Five Ways for Green IT To Survive the Recession
By all accounts, the economy is getting worse, and the recession will likely be here for quite a while. But that's no reason for IT to delay plans for greening the enterprise. In fact, the recession can even help spur green plans. Here are five ways Green IT can survive -- and in fact, thrive -- during the recession.
By all accounts, the economy is getting worse, and the recession will likely be here for quite a while. But that's no reason for IT to delay plans for greening the enterprise. In fact, the recession can even help spur green plans. Here are five ways Green IT can survive -- and in fact, thrive -- during the recession.
Meter the data center
When times are tough, everyone looks for cutbacks. Green IT can show it's doing its part by putting a meter on the data center, reducing energy bills, and then reporting the results. There are plenty of ways to reduce energy bills in the data center, such as conslidating and virtualizing (see below for more about this).
Run your data center warmer
Here's a quick, no-cost way to reduce electricity costs: Consider running your data center warmer than you usually do, and reduce cooling bills. I recently spoke to an IT pro at a major hospital in the Northeast who told me he had been doing just this, and saving plenty on power costs. Perform due diligence by researching this first, of course, and do it gradually. But it may offer a quick, no-cost payback.
Consolidate and virtualize
This is your lowest-hanging fruit. Server consolidation and virtualization typically offers substantial ROI with very fast payback. The technology is well-established, and projects are not difficult to deploy. All that adds up to a reasonably easy sell for upper managment.
For estimates about how much you might save, check out VMware's TCO/ROI Calulator, and Microsoft's Integrated Virtualization ROI Calculator.
Think storage
Your storage requirements, like everyone else's, are skyrocketing. That means that you're spending a lot more on power costs than you want. Steve Visconti, President of Atrato, says in an article for GreenerComputing that "In a typical data center, it costs $75,000 annually to power and cool a high-end system supporting 1 Petabyte of data."
There are plenty of ways to reduce power costs related to storage, and they offer significant payback as well. For more details, check out Visconti's article.
Cut travel expenses with Web conferencing
Travel is a tremendous contributor to greenhouse gases, and is a significant budget strain as well. Web conferencing is a low-cost alternative to airline flights and automobile use, with fast payback and high ROI. WebEx and Microsoft's Live Meeting are two of the better-known Web conferencing solutions, and are good places to start.
In addition, consider launching a formal telecommuting program for IT staff. It's a no-cost solution, will keep cars off the road, and frequently leads to more loyal, more productive employees, and so also saves money in the long term.
Meter the data center
When times are tough, everyone looks for cutbacks. Green IT can show it's doing its part by putting a meter on the data center, reducing energy bills, and then reporting the results. There are plenty of ways to reduce energy bills in the data center, such as conslidating and virtualizing (see below for more about this).
Run your data center warmer
Here's a quick, no-cost way to reduce electricity costs: Consider running your data center warmer than you usually do, and reduce cooling bills. I recently spoke to an IT pro at a major hospital in the Northeast who told me he had been doing just this, and saving plenty on power costs. Perform due diligence by researching this first, of course, and do it gradually. But it may offer a quick, no-cost payback.
Consolidate and virtualize
This is your lowest-hanging fruit. Server consolidation and virtualization typically offers substantial ROI with very fast payback. The technology is well-established, and projects are not difficult to deploy. All that adds up to a reasonably easy sell for upper managment.
For estimates about how much you might save, check out VMware's TCO/ROI Calulator, and Microsoft's Integrated Virtualization ROI Calculator.
Think storage
Your storage requirements, like everyone else's, are skyrocketing. That means that you're spending a lot more on power costs than you want. Steve Visconti, President of Atrato, says in an article for GreenerComputing that "In a typical data center, it costs $75,000 annually to power and cool a high-end system supporting 1 Petabyte of data."
There are plenty of ways to reduce power costs related to storage, and they offer significant payback as well. For more details, check out Visconti's article.
Cut travel expenses with Web conferencing
Travel is a tremendous contributor to greenhouse gases, and is a significant budget strain as well. Web conferencing is a low-cost alternative to airline flights and automobile use, with fast payback and high ROI. WebEx and Microsoft's Live Meeting are two of the better-known Web conferencing solutions, and are good places to start.
In addition, consider launching a formal telecommuting program for IT staff. It's a no-cost solution, will keep cars off the road, and frequently leads to more loyal, more productive employees, and so also saves money in the long term.
