HP (NYSE:HPQ) today showed how HP Labs, its central research facility, is using the HP Utility Data Center to help create future technologies at its IT installations in Palo Alto and Bristol, England, while saving potentially millions of dollars in the process. The HP UDC makes it possible to virtualize data center resources -- servers, networking, storage and applications -- and easily reallocate them to meet changing needs. "A lot of people talk about increasing business agility, improving data center use and reducing costs," said John Sontag, manager, networks and services, HP Labs. "At HP, we're not just talking -- we're doing it. The HP UDC gives us a cost-effective means to run our daily business operations, enhance our ongoing research and collaborate with business inside and outside HP around the world." HP Labs today gave the media an in-depth look at its UDC, including a tour of the Palo Alto installation and a video link to Bristol. Researchers also provided demonstrations of technologies designed to extend the future capabilities of the UDC. As a result of the UDC installation, HP Labs is expected to: -- More than quadruple the capacity of the facility -- increasing the number of servers from about 150 to 700 -- without the need for additional floor space or staff. -- Create one of the world's 25 largest supercomputers -- 2 teraflops -- in a 3-by-18-foot space, using industry-standard Itanium(TM) servers. -- Realize an annual $500,000 cost savings in real estate for the expanded capacity center. -- Save 30 percent of the potential cooling cost of the expanded center thanks to a 3D "smart" cooling design created from technology invented in Labs itself. The solution also is available to customers through HP Services. -- Provide for 24-hour "lights out" operation using personnel in Palo Alto to run the Bristol facility at nighttime in England and vice-versa. Because of the automation possible using the HP UDC, the HP Labs facility is expected to scale up in the next few years to more than eight times current capacity without adding any more staff. That means that 1,000 servers could be operated by fewer than 20 people -- five times the ratio of servers to people used in most data centers today. The savings could amount to millions of dollars. "Over the years, this could result in millions of dollars of savings a year in total cost of operation," Sontag said. And given the anticipated increase in computing density, the 2,000-square-foot Palo Alto facility also could become home to 50,000 to 100,000 nodes within the decade, he added. HP Labs is using the HP UDC to consolidate its worldwide IT infrastructure. Computer systems that have evolved over the years were scattered throughout the Labs' six worldwide locations. They could not easily be shared or repurposed when projects were completed. With the HP UDC, the HP Labs IT environment will be brought together in a single, virtual architecture, enabling more productive, efficient use of resources. The new facility will handle day-to-day Labs IT needs, such as e-mail, Web services and commonly shared applications, as well as serve as a platform for ongoing research in areas as diverse as printing and imaging, mobility and research for IT services. In fact, it will be used to extend technologies used in the HP UDC itself. It also will support HP's grid development activities and provide the capability to conduct compute-intensive research at an unprecedented scale. "Being able to give, for example, 100 servers on a weekend to a scientist doing work in bioinformatics or quantum physics could greatly increase the pace of their research," said Sontag. In addition, the Labs UDC installation will be used in collaboration with HP businesses for product development and other applications. In the future, it also could be made available to external organizations, such as major universities and research institutions for advanced research.