System iNetwork

August 20, 2007

'Tis the Season for "Ware"-ing of the Green

Maybe it's just the hot summer, or maybe it's those nasty gas prices making many of us wish we had cheaper energy sources ready to hand, but lately more people seem to be thinking about the global environment. Whatever your personal feelings might be on that issue, I'm seeing and hearing more talk than ever about "Green IT," which is the shorthand term for paying attention to how environmentally friendly your IT operations are.

You don't have to believe in global warming to see that some of the "green" involved in this idea is the kind you can fold up and put in your pocket. And that's where, political issues aside, some positively short-term business interests enter the picture. There's money to be saved, and money to be made, in paying some attention to Green IT, regardless of what platforms you use, and irrespective of how far away on the calendar St. Patrick's Day is.

IBM, in its sometimes lumbering way, is trying to lead a bit here, although the initial efforts aren't squarely aimed at the System i so far. Earlier this month, IBM announced Project Big Green, an internal effort to move the operations of nearly 4,000 distributed servers onto 30 System z machines. The idea is to save at least $200 million dollars by consuming less energy with fewer systems using less hardware and taking up less data center space that needs to be heated, cooled, and otherwise maintained, among other benefits.

This sets a great example, and I'd think should be a wonderful opportunity for IBM to talk about another very similar idea: How other businesses could also see some tidy savings from, for example, consolidating a mess of Windows server operations onto some nice, efficient System i machines. (Of course, we haven't heard that argument from IBM yet. But realize that, for example, at the Grand Canyon, it can take a while for any echo to come back, so perhaps we just need to be a little patient.) Part two of this idea is the Big Green Linux initiative IBM unveiled at Linuxworld two weeks ago, which as the press release put it, is to enable IBM to "help its clients further integrate Linux into the enterprise as a way to reduce costs and energy consumption by building cooler data centers." (I'll politely skip over the argument I could make that simply installing 1,000 game console-equipped recliners in any air-conditioned warehouse would make one of the "coolest" data centers I can imagine.) IBM's money-making idea here is to encourage wider adoption of the Linux-based Information Server Blade systems.

Part three of Project Big Green is also aimed at its System z customers, but does offer some food for thought for System i data-center managers. This part includes IBM Energy Efficiency Services, which provides consulting on making data center power use more efficient, and IBM Asset Recovery Solutions, which offers environmentally responsible disposal of computer equipment. There's also an online quiz you can take about how energy efficient your data center might be, and some white papers on running a green data center, incentive-program ideas, and best practices. Obviously, these ideas aim at the idea of saving money via a Green IT program.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with making some money from environmentally conscious IT operations, either. That idea could be said to have originated with the "paperless office" concept in the '90s. Back then, companies started offering products for reducing mountains of paper, moving the content first to microfiche and then electronic media, and replacing printed reports with online versions, for instance. These weren't touted so much as good for saving trees as for saving dollars on handling and storage, but it had that effect. (And one day, when most of us have been replaced by younger workers who don't need the reassurance of a piece of paper in our hand to make a business document be "official," that ideal might yet achieve its promise.)

IBM is far from the first to cash in on Green IT. Goodwill Industries International sponsors a program called Reconnect, which recycles salvage materials from discarded computer equipment and consumer electronics. That company's Pittsburgh branch just passed the one million-pound mark in collected equipment, and in June launched a similar program in cooperation with Dell Computer for New Jersey and the Philadelphia area. And just last week, Sony Corporation and WM Recycle America, a subsidiary of Waste Management launched the Sony Take Back Recycling program, aimed at reclaiming consumer electronics.

Of course, you'll want to erase the data from any equipment or media you donate. Goodwill offers tips on that on their web site. There are also companies that offer solutions for destroying data on CDs and DVDs, for example, Communication Technologies' DiskEraser.

If you're looking for an idea for your own side business, for example, INK Solution, a North Carolina company, is offering franchises in its ink and toner cartridge recycling business (Note: this is not an endorsement, merely an example!) and a quick search of the web will turn up similar businesses that can help you better dispose of those byproducts of printer operations.

There are plenty of bottom-line reasons to embrace the Green IT idea, even if you don't happen to buy the "good for the environment" point of view. And if you can get behind Green IT just because you think it's a good cause, why not take advantage of the financial benefits as well?

Posted by at August 20, 2007 2:36 PM