19 Nov 2008

Green IT 'saves firms money'

Businesses could significantly cut their electricity bills through green IT, a study has suggested.

Research by industry analysts Gartner has found that firms which employ green strategies will use 15 per cent of their electricity output to regulate the temperature of their data centres.

However, companies that use conventional methods will require between 35 and 50 per cent of their electricity usage to cool their racks, a study by the group has predicted.

Organising data centre stacks into separate hot and cold isles is one way of preventing cold supply air from being mixed with hot exhaust air - the main source of wasted electricity.

Businesses could also use under-floor airflow, blanking panels and temperature sensors, the Gartner report suggested.

Paul McGuckin, research vice president at the firm, said: "Even in a small data centre, this wasted electricity amounts to more than one million kilowatt hours annually that could be saved with the implementation of some best practices."

Peritus Partners chief executive Cheemin Bo-Linn recently advised companies to consider virtualisation technologies because as well as being green, they create cost-savings by reducing the number of pieces of hardware that would be required in their data centres.