|
|
|
07 Oct 2009
The fight to convince organisations to reduce energy consumption and consolidate servers seems to be gaining momentum.
HP claimed last year that most European datacentres are operating at 82 per cent of full capacity. This and a lack of energy to power them could hit businesses hard with increased downtime and datacentre failure.
Old, power-hungry servers often cost two to five times that of the initial hardware cost when measured over an average five- to six-year lifetime.
The same HP survey found that 53 per cent of companies said their biggest challenge was a need to improve facilities while reducing capital expenditure.
Many organisations either are addressing or wish to address their datacentre energy and capacity issues. According to one Gartner report, reducing IT costs is now the second most important strategy for CIOs in 2009 — up from 10th in 2008.
Serious consideration should be given to potential energy problems for datacentre IT spend to be worthwhile.
The key is to work closely with a supplier to ensure new technology not only uses less power, but saves money and has the flexibility to grow with the customer’s business.
It is also worth reviewing datacentre expansion capabilities for power and space now, in advance of future squeezes. Yet we often find companies simply trying to keep old processors and energy-hungry servers running.
Some products out now demand less server space and, along with improved energy efficiency, can help customers reduce energy costs.
If the financial benefits are not enough to persuade organisations to invest in such technologies then the government’s Carbon Reduction Commitment, coming into force in January as the first mandatory UK carbon-trading scheme, should definitely increase interest in energy efficient products.
All companies that use more than 6,000MWh per year of electricity will be affected and could become liable for various penalties if they fall foul of the law.
Mike Vinten is chief executive officer at Thesaurus Computer Services
Related articles
In this video find out about the fast-growing Chinese vendor's plans for market domination and how the channel is its route of choice
Find out what gifts Acer has in store for partners for 2012 in this exclusive roundup of its recent conference
CRN's premier networking event is back on 17 May at the Ricoh Arena
Date: Thu 17 May 2012
Channel fighters preparing to square up once more on 24 May
Date: Thu 24 May 2012
The proliferation of endpoint devices within the enterprise has highlighted the shortcomings of one of the traditional approaches to data security
This Forrester report compares the costs and benefits of legacy email and productivity software with Google Apps
Dave discovers that rozzers are seemingly living in the technology dark ages
Mark Needham, founder of distributor Widget, argues that John Browett leaves for Apple with Dixons in better shape than when he arrived
|
|
|
Do you agree?
Have your say