31 Jul 2009

Green advice for firms

Companies which employ offsite data centres to store their critical files have been urged to ensure they spend the correct amount on cooling the premises.

Blogger Manek wrote in a post for ZDNet that there is an industry-wide belief that the amount of energy spent on powering servers should be equal to that used for cooling them.

However, many businesses are currently spending more than they need to on cooling and could therefore cut back, a development which could help them save money and help the environment.

"Data centre management is all about power and cooling - most data centres seem to have the data side of things sorted. It's the energy draw that hurts the budget most," Manek wrote.

A recent report by Business Insights showed that companies could reduce their IT expenditure by embracing energy efficiency in areas of the business.

The study argued that firms could make savings of up to £305,000 per year on average simply by ensuring all the lights in the office are switched off every evening.