Data centre chiefs dismiss green ‘hype’
Posted on March 13, 2008
Filed Under Vnunet |
Robert Jaques, vnunet.com,
Wednesday 12 March 2008 at 00:00:00
Management unconvinced by vendors’ environmental claims
Green initiatives are gaining traction in enterprises, but data centre
managers do not trust the environmental claims that vendors attach to products
and services. A survey by the Aperture Research Institute (ARI) of more than
100 data centre professionals has shown that, although 70 per cent of
organisations are adopting green initiatives, there are still two alarming
gaps. Around 19 per cent of those with a green initiative admitted that it did
not include the data centre, and 13 per cent of those with an initiative did
not know whether it did. ARI said that, since it was interviewing those with
responsibility for planning and managing data centres, the green initiative
would be unlikely to have any effect in a data centre where management does not
understand the initiative’s implications. Numerous opportunities were suggested
for cutting energy use in the data centre, with 44 per cent naming cooling and
24 per cent naming power efficiency. Around 27 per cent proposed virtualisation
or consolidation as a strategy, but only one person suggested powering off
unused CPUs. ARI said that the minority of managers appear willing to adopt
strategies that will help them to use existing assets more effectively. Most
are calling for more energy efficient equipment to be invented, bought by their
organisations and then installed in their data centres. Despite this, data
centre management is unconvinced by vendors’ claims to be marketing more
environmentally friendly equipment. Over a quarter dismissed such claims as
‘hype’, and 42 per cent said they had no way to validate the claims. Even those
organisations that are committed to reducing their environmental footprint do
not trust vendors to help them do so. Steve Yellen, principal at ARI, said:
“Some commentators have suggested that the IT industry is responsible for more
carbon emissions than aviation, and it is time for the IT industry to start
taking its responsibilities seriously. “Our study found that 70 per cent of
organisations are adopting a green initiative, but some have left alarming gaps
as far as the data centre is concerned. “There is also a lack of trust between
vendors and the data centres they supply. Managers recognise the positive
contribution that more energy-efficient equipment can make, but are quick to
dismiss vendors’ green claims as hype or impossible to verify.”
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