of a responsibleapproach. All the companies in the MPS Groupare expected to make their contribution – acentral role is naturally played by IT. Theservice company responsible for this areawithin the Group is called Consorzio OperativoGruppo Montepaschi. It employs around 1,000IT staff in five centres in Italy, including thetwo main data centres in Siena and Florence.In line with the general direction of the Group,the Consorzio Operativo Gruppo Montepaschihas been adopting a green IT approach forseveral years, introducing very strict param-eters for assessing the energy efficiency ofits supplies.

Processors, efficiency enablers

“We are committed to reducing energy con-sumption, not only in our data centres butacross the whole corporate network,” explainsGianluca Pancaccini, General Manager at theConsorzio Operativo Gruppo Montepaschi.

“We select products on the basis of a green

approach. We measure and verify the resultsstrategically considering as a whole thevarious aspects of management processes.In addition to energy efficiency, we alsomeasure, for example, the impact on IT ofthe management of assets and buildings,technical architecture, the capacity manage-ment of IT services and support services.For this, it is fundamental for us to chooseIT devices which combine overall eco-effi-ciency with high levels of service and per-formance requirements”.

In addition to the servers hosted in the twodata centres, the Group’s installed base alsoincludes around 3,000 departmental servers,with 30,000 workstations and 25,000 print-ers in the branches – all are characterisedby various levels of obsolescence.

A ‘green’ structure, in which the IT depart-ment is responsible for three-quarters ofenergy consumption, is developed through aseries of interim targets. Presently, the mostsignificant of these targets is the refreshof servers in the data centre in Siena.

IT refresh for Siena

The evaluation of savings within the datacentres takes into account Power UsageEffectiveness (PUE). PUE is determined bydividing the amount of power entering adata centre by the power used to run thecomputer infrastructure within it. PUE istherefore expressed as a ratio, with overallefficiency improving as the quotient de-creases toward one.

“If we interpret these figures correctly weare aware that IT refresh, at this time, bringslarge savings in terms of electrical input,

Significant reduction in energy consumption andcarbon emissions

“The Intel® Xeon® processor 5500series has enabled us to save 1.3

million kWh in one year – the equi-valent of more than EUR 261,000

(USD 320,000).”

Luca Guzzabocca, Head of the Costs and Logistics Area at MPS

guaranteeing an increase in processing power.For this refresh, MPS selected servers fromfive different manufacturers, all poweredby the Intel® Xeon® processor X5570,” addsPanaccini.

The evaluation included estimates of availablepower, average input (calculating maximumload conditions for 25 percent of the timeand idle for 75 percent), energy consumptionfor periods of one year and four years, andCO2 emissions.

Luca Guzzabocca, Head of the Costs andLogistics Area at MPS, comments: “With re-gard to our strict energy efficiency requisites,and therefore also the total cost of ownership(TCO) of the servers, the new Intel serverprocessor performs significantly better thanboth previous-generation Intel and currentcompetitor servers.”

“Comparing a sample of 256 previous-gener-ation servers with a total of 352 new servers,we have estimated a reduction of more than1.3 million kWh in one year, which, calculat-ing an average energy cost of 20 cents perkWh, means an annual saving of around EUR261,000 (USD 320,000) plus a 648-tonnereduction in CO² emissions.”

The comparison is extremely favourabledespite the fact that there are 96 more ofthe new servers. “If we had compared anequal number of machines the advantagewould be even more significant consideringthat 352 of the new servers consume inone year less than 780 thousand kWh, while256 of the previous-generation servers con-sume almost 3.1 million KWh,” emphasisesGuzzabocca.

Intel leadership in energy efficiency

Carlo Parmeggiani, Large Accounts andHealthcare Regional Business Manager atIntel Italy & Switzerland, explains: “Thebanking sector must handle enormousquantities of data guaranteeing very highlevels of service, therefore data centreperformance, as well as energy efficiency,is critical. The Intel® Xeon® processor 5500series with four cores is a low-voltage 45nanometer (nm) server processor whichoperates at 50W, in other words, just 12.5Wper core, and at a speed of up to 2.50GHz.”

“With 25 percent faster speeds and caches 50percent larger than the previous generation,in the same thermal envelope, contained at50 Watt, the Intel Xeon processors L5500series combine the advantages of the ex-clusive 45 nm Intel production process andthe new transistor formula, with exclusivefunctions such as the Intel® Intelligent PowerTechnology, Intel® Virtualization technologyand Intel® Data Centre Manager.

Intel Power Management Technology allowsefficient management of energy consump-tion according to the workload, while the newgeneration of Intel® Virtualization Technologyallows optimal virtualization performances,superior scalability, advanced flexibility andsimplified server management. Intel® DataCentre Manager allows monitoring andmanagement of energy and temperaturesper server, racks and groups of servers inthe data centre.

“The current refresh is part of a series ofactivities carried out over the last threeyears in which we have concentrated oncontrolling expenditure on IT, as well as itsenvironmental impact,” says Pancaccini.

“The green IT project is already

envisaged to continue for the

next three years, with ongoing

evaluations to ensure that we

are using the most up-to-date,

high-performing and energy-ef-

ficient technology available.”

Gianluca Pancaccini, General Manager at the Consorzio Operativo Gruppo Montepaschi

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Other green IT initiatives

The Consorzio has undertaken further green IT initiatives – an exampleof which is the Ghiro project. This consisted of the implementationof a smart PC shutdown system in the Group’s branches, as well asthe deployment of more advanced calibration features in both datacentres.

Moving forward the Consorzio will work on a range of other initiatives,such as grid computing, to further optimise available resources andexisting facilities. It has been investigating this technology for severalyears, but thanks to the efficiency and speed of the latest Intel serverprocessors it has only just become possible to circulate reports in amatter of minutes rather than hours.

“The Intel® Xeon processor 5500 series is a fundamental enabler forMPS,” confirms Pancaccini. “The green IT project is already envisagedto continue for the next three years, with ongoing evaluations toensure that we are using the most up-to-date, high-performing andenergy-efficient technology available.

“Considering Intel’s continuous programme of development, we areconfident that its latest technology, which we will evaluate this year,will be even more favourable than those we evaluated last year.”

Find a solution that is right for your organisation. Contact your Intelrepresentative or visit the Reference Room at www.intel.com/references.

Spotlight on Consorzio Operativo Gruppo Montepaschi

The Consorzio is the centre for the development and manage-ment of Information Communication and Technology (ICT)systems, and for the provision of back office administrativeservices, for the various companies in the MPS Group.

With regard to ICT, it develops and manages the ICT systemfor the whole MPS Group - specifically, application and soft-ware, facilities and hardware, and the IT helpdesk. With regardto administrative services, it manages the back office thatsupports the banking process – specifically, processing ofcurrent accounts, portfolios, collections and payments, e-moneyservices, foreign and securities administration and treasury.