Getting real soon
Enterprises are realizing that green IT is not just a buzz word but lowers TCO significantly and is also good for their corporate image
CRN Network
Going green is a mantra that can bring in chunks of revenues for the Indian solution provider. Green IT is not just about using technologies that saves power directly. It is in fact all about providing products and services, that will reduce energy costs and e-waste within the organization, bring down carbon emission levels, and save money for the customer in toto.
While most reports describe green IT as still in infancy, vendors are asking channel partners to use the concept to sell technologies that can help organization go green. Hence there’s a host of technologies such as virtualization, deduplication, or unified communications which are considered hot by vendors.
Growth factors
There’s a growing awareness among Indian enterprises and even SMB customers on the potential damage that several processes and practices cause to the environment. “Greening the enterprise” is also seen as a way to cut expenses, as most green technologies automatically reduce expenses. CIOs have been exploring technologies that can save them costs. When the operations are larger, even small decisions in the right direction can end up in huge savings.
In 2009, many organizations have adopted policies to make their operations more environment-friendly.
| Quick Five |
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» Vendors are asking channel partners to sell technologies that can help organization go green
» Environment friendly policies are getting popular
» Several consulting opportunities in Green IT are cropping up
» By bundling VoIP, IM, e-mail, videoconferencing and PDAs, VARs can help customers cut costs
» Energy efficient buildings save millions of rupees of infrastructure costs for the CIO
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Channel opportunities
Almost all manufacturers have announced more energy efficient PCs, servers and other products. Recently, Fujitsu announced a zero watt PC, which supposedly consumes no energy at all when powered off, as opposed to 1 to 4W an average PC consumes unless actually unplugged. CPU makers too have been releasing processors that consume lesser power, however mass acceptance of these products—beyond servers—have been low.
Providing solutions in power management technology for cooling and electricity in the data center can lead to a high-margin product and services business.
Consulting opportunities in green IT have just started brimming. With costs related to energy consumption on the rise, CIOs have embraced virtualization resulting in consulting and services opportunities for channels.
By tying together VoIP, IM, e-mail, videoconferencing (VC), smartphones and PDAs, VARs can help customers cut costs and do more with less. Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Avaya and others have been preaching the ROI story for years, and solution providers and end customers are catching on. Similarly technologies such as TelePresence and VC which cut down travel are being tabled as a part of green initiatives by customers, and offer new opportunities for channels.
Other consulting opportunities are outside core IT. For example, there are several greenfield projects where solution providers are getting involved at the core infrastructure level—at the design of the building. Energy efficient buildings save millions of rupees of infrastructure costs.
Future
Though most green initiatives of Indian organizations are concentrated on deploying virtualization and unified communication technologies, the future looks exciting. All you need to do is take a look at some developments happening on the global level. n |