Sustainable IT | Ted Samson » TAG: Green consulting services

March 05, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Forrester: Green IT consulting market to hit $4.8B by 2013

TAGS: Green consulting services

Green IT consulting services are poised to blossom into a lucrative business in coming years as companies worldwide grapple with expanding carbon footprints, spiraling energy bills, and other eco-oriented woes.

Such is the prediction of a report released by Forrester this week titled "The Dawn of Green IT Services," which projects that the overall market for green IT services will peak at $4.8 billion in 2013.

For now, green IT consulting services aren't booming: All told, it's a $500 million market for 2008. When asked if they'd enlisted outside providers to assist in the planning and implementation of green IT policies and practices, just six percent of respondents to a Forrester survey said they had. Another six percent said they were planning to while 18 percent indicated they were considering hiring one.

Nevertheless, given the momentum of the green movement that's reshaping organizations worldwide, Forrester expects that spending on green IT services among enterprise users will grow by an impressive 60 percent annually over the next five years.

The report predicts companies such as Dell, HP, Sun, and Intel will gain some traction in the market as they offer services around datacenter energy efficiency. However, "the long-run winners in this market will bring a holistic perspective to clients looking to incorporate IT into a corporate-wide effort to improve environmental responsibility. Such an approach is being pioneered by services providers like Accenture, Deloitte, [IBM], and EDS," the report says.

The Forrester report also provides a useful guide to understanding how green IT consulting services work, breaking the process down into three interlocking phases: assessment, planning, and implementation. The assessment process entails "creating a baseline of energy usage and carbon footprint and sketch an overall approach to green IT including ROI."

The planning phase (done by 50 percent of the clients that undergo the assessment process, according to the report), entails "developing detailed roadmaps for specific green IT initiatives like procurement, datacenter optimization, and recycling."

The final stage is implementation, a step undertaken by 75 percent of clients that go through the planning process. Here, customers "choose and implement specific technologies for virtualization, power and cooling, systems management, etc."

Additionally, the report gives a granular breakdown as to what specific green IT consulting services various companies can offer through all three of the aforementioned phases. Accenture appears to be at the top of the heap, offering full services from planning to implementation. Among the high-tech heavyweights, IBM appear to offer the most services.

"The Dawn of Green IT Services" is available for $279 from the Forrester Web site.

Posted by Ted Samson on March 5, 2008 11:19 AM

November 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

HP lands green datacenter consultant EYP

TAGS: Green consulting services, HP

Extending its reach into the ripening green-consulting space, HP today announced the acquisition of EYP Mission Critical Facilities, a consulting company specializing in strategic technology planning, design and operations support for large-scale datacenters.

The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. HP's aim, however, is clear: to tap into the growing demand for more energy-efficient datacenters by bolstering its existing Data Center Services, and no doubt hawking more HP gear along the way.

"The datacenter is the foundation of IT for enterprises, an essential building block for driving business growth and adapting to changing business objectives," said John McCain, senior vice president and general manager of HP Services in a written statement. "Acquiring EYP Mission Critical Facilities boosts HP's ability to help customers transform their datacenters and build dynamic computing environments from the ground up."

EYP has developed a green reputation since its establishment in 2001 as a split-off from A/E giant Einhorn Yaffee Prescott. Headquartered in New York with 13 offices worldwide and technical staff of more than 350, the company's arsenal of tools includes a homegrown software package called EnerOpt, designed to assess and optimize energy consumption in the datacenter. Among its clients, the company claims 25 percent of the Fortune magazine's list of top EPA Green Partners. Moreover, the company designed the first LEED-rated datacenter for Fannie Mae in Urbana, Maryland, and is currently designing a datacenter for the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs.

Like other big-name hardware companies, including IBM, Dell, and Sun, HP has been playing up the green credentials of its wares, such as its Smart Dynamic Cooling offering, power capping features in its Systems Insight Manager software, and its recently announced line of more energy-efficient ProLiant BL460c blades.

Moreover, the big boys of technology have also started adding more green-hued services to their portfolios. In August, IBM added carbon consulting to business consulting operation. Also in August, Sun unveiled an Eco Services Suite. BT is also on the list.

HP's acquisition of EYP is subject to certain closing conditions and is expected to be completed within HP's first fiscal quarter.

Posted by Ted Samson on November 12, 2007 11:28 AM

September 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)

BT joins growing list of green consultants

TAGS: Green consulting services

More and more companies are grasping the importance of a green strategy to address swelling energy bills and power shortages, as well as to shrink their carbon footprints. The next logical step, of course, is planning a strategy to tackle the problem, which is no easy task, considering just how many facets of a company's operations play into the big green picture.

Not surprisingly, vendors are now lining up to help in developing green blueprints for shrinking carbon footprints and lowering energy consumption. Sun, for example, unveiled a set of services and tools last month as part of its Eco Innovation Initiative. IBM has boarded the green-consulting train, as has consulting firms such as A.T. Kearney, which just announced its plans to offer "carbon-neutral consulting."

And just today, BT's Global Services sustainability practice launched a service to help large organizations reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint.

According to BT, the service will "take into account the way people's work patterns (such as their travel and IT use) contribute to CO2 emissions, and how business operations, shared services, and building infrastructure add to an organization’s carbon footprint." As part of the service, BT will help companies assess a variety of business scenarios to determine what benefits they might reap through, for example, virtualizing the call center or holding virtual meetings so as to cut travel.

"Importantly, when looking at clients' carbon emissions, we explore both the required behavior change as well as any adjustments to their infrastructure," said Scott Cain, head of IT transformation for BT Global Services, in a written statement. "Many of our customers have yet to mobilize significantly in this area and can benefit from BT's learning and capabilities to help them in their development of more sustainable business solutions."

Posted by Ted Samson on September 20, 2007 01:14 PM