Green IT Saves Money not just the planet

In recent history, when the economy was good and power prices were relatively cheap, businesses paid less attention to green initiatives. Calls to go green emphasised altruistic aspirations to spend money to save the planet. In today’s difficult climate, cash strapped business owners need a commercial payback before they spend money to be improve the environment.

Fortunately recent developments in Information Technology (IT) are enabling substantial savings to be made in terms of electrical power reduction and potential staff efficiency. As computer equipment consumes about 10% of a company’s energy needs, these technology initiatives really do save money as well as being environmentally friendly.

One money-saving green technology enables desktop PCs to be replaced with computers that use just 10% of the power. These computers, called ‘thin clients’ only process keyboard and mouse clicks and displaying information received on the screen. The technology is commonly referred to as ‘Server Based Computing’. The software applications (such as MS-Word) run on server computers in the computer room. Not only do thin clients use much less power, they have no moving parts, which makes them very reliable. Furthermore because the applications run on the server, these thin client computers do not need to be periodically replaced or upgraded, Typically a desktop PC would be replaced at least once (and probably twice) in a 5-year period, whereas a thin client would last between 6 and 8 years before being replaced. New or upgrade software applications are installed on a few machines rather than the whole population of desktop PCs.

The benefits arising from these characteristics are reduced expenditure on electricity bills and desktop PC replacements, and lower desktop support overhead by IT staff enabling either a smaller IT support function or redeploying IT staff on more profitable business services.
Users of thin client computers get a psychological boost because their desktop machines boot up much more quickly (typically less than 30 seconds) and in many cases the response time for (e.g. starting up MS-Word) is quicker than traditional PCs. Server based technology has been around for several years and has been demonstrated by businesses to be stable and effective at realising significant savings. For example, Reed Recruitment achieved a 20% overall reduction in its IT costs.

Another technology that makes a significant contribution to both saving money and the planet involves a reduction in the number of computers in the computer room. Companies have developed their IT services around server computers that provide file storage, email, internet access, line of business and database applications. The different services run on individual computers that in practice only operate a fraction of their capacity during the working day and not at all at night. Yet these servers are switched on and using power continuously 24 hours a day. In addition these computer generate enough heat to require air conditioning systems that use yet more power.
The technology enables one physical computer to be compartmentalised into several virtual computers (hence the term ‘Virtualisation’). The individual applications running on the separate servers are loaded onto the single virtual server, making the other individual servers redundant. The Gartner Group estimates that using this approach enables on average 7 servers to be consolidated into one. Businesses can be expected to save money on their electricity bills by using fewer servers and a reducing the air conditioning requirement.

Both of the technologies, described above, can be further enhanced using the latest server computer hardware. They provide high power and capacity so that fewer servers are required. And they now have management capabilities that enable them to go into power saving mode at times of low demand.

Bizcit staff are capable of developing the business case and implementing solutions for companies who are interested in saving money and the planet using these technologies. Please call Steve Sandercock on 07747 797347 or email enquiries@bizcit.co.uk