30 Oct 2008

Virtualisation aiding green economic development, expert says

Developments in IT virtualisation are helping to bolster the impact of alternative energy within the economy, an expert has suggested.

Industry expert Martha Young, writing at ITWorld, argued that the IT industry is playing a key role in the commercialisation of alternative energy, which could eventually help economies which have become dependent on foreign oil.

Businesses which adopt hosting services on the cloud and software-as-a-service applications are also encouraging alternative energy researchers to pursue new solutions, Ms Young said.

She added: "Communication technology is a fundamental component in getting research out of the labs and into the commercial market."

Virtualisation could see the IT industry take its place among a range of additional alternative energy solutions such as wind and solar power, Ms Young suggested.

iStor Networks director of strategic marketing Adam Zagorski recently told Data Storage Connection that virtualisation - in addition to its green benefits - helps firms save money by reducing the time and resources required to manually manage data storage.