Data Center Efficiency
The classical, business results-oriented approach to efficiency in IT environments clearly identifies efficiency as the result of evaluating all services, servers, storage and networking platforms in terms of business value, or simply put, how they contribute in terms of value to the business.
An entire IT infrastructure is perceived as being as efficient as the value we can ascertain it brings to the business.
Over the last few years greater concerns about the environment brought up a new approach, fundamentally ideological in nature, that measures efficiency in terms of the environmental impact, bringing to light deep concerns about power consumptions and related CO2 and hydrocarbons emissions to the atmosphere.
In an attempt to bring together the best of both approaches, both classic and ideological, Sun and a number of other companies began promoting a visionary approach that involves applying product and data center design best practices in order to maximize the potential benefits both to the environment and to the business, often with a direct relationship between both. To this end, Sun sits at the board of The Green Grid, and has launched it's own initiative aimed at customers, the Sun Eco innovation. Both initiatives have been recognized at the 2008 ServerWatch Product Excellence Awards.
Given the current global economic turmoil, cost reductions become essential to any business, and they can be realized by developing an "Eco-Efficient Strategy", where ecological factors can be used to maximize business benefits. Being a company with a strong history in terms of engineering excellence and new technologies development, focused on constant search of key differentiators, Sun welcomes these new challenges as an opportunity to innovate, for innovation is deeply buried inside Sun's genes.
Sun's systemic approach, implemented by coordinating engineering efforts in all product areas, promotes efficiency at all levels, ranging from revolutionary microprocessor architectures with advanced multi-threading technology, superior system design featuring improved space, power and memory efficiency, end to end virtualization solutions encompassing desktops, applications, network, servers and storage platforms, the most complete and open portfolio of infrastructure software, always supported by standard technologies and protocols, all the way through the service offerings that help customers assess, optimize and virtualize the IT infrastructure.
Maximizing ROI and getting the most out of the IT budget are real concerns that should be addressed by the development of a global strategy that aligns IT and the business, because efficiency in the data center, and all the way to the desktop, can bring huge savings, both in ecological and economic terms, which immediately impacts corporate budgets as well as social responsibility objectives, since we all want to make this a better planet to live on.
Most companies are starting to address this problem, either by committing to improve their efficiency or by helping others realize the benefits of going green. I know every IT guy can play a part, just ask yourself what can you do to address inefficiency, join the growing communities around the globe that promote environmental care, and help your company by promoting the use of more efficient technologies.
Go green!
