01 July 2008

Big Blue Goes Green, Helps Others Follow

IBM’s focus on data centers produces energy savings

 

New-generation mainframe computers such as the IBM z9, introduced in 2005, are the backbone of the green data centers IBM promotes.

New-generation mainframe computers such as the IBM z9, introduced in 2005, are the backbone of the green data centers IBM promotes.

This article is the second in a series on sustainable manufacturing.

By Andrzej Zwaniecki
Staff Writer

Washington -- Many corporations talk green. But when a reputable giant like IBM does it, the competition takes note. This is especially true when “green” also means greenbacks.

When IBM, known as “Big Blue,” launched in 2007 its “Big Green” initiative based on cutting-edge technologies, it got the corporate world’s attention.

Under the initiative, IBM offered to build new data centers or redesign existing centers at companies and other large organizations to reduce their energy consumption and the carbon emissions caused by electricity production. An average data center could expect 42 percent energy savings, which would prevent 7,439 tons of carbon per year from being released into the atmosphere.  

Expanding data centers -- which are facilities housing computer systems and related components -- has become a problem for many companies because they require big chunks of office space for large machines and consume a great deal of electricity.

IBM started this initiative in its own backyard: It applied virtualization software to its own data center. The software allows a small number of powerful computers to handle multiple jobs or functions.  The technology allowed IBM to transfer the workload of 3,900 servers to 30 mainframe machines that run the Linux operating system. The change cut the company’s energy use -- the highest single cost of running a data center -- by 80 percent.

Another bonus was a gain in space:  The modernized data center takes up seven times less floor space than the old one.

IBM believes that what worked for its facilities can work for its clients and can create a new revenue stream.

“IBM is in a unique position, being able to leverage what we are learning to help customers with similar projects,” Inna Kuznetsova, worldwide director for IBM Linux strategy, told Linux Journal.

The global information- and communications-technology industry accounts for about 2 percent of global carbon-dioxide emissions. That share will grow if its energy consumption rises as projected.

Industry observers say arguments about the environmental benefits of the new technology do not often win over buyers concerned about the up-front capital required to invest in it.

Kuznetsova said many customers signed with the company primarily because they wanted to reduce operating costs. But she said the number of companies expressing interest in the Big Green way of becoming good corporate citizens is growing.

Managers outside of information-technology departments can be apprehensive about the virtualization technology, which they may not know or understand, Kuznetsova said.

“The energy-spending reduction often happens to be the argument that wins people’s hearts,” she said. 

Earlier in June, IBM announced the second phase of the Big Green project, which intends to give customers more flexibility in matching information technology to their needs as well as to their capital and operating costs.

Mike Daniels, a senior vice president at IBM, said the company expanded the project to help clients make all operations energy efficient, not only their data centers.

More information about the Big Green initiative and other IBM environmental programs can be found on the company’s Web site.