Being Green

ATEN has come up with a bunch of Green IT tips and suggestions for network administrators.
These are the tips:
Go IT Remotely
Cut the Clutter and Reduce Power Consumption
Check out the Most Environmentally Friendly KVMs
Going Green Starts on the Factory Floor
They are all excellent ones and great start for going green.

Data Centre Efficiency

Here is an interesting article posted on vnunet.com by Simon Perry. Perry works at Quocirca as a sustainability analyst. He makes some very good points one of which is:
Business urgently requires a standardised and regulated way of calculating emissions. Sustainability efforts urgently require those measurements to deliver transparency through regular reporting of performance.
The environment isn't an issue which is going to go away and must be dealt with sooner rather than later.

IBM's Green Data Center

Yesterday we posted about the opening of IBM's new green data center. Now see a short clip about it. Take a look - it's well worth watching.

Greenier

There is news today that IBM just opened its Greenest Data Center in North America. IBM is serious about its committment to being green and it would be great if a lot of companies followed suit.

Being Green Saving Green

Here is an interesting article about turning your data center being green. Reality doesn't always mirror want people want. The surveys reveal that nearly 75 percent said green computing was “at least somewhat of a priority,” but only 44 percent said they had any specific plans in place.
And as Symantec’s 2007 Green Data Center Report found - only one in seven data center managers either started or had begun to lay plans to have a green data center.
It's not easy to turn everything upside in the pursuit of being green but the rewards are well worth it. The significant cost savings alone!

Greening IT Up

GlassHouse Technologies has put out a white paper called Five Key Strategies for a Greener Data Center which is an interesting read.

They list five areas where there are potential cost savings:
1. Consume Intelligently
2. Consolidate Your Systems
3. Manage Storage Resources More Efficiently
4. Invest in a Greener Infrastructure
5. Consolidate Your Data Center Footprint

Well worthwhile reading the whole thing though.

Greening

Continuing on the green theme we had yesterday, Blade Watch reports on a survey which concluded that there was a lack of industry standards for green datacenters. The thing about green data centers is they tend to go hand in hand with solutions which are mindful of the bottom line. For instance you want solutions that preserve your investment. Every time you move forward you don't want to have to start from scratch. That isn't progress - that's reinventing the wheel.

Green Data Centers - Literally!

Interesting post on the storage blog where its reported that planting vegetation on a roof makes it significantly cooler.
Great idea but I can't see IT managers standing out there with a watering can.