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The Greening of IT
206 How Companies Can Make a Difference for the Environment

use the data network “sniffer” concept to determine network bandwidth and
response time for each user of a server. That same sniffer concept will be
developed for power and energy used. There will be an inexpensive
power/energy monitoring appliance that will act like the network sniffer and
give us information on the power and energy use for each IT device. That
appliance will send the information to an energy monitoring system (a
server). Then we can see actual energy reduction results of using virtualiza-
tion and other energy-saving initiatives. The electric power/energy monitor-
ing device will also be in our homes and will have the capability of sending
information to our laptops. We can see the actual power and energy-use his-
tory of our refrigerators or window air conditioners. We then can better man-
age our energy use by measurements and trending.

Review of IT Steps to Help Save the World!

According to the research company Gartner, the green wave has only
begun to rise. The company predicts that by 2009, more than one-third of all
IT organizations will place environmental concerns within their top six buy- ptg
ing criteria. By 2010, Gartner says, three-quarters of companies will use car-
bon-footprint considerations with their hardware-buying strategy, and by
2011, large enterprises will develop policies requiring their suppliers to
prove their green credentials through an auditing process.
Remember, many companies are talking a good game but are not being as
aggressive in going green as will be necessary to make the difference needed
to solve our energy and climate crisis. According to a survey of 124 IT opera-
tions by Forrester Research in May 2007, some 85 percent of respondents
said environmental factors are important in planning IT operations. But only
one-fourth of survey respondents have actually written green criteria into
their company’s purchasing processes. Enterprises that have started the green
journey, however, have found that reducing total energy requirements can be
accomplished through some fairly straightforward improvements that don’t
take years to implement or bring return.
Chapter 1, “The Importance of Green IT,” lists six steps that apply to
all companies and organizations in going to green IT. These steps from
Chapter 1 that have been discussed throughout the book are reiterated here.