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Jim Docherty explains how to reduce energy usage and save money across IT departments.

With energy prices likely to rise in the next few months and the government asserting greater pressure on the public and private sector to reduce carbon emissions with the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, power management is climbing the business agenda. One key area where finance teams can look to make immediate savings and long-term improvements is IT.

IT is one of the biggest consumers of electricity within a business and unless policies are in place to reduce use, this is one area that could see a steady increase in consumption. The resources needed to power and deliver on demand services, rich web and multimedia applications are increasing, as are the capabilities required to store and manage the burgeoning amount of data that is being created.

The ‘always-on’ culture that is emerging has little regard for the consequences of accessing those services – both in terms of cost and carbon emissions. Powering desktop computers that are on all the time when you have hundreds, if not thousands, of machines has serious cost and carbon implications. The average desktop uses 111 watts of power when active according to the EnergyStar and US Environmental Protection Agency figures, with monitors responsible for 60% of the energy consumed. So what can be done to combat the energy efficiency challenge of IT deployment?

We need to recognize the Green IT agenda and opportunities for saving money through effective configuration and management of our applications, operating systems and the underlying hardware. At the same time though in terms of efficiency and reducing costs, we should also identify our marginal support costs, looking at processes and best practice, what small steps can be taken to reduce unnecessary call outs and support calls. Simple things like monitoring, application and infrastructure consolidation or virtualization, and automated processes which might be combined with Green IT best practice to deliver a more effective and energy efficient IT solution. An interesting read with some good points do check it out.

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The iPhone 3G and 3G S will go on sale to Orange customers from 10 November, the operator has revealed today. Orange has also unveiled its pay monthly, pay-as-you-go and business tariffs for iPhone 3G and 3G S – with the cheapest price plan offering consumers a free iPhone 3G for just under £30 per month on a two-year contract. Back in September Apple announced it was ending its exclusive contract to sell iPhones with O2 UK, with first Orange and then Vodafone getting passes to join the iPhone party. The iPhone 3G S is available to business users on the Orange network for £30 per month on a two-year contract, with a 16GB device costing £87. The cheapest consumer tariff for the 3G S is around £30 per month with the device costing £125. Business users can get a free 3G S on a £40 per month contract, while consumers will have to shell out around £44 per month to get a free device.

I am supposed to be getting my wife an iPhone and I have been waiting for Orange to see what deals they have as opposed to O2 or Vodafone (when they launch it)

. The article and the Orange press announcement says ‘unlimited data’ but there is a 750MB fair use policy which doesn’t seem that much these days particularly for an iPhone if you think about email, browsing the web, google maps/lattitude and possibly a bit of FaceBook and iTunes? I don’t know I could be classed as high maintenance.

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