Dell offers customers a blueprint of technologies that can be used in data centers to cut energy costs.

"We come in and show [customers] how to virtualize their data center, then we get out of the way and let them save some money," Becker said. Dell also plans to leverage its Web site and the cloud to help customers manage virtual images.

Cutting energy costs also depends on balancing energy consumed by components like chipsets and fans. Dell plans to improve power management technologies bundled in servers, but declined to provide further details.

The company is also working with partners to make power supplies more energy efficient. Typically more efficient power supplies cost more, but Dell is trying to provide maximum efficiency at a cost affordable to server customers. As the energy efficiency of power supplies increases, the component's cost is mitigated by higher supply volumes, Esser said.

Dell is reenergizing its data center hardware development with a renewed message surrounding power efficiency and high-quality products, said Jean Bozman, research vice president at IDC.