Power and Dollar Savings for IT

Green IT — the very name for me conjurs up images of a lush field in Vermont on a sunny day — the air is clear and clean — just a beautiful sight!  Then from there my images go to the “long green” currencies which I’ve had in my hand, and surely the saving of the “long green” speaks loud and clear to any well managed IT department.  Yes Virginia, there is a green IT — and it can save the green of the fields, and the green cash in the company coffers.

There have been a number of articles published recently about green IT and saving power.  Certainly the increasingly popular use of server virtualization where multiple physical servers are replaced by a single physical server running multiple virtual servers can produce a dramatic energy savings.  I suspect that one possibly over-looked area of potential savings exists by replacing existing “old” computers with up-to-date energy efficient systems.

A recent article in January’s Microsoft TechNet Magazine by Jim Lynch of Techsoup.org got me thinking green again.  The article “What On Earth Is Green IT?” is available on-line.  Available on-line at Techsoup is a useful 1 page list entitled “10 Green Technology Resolutions for 2009“.  Both are worth taking a look at.