Green IT a virtual reality

By Lezette Engelbrecht, ITWeb online features editor

Johannesburg, 25 Jun 2009

While virtualisation offers efficiency and environmental benefits, lack of awareness means they are going untapped.

“There are several major issues facing the world today, namely, the economic crisis, the energy crisis and global warming. Virtualisation is one technology solution that allows businesses to address all three key areas at the same time.”

This is according to Mark Clarke, solutions architect at the green computing division of open source company Jumping Bean. Clarke believes energy efficient technologies will become increasingly important in a changing business environment.

According to Clarke, awareness is the biggest challenge facing companies regarding the adoption of these technologies. “Virtualisation is a relatively new technology, and while it is enjoying rapid and widespread adoption, many companies are not aware of just how significant the benefits are.”

Virtualisation improves the utilisation of existing hardware resources, allowing companies to get more out of their current infrastructure or to reduce their total number of servers and desktops, Clarke says.

“Virtualisation solutions allow a single desktop computer or server to support multiple, independent, operating system instances, called virtual machines or guest operating systems, at the same time. Basically, there is one physical machine that runs more than one server or desktop instance.”

This enables companies to reduce costs, energy and their carbon footprint, as well as e-waste. “It saves energy in two ways: because one machine can replace several machines, and by reducing the amount of electricity needed to cool the corporate data centre,” adds Clarke.

Power-driven policies

Improved energy efficiency may prove an attractive feature, considering 85% of participants in Symantec's 2009 Green IT report aim to reduce energy and cooling consumption through their green policies.

According to the report, 97% of companies surveyed are discussing a green IT strategy, with 41% prepared to spend up to 20% more on energy efficient technologies. It also revealed that replacing old hardware with newer, more efficient equipment is the top priority in organisations' greening policies, followed by monitoring power consumption, server consolidation and server virtualisation.

Tim James, owner and director of ICT consultancy SustainableIT, says implementing a green policy can be approached from two angles. “Firstly, by helping the IT department reduce its own footprint (because this is often an energy-intensive division) and secondly, by using technology to help reduce the overall footprint of the company.”

With virtualisation addressing both these areas, Clark foresees it becoming a dominant force in the industry: “Virtualisation, both at software and hardware level, will continue to experience rapid adoption and become a pervasive technology within the next five to 10 years.”

Energy incentives

Virtualisation is not something that can be implemented overnight, according to Clarke. “It needs to be introduced into the company in a planned and well-managed manner to ensure minimum disruption during the migration period. Staff members need to be trained in the use of these technologies too.”

SA is somewhat behind its international counterparts when it comes to the adoption of virtualisation; something Clarke says is surprising given the country's energy situation. “I think one will see a rapid shift once Eskom's tariff increases hit the market.”

James argues that SA's energy infrastructure is the greatest obstacle in advancing greener lifestyles, technologies and business operations. “We've been living in a false economy and buying energy for ridiculously low rates. We will have to get used to higher rates. We cannot continue creating a dirty energy mix.”

With the economic downturn and energy concerns forcing companies to rethink their approach to resource management, efficient technologies will soon become the norm, rather than the exception, Clarke concludes.