30 Oct 2008

Managed IT services 'create opportunities amid economic turmoil'

Firms which adopt hosted IT services will generate increased opportunities for future growth by boosting their sustainability and cutting operation costs, it has been suggested.

Converging IT technologies, through virtualisation, enable businesses to use green IT to bolster their long-term sustainability, argued Martha Young, writing in her blog at ITworld.

Ms Young suggested that collaboration will be at the centre of technological developments in the industry, such as cloud computing, web 2.0 and software-as-a-service.

Green IT could also benefit firms by improving the sustainability of their IT technology at a time when the global economy is experiencing continued volatility as a result of the credit crunch.

Ms Young wrote: "Green computing is undoubtedly the next major wave in technology ... Within turmoil is opportunity."

According to IT industry research group Gartner, cloud computing will generate revenues of $25 billion (£16 billion) worldwide by 2012.

Gartner analyst Rakesh Kumar recently encouraged firms to address their data management amid the possibility of further increases in energy costs.