Majority of data storage managers trying to be greener

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Despite claims that business efforts to be greener are superficial, data storage managers have woken up to the call for greener IT and are making investments in IT infrastructure to reduce the carbon footprints of their firms.

According to a survey carried out in advance of next week's Storage Expo event of 335 UK organisations, 95 per cent say they are trying to curb the amount of energy devoted to managing storage - a figure only set to grow as storage demand continues.

A further survey of 100 companies carried out by the Green Technology Initiative and the conference organisers found a majority (65 per cent) are turning off unused systems in order to reduce their carbon footprint.

But only 39 per cent of those are looking to buy specific products that require less energy. And although server virtualisation is high on the storage agenda, 23 per cent of these companies say they are seeing definable benefits so far.

The Green Technology Initiative research also shows 98 per cent of companies believe IT suppliers should work to improve their technology in order to match the government's target of 20 per cent reductions on CO2 emissions by 2010. Some respondents feel that 20 per cent should be higher - 30 per cent.

"'Power availability and environmental concerns are at the top of IT managers' list of issues," said John Rollason, European solutions manager for Network Appliances.

"Improving the performance of server processors has been a popular tactic, but this only solves part of the problem," added Steve Murphy, UK managing director of HDS. "Storage plays just as big a role in excess power consumption and so must play a role in the solution."

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