IBM Arms Clients to Measure Green IT Progress

Market Wire, April, 2008

The certificate will document a project recently completed by IBM Premier Business Partner RS-UNIX involving consolidating 70 x86-based servers to just four IBM BladeCenter systems that will power their Website. The project resulted in a 66 percent reduction in data center floor space and a 70 percent decrease in energy consumption while also doubling the performance of the previous systems. The energy certificate -- when validated by Neuwing Energy and which Care2 intends to retire to document energy savings -- is expected to indicate an energy savings of 340 megawatt hours, or the equivalent of CO2 emissions from automobiles consuming more than 30,000 gallons of gasoline.

According to Edward E. Traylor, III, senior director of technical operations at Care2, "As an environmentally responsible enterprise supporting more than eight million members, an inefficient IT infrastructure was not an option for us. RS-UNIX, our partner in this project, created an extremely efficient solution based on IBM technology. The energy savings we are documenting from this project are both good for our bottom line and serve as an extremely important proof point for our business, which is based on environmental responsibility."

IBM has applied for EEC to document energy savings in its data center in Southbury, Connecticut. A data center thermal assessment was completed in late 2007 using the Mobile Measurement Tool, first announced with IBM Project Big Green. The assessment identified air flow modifications which will allow the data center to turn off 18 computer room air conditioning systems while maintaining current data center operations. The pending energy efficiency certificates are expected to document a total of 1,600 megawatt hours of reduced electricity use annually.

Energy Efficiency Benchmark Tool

To further help clients understand if current green initiatives are working, IBM is also announcing a new, free on-line energy benchmark tool. The tool provides actionable insight into a company's IT-related energy efficiency status, helping managers determine business strategies for improving and closing efficiency gaps. Independently produced by The Bathwick Group, the tool allows clients to measure their efficiency score against other organizations worldwide. The tool can be found at: http://ibmgreen.bathwick.com

Jonathan Steel, CEO of The Bathwick Group, said about the benchmark's advantages: "The energy efficiency tool benchmarks against hundreds of organizations from around the world and the data set is being added to continually. It allows users to see how they stack up against up-to-the-minute best practices whenever they take the assessment."

Additional Energy Efficiency Clients

RackForce, a wholesaler of server rentals to e-businesses, application providers and hosting resellers, recently completed an energy efficiency project with IBM. According to Brian Fry, vice president, sales and marketing, RackForce Networks Inc., "Companies of all sizes need to think about their energy costs. We worked with IBM to install IBM System x servers. That change has led to a 30 percent reduction in our power usage. And the built-in System x virtualization capabilities provide RackForce more flexibility in delivering our dynamic, virtual services."