Beating The Recession With “Green IT”

08/09/09

By Tony Mole, Tony.Mole@MTB.uk.com , Corporate Sales Manager - MTB Computer Services Limited

Problems come and problems go... but I think at the moment the one thing we can all be sure of is that small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs), like larger organisations, need to reduce their operating costs in order to beat the recession. Rather than looking at this as a negative point, a lot of entrepreneurial organisations are looking to embrace new technologies which can massively reduce their outgoings whilst increasing IT availability and profitability.

Nobody will dispute that server virtualisation technologies from such household names as VMware...

...and Microsoft are a great way forward, reducing power consumption, physical space, numbers of servers required and the list goes on. However to most SMEs with maybe only one or two servers, virtualising these won't revolutionise their operations and the cost of deployment will often mean that the recuperation period is far too long, making the initial installation nonsensical.

During the course of its operational lifecycle, every PC will;

- Cost a certain amount to be delivered to the end-user
- Need to be installed, and then maintained, by a suitably qualified technician
- Use an amount of electricity to operate during its lifetime
- Take up a certain amount of costly physical real estate
- Generate heat, which in turn costs money to dissipate using air conditioning
- Require an array of back-office infrastructure and switches to allow them to communicate
- Need an amount of time for each machine to be maintained and administered
- Cost a certain amount for disposal at the end of its life
- Take up an amount of physical space in land-fill

When all of the above is considered, it is quite clear that ownership of PCs is a serious issue. Maybe the phrase "A PC is not just for Christmas"... continued on page two >

 

 

Advertisement

Advertisement