IT honchos pledge saving earth through IT systems
Saving the planet by creating energy-efficient IT systems and environment-friendly policies is the need of the hour.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: Saving the planet by creating energy-efficient IT systems and environment-friendly policies is the need of the hour. This was the consensus amongst CIOs and IT heads of India’s top companies who had gathered in the capital to discuss power problems in India and ways to create energy efficient data centres.
The topic of the panel discussion organised by The Economic Times and IBM was Introducing Energy Efficient Data Centres. The panel was attended by companies such as Eicher Motors, LG Electronics, Fortis Healthcare, IFFCO, Moser Baer India, Ericsson India, Hero Honda Motors and IBM India.
India has one of the lowest per capita consumption of power with most rural areas getting only six hours of supply a day.
Ericsson IT head Tamal Chakravorty said power problems have been affecting mobile networks in a major way. “Operators have been facing such problems in the past. We have installed UPS and gensets but nevertheless it’s a major issue”.
Many were concerned about power problems in mission critical processes. “Medical equipment’s under operation do get affected by irregular power supply. To eradicate that, we have installed UPS sets and gensets,” said Fortis Healthcare CIO Manish Gupta.
“We operate out of almost 200 locations in the country and have offices in remote areas. There was indeed a crises situation but now the reliability is improving,” said LG IT head Daya Prakash.
In this era of major power shortage in India, data centres consume lots of power in major industrial areas. But most CIOs felt that saving energy and going green was not the topmost priority of IT divisions. Jonathan Steel CEO Bathwick Group said unless customers start demanding energy-efficient processes in contracts and RFPs, companies will keep flouting environmental norms.
He added that unless governments start putting pressure on companies through regulatory means, rapid adoption of energy efficient systems will not be seen. “Adopting energy efficient and environment-friendly processes can be a good marketing statement,” he added.
Steven Cole, programme manager of energy efficiency initiative, IBM Systems Group said: “Virtualisation can be one of the ways to reduce the number of servers and thus the amount of watts consumed. We at IBM are reducing 33,000 servers into 33 servers”
But one of the panelists said virtualisation increased costs. “We have tied up with one of India’s large GSM operator for virtualisation but our costs have doubled up,” he said.
The worldwide data centre energy consumption is estimated at 180 billion Kwh in 2007, which would translate to $18 billion and this will double over the next four years. According to an IBM survey 64% of SMBs in India, compared with 58% globally, are expressing concern about the environment.
The IBM survey further stated that IT has become a priority for SMBs looking to curb energy costs. In India, 53% of SMBs interviewed were taking active steps toward reducing energy consumption of their IT, including purchasing more energy efficient technology, consolidating servers or evaluating server usage and performance. Recent research from IDC estimates that for every dollar spent on IT, 50 cents is spent on related energy costs.
To eradicate the same, IBM has launched project Big Green. “Energy efficiency is a business model now. Going forward, customers will be smarter and demand more in terms of energy efficient and environment-friendly products and processes. IT companies will surely be early adapters of energy efficiency initiatives followed by finance, and utilities,” Mr Cole added.
The topic of the panel discussion organised by The Economic Times and IBM was Introducing Energy Efficient Data Centres. The panel was attended by companies such as Eicher Motors, LG Electronics, Fortis Healthcare, IFFCO, Moser Baer India, Ericsson India, Hero Honda Motors and IBM India.
India has one of the lowest per capita consumption of power with most rural areas getting only six hours of supply a day.
Ericsson IT head Tamal Chakravorty said power problems have been affecting mobile networks in a major way. “Operators have been facing such problems in the past. We have installed UPS and gensets but nevertheless it’s a major issue”.
Many were concerned about power problems in mission critical processes. “Medical equipment’s under operation do get affected by irregular power supply. To eradicate that, we have installed UPS sets and gensets,” said Fortis Healthcare CIO Manish Gupta.
“We operate out of almost 200 locations in the country and have offices in remote areas. There was indeed a crises situation but now the reliability is improving,” said LG IT head Daya Prakash.
ADVERTISEMENT
In this era of major power shortage in India, data centres consume lots of power in major industrial areas. But most CIOs felt that saving energy and going green was not the topmost priority of IT divisions. Jonathan Steel CEO Bathwick Group said unless customers start demanding energy-efficient processes in contracts and RFPs, companies will keep flouting environmental norms.
He added that unless governments start putting pressure on companies through regulatory means, rapid adoption of energy efficient systems will not be seen. “Adopting energy efficient and environment-friendly processes can be a good marketing statement,” he added.
Steven Cole, programme manager of energy efficiency initiative, IBM Systems Group said: “Virtualisation can be one of the ways to reduce the number of servers and thus the amount of watts consumed. We at IBM are reducing 33,000 servers into 33 servers”
But one of the panelists said virtualisation increased costs. “We have tied up with one of India’s large GSM operator for virtualisation but our costs have doubled up,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
The worldwide data centre energy consumption is estimated at 180 billion Kwh in 2007, which would translate to $18 billion and this will double over the next four years. According to an IBM survey 64% of SMBs in India, compared with 58% globally, are expressing concern about the environment.
The IBM survey further stated that IT has become a priority for SMBs looking to curb energy costs. In India, 53% of SMBs interviewed were taking active steps toward reducing energy consumption of their IT, including purchasing more energy efficient technology, consolidating servers or evaluating server usage and performance. Recent research from IDC estimates that for every dollar spent on IT, 50 cents is spent on related energy costs.
ADVERTISEMENT
To eradicate the same, IBM has launched project Big Green. “Energy efficiency is a business model now. Going forward, customers will be smarter and demand more in terms of energy efficient and environment-friendly products and processes. IT companies will surely be early adapters of energy efficiency initiatives followed by finance, and utilities,” Mr Cole added.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
