It is interesting that the issue of how green IT can be viewed as is coming to the fore. I was recently sent a notification of the existence of the following site:
Among its articles is this one about the green IT:
http://www.businessgreen.com/financial-director/comment/2214911/emerald-city
The article concentrates surveys about the state of green IT, and the lack of trust that IT purchasers have in the “Green” claims of suppliers. The rush to green wash products is leaving many, me included, sceptical that the benefits extend to the environment and purchasers bank balance – rather than the suppliers.
It is true that there are products that have the capacity to reduce IT’s carbon footprint and hence have real environmental benefits. It is these that need to be examined in the search for a coherent and effective green strategy. If implemented correctly these should also have a reasonable payback period – since the energy consumption will have to be paid for if it isn’t saved.
Without buying new technology, however, it is worth pointing out that only deploying the capacity actually needed may be a strong green IT option. A strong capacity management approach will mean that only the capacity actually needed in the short term will be operating in the data centre. Thus, only that hardware will be using space, power and cooling. If your capacity management strategy is to have sufficient capacity from day 1 to allow the system to perform in the long term then this may be inconsistent with any green agenda.
If you would like to discuss matching IT strategy to your organisation then please feel free to contact me at dh@sarquol.com, or call on +44 7887 536083.
Sarquol Ltd 