Study finds IT heads not interested in power saving

A Forrester Research Survey has shown that, despite green pretensions, the vast majority of PCs have no power management regime because the IT chief says it's not his problem.

With most business IT energy costs not the CIO's (chief information officer) responsibility, IT people are not bothered about leaving unused PCs powered up, and are indirectly and uncaringly pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as a result.

In a survey of 91 IT managers in large and medium businesses, Forrester found that more than two thirds, 69 per cent, had not implemented any wide-ranging power management initiatives. A mere 13 per cent had done so, with another 18 per cent having gone part of the way.

There are simple PC power management applications available, such as Verdiem's Surveyor and IE's Nightwatchman, which can put a PC into sleep mode after a settable interval and also automatically switch power on and off for overnight periods. They can save users thousands of pounds or more a year, depending upon the size of their PC estate and power prices.

The US Environmental Protection Agency reckons a PC left on overnight is wasting between $25 and $75 of electricity a year. The city of Boston in the USA is saving $37,500 a year on its 1,500 PC estate using Verdiem's software, with the cost of the software much more than covered by the power bill savings.

The research indicates that business' facilities departments, where the electricity bills land, are largely ignorant or uncaring of IT power management issues. Green czars inside businesses therefore need to have wide-ranging access to power-using and power bill-paying departments in a business, and the corresponding ability to knock heads together. ®