HP, Intel, NetApp, and Sun Win Green IT Awards

Several vendors active in the storage market have been recognized by the Uptime Institute think tank as leading by example in the greening of IT.

Sun, NetApp, and HP were among eight winners of Green Enterprise IT awards given at the Uptime Institute Symposium 2008: Green Enterprise Computing in Orlando, Florida, today. HP in fact won two awards of the eight. Intel was mentioned as a "Best-in-Class Finalist."

In a statement, the Uptime Institute praised the vendors for the following reasons:

• HP has reduced its own data center energy consumption by 60 percent and is using solar energy to power its San Diego data center.
• NetApp has grown its storage utilization from less than 40 percent to an average of 60 percent, while reducing its total number of storage systems from 50 to 10, cutting its number of racks from 25.83 to 5.48, and decreasing direct power consumption by 41,184 kWh per month.
• Sun has reduced square footage required for its technological infrastructure by 80 percent while cutting utility power usage by 60 percent.

A range of other winners and honorees, including AOL, BMO Financial Group, Hannaford Brothers, Intel, Interior Health Authority, Nationwide Mutual Insurance, Office Depot, and UPS, were praised for taking the initiative in greening their IT setups.

Realizing that neither business nor the environment can sustain the costs of the increasing energy demands in data centers, the award-winning companies have displayed leadership and innovation in their data center energy efficiency efforts,” said Kenneth G. Brill, Institute founder and executive director, in a statement. “It is our hope that they will serve as a clear example to the world’s largest operators of critical computing facilities of the realistic impact and feasibility of these types of initiatives.”