TeamQuest Corporation explains how IT and business leaders can understand and implement green IT solutions for quick wins in the data center. To help IT leaders be viewed as part of the solution, TeamQuest has published two white papers that show leaders how to use IT Service Optimization and TeamQuest software to reduce their organization's energy footprint. The generated savings can be used to fund other "business-wide" initiatives such as supplementing the grid with wind power.

ITSO is a best practice-based process supported by tools aimed at optimizing the planning and delivery of IT services. The goal is to consistently meet IT service levels while minimizing infrastructure costs and mitigating risks.

Best practices manager Ron Potter said, "TeamQuest software won't prevent your CEO from using a corporate jet or provide your facility with a renewable source of electricity, but it will be of great assistance in optimizing the equipment used by your IT operation."

Find Green IT Tips from White Papers

Created for business leaders, the TeamQuest white papers cited below show readers how to:

• Understand the different facets of green initiatives
• Tailor green programs to meet organizational needs
• Learn short- and long-term actions to initiate and sustain a green initiative/program
• Discover how capacity planning tools can quickly jump-start any long-term green initiative

ITSO: As Part of a Green Initiative

Shades of Green: Which will your organization choose?

Green Data center: Uncovering $1 Million Solution

Many companies purchase extra servers to solve capacity issues. Over provisioning is a common IT infrastructure practice that increases data center complexity, decreases utilization rates and wastes energy and money.

The white paper "ITSO: As Part of a Green Initiative" shows a six year forecast of response time for a particular workload after implementation of a server consolidation project.

One chart shows the forecasted performance using server configurations that will result in the data center consuming 13.1 gigawatt hours of electrical capacity to power its servers over the course of six years. Another chart shows a better-performing configuration, but the power consumption reads 15.7 gigawatt hours over the six year period.

Assuming an average utility rate of $0.20 USD per kilowatt hour, the savings from going with the lower-performing configuration would be $520,000 over the six year period. Add similar costs for cooling and the higher-performing configuration will cost more than $1 million, and greatly increase the carbon footprint of the data center housing those more powerful servers.

Reasons for Green IT

"The incentives for going green are moral, social and economic," Potter said. "These are strong incentives, but you can't jump into the green IT fray without understanding the goals and needs of your organization."

For IT, going green may mean server consolidation, server virtualization and equipment purchase decisions. The business may look at going green as a way to save money and do what's right for the environment.

Both sides are saying the same thing, just in different languages, according to Potter. He believes the right capacity planning tools help both sides communicate clearly and enhance the overall green strategy.

As an example, "businesses can use TeamQuest user agents to gather just about any kind of data regarding your green effort, including power and temperature data," he said.

"By optimizing power, cooling and/or space rather than just initial purchase costs, you can modify your IT Service Optimization process to work as an important part of your overall green initiative," said Potter.