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December 02, 2008

Think Eco-Logical Initiative Shows Enterprises the Benefits of Going Green



Helping enterprises and organizations realize the benefits of becoming more eco-friendly, the Think Eco-Logical initiative was launched today by the Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum and Rackable Systems.
 
Supported by IT professionals in multiple industries, this educational program teaches enterprises and organizations how to combine environmental concerns with intelligent business management and marks a milestone in thought leadership.
 
The Think Eco-Logical movement focuses on the environmental side (Eco) of IT sustainability essentials and the economics (Logical) of attaining environmental efficiencies.
 
Operated by the Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum, the program also includes contributions from Rackable Systems, an innovator in built-to-order server and storage solutions, Intel (News - Alert), and the Global Renewable Energy and Environmental Network (GREEN). Through original content, gathered insight and input from influential companies and associations, Think Eco-Logical helps organizations rise to meet the challenges and capitalize on business opportunities revolving around environmental responsibility.
 
“IT departments have a great opportunity to be the catalyst for environmentally and fiscally responsible initiatives,” stated Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the BPM Forum. “Think Eco-Logical cuts through the eco-hype by going deep into vertical markets to uncover real-world business drivers and pain points specific to those industries and offering best practices that can be implemented today.”
 
The BPM Forum recently conducted a pilot survey of more than 200 IT professionals who evaluated the validity, resonance and supporting drivers for Think Eco-Logical. The study found that the market was highly supportive of the term Think Eco-Logical and the influential messages that it delivers. An overwhelming 96 percent of respondents stated that they think it is a strong campaign theme for reducing energy consumption, and 85 percent cited data center energy conservation as a high priority. 84 percent associated cost saving benefits with the term Think Eco-Logical.
 
“The Think Eco-logical initiative is intended to help companies which have been struggling to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint,” said George Skaff, vice president of marketing at Rackable Systems (News - Alert). “Rackable Systems has been a long time advocate for enabling organizations to achieve IT sustainability through its high efficiency, high-performance server and storage products. Through this initiative, we will continue to elevate market awareness on how to improve data center productivity while reducing costs and environmental impact.”
 
According to McKinsey & Company, a consultancy group, “In the United States alone, growth in electricity used by data centers between now and 2010 will be the equivalent of ten new power plants. Without efforts to curb demand, current projections show worldwide carbon emissions from data centers will quadruple by 2020.”
 
Think Eco-Logical will look at numerous vertical industries, starting with digital media and entertainment as well as Internet and eCommerce. These industries are currently looking for new ways to address mushrooming data delivery and storage demands combined with rising eco-pressure and operational costs.
 
With huge production facilities and distribution networks pushing massive amounts of data, including downloads, streaming video, renderings and animation, media and entertainment companies are expected to gain major benefits from logical improvements to their IT infrastructure. In addition, a recent UCLA study shows that contrary to the industry’s highly-publicized eco-initiatives, like recycling, eco-friendly packaging and hybrid vehicle use, the film industry is second only to the oil industry as California’s largest environmental polluters.
 
Moreover, the increasing demand for Internet services like music, video downloads and large volumes of Internet search queries are placing a huge strain on the nation’s energy infrastructure. One single Google (News - Alert) search consumes 2 to 8 watt-hours of energy. Keep in mind that Google receives hundreds of millions of queries a day, equaling well over a billion watt-hours of energy consumed daily just for Internet search on Google alone.
 
Two Think Eco-Logical surveys have been commissioned to assess the current needs, concerns and attitudes of these specific industries as they decide whether to invest in green technology. The surveys will look into the challenges and success scenarios in enabling the ecological data center and supporting the high compute needs specific to each industry.
 
To participate in the Media & Entertainment industry IT survey, please visit: http://www.rackable.com/thinkecological/internet-survey.html.
 
If interested in participating in the Internet & eCommerce industry IT survey, please click: http://www.rackable.com/thinkecological/internet-survey.html http://www.rackable.com/thinkecological/media-survey.html.
 
A new white paper supports the Think Eco-logical initiative and describes how through this new strategic approach of combing both environmental and fiscal thinking, companies can achieve social responsibility and boost business value. The paper, entitled, Think Eco-Logical – A New IT Mandate for Eco-Consciousness and Sound Business Sense, explains how organizations can engage in eco-friendly practices and attain IT sustainability imperatives by significantly reducing power usage. By focusing on business drivers, they can significantly cut costs and achieve bottom-line benefits.

The Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum is dedicated to advancing performance accountability, process improvement, operational visibility and compliance in global organizations. It provides support to thousands of senior executives and practitioners representing enterprises with more than $500 billion in combined annual revenues.

Founded in 1999 and based in Fremont, California, Rackable Systems is a provider of Eco-Logical servers and storage for large-scale data center deployments. The company designs its products to provide benefits in the areas of density, thermal efficiency, serviceability, power distribution, data center mobility and remote management. Rackable Systems is a founding member of The Green Grid (News - Alert) and serves Internet, enterprise software, federal government, entertainment, financial services, oil and gas exploration and HPC customers worldwide.


 
 

Michelle Robart is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Michelle's articles, please visit her columnist page.

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