Syndicate
) September 22, 2008 -- A recent survey performed by Logicalis (www.us.logicalis.com), a global provider of high-performance technology, revealed that 86% of IT managers are more likely to make decisions to save money than to benefit the environment. Fortunately for Mother Nature, the survey also revealed that the steps companies are taking to trim IT budgets are also making their data centers more environmentally sustainable.
Today's tight economy makes some IT managers reluctant to embrace the green cause. They are more motivated to save money than to invest in sustainability. According to the survey, however, IT managers are saving the environment in the course of those actions by reducing power use, and making better use of existing servers in the data center. Nearly 88% of respondents have already, or have plans to use virtualization technologies in their data centers in the next 12 months. In addition, about 85% of respondents have already, or have plans to consolidate and reduce the number of servers in their data centers in the next year.
"These are tough economic times for many companies, and IT managers are under pressure to reduce costs," said Eric Linxweiler, Senior Vice President of Solution Services at Logicalis. "Recent industry reports predict that IT spending growth will drop and that pricing pressure on vendors will worsen. At Logicalis we are seeing more and more smart IT managers saving money now by using the resources they have more effectively."
Some money-saving and green practices for the data center are more established than others. According to IDC, for instance, server virtualization is now considered a mainstream technology among IT buyers. Virtualized environments allow workloads to be transferred to a smaller number of servers when possible so the unused servers can be powered down, saving money and reducing the servers' environmental impact. Nearly 88% of the IT managers surveyed by Logicalis say they have plans to employ virtualization technologies in their data centers within the next 12 months, if they haven't already done so.
Companies are also saving money and the environment by eliminating or redeploying underutilized data center servers and storage devices. Some recent estimates indicate that almost a third of servers deployed today are doing almost nothing except consuming energy. Improved technologies are allowing data centers to use less physical space to do more work, cutting down on the number, and environmental impact, of data centers. The Logicalis survey showed that 30% of respondents had eliminated or redeployed more than 25% of the servers in their data centers. About 18% had eliminated or redeployed more than a quarter of the storage devices in their data centers.
As an indication of the cost and environmental benefits of server consolidation, one Logicalis client saw power cost savings of $82,216 in the first year. A ten-year projection, assuming a sustained pattern of data center growth, would yield a $1,320,197 power cost savings. This is equivalent to 29,487 barrels of oil saved over a ten-year period, or 21,573,949 pounds of CO2 emissions reduced over a ten year period.
Cooling is one of the largest energy drains associated with the data center. There are numerous techniques for upgrading the data center cooling system, a practice that the survey found only a third of the respondents had performed or planned to perform within the next 12 months. Employing techniques that increase the effectiveness of cooling systems can save companies money in power costs and loads of carbon emissions.
Worldwide, IT produces 600 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per year; the same as the annual CO2 output from almost 320 million small cars. According to IDC, one-third of customers already consider it "important" to "very important" that IT suppliers have green offerings. As more and more businesses are discovering, however, employing green practices and reducing costs in the data center are not mutually exclusive. Logicalis is helping businesses learn how they can save money through practices such as virtualization, consolidation and other practices that reduce environmental impact and carbon outputs.
Logicalis recently published a feature story including more information about green IT practices and how they can be implemented for companies that want to save some money, available for download at www.us.logicalis.com/greenit. The company also offers an online IT Carbon & Power Consumption Calculator, at http://www.us.logicalis.com/green to help companies gauge the potential benefits of various data center strategies.
About Logicalis
Logicalis is a global provider of high-performance technology solutions. With over 1,500 people worldwide, Logicalis delivers smart solutions based on specific needs, not the latest IT trend. Logicalis provides options, direction and support to more than 6,500 corporate and public sector customers. The company attributes its success to the everyday positive experiences with its customers and strategic partners such as IBM, HP, and Cisco.
Logicalis has annualized revenues in excess of $1 billion, from operations in the UK, US, Germany and Latin America. Logicalis is a division of Datatec Limited (LSE/JSE:DTC), a $4 billion multi-national organization listed on the AIM market of the LSE and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. With over 30 offices in the United States, the company's U.S. headquarters are in Bloomfield Hills, MI. For more information about the Logicalis experience, visit www.us.logicalis.com.