It's pretty clear to most of us that energy costs are unlikely to tumble in the near future and that means either coughing up or identifying some areas where savings can be made.

Unfortunately, IT is like any other area as far as energy savings are concerned and that means you have to invest, but in what?

Take a look at VMware as an opportunity to save energy. Mosts servers are under-utilised and simply consume more power than required whereas, if they were virtualised, significant savings could be achieved.

For example, you have one server for file storage and printing plus a further server for e-mail. Each is powerful enough to handle the entire load but you have resisted merging them because it's 'Best Practice' not to. However, with VMware you can keep them as separate instances running on the same physical hardware so you get the best of both worlds and save energy. In this case by about 50%!

For more information on VMware look here.

What else can be done? Well, you could do a lot worse than look at Citrix or Terminal Services (depending on how many PCs you have). Many PCs are left running for long periods with no-one using them and that just like pouring money down the drain. However, you could reduce the specification of the PC to a thin-client terminal which consumes significantly less power; has a smaller foot-print and costs about half that of an equivalent PC.

For more information on Citrix and Terminal Services call Aaland on 01757-633737.

Finally, virtualise your support services by implementing the highest possible levels of remote monitoring, diagnostics and service. This reduces staff cost and speeds up service delivery as much of the time wasted is taken up visiting users and providing one-on-one support. This is wasteful and should be seen as such.

IT Departments are not exempt from scrutiny and, in many cases, staff are under-utilised. Perhaps there are extra staff just to cover holidays or possible illness? Once virtualised, you could leverage further savings by out-sourcing part, or all, of the IT operation and lose the excess.

For more information on out-sourcing call Aaland on 01757-633737.