MSPmentor

Environmental and energy conservation issues are popular topics in the business world — and in the managed services world. Increasing energy costs and their impact on international affairs combined with increased concern about global warming and other environmental issues have shifted the social and economic consciousness of the business community.

Last year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a study that revealed that within the last five years, the total amount of energy utilized by all domestic US Data Centers has doubled. Yet, data centers are only a part of the total business power utilization. A recent EMA survey found that workstations account for over 90% of business power consumption.

So, what is “green computing”? Very simply, it’s the practice of implementing policies and procedures that improve the efficiency of computing resources in order to reduce the environmental impact.

But unless there is an easy way to “be green” it is likely not to be done. IT has a critical role to play in contributing to the “green initiative.” Here’s how managed service providers can assist the effort.

While data centers are a primary target, the majority of business computing is on desktops, laptops and distributed services. Fortunately, Green Computing can be easy, affordable and part of a natural process.

By incorporating IT business practices and technology solutions that address many of the energy consumption concerns, IT professionals can build solid business practices for maximizing energy conservation, decreasing operating expenses and boosting profitability. If IT tasks are done “off peak “, automated and can be accomplished remotely, an immediate and energy efficient power management policy is automatically put into effect.

At Kaseya, we believe that realizing an efficient and automated “Green Computing” initiative can be accomplished by implementing these policies and by utilizing the power of the Kaseya IT Automation Framework with the functionality of User State Management (KUSM) and Intel vPro Technology. By using this technology, IT professionals can realize power management without compromising system management, and increase productivity while at the same time contributing to energy conservation.

By automating IT processes, implementing best practices and providing consistent customer service levels, even while going green, you can still wake up an out-of-band PC or Laptop to perform software updates, patches, backups and more. What’s more, you can do it all remotely so you don’t need to travel to fix a problem. So, you can even reduce your carbon footprint while improving IT service.

Related Coverage

• View the webcast: Reducing IT Operational Costs with Green Computing
• Read about Kaseya and Green Computing
• Download the Whitepaper: Green Computing: Using IT Automation to Achieve Energy Efficiency

Note: Dan Shapero is Senior Vice President, Marketing at Kaseya. Guest blog entries such as this one are contributed on a monthly basis as part of MSPmentor.net’s Platinum sponsorship.