With new software, new hardware and a new assessment service, Hewlett-Packard has taken a big step forward in its green IT offerings: The company this week unveiled a slew of items aimed at improving the performance and energy efficiency of data centers.

HP expanded its Thermal Logic portfolio to include a program called Dynamic Power Capping, which manages the power used by hardware to maximize performance while cutting power use as much as possible. HP says the program can increase a data center's capacity by as much as 300 percent.

By trimming power use to this extent, HP says a one-megawatt data center could recover up to $16 million in capital expenditures and save $300,000 a year on energy bills.

Also on the software side, the company added a new power consumption measurement program, called Insight Control Environment, to its Thermal Logic portfolio.

And capitalizing on its experience building and optimizing data centers, Hewlett-Packard this week also announced the launch of a consultancy that will assess data centers' energy efficiency. Their Energy Efficiency Design and Analysis Services will also suggest ways to reconfigure existing facilities or design new facilities with an eye toward peak performance at minimal cost, and can help data centers meet LEED or BREEAM certification.

Finally, HP unveiled two new blade server products to meet energy-conscious companies' needs. The company has redesigned its ProLiant server blade to use 25 percent less energy per watt, which it says will save more than 700 watts per server enclosure. Also on the roster is a new BladeSystem enclosure that boosts the energy efficiency of server rack power supplies. Both of these systems are aimed to qualify for the new EPA Energy Star rating for servers when that rating goes live next year.