According to survey data from Symantec, senior-level IT executives report significant interest in green IT strategies and solutions, attributed to both cost reduction and environmental responsibility. Seventy-three percent expect an increase in green IT budgets over the next 12 months, while 19 percent expect increases of more than 10 percent. The typical respondent reported spending $21 to 27 million on data center electricity.
From a product perspective, energy conservation and efficiency in the data center is the primary "green" concern with power and cooling issues continuously top-of-mind at Panduit. The company's green data cabinets support environmental and eco-sustainability initiatives to reduce energy use within the data center, optimizing cooling systems and driving down operational costs.
According to Panduit officials, "simply put, a green initiative is a policy or process designed to sustain natural capital rather than deplete it." This can also be expressed as living off profits rather than living off capital. These initiatives reduce consumption of non-renewable resources, optimization of performance, minimize pollution and waste, and create healthy, productive environments. Green initiatives also are fast becoming a minimum requirement for doing business with global enterprise customers along the entire supply chain.
Data center energy consumption worldwide has doubled since 2000, with an abundance of cheap commodity servers driving the installed server base up from 14.1 million to 27.3 million worldwide between 2000 and 2005, according to a report from Accenture.
Since 2008 Panduit has been voluntarily reporting GHG emissions to the Illinois EPA and U.S. EPA, and has reduced absolute GHG by 25 percent against its baseline year of 2000.
Across the globe, enterprises are awakening to the ways that their operations impact the environment in various areas over time. Green IT boils down to business strategy with a long-term view, and green process initiatives align with and support the company's goal of being the world's "lowest cost, highest quality manufacturer of networking and electrical solutions."
