Indian enterprises embrace green IT practice

MUMBAI, INDIA: Symantec Corp announced the India findings of its 2009 Green IT Report, a follow up to the Green Data Center report released in late 2007.

According to survey data, senior-level IT executives in India report significant interest in green IT strategies and solutions, attributed to both cost reduction and environmental responsibility. The data points to a shift from implementing 'green' technologies primarily for cost reduction purposes, to a more balanced awareness of also improving the organization’s environmental standing.

Enterprises in India have embarked on the drive to be environmentally conscious. Close to 60 percent of respondents from large enterprises in India state they are at least discussing or are in trial stages of a green IT strategy, while 39 percent are already in the process of implementing green IT initiatives. IT decision makers are increasingly justifying green IT solutions by more than cost and IT efficiency benefits. Respondents cited key drivers as reducing electricity consumption (83 percent), reducing cooling costs (91 percent), and corporate pressure to be 'green' (86 percent). Furthermore, 70 percent of respondents are now responsible or cross-charged for the electricity consumed in the data center—bringing visibility and accountability to bear on the ultimate consumer of these resources.

“Large Indian enterprises today are confronted with issues of unprecedented data explosion, burgeoning storage and complex information management processes,” said Anand Naik, Director—Systems Engineering, Symantec India. “This has put tremendous pressure on IT departments and CIOs while managing storage utilization, power consumption costs and energy efficiency matters. As CIOs take a serious relook at their strategies, green initiatives figure high on the ‘must do’ list to perk up their data centers from a technology, business and environment point of view,” he shared.