Green IT trends
What do you think of when I say — or rather, write — green IT trends? The phrase can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.
It could mean office/personnel practices like telecommuting, working virtually and Web conferencing. Or, reducing paper printouts by moving systems with physical outputs like data reports online.
Green IT could also refer to software tools and applications that your business could implement to save energy. Simply utilizing default hibernation settings on your operating system, for example, can save your business $50 per PC per year, according to IEEE Internet Computing (July/Aug. 2009).
The phrase could also point towards new technologies like virtualization software or cloud computing.
Virtualization lets multiple operating system environments (typically servers) run on a single hardware platform to reduce hardware requirements and overall energy costs. It’s been shown that virtualization can help to reduce the need for CPU by more than 15% on average.
Cloud services include software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), and can significantly reduce your company’s overall investments in storage and server equipment.
However you define green IT, it’s important that you discuss the phrase and its multiple meanings, and keep abreast with new trends and tactics. By exploring and making conscious decisions about any of the above tactics, you can determine and implement a strategic green technology plan that saves your company money, energy, time and resources.
Have some important green tech trends that you think I missed? Leave your ideas in the comments below.
Side note: In researching this entry, I stumbled across this nifty little infographic by geekaphone that asked (and answered) the question: How green is your iPhone?
Who knew that if all the iPhones sold in 2010 were charged once, it would be equal to leaving a normal light bulb on for over 357 years. Check out the graphic on TheNextWeb and fill your random statistic quota for the day.
