In today's General Session at EMC World 2008, with many thousands of users in the audience, the following question was posed by Dave Donatelli, the head of EMC's core storage business:
How many of you have experienced an energy problem in your data center?
Approximately 15% of the audience raised their hands, which suggests:
- Less than 5% of IT shops even see the power budget so unless their data centers have run out of power, most users don't consider energy their 'problem'
- Most customers have not hit the wall for power and cooling
One can't help wonder how the audience would have responded to a question that asked:
How many of your organizations have already started or plan to implement a green IT initiative ?
The number probably would have been substantially higher than 15%.
The irony here is that while most data centers are not facing a critical energy shortage (not withstanding some urban areas that are feeling the crunch) virtually all IT organizations can take advantage of a green IT initiative to:
- Support top down corporate strategies
- Demonstrate good behavior to stakeholders
- Reduce costs
- Start planning to get ahead of the power density curve
Action Item: While many customers are not feeling the pain of running out of power in the data center, there are pratical business reasons to start a formal green initiative within organizations. This unit should be comprised of a cross-funtional team with clear leadership and a mission of improving data center efficiency and supporting the overall sustainability edicts of the corporation.
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