Redefining Definitions of "Green IT"

               

It is gratifying to think that this blog is having some small impact.

A complete stranger introduced himself at a conference last week saying: “I enjoy reading your blog…”

How about that?  A fan!

And it’s great fun to have Computerworld write an editorial quoting a definition I proposed here last October for data center efficiency as a practical and businesslike approach to "green".

In his editorial, The main stem,  Don Tennant describes a "green pall" he sees over IT.  In particular he notes the backlash from IT users who are confused, skeptical and often weary of vendors pushing their greenness for fun and profit. 

I agree.

Customers are getting jaded. 

(Yes somebody else may have used "jaded" before me to describe being fed up with green hype  but I haven't seen it so I'll claim origination and let the others put it in quotes.  I also claim "mossy" but haven't found much use for it yet in data centers. )

You might understand why my favorite part of Tennant's editorial is where he cites this blog as offering " ...one of the most intelligent explanations of the phenomenon that I've seen ..."  Although I don't quite understand his surprise that it "was provided by, of all people, a marketing executive at a big IT vendor. "

Perhaps we can cover that another time.

At any rate Tennant was very complimentary of the idea and quoted the entire definition posted here last October.

"You can use it with a dozen people and conjure a dozen different ideas," he quoted. "Now, a whole set of discussions around 'green' [has] already started a backlash from customers feeling that the whole deal is just marketing hype, or 'greenwashing.'" Sullivan wrote that he avoids using the term because it can be misleading. "

"To a data center manager, efficient IT is the real objective," he quoted. "If by consolidating and virtualizing and automating and optimizing they can save energy and help the environment, they will do that. But the primary benefit needs to be a more efficient IT operation that delivers business benefits and IT performance."

"So Sullivan suggested that we think of it not as "green IT," but as "efficient IT" that delivers green. And he offered this definition: "IT and data center infrastructure suppliers working with corporate customers to change the design and deployment of computing environments to gain efficiency and cost savings, while meeting business objectives and reducing environmentally harmful impacts."

Tennant goes on to say that this is a  "sensible" notion but that since "green IT isn't going away", that we must reiterate and regularly clarify what it really means in practical terms, especially in practical terms that quantify very explicitly what any and all vendors can really deliver, and how,  and how long it will take to make a difference. 

The definition has evolved.  The presentation I regularly deliver to customers has evolved too. 

I have gone from: "Defining the energy efficient data center" to "Beyond Green: Efficient IT, The Sustainable Environment and Sound Business Practice."

The central ideas here are, first that an efficient data center is green.  The second is that there is no magic bullet, no single thing that can be done, no incantation pronounced, that will make it all right. And the third is the idea of sustainability being central to any viable and, well, sustainable strategy. And I am not using sustainable here in only the corporate or environmental sense.  This is sustainable in an IT / business sense. 

To keep the business running, IT really has to do things differently.  In most cases, very differently.

So here is my refreshed definition.  It's evolved from a few hundred more customer encounters and an evolution in my own thinking - pushed by customer's vision and customer priorities.

The efficient data center:

IT and data center infrastructure suppliers working with corporate customers to design, deploy and operate computing environments employing best practices and technology to achieve sustainability, efficiency and cost savings while meeting business objectives and minimizing harmful environmental impacts.

No doubt a few months from now we'll be refining again.

That's a good thing.