Patent ID: 7467311

Claim:
A server data processing system of a plurality of server data processing systems for managing power usage, said server data processing system comprising: a power management communication port to communicatively couple said server data processing system to all other server data processing systems of said plurality of server data processing systems, wherein each server data processing system is a unit server rack separate from the other server data processing systems and each server data processing system may comprise multiple processors; and a system management processor coupled to said power management communication port comprising, communication logic configured to; monitor power usage of said all other server data processing systems, and determine a total power usage of said plurality of server data processing systems utilizing said power usage data corresponding to said server data processing system and said power usage data corresponding to each of said all other server data processing system of said plurality of server data processing systems; receive, from each of said all other server data processing system of said plurality of server data processing systems, corresponding power usage data; and transmit power usage data corresponding to said server data processing system to each of said all other server data processing system of said plurality of server data processing systems, wherein each server data processing system of said plurality has a full complement of power usage data from all other server data processing systems; and power management logic configured to; perform a power management operation on said server data processing system based upon said power usage of said all other server data processing systems; and select said power management operation based upon said total power usage of said plurality of server data processing systems; wherein said power management operation includes one or more of: applying a cumulative power usage reduction factor, such as a cumulative weighted throttling time, for each server data processing system; establishing a throttling level utilizing one of a plurality of available levels, which level is selected based on a current cumulative power usage; adjusting the throttling level to enable increased power usage when the cumulative power usage falls below a pre-established threshold.