Vendors stay in the Black by Marketing 'Green', finding traction in 'Server and Desktop Virtualization' amid rising SMB demand

With businesses globally looking to boost both their public image and profit margins in the face of rising market competition, cost-based expense management will become the pre-eminent business response. This plays well for the cost reducing implications of several green technologies hitting the market, and highlights a larger market trend for increased energy efficiency in addition to added functionality.

Virtualization's appeal as a 'green' technology lies in its ability to dramatically improve SMBs' computing resource utilization and performance, reduce infrastructure costs, consolidate physical space, provide an easier and more flexible application deployment mechanism, speed server and application provisioning times, and enhance reliability and uptime by providing organizations with inherent business continuity and disaster recovery functionality. New virtualization solutions from companies like VMware, Microsoft, and Citrix will allow companies of all sizes to take advantage of server and desktop virtualization.

Green IT

Green computing is broadly defined as the study and practice of using computing resources efficiently. The primary objective of such a program is to account for "the triple bottom-line". This is an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organizational and societal success with an aim to cut use of hazardous materials and maximize efficiency of product life while promoting recyclability. Thus, the key driver for SMBs embracing Green IT measures is cost savings.

"The recently concluded G8 summit in Japan brought into focus the environmental concerns affecting the world at large. Thus, reducing the carbon footprint of the nation is increasingly coming under scrutiny. Green IT or green computing offers a number of benefits, including cost reductions."

Modern IT systems rely on a complicated mix of people, networks and hardware. As such, a green computing initiative must be systemic in nature and address increasingly sophisticated problems. Elements of such a solution may comprise items such as end-user satisfaction, management restructuring, regulatory compliance, disposal of electronic waste, telecommuting, and virtualization of server resources, energy use, thin client solutions, and return on investment.

SMBs are increasingly appreciating the value of going green given the wide range of benefits that accrue from prolonged usage of environmentally friendly products and lifestyles. For most large businesses with extensive IT resources, the primary focus has been data centers. These account for the majority of resources used. SMBs do not have similar scale, but can still be environmentally conscious by opting for green solutions such as EnergyStar rated appliances, low power consuming electronics, blade servers and virtualization technologies, among others.

Here's a peek at some Green IT initiatives:

• Key players such as HP and IBM have now begun to manufacture low power consuming servers and PCs which utilize roughly 66 percent of the power requirement of older systems.
• Blade servers, though still nascent in adoption, are technological breakthroughs in servers which provide the same computing power with much lower power utilization.
• Thin clients have quite a few advantages such as space-savings, easier to secure, and cost reductions due to lower IT management expenses, reduced energy consumption (a typical thin-client uses half the energy of a desktop) and more efficient use of computing resources.
• A basic power management technique on computers can result in substantial energy savings due to their sheer number in the market.
• Recycling is quite an under-leveraged technique for being green. Recycling in the business space can be achieved not just in paper usage, but also in how electronic waste is handled. Paper waste can be minimized by double-sided printing, reusing single side printed sheets of paper and other methods.