Gartner: Beware Storage 'Greenwash'

Users need to get past vendors marketing spiel about Green IT, and focus on key near-term technologies to make their data centers more eco-friendly. This was the message from analyst firm Gartner, which warned that "Green IT" is fast becoming a “used and abused” term.

“Market ‘greenwash’ by vendors will continue in this rapidly changing segment of the industry,” explained Gartner analyst Rakesh Kumar, in a research report released this week, adding that 70 percent of the Global 1000 will run into data center problems during the next four years.

With some vendors resorting to hype, exaggeration of the problems, and even pushing “inappropriate” technologies, Kumar urges users to focus their immediate attention on technologies such as virtualization and energy-efficient servers and processors.

”Gartner research has shown that the immediate Green IT issues are around power, cooling, and floor space problems in data centers and office environments,” he writes. “We believe, therefore, that user spending should focus in those areas.”

During the next two or more years, the analyst firm urges users to select core IT hardware, such as servers, storage, and networking equipment, based on its energy characteristics, as well as on traditional IT metrics such as price and performance.As far as the data centers themselves are concerned, CIOs and facilities managers need to start designing “from the inside out” according to Gartner, ascertaining the specific thermal profile of their sites. “For example, the energy and cooling needs of a mainframe system are very different to a rack of blades,” he writes, adding that users should combine "free air," air conditioning, and chilled fluid-based systems.

Slightly further out, between now and fall 2010, users should also consider desktop energy management software, according to Gartner. Initiatives such as carbon offsetting and alternative energy sources are longer-term projects likely to be deployed within the next five to ten years.

Gartner is not the only organization urging firms to rethink their green storage strategies and a host of recent research has hightlighted users’ green issues,. Earlier this month, for example, analyst firm Forrester argued that users, not vendors, will drive the green agenda forward.

Another analyst group, IDC, has recently reported that the cost of powering and cooling all the world's external storage exceeded $1 billion in 2007. These costs are expected to escalate dramatically over the next five years, with the storage industry expected to ship nearly eight times as many spinning disks as it did over the past 11 years.

Have a comment on this story? Please click "Discuss" below. If you'd like to contact Byte and Switch's editors directly, send us a message.