MILWAUKEE, Wis. — At the annual meeting of the National Association of State CIOs (
NASCIO), leaders of state government technology leaders cited ongoing budget crises and high energy costs as big reasons for taking their IT operations green.
A poll conducted at at NASCIO's 2008 annual conference last week found that 46 percent of the CIOs at the event are using consolidation as their top green strategy for 2009, followed by legacy software replacement at a distant 27 percent.
Brian Rawson, CTO for the state of Texas,
told ChannelWeb that his state is nearly a quarter of the way done with an extensive server consolidation plan that will bring 31 existing data centers down to just two. Rawson said that promoting the consolidation plan as a cost-savings strategy was key to getting signoff on the project.
Michigan's CIO, Ken Theis, explained that green tech was something states should get 100 percent behind, even suggesting that states hire chief energy officers to green operations. "We are at a crossroads," he said. "Green technology is something that is critical now but it is soon to be a mandate."
As energy costs rise and states find themselves pinched between exorbitant bills from outdated equipment and old planning strategies and budget costs, energy efficient green IT will be all the more appealing. As we
reported yesterday on GreenerComputing, European CIOs are facing regulations on non-toxic and energy-efficient IT as key drivers toward green; despite a lack of regulations for green IT in the United States, deep concern about the economy seems to be making the shift necessary from an economic standpoint as well.
