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IT companies are going green. This makes good sense from a business perspective and from an environmental one also. For IT companies to advance their green initiatives, and become responsible corporate citizens, they must find solutions to reduce energy usage without placing added strains on the planet. Tips for becoming greener in IT are outlined below.

Why Green IT?

According to stats provided by IBM:

* 38% of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the U.S. comes from electrical power.

* IT infrastructure causes 2% of CO2 emissions worldwide.

* Since 2006, U.S. servers consumed over 61,000,000,000 kWh of electricity.

* Servers' account for 15% of the U.S. total electricity consumption, at $4.5 billion.

* Energy use in data centers have doubled since 2003.

THE IT INFRASTRUCTURE.

Servers.

Invest in a mid-size, flexible, express database server that offers more advantages.

Benefits:

* Reduces server sprawl.

* Quicker access to data.

* Cost-effective - new server not needed to be deployed when another application is needed.

* Improved response time.

* Energy-efficient - power saving features allows applications to run continuously.

* Data remains secure.

* High performing servers improve productivity.

* Reduces energy bills.

* Minimum staffing requirements.

* Ideal for mid-size companies.

Go Green with Virtualization Technology.

Virtualization is the new green' trend, and is among the first steps to building a scalable, energy efficient IT infrastructure.

* Save energy in data centers by consolidating underutilized servers.

* Having fewer servers requires less energy for cooling and maintenance.

* Reduces energy costs by 75% by.

* Reduces rack space and floor space requirements.

* Uses highly efficient, low energy consumption chip-sets.

* Involves high-speed networking.

* Low impact on the environment - fewer electronic wastes in landfills.

* Cuts operational costs.

* Optimize energy management to save trees.

* Manage multiple workloads from one location.

Costs reductions associated with server consolidation strategies:

* Hardware: 30 - 70%.

* Maintenance: 50%.

* Energy: 40%.

* Floor space: 30 50%.

Redesign a modular data center.

Building a new data center can be expensive. However, an upgrade may offer optimal functionality.

* Consult with an environmentally conscious construction firm to customize and design an energy efficient data center.

* Consider a hot aisle/cold aisle layout to handle cooling problems.

* Create a design to balance or distribute power racks to minimize heated areas.

Cooling.

* Minimize the amount

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