Leveraging Software to Improve Energy
Efficiency
December 15, 2008
2:00pm EST, 11:00am PST
George Spafford,
Principal Consultant
Pepperweed Consulting, LLC
“Optimizing The Business Value of IT”
http://www.pepperweed.com
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Main Presentation
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Agenda
•
Background on Green IT
•
Prioritization, Command and Control
– The Green IT process
•
Improvement Opportunities
– Virtualization
– Cloud Computing and SaaS
– Power Management Software
– Reductions in Printing
– Telecommunications & Travel Reduction
– Optimize Application / Service Design
– Optimize Data Storage
– Optimize Business Processes
•
Continuous Improvement
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Background on Green IT
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Green IT
• Being “green” means to minimize negative
environmental impacts and maximize positive
impacts
• IT is a key stakeholder for a variety of reasons
– Energy usage (our focus today)
– E-Waste
– IT services that advance the organization
• “Green IT” is becoming a buzzword to sell
products and services
– Gartner terms it “greenwashing”
– A lot of conflicting messages and bogus claims
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Green IT and Energy Efficiency
Cost Savings
Intense Pressure
Brand
Reputation
Regulatory
Compliance
-Customers
- Investors
-Employees
Protecting the
Environment
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Prioritization, Command & Control
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Supporting the Organization’s Green Strategy
• The environment and being “green” is an
organizational issue
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Management of ecological impacts is a necessary condition
Green needs to support the organization’s goal(s)
The Board establishes the goal(s) for the organization
The Board hires and directs management
This Board-Management linkage is true organizational
governance
– Management must take the appropriate steps to
• Move towards the goal (create value)
• Protect the goal (protect value)
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programs
• IT is part of the larger organizational system
– IT’s green efforts need the proper context
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The Green IT Process
• Manage Green IT as a process because:
– Inputs and Outputs
– Sub-processes
– Roles and responsibilities
• Process Owner
• Process Manager
– Metrics and reporting
– Process integration is vital
• “The goal of Green IT is to support the green
objectives of the organization as defined by the
Board and/or a Corporate Social Responsibility
management group.”
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Improvement Opportunities
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Virtualization
• Reduce the number of systems consuming power
• Improve average utilization
• Servers
– Average 6-10% utilization
– Reduction could be N+1 or 2(N+1) depending on fault tolerance
• Clients
– Enable use of thin clients with lower power requirements
– How many are left on 24x7 today?
• Improved management capabilities across the board
• Note – high-performance high-density blade servers can
create challenges as well so plan carefully
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Cloud Computing and SaaS
• Why host at all?
• Providers are building mega data centers
• Cloud Computing
– Move the hardware into the Internet to a provider
– Decouples hardware from service
– Key feature – massive scalability
• Software as a Service
– Technically different from cloud computing
– SaaS could be considered Cloud Computing if massively scalable
• Moves emphasis to network management
– Need high-availability, adequate performance, security, etc.
• Due diligence is critical to manage risks
– What if the provider goes out of business?
– What do they do for security?
– What do they do for fault tolerance? … etc., etc.
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Power Management Software
• Newer systems have more features
– Servers, desktops, printers, copiers, etc.
• Vendors have made a lot of headway
– Faster power ups
– Phased power up of resources
• Appropriate for user driven systems
– Servers exhibiting prime time demand
– PC’s only used during business hours
• Be sure to test settings before deploying
• Ensure preproduction and production platforms
match!
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Reductions in Printing
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Printers in general consume power
Personal printers can be very inefficient
– Personal laser printer energy bills can exceed toner costs
– Often lack extensive power management features
– Are often left on 24x7
•
Paper causes a three dimensional challenge
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Cutting trees reduces CO2 absorption
Considerable power is used to create it
Power is used to print it
A considerable amount of it results in waste
• Recycled to some extent
• Landfill
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Opportunities for
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Electronic forms and workflow
Online reports
Imaging
Balance is needed – impacts of printing vs. impacts of escalating storage
demands
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Telecommuting & Travel Reduction
• Enabling employees to productively and securely
work from home
– High-speed networking
– Security tools and training
– Enabling applications for remote access
• Web-based, Citrix, etc.
• Facilitating remote collaboration to reduce travel
– Online presentations / meetings
– Remote collaboration tools
– Potential scope: employees, vendors, customers
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Optimize Application/Service Design
• Design with services in mind – not just applications
– Ongoing operating costs can be far higher that
purchase/implementation costs
• Requirements need to factor in Green IT standards
• Staff needs appropriate on-going training
• Investigate / implement
– Virtual environments
– Remote users
– Judicious use of resources vs. requiring 100% of resources 100%
of the time (use a tiered capacity utilization models)
– Power management capabilities
– Platform as a Service (PaaS)
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Optimize Data Storage
• Storage demands are exploding
• Can’t store everything forever
• Storage consumes power and generates heat
• Establish data retention requirements
• Need an Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) process
• Need to normalize data designs
• Utilize compression to reduce space requirements
• Adopt tiered storage models
– Online, near-line and offline storage
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) or other outsourced model
– Use a service to facilitate storage
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Optimize Business Processes
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IT helps functional areas create and protect value
•
Need to enable them to attain green objectives including
improving energy efficiency
•
Use Theory of Constraints to understand the goal and the greatest
constraint
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Lean – Philosophy about waste reduction and obtaining value
– Wasted time, wasted materials, over design -- Non-value add
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Six Sigma – Attention and tools to identify defects and drive down
the costs of rework
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Lean Six Sigma (LSS) - address defects, time wasted and
increase overall speed while reducing cost
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IT is a tool to enable the business in pursuit of the above
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Examples
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Improved scheduling reducing inter-facility materials movements
(Fuel savings)
Improved demand planning reducing expedited shipments (Fuel
savings)
Online collaboration tools reduces travel related to the design of a
new product or service
Use or portable terminals to reduce inventory related paper forms
such as requests, transfers, etc.
Reduction in paperwork by implementing forms for paid time off,
suggestions, service requests, etc.
Move to electronic invoices to customers and online customer
service
Charge customers for power usage in the data center to drive
accountability and cost:benefit
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Continuous Improvement
•
•
The first step is only the
beginning of a journey
Needs will change as
technologies and the world
changes
•
Leverage metrics where
possible to track status
•
Conduct quarterly reviews of
progress
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Maintain the tone from the top
•
Formally schedule reviews to
assess the current state and
look for new opportunities
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Where do we want to be?
Vision and Objectives
Where are we now?
Audits / Assessments
How do we get to where
we want to be?
Process Improvement
(Leverage Best Practices)
How do we monitor
Progress?
Metrics and Critical
Success Factors
New Pocket Guide – The Governance of
Green IT
•
Available from IT Governance Publishing
•
Covers Governance and Process Considerations
•
Focuses on data centers and power consumption
•
Introduces the Green IT Process in More Detail
•
Target publish date is December 11, 2008
•
Pre-orders Now
•
International order site:
www.itgovernance.co.uk/products/2106
•
US order site:
www.itgovernanceUSA.com/product/1827.aspx
© 2008 Jupitermedia Corporation
Additional Resources
•
The News - Archive, RSS and Email Subscription Instructions
http://www.spaffordconsulting.com/dailynews.html
•
George’s Green IT Resource Page
http://www.spaffordconsulting.com/GreenITResources.html
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Thank you for the privilege of facilitating this webcast
George Spafford
George.Spafford@Pepperweed.com
http://www.pepperweed.com
The News - Archive, RSS and Email Subscription Instructions
http://www.spaffordconsulting.com/dailynews.html
© 2008 Jupitermedia Corporation
Sponsor Slides Placeholder
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Questions?
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On Demand Green IT webcasts
• Governing IT in a Green World
Originally presented on December 2, 2008
http://solutions.internet.com/5341_default
• Implementing a Green Data Center
Originally presented on July 21, 2008
http://solutions.internet.com/4991_default
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