HP and Bell unite to Go Green in the datacentre

Going Green initiative encourages businesses to rethink their datacentre infrastructure

Distributor Bell Micro has joined forces with HP to launch an initiative called Going Green, which it claims will help resellers deploy greener IT infrastructures.

Initially, Going Green will focus solely on datacentres, but in time may incorporate other sectors.

Speaking to CRN, James Greenham, business manager for mission-critical and network services at HP, said: “HP launched a datacentre assessment service about 18 months ago, but decided it needed better penetration so began discussions with Bell to create a green package for Bell’s resellers which included our datacentre assessment service.”

Going Green will also consist of consultancy around datacentre consolidation as well as focus on blades and virtualisation.

Anthony Young, director of services and security at Bell Micro, told CRN: “Datacentres are becoming recognised as major consumers of energy within organisations. A fully equipped 30,000sqft datacentre which is a relative minnow by today’s standards will consume enough electricity in a year to result in 44,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere.”

To get it up and running, HP and Bell are prepared to co-fund up to 10 resellers to sign up to the scheme.

“Resellers will get marketing collateral and funding to rebrand the packages as their own. They need to be green themselves so we will also offer each VAR a datacentre assessment of their business so they can show customers they’re not just talking the talk, they’re walking the walk,” said Greenham.

Young added: “Any VAR can sign up to Going Green, but we will only co-fund up to 10. If another 50 or 60 want to sign up they’d be welcome, but would have to fund themselves.”

Dave Poskett, director of HP’s Solutions Partners Organisation, UK and Ireland, said: “Becoming more green is a concern for everybody, yet it can be difficult for enterprises to know how to balance the computing needs of the business with potential environmental impact.

“HP is delighted to be working with Bell to help resellers guide their customers in the deployment of datacentres that are more energy efficient while providing a robust technology infrastructure.”