IT managers should probably start getting ready to add another recurring item on their to-do list. As energy efficiency becomes more a corporate initiative, technology departments will likely be heavily involved in leading enterprise initiatives to improve energy use while additionally reducing the corporate carbon footprint. The reason is straightforward enough. No other organization has as constant and comprehensive a perspective on enterprise operations.
The key question is: Are IT departments ready?
According to researchers at Gartner, most IT shops are not yet optimally prepared to support the energy efficiency agenda for their organizations. Their analysts report that there is a great deal of uncertainty about which green technologies and products are actually available today, along with which may become available in the future. The future "productization" of technologies, says Gartner, will not just depend on the maturity of the design but also on the prevailing market conditions and the possibility of future energy and carbon abatement legislation1
This could be a potential problem for IT managers when they are asked to:
- Collaborate with line-of-business managers to develop new processes that support current and projected workloads while using fewer energy-intensive resources. This will mean deploying technologies that enable technologies like mobility, remote access and online collaboration. The goal is to reduce the need for business travel and minimize, when possible, employee commuting. for instance. But they will also be called upon to develop new digital relationships that streamline the energy needed to pass value through the supply chain to customers.
- Identify IT infrastructure technologies in the enterprise that should be re-worked, replaced or deployed, so that more work can be done with far less energy. This will mean revisiting current investments in processing hardware, networks, storage devices and software application in developing a cost, risk and environmental impact analysis against which future investments can be made.
Consider this recent assessment from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A report to Congress found that the purchase price of a new server is now less than the capital cost of the power and cooling infrastructure needed to support that server. What’s more, skyrocketing electricity rates will soon drive the lifetime energy costs of a new server beyond purchase price of the servers themselves.
According to industry experts, energy costs now consume up to 71 cents for every dollar that is spent on enterprise IT. IT managers know that one key to addressing this situation is to reduce the number of servers within the infrastructure. This reduction also has a direct ripple effect on the resources and cooling consumed by servers and will go a long way towards improving both the bottom line and the overall environmental profile of the organization.
But achieving this improvement in energy efficiency will require IT managers to move beyond their traditional role as technology providers. They will have to become much more active participants in:
- Fulfilling regulatory mandates;
- Reducing operational costs;
- Shrinking emissions of green house gases;
- Improving corporate market position, and;
- Demonstrating strong commitment to corporate environmental stewardship principles.
Moving Towards Effective IT Energy Efficiency
- The first step IT managers can take to managing the energy impact of their enterprise IT infrastructures is to develop a comprehensive understanding of actual energy consumption. “In many enterprises, energy and infrastructure costs fall into the facilities management portfolio—and are likely to be separated from the IT department’s responsibilities,” says IBM’s Chris Spaight, Program Manager, Energy Efficient Technology & Services. “Therefore, IT managers should be prepared to work closely with other service provider components within their enterprises to reach a comprehensive understanding of IT energy consumption and costs.”
- Once IT energy consumption patterns are analyzed, IT managers are able to focus on IT energy efficiency. In most cases, enterprise data centers are identified as the leading opportunity to develop a more "green" IT infrastructure. All elements of the data center—hardware, cooling and air conditioning, even lighting, cabling, and equipment placement—should be carefully considered.
- Strategic replacement or recapitalization of aging or especially inefficient hardware is another effective approach to reducing data center energy use. Late-generation servers tend to be not only more capable, but also more energy efficient.
Other approaches to increasing IT energy efficiency extend beyond the data center and involve innovative new enterprise architecture. For example, virtualization can help IT managers increase server utilization, while also reducing the server footprint within the data center. - IT managers can achieve even greater energy efficiency via effective measurement and management of energy consumption. Various analyses of enterprise IT infrastructure performance shows that up to 85 percent of system resources are not being used.
- Meanwhile, smarter load distribution—turning off servers when they are not in use or during periods of low density traffic—can deliver lower energy costs.
Understanding energy usage down to the server level also gives CIOs and IT managers an opportunity to focus cooling costs directly at the source, servers themselves. New technologies that cool individual servers and even processor chips can help reduce costly air conditioning and chiller requirements.
The bottom line is that “going green” is no longer a luxury or a hollow gesture to the public and corporate investors. Lowered IT energy costs can translate directly into greater competitiveness. According to a recent Silicon Valley Leadership Group study, a “green” data center can reduce energy costs by up to 55 percent.2.
For more information on how experts at IBM can help your organizations transform, optimize and “green” their IT, contact IBM.
We're here to help
Or call us at: 1-866-883-8901
Priority code: 6N8AJ42W
Five Minutes to Energy Efficiency Insights
Featured Webcasts
Redesigning data centers to fuel business growth.
Turn Down The Power And Turn Up The Profits.
Address Soaring IT Energy Costs: IBM's Green Data Center Solution.