Green IT solutions guide for the midmarket

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Energy efficiency within reach at SMBs

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[Carrie Higbie, Contributor]

Going green in the data center is one of today's hottest topics. And while being a good steward of the earth is desirable, the real impetus to green IT is its impact on a company's bottom line when it comes to power consumption. Some estimates indicate that 44% of a data center's operating budget is spent on power. In some cases, that percentage can reach 50%.

Speaking at an event recently, an attendee raised his hand and said, "Please explain what green means to you because, from what I have seen from the other presentations, it means money!" He was right. All technologies have some type of cost impact, but green IT solutions can be achieved without breaking the bank and, in the end, will lead to cost savings.

   Find out more in "Energy efficiency within reach at SMBs." Also:

• Neglecting AC units gets data centers into hot water (SearchSMB.com)
  Too many data center managers rely on only a UPS to keep the servers running when the power goes out. But neglecting to back up the air-conditioning units puts the servers at an unnecessary risk.
• Energy, market demands drive up price of hosted data centers (SearchCIO.com)
  Surging energy costs and demands for space mean CIOs are getting squeezed as providers of hosted data centers jack up their prices.

Virtualization ready to heat up in 2008

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[James M. Connolly, Contributor ]

The password into the midmarket data center for 2008 may be virtualization. Not only will the new year see virtualization software vendors continuing to focus on server virtualization, but other key technology initiatives will also have their roots in virtualization, including blade servers designed for the midrange, remote services based on virtual machines, virtual desktops and green IT solutions.

For the data center manager in the midmarket, all of this activity can add up to savings on hardware and utilities, ease of management and, perhaps of most importance, new disaster recovery capabilities.

"Server virtualization has been growing for a couple of years, but I think it's really starting to hit the mainstream,'' said Gary Chen, an analyst at Boston-based research firm Yankee Group Research Inc. "There will be a lot more competition and a lot more product available."

   Learn more in "Virtualization ready to heat up in 2008." Also:

• Virtualization helps IT pros ease patching pain (SearchSMB.com)
  IT managers are learning that using desktop virtualization software to patch their enterprise desktops has the potential to save time, money and energy.
• Blade servers: Small in size, big on energy costs (SearchSMB.com)
  New research finds IT managers are struggling with energy headaches, and blade servers are a major heat source.

It's not easy being a green Apple

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[Shamus McGillicuddy, News Writer]

It's not easy being green. Even for Apple. Climate Counts, a nonprofit group funded by organic food company Stonyfield Farm Inc., has released its annual "scorecards," which examine how companies are working to be more environmentally friendly.

Climate Counts rates companies on a scale of one to 100, based on 22 criteria that examine whether companies are measuring their "climate footprints," reducing their impact on global warming, supporting progressive climate legislation and publicly disclosing their progress in these areas.

Apple Inc. received the lowest score of the electronics companies reviewed.

   Find out more in "It's not easy being a green Apple." Also:

• Apple gets a little greener (SearchSMB.com)
  With the iPhone hitting stores, Apple will be raking in the greenbacks. Now the company is getting the thumbs up from Greenpeace.
• HP sees green in energy efficiency (SearchCIO.com)
  Can a company that has spent years contributing to the problem lead the way to energy efficiency in IT areas -- and make a bundle doing it? HP announces its intention to do just that.

More resources

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• Executive Guide: Data center energy efficiency strategies for CIOs (SearchCIO.com)
• Resource center: Green computing and energy efficiency (SearchCIO.com)
• Resource center: Data center storage (SearchStorage.com)
• Resource center: Green data center (SearchDataCenter.com