Green IT and virtual data centers are no fad nor are they limited to large scale environments.

Paying attention to how resources are used to deliver information services in a flexible, adaptable, energy efficient, environmentally, and economically friendly manner to boost efficiency and productivity are here to stay.

Read more here in the article I did for the folks over at Enterprise Systems Journal.

Cheers gs

To say that “green” is a popular trend is an understatement. Green messaging in general and in the information technology (IT) industry in particular tends to center around carbon footprint and emissions reduction or cost savings. The industry is seeing a shift from the initial green hype cycle of a few years ago to the more recent trough of disillusionment typically found with a post-technology or trend-hype hangover, to the current re-emergence and growing awareness of the many different faces and facets of being green.

Although green hype and “green washing” may be falling out of favor or appearing on an endangered species list, addressing core IT data center issues that impact how resources are used to deliver information services in an energy-efficient, environmentally, and economically-friendly manner to boost efficiency and productivity are here to stay.

IT data centers around the world face issues of power, cooling, and floor space and associated environmental health- and safety-related matters while working to support growth without disruption to application quality of service.

There are many aspects or facets of being and enabling green beyond the commonly discussed carbon footprint focus, particularly for IT organizations. Listen closely and you might hear mention of other topics and issues including buzzwords such as RoHS, WEEE, LEED, J-MOSS, energy avoidance or energy efficiency to boost productivity when enabling efficiency and optimization.

For example, StorageIO research continues to find a small percentage in the 7 to 15 percent range of IT organizations that have or need to go green based on perception that core issue is reducing the impact on the enterprise's carbon footprint. StorageIO research also shows that on average, 55 to 75 percent (if not more) organizations need to address power, cooling, footprint, and environmental health and safety constraints or issues while sustaining business growth without impact productivity.

Hence the “green gap” exists between focused messaging and broader IT initiatives or requirements centered on optimization, efficiency, and boosting productivity for business sustainability, all of which have green environmental and economic benefits.

Several existing technologies (along with other new and emerging ones) can be used in complimentary ways to enable a green and efficient virtual data center to support and sustain business growth. Some of the topics, technologies, and techniques include energy and cost footprint reduction, cloud-based storage and computing, managed services, intelligent power management and adaptive power management, blade centers and blade servers, server, storage and networking virtualization, data footprint reduction (including archiving, compression, and data de-duplication), tiered servers, storage, networks and data centers, energy and environmentally friendly infrastructure resource management, energy avoidance, and energy efficiency among others.

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