Tuesday March 11
Data Centers are Adopting Green Initiatives but are Wary of Vendors'
Marketing Messages: It seems that even those organizations that are committed to
reducing their environmental footprint do not trust vendors to help them
do so.
STAMFORD, Conn. March 11 (PRNewswire-USNewswire) -
A survey by the
Aperture Research Institute (ARI) of more than 100 data center
professionals has shown that green initiatives are gaining traction in
the data center, but data center management does not trust the
environmental claims that vendors attach to products and services.
Although 70% of organizations are adopting green initiatives, the
Aperture Research Institute study found two alarming gaps: 19% of those
with a green initiative admitted it did not include the data center, and
13% of those with an initiative did not know whether it did. Since the
ARI was interviewing those with responsibility for planning and managing
data centers, the green initiative would be unlikely to have any effect
in a data center where management does not understand the initiative's
implications.
Numerous opportunities were suggested for cutting energy use in the data
center, with 44% naming cooling and 24% naming power efficiency. 27%
proposed virtualization or consolidation as a strategy, but only one
person suggested powering off unused CPUs. 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 organizations and then
installed in their data centers.
Despite that, data center management is unconvinced by vendors' claims
to be marketing more environmentally friendly equipment. 26% dismissed
such claims as hype, and 42% said they had no way to validate the
claims. It seems that even those organizations that are committed to
reducing their environmental footprint do not trust vendors to help them
do so.
Steve Yellen, Principal of the Aperture Research Institute, 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% of
organizations are adopting a green initiative, but some have left
alarming gaps as far as the data center is concerned. There's also a
lack of trust between vendors and the data centers they supply. Managers
recognize the positive contribution that more-energy-efficient equipment
can make, but they are quick to dismiss vendors' green claims as hype or
impossible to verify."
Yellen concluded: "This ARI survey investigates managers' attitudes
towards the so-called 'green data center'. In the next research note, we
will investigate whether the actions of data center management reflect
their stated aims."