Green IT Expert John Lamb, PhD

Green IT is a subject we have dedicated significant (virtual) ink to on this blog.  In discussing Green IT, we strive to illustrate the link between eco-friendly energy management and significantly lower business costs.

Helping us illustrate this link is John Lamb, PhD, as he contributes his insight to our Data Center Leaders interview series.

Lamb is a Senior Certified IT Architect with IBM Global Services.  He has authored over 50 technical whitepapers and four books including, “The Greening of IT:  How Companies Can Make A Difference For The Environment.”(1)

Below, we discuss the steps needed to make your data center eco-friendly, the cost savings that can be expected, and the future of green IT:

Evolving Solutions:
What tips would you offer for business seeking to reduce data center costs through green initiatives?

John Lamb:
A very straightforward process, and probably the most significant improvement data center management can make, is to use the standard server refresh policy (which is typically every four years) to move to virtual servers.  Virtual data storage would follow.

Of course, the very first step would be to “get the facts” and diagnose where your data center energy is being used. In addition to the diagnose step, four other steps are to measure/manage, cool, virtualize, and build.

Additional steps such as communications/appointing an energy czar, analysis of application efficiency, and making use of rebates and incentives could further help improve the business case for going green.

Improving energy management is an ongoing endeavor. Improving energy efficiency requires focusing on a number of areas: the IT equipment, the data center facility, and the on-going energy management. The five-step process is a way to show a set of actions across all these areas. The idea should be to have continuous improvement.

Evolving Solutions:
Are there inherent dangers in trying to make your data center too cost efficient through green IT?

John Lamb:
There could be the “gold plating” syndrome. An engineer or IT architect can actually try to go too far in reducing energy use. The basic business case with a focus on a good return on investment (ROI) always needs to apply.

Back in the late seventies we designed solar heating for several IBM buildings and actually implemented a few solar heating projects. We could realize a significant reduction in energy use, but if the payback period is 20 years and the life of the solar heating system is only 20 years, then that’s not a good investment.

However, for data centers the cost saving incentives are so great companies have significant motivation from a financial standpoint to go green.

The Greening of IT by John Lamb, PhD

Evolving Solutions:
Your book, The Greening Of IT, describes how IT vendors are touting eco-friendly policies such as carbon-neutral computing in their sales pitches.  With corporations typically driven more by bottom-line factors, do you fear taking the “green” angle may cause sales pitches to fall on deaf ears?

John Lamb:
I believe most companies do feel a corporate responsibility to help the environment.  However, the best motivator to get started – whether it’s a company or an individual – is to show the economic benefits of reducing energy use.

Let’s face it, if a company or individual can be shown methods to cut energy use and save money by following best practices, that’s always a great motivator. If a company can be shown that along with cost savings the company is also helping the environment, then we have a real “win-win” scenario.

So, to answer your question, the primary goal should be to cut costs through energy efficiency.  That goal will automatically lead to the goal of helping the environment.

Evolving Solutions:
Toby Velte, Global Technology Strategies with Microsoft, describes how he helps to ensure Green IT initiatives are funded by always relating projects to the pressures of capitalism, rather than the pressures of altruism.  Do you find this to be true across the board, or have you seen some firms consider start to implement green IT purely from a sense of corporate responsibility?

John Lamb:
I agree with Toby. The first and best motivator to go green is to show the financial benefits from the energy savings.

As mentioned in the response to the previous question, after showing the economic benefits it’s a great idea to also show the benefits to the environment.  Then we have a win-win situation for both the CFO and the executives who want to show corporate responsibility with improvements to the environment.

Evolving Solutions:
How would you recommend selling the idea of green IT to upper management who see it as little more than a fad?

John Lamb:
I’d recommend giving upper management some real life case study examples of the money that can be saved.

A typical US data center of 25,000 square feet will use approximately $2.6 million in energy costs per year at 12 cents per KWH. Improvements in energy management can save up to 50% of those costs.  Over a million dollars in savings is typically a motivator that will drive sufficient interest.

If upper management can be given references along with business case details of other companies that have experienced significant energy cost savings by going green that should do the trick.

All companies will become serious about reducing energy through green IT once they realize the significant cost savings possible even by initially only going after the low hanging fruit.

Evolving Solutions:
Anything else you’d like to add on Green IT or data center cost avoidance?

John Lamb:
Two emerging technology areas for green IT that intrigue me are the use of fuel cells to power data centers and the use of private cloud computing for the ultimate in server and data storage virtualization.

Fuel cells are not new – they powered the space capsules that carried men to the moon. Hydrogen powered fuel cells are very environmentally desirable since the only output, in addition to energy, is water.

The problem is in obtaining the hydrogen.  Currently hydrogen is usually produced through a very energy intensive process using natural gas and immense amounts of electricity.  When technological breakthroughs allow us to produce hydrogen efficiently, then fuel cells for data center energy will be a significant step forward.

Cloud computing allows companies to move to virtualization of all computing systems and to very high levels of utilization. Cloud computing – both public and private – is evolving quickly and is already having an impact on green IT.

(1) Publisher disclaimer: “The Greening of IT: How Companies Can Make a Difference for the Environment” by John Lamb; ISBN 0137150830, published April 2009 by IBM Press (Copyright 2009 by International Business Machines Corporation). To view a sample chapter, please click on “Sample Pages”: www.ibmpressbooks.com/title/0137150830”

Businesses today are finding themselves on a predatory quest to cut costs now, and in some cases, think about the ramifications to efficiency later.  Remarkably, strategies designed to lower data center costs are simultaneously designed to increase efficiency.

Evolving Solutions has gathered insight from top industry thought leaders designed to help our readers lower data center costs and improve efficiency.  Thought leaders, including Microsoft Global Strategist Toby Velte and FOCUS Consulting President Barb Goldworm, have contributed their insight to the Data Center Leaders interview series.   Below, are 5 data center cost avoidance tips from our thought leaders:

1.    Completely Reevaluate The Management Of Your Data Center: Today’s advances in technology, particularly green IT initiatives, offer tremendous potential to minimize consumption of current resources.  Per Microsoft Global Technology Strategist Toby Velte,  by reevaluating data center needs, including how much storage and speed is truly necessary, companies will become armed with the knowledge necessary to achieve sustained data center cost reduction in future projections.

2.    Server and Storage Virtualization: In the long run, virtualization is best for sustained cost reduction, states Omar Sultan, Senior Solution Manager for Data Center Switching at Cisco.  Virtualization, replacing physical servers with a virtual environment, lowers the total cost of server infrastructure, thereby lowering the total energy costs of a business overall.

3.    Move to Blade Systems: Blade systems, self-contained computer servers designed for high data density, can increase your efficiencies in power and cooling, per Barb Goldworm, President and Chief Analyst at FOCUS Consulting.   The amount of servers common in a data center have oftentimes led to power consumption concerns as these large servers must run in a temperature controlled environment.  By minimizing the heating and cooling costs necessary for a  data center, blade centers minimize the heating and cooling costs for a business as a whole.

4.    Go Green: “Organizations are finding that there simply is no more power available to them unless they pay to build the generation plants necessary to support them,” shares Dan Kusnetzky, ZDNet contributor and founding partner of the Kusnetzky Group. It can be tempting to see the green movement as just another fad, but at the end of the day, it is about saving power costs by utilizing more energy efficient technology, such as virtualization, and little else.

5.    Have a Disaster Backup and Data Recovery Plan: “If your server room imploded, what would you do?” asks Susan Snedaker, Principal Consultant with VirtualTeam.  The likely answer is, you would pay – and pay any amount – to get your critical data back.  Disasters happen, and to recover will cost money. By developing a disaster backup and data recovery plan in advance, however, companies can mitigate much of the desperation costs involved with recovery.

Offered to steer your business in the right direction, the cost avoidance tips provided in our Data Center Thought Leaders interview series illustrate ways your businesses can achieve cost cutting initiatives without sacrificing efficiency or productivity.

If you have more tips to share, we welcome your insight and invite you to share via a comment below.

Virtualization Expert Cisco's Omar Sultan

Bottom-line, companies today are looking for any way to decrease costs.  Cost savings strategies currently being implemented by many companies include upgrading data centers by leveraging solutions such as server, storage and network virtualization.

Evolving Solution’ Data Center Leaders interview series turns its attention back to the subject of data center cost avoidance this week in our interview with Omar Sultan, Senior Solution Manager for Data Center Switching for the Cisco Data Center Solutions team.

Sultan has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry working work for a number of Fortune 500 companies. Prior to joining Cisco, Sultan developed a broad range of experience ranging from data center management to network operations.  A member of Cisco’s team since 1999, Sultan’s current responsibilities center on the Cisco data center switching portfolio.

In our interview with Sultan below, we discuss how server, storage and network virtualization can lower data center costs today and look into our crystal balls to determine what solutions may be on tap for the future:

Evolving Solutions:
What tips would you offer for business seeking to reduce data center costs?

Omar Sultan:
I think, in the long run, server, storage and network virtualization is the best bet for sustained cost reductions. Technologies such as VMware or Hyper-V can be enormously helpful in reducing the cost of server infrastructure.  Similarly switch virtualization technologies such as virtual device contents (VDC) and virtual port channels (vPC) on our data center switches can simplify network infrastructure.

So, these technologies can save you CapEx up front, but they open up a second area of savings by reducing OpEx–less infrastructure will lower costs around power, cooling, cabling and rack space.

Unified fabric would be another example of both reducing upfront costs and setting the stage for sustained savings. Virtualized infrastructure is also simpler to manage, so that opens up another avenue of savings–increased productivity of your operations staff.

This brings us to the second area, which is improved operations efficiency.  While this is often viewed as “soft” savings, the truth is the people are often still the biggest single budget line item so anything that can be done on this front is important, whether it is improved management and automation tools or a more efficient organizational structure.

Evolving Solutions:
Are there inherent dangers in trying to make your data center too cost efficient?

Omar Sultan:
With a few exceptions, customers are telling us that their year-over-year budgets are flat to declining, so I am not sure “too efficient” is an issue.  I think the bigger risk is not being able to provide support to the business in the areas it needs–and these days, that especially means areas that impact the top line.

Things like energy efficiency and server, storage and network virtualization help drive budget efficiency–they let you target spending where it does the most good.  They also give you more efficient and flexible access to you IT resources so you can run a leaner provisioning model (i.e. less over-provisioning) without running the risk of being caught flat-footed if the business buts some kind of unexpected demand on the IT infrastructure.

Evolving Solutions:
What products or solutions do you envision reducing data center costs 5 years down the road?

Omar Sultan:
If we fast forward 5 years, I think we will continue to see the existing virtualization trends mature–I think they will be fully mainstream by them and will be the de facto operating environment for most companies.

I think we will see a sea change in management in the next five years, with greater use of automation and the introduction of more holistic management models, which will further drive up operations productivity and reduce the costs associated with management and operations.  I also think we will see a continued evolution and maturing of cloud computing as a solution to the point that enterprise companies will start designing their facilities to handle more typical loads and rely on cloud providers to help weather peak load situations.

Green IT Expert Toby Velte, PhD

Data center cost avoidance will continue to be discussed by companies looking to trim budgets in the new year.  As such, Evolving Solutions’ Data Center Leaders interview series continues its data center cost avoidance theme into February as we discuss Green IT with Microsoft’s Toby Velte, PhD.

Green IT is a subject that tends to generate as much in the way of negative discussion as it does positive.  While green IT has at its core lowering data center and business costs as a whole, it is also sometimes unfairly seen more as trendy concept than sound business strategy.

In addition to roles as a  Global Account Technology Strategist with Microsoft, and regular blogger to Fast Company, Velte has co-authored the book Green IT: Reduce Your Information System’s Environmental Impact While Adding to the Bottom Line.  In his book, Velte shares strategies designed to help companies evolve into green IT practices with bottom-line financial benefits financial benefits as an objective.

In Evolving Solutions interview with Velte below, we discuss how to achieve data center cost avoidance, with a focus on Green IT practices:

Evolving Solutions:
What tips would you offer for business seeking to reduce data center costs?

Toby Velte:
The key components of the costs associated in data centers have shifted significantly recently. While the need for more storage and speed are omnipresent, as are high costs for human capital and space, power is no longer cheap and ubiquitous. Management of data centers needs to be completely re-evaluated to take these changes and technology advances into consideration. The starting point is to trend the current consumption of resources (human or otherwise) then project future need. Armed with that knowledge, a fresh look at the future data center should be approached.

Evolving Solutions:
“Green IT”  has at its heart reducing data costs, but can be a hard sell as many see it only as a “hot topic”.  How would you recommend selling the idea of green IT to upper management?

Toby Velte:
By way of an oversimplification, organizations can look at Green IT projects through two lenses.

One lens views Green IT being driven by corporate responsibility or altruism, while the other is like any other IT project -that is in terms of the pressures of capitalism.

I try to cast each Green IT project through the latter. If we can’t produce the most fantastic ROI for these projects they will ultimately not be funded and carried out and I want (like others who appreciate the environment) to get these projects funded and completed.

Evolving Solutions:
KW/hr energy prices in the Midwest are among the lowest.  Do you foresee more companies migrating physical data centers to take advantage of this?

Toby Velte:
Yes, we see that now. But not only in the Midwest, look at the Northwest where power is about the lowest in the US. This is where the biggest new data centers are being built.  Taken further, one could foresee datacenters being built up globally where power, space, and administrative costs are very low; perhaps in a third or second-world location with access to nuclear or hydro-generated power.

Evolving Solutions:
You mentioned in a recent post on Fast Company that over 90% of consumers in the US say they’d consider switching brands if they learned about a company’s negative environmental practices and 75% of MBAs said they were willing to accept a 10-20% lower salary to work for a responsible company.  Why are these statistics alone not enough to remove the “fad” label that hangs over green IT?

Toby Velte:
There are still myths about Green products that were derived from the early days of environmentally-sounds products; specifically that these products are not as effective as the standard counterpart, more expensive, and generally less available.

While not completely unwarranted initially (think early hybrid vehicles or CFLs), more recent products can stand up to any consumer-derived test. Consumers also must start to trust corporations that make “green” claims. There is a lot of greenwashing still going on and it will take standards and certification to come into popular use before our trust will grow enough to move from fad to mainstream. Look at the ‘organic’ food trend for a recent experience.

Evolving Solutions:
Anything else you’d like to add on Green IT or data center cost avoidance?

Toby Velte:
The biggest data center cost avoidance is the data center you never have to build. With approximately a doubling of our data centers every five years, there are many groups contemplating a new data center.

Using green techniques, the enormous cost associated with building a new data center can be deferred for years or eliminated altogether.