Data Centers consume more energy than any other environment in most companies. This paper presents a holistic approach that addresses Green IT within the broader context of increasing business service efficiency and reducing the cost of IT.
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Business Service Ef? ciency:The Key to Green IT and Pro? tabilityTable of Contents Executive Summary .....................................................................................................................1
Business Service Efficiency and Green IT: Now a Business Necessity ....................................2
Take a Simple but Rewarding First Step ....................................................................................2
Continue the Pursuit .....................................................................................................................2> Add Cost Data ............................................................................................................................3> Consolidate Servers ...................................................................................................................3> Virtualize .....................................................................................................................................3> Address Client Computers .........................................................................................................3
Expand Your Field of Vision to Business Service Efficiency ......................................................3> Financial Gains ...........................................................................................................................4> Operational Gains ......................................................................................................................4> Environmental Gains ..................................................................................................................4
Leverage BSM Solutions to Make IT More Efficient and Green ...............................................4> Determine What Infrastructure You Have Deployed and How Effectively It's Being Used ........5> Gauge Device Utilization and Performance ................................................................................5> Optimize Capacity Allocation .....................................................................................................5> Maximize Business Impact ........................................................................................................5> Understand and Minimize Service Delivery Costs ....................................................................5> Keep Client Computers in Mind ................................................................................................5> Automate Wherever Possible ....................................................................................................6
The Momentum Is Building .........................................................................................................6
Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................6Executive Summary
Energy costs continue to take up a significant portion IT budgets, and it seems that there is no end in sight. According to Gartner, "The underlying consumption of energy in large data centers to power and cool hardware infrastructure is likely to increase steadily during the next 10 years. This scenario is likely because of the increase in energy consumption of processors, servers, storage devices, and 1network-type appliances." Many companies are already seeing their energy costs escalate. The fol-lowing example conveys the magnitude of the problem:
A facilities executive of a global investment bank strode into the office of the CIO. He dropped an electricity bill on the CIO's desk and said, "I believe this is yours." The bill, which was the first the CIO had ever been asked to pay, was for nearly $2 million. The facilities executive added that his department is no longer able to sustain this level of charge, noting that the IT energy cost per square foot is about 17 times that of other departments.
Much of the power that IT consumes is being wasted. Industry experts have reported that the cost of wasted server capacity is more than $100 billion per year. Cost is not the only problem. Energy consumption has become a severe constraint on growth. In London, for example, there is now a moratorium on building new data centers because the city does not have the electrical capacity to support them.
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