Jan 28 2009   1:18PM GMT

Microsoft highlights partners in green IT initiatives

Posted by: Bcournoyer
Colin Steele, Microsoft, Reseller channel business development, Server virtualization

Microsoft partners will play a big part in the company’s green IT initiatives, the company said this morning.

Microsoft held a webcast this morning to talk about its environmental sustainability plans, specifically around green IT and virtualization in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. The company’s plans are two-fold: to reduce the 2% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions that come from software-driven devices, and to use software to cut the other 98%, said Francois Ajenstat, director of environmental sustainability.

“We see a role where software can help us reduce our dependency on energy,” Ajenstat said.

To do that, Microsoft will develop and share best practices with its 425,000 partners and rely on those partners to deliver those best practices to customers, he added.

Later, Windows Server group product manager Ward Rolston highlighted some of the technology Microsoft is working on to cut power consumption.

Windows Server 2008 R2, which is now in beta, will have several new features, including a relatively new technology called core parking. Even though R2 will be able to scale up to 256 processors, Rolston said core parking will save energy by turning off the server core when it’s not in use and adjusting power supply according to demand.

Server ’08 R2 and Windows 7 will also offer power profiling, a tool that analyzes power consumption on PCs and servers and produces a diagnostic report. That sounds like it could be especially useful for Microsoft partners, who could use the reports to target trouble spots in their customers’ desktop environments and data centers.

But solutions providers don’t have to wait for Microsoft to develop best practices or release an assessment tool to start addressing customers’ energy concerns. Check out the green IT solutions guide and the data center power and cooling study guide on SearchSystemsChannel.com to get a head start now.