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Adding to the concern are multiple industries that are requiring more and more data processing power to drive their business, such as oil and gas exploration, financial services, life sciences, entertainment, education, and many others. These vertical segments are particularly feeling the crunch as space, storage and energy requirements are endangering not only the environment but their financial outlook.
As a result of these concerns, green computing and energy efficiency are starting to assume a front-seat position on the priority list of IT departments. Most see the need for better utilization and consolidation of systems as important in combating soaring energy costs and the staggering expenses of lighting, power and cooling that data centers are incurring as they handle more data and transactions than ever before. But concern and action are two different things. Most IT professionals say green computing is at least somewhat of a priority, but relatively few have any specific plans in place and even fewer have actually done anything about it.
These are just a few of the findings of Lean & Green: Reducing IT Energy Drain for Business Gain, a study completed by The Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum™, in partnership with BlueArc Corporation. The initiative focuses on educating CIOs about ways IT organizations can benefit the environment, reduce power usage and lower costs through more efficient computing and data storage practices.
The Lean & Green program commissioned a comprehensive online survey of of more than 150 IT professionals and executives along with executive advisory board dialogs completed in February, 2008 to measure and quantify their current needs, obstacles and attitudes as they weigh decisions about investing in green technology and downsizing the data center. The survey examines challenges and success scenarios in creating lean computing and storage infrastructures that deliver exceptional performance in an environmentally sound IT setting.
Guided by an advisory board of noted environmental, business, and technology authorities, Lean & Green is creating a body of intellectual capital around the issues and opportunities presented by green computing along with ways to address the accelerating energy demands and rampant waste of the data center and methods to increase IT yield and data productivity.
The study shows that despite rising costs of data center energy, and the increasing environmental concern over global warming, IT energy consumption continues to rise within a large percentage of organizations. In fact, nearly half of these companies have consumed to the point of running out of space, power, or cooling.
IT professionals by and large realize that improvements must be made. Most are giving their companies poor or failing grades in green achievement in IT, and can only consistently cite a few big companies as leading the way in green computing practices.
Organizations on the leading edge of environmental and efficient data storage and processing practices are, however, realizing an important truth – that they can save green and be green at the same time. In other words, it’s not cost prohibitive to be environmentally sound, but rather helps save substantial sums of money – to the tune of hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars annually-- in the long term. More than 20 percent of respondents thought their organizations could save $100,000 or more per year by reducing server and network storage energy consumption. Six percent could save more than $10 million annually. It’s this cost savings that accompanies green computing that is driving the train, even more than a sense of environmental responsibility or corporate showmanship.
Not only are there cost savings involved, but also business performance advantages as well. Along with the push for a more eco-friendly computing environment comes the potential to drive much more efficient and effective systems that are processing data at faster rates with less power, space and cooling required. As a Business Advisor with with a leading energy company shared in his executive dialog, significant improvements in storage performance will lead to dramatic business benefits and revenue growth. These improvements will lower both the environmental and cost impact of IT systems. With the proper tools, power efficiency will increase as power consumption decreases. These results will eventually lead to a better bottom line for companies.
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