Green IT the only way ahead for Data Storage

11 October 2007, 4:34pm

A recent poll of 335 companies by Storage Expo 2007 has found that 95% of organizations are making investments in IT infrastructure to reduce their carbon footprint. The keynotes at Storage Expo reflect this change in the data storage landscape, with one of the keynotes being dedicated to The Green IT Debate.

Handling data uses vast amounts of energy – and this unequivocally already has a massive environmental impact. The Green IT Debate is an issue that everyone is discussing at the moment, with Storage facilities and data Centres consuming vast amounts of power, some claim its as much as the aviation industry. With storage capacity requirements projected to continue to increase by over 50% per annum for the medium term, you only have to move a decade into the future to predict that Data Storage will increase by a factor of 60 fold.

At Storage Expo 2007 Brian McKenna the Editor of Computer Weekly will pick the brains of experts from the largest data storage companies in the World on why this trend is not sustainable, and how many organisations are now taking this in hand looking to reduce the footprint of their electronic activities. In this session the following leading storage providers will explain how they are addressing this most serious of issues:

Alec Bruce, Eco-solutions Director, EMEA, Hitachi Data Systems Bob Maness, VP Marketing, Pillar Data Systems John Rollason, Product Manager EMEA, Network Appliance Mark Vargo, Chief Strategy Officer, IBM Storage Ron Lloyd, Manager, Interoperability Marketing EMC² corporation Thomas Langjkaer, Manager Enterprise StorageWorks EMEA, HP

A further survey of 100 companies carried out by Green Technology Initiative and Storage Expo discovered that 65% are turning off systems that are not in use in order to reduce the IT carbon footprint, with just 39% of these companies buying specific products that require less energy to achieve the same process. However, although server virtualisation is all the rage it appears that only 23% of these companies are actually reaping the benefits.



Amongst many of the seminars at Storage Expo BT’s Steve O’Donnell will be discussing the green data centre and “Learning to Reduce a Carbon Footprint”. Dennis Zimmer a specialist in virtualisation from Pillar Data Systems will also be discussing Server Virtualisation and creating a Simpler Storage Environment.

The same survey from the Green Technology Initiative has revealed that 98% of companies believe that IT suppliers should improve their products in order to match the government’s target of 20% reductions on CO2 emissions by 2010. Amongst whom a staggering 86% think this bar should be moved up to 30% by 2010.

With both days of Storage Expo packed full of seminars on green IT it’s the ideal chance to improve your storage strategies and reduce your carbon footprint.

For more on these seminars visit Storage Expo, the UK’s only dedicated data storage event, which provides visitors with the opportunity to compare the most comprehensive range of data storage solutions from all the leading suppliers whilst addressing today’s key issues in an unrivalled education programme. The show is now in its 7th successful year and in addition to more than 100 exhibitors the education programme features over 60 experts on data storage. Visiting Storage Expo, at the National Hall Olympia London from 17th - 18th October 2007 will help you find the definitive answers to your growing data storage needs. For further information on Storage Expo, or to register, please visit

www.storage-expo.com

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