IT managers adopting eco-friendly computing practices
Green IT emerging as new priority for IT decision makers.
Information Technology managers are getting to be more eco-friendly and the trend is influencing computing practices in many leading corporations in the industry, the latest Datamonitor survey showed.
A report based on the survey findings, 2008 Trends to Watch: Green IT disclosed that the adoption of “green IT,” or eco-friendly computing practices was emerging as a new priority for IT decision makers. A report predicted a surge in interest in green IT among top-level IT management, like chief information officers.
The Datamonitor survey, which involved over 245 CIOs and IT managers in various international corporations, showed that over 75 per cent considered eco-friendly computing as an important element in their IT strategy while a further 15 per cent rated it as their top IT priority.
Vamshi Mokshagundam, Datamonitor technology analyst and the report’s author, said the survey also found that one in five IT corporations have incorporated a green IT agenda in their business strategy with a further third set to do so within the next two years.
“We’re expecting to see considerable levels of interest in this area in future, particularly in the face of the global economic downturn,” Mokshagundam said.
Mokshagundam explained that the growing interest on eco-friendly computing practices was being prompted by the dual challenge facing IT organizations of shrinking budgets and sprawling infrastructure footprints. In addition, Mokshagundam said, regulations around data privacy and electronic waste disposal are reported to be on the rise.
“They are beginning to identify what eco-friendly opportunities within their own IT strategies can deliver significant cost savings, increased flexibility in managing IT resources and compliance with environmental regulations,” noted Mokshagundam.
Mokshagundam said the survey report comes at a time when many within the IT industry concede to confusion and a lack of information about eco-friendly computing practices and its implications to both the environment and the business strategy.
Virtualization technologies are used by one in three companies that had a green IT strategy, the survey report also disclosed, adding that their popularity was being fuelled by the duel benefit of significant cost savings and reductions in enterprise carbon footprints.
Mokshagundam further disclosed that over two thirds of IT companies have adopted a formal program to recycle their IT assets. The report noted the emergence of more power-efficient technologies like Light Emitting Diodes (LED) and Solid State Disks (SSD), as well as software as a service (SaaS) for its shared delivery infrastructure, as also encouraging the trend, he added.
