November 26, 2007

Topic Overview: Green IT

by Christopher Mines and Euan Davis
for IT Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Making Leaders Successful Every Day

For IT Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

November 26, 2007

Topic Overview: Green IT

by Christopher Mines and Euan Davis
with Eric G. Brown and Christina Lee

EXECUT I V E S U M MA RY
Environmental responsibility is emerging as an important topic for corporate IT organizations and
their technology suppliers. Corporate IT will go green in the coming years, driven by a combination
of cost eciency, regulatory compliance, and corporate responsibility motivations. This document
outlines Forresters existing and planned research coverage of the green IT phenomenon, including
related subjects like data center architecture, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and supply chain
management.

TABLE O F CO N T E N TS
2 Why Green IT Matters
3 Forresters Take On Green IT
3 The Basics
3 Best Practices And Case Studies
3 Trends And Forecasts
4 Related Topics
Corporate Social Responsibility
Data Center Architecture And Client Systems
Management
Supply Chain
Videoconferencing And Green Business
5 Upcoming Research
7 For More Information
Analysts To Watch
Research Help Desk

N OT E S & R E S O U R C E S
Forrester compiled its most pertinent research
on green IT to provide an overview of our
research and perspectives on this subject.

Related Research Documents

BTs Green Strategy Unfolds
July 23, 2007
Green Electronics: Coming To A Wal-Mart Near
You
June 18, 2007
Tapping Buyers Growing Interest In Green IT
May 10, 2007
The Greening Of IT
April 19, 2007
Why Green IT Should Feature In Sourcing Plans
April 5, 2007

Research Alerts

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Topic Overview: Green IT

For IT Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

WHY GREEN IT MATTERS

Green IT is part of a fundamental change in the economy and society (see Figure 1). It is a subset
of the larger green (or sustainable) business trend, which reconciles sustainable business practices
with protable business operations. In the IT industry, both suppliers and buyers are coming to
realize that they should incorporate green principles into the design, manufacturing, operation, and
disposal of IT assets. The impetus for this change comes from a variety of sources:

Government mandates. Regulators in the EU, the US, and elsewhere are aggressively policing
aspects of IT products and operations, including toxic materials used in building computing
gear, disposal of electronic equipment, and emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases
caused by power consumption and other sources.

Energy eciency. Companies buying more energy-ecient IT equipment get the dual benet
of lowering their utility bills while also reducing their carbon footprint. Server and storage
virtualization, for example, can deliver considerable savings in energy consumption as well as
decreasing physical waste.

Product and company dierentiation. Banking on growing consumer demand for green

products and services, some retailers have developed sub-brands with a green angle, such as
Home Depots Eco Options label. Increasingly, manufacturers across industries will use green
products and green corporate behavior as a way to appeal to this growing segment of customers.

CSR. CSR initiatives enhance the brands of companies by helping them stand out as those that

care about the communities they operate within. Going green is part of any CSR agenda because
of the prominence of global warming concerns.

Figure 1 A Profound Economic Change Is Gathering Pace

The present

The future

Green regulations

Voluntary

Mandatory

Green consumers

Minority

Majority

Investor focus

Growing

Intense

Executive view

Leading-edge

Mainstream

Business initiatives

Niche projects

Core to business

None

Multiple

Interesting

Required

Carbon tax
Green IT
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November 26, 2007

Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

2007, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

Topic Overview: Green IT

For IT Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

FORRESTERS TAKE ON GREEN IT

Green IT initiatives demonstrate the growing alignment of business and environmental incentives.
Companies eorts to improve their IT eciency and governance have direct green benets as well.
We are just at the beginning of a long-term shift in the behavior of corporate IT organizations and
businesses generally; we expect companies to adopt a combination of quick win activities and
longer-term planning that will result in a signicantly greener IT industry.
THE BASICS
The following documents dene green IT, describe the implications for dierent roles within IT, and
highlight the drivers behind this movement and the changes that IT will see.
The Greening Of IT
Christopher Mines and Frank E. Gillett
Why Green IT Should Feature In Sourcing Plans
Euan Davis
BEST PRACTICES AND CASE STUDIES
These documents discuss real-life examples of green strategy in practice.
BTs Green Strategy Unfolds
Euan Davis
Green Answers For Sourcing Executives
Euan Davis
Green Electronics: Coming To A Wal-Mart Near You
Christopher Mines
What Data Center Crisis?
Christopher Mines
TRENDS AND FORECASTS
Some eco-labels have been around for a while. We discuss their increasing relevance as well as the
many varieties and what they mean. We also tell you why every IT shop should include greening in
their sourcing strategy.
Energy Star Powers Up
Euan Davis

2007, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

November 26, 2007

Topic Overview: Green IT

For IT Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Tapping Buyers Growing Interest In Green IT

Christopher Mines
Using Eco-Labels To Support Green IT
Euan Davis
RELATED TOPICS
Technologies and strategies that feature in the green movement include data center architecture and
videoconferencing which enable green business.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Green IT is a part of a larger umbrella of CSR initiatives.
Corporate Social Responsibility And You
Michael Rasmussen
GRC Should Take The Lead In Green Business
Michael Rasmussen
Social Responsibility Of The Global Corporation
Michael Rasmussen
Data Center Architecture And Client Systems Management
Green data center architecture focuses on power and cooling how to minimize power
consumption and maximize cooling capabilities and virtualization minimizing physical assets
that will need to be disposed of down the line and decreasing energy consumption.
Decoding Virtualizations Present And Future
Galen Schreck
Emerging Vendors In Client Management Are Worth Considering
Natalie Lambert
Power And Cooling Heat Up The Data Center
Richard Fichera
Server Virtualization Accelerates In North America]
Frank E. Gillett
The Forrester Wave: Client Management Suites, Q3 2007
Natalie Lambert

November 26, 2007

2007, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

Topic Overview: Green IT

For IT Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Trim The Fat In Storage With Thin Provisioning

Andrew Reichman
Supply Chain
Most companies pursuing green IT are pursuing broader corporate sustainability objectives;
cleaning up their supply chains and enforcing green policies with their suppliers are often a major
part of such eorts.
Best Practices: Successfully Managing Security And Risk In A Global Supply Chain
Patrick M. Connaughton
Videoconferencing And Green Business
Videoconferencing enables green business practices by allowing users to interact via technology,
reducing travel and its environmental impact.
How To Save Money And Be A Greener Business: Shine A Light On Oce Peripheral
Management
Craig Le Clair
Unied Communications: What You Need To Know
Elizabeth Herrell
Videoconferencing Rises Again
Henry Dewing and Claire Schooley
UPCOMING RESEARCH
How To Green Your RFP
Euan Davis
November 2007
The Financial Impact Of Server Virtualization
Galen Schreck
November 2007
Thin Client
Euan Davis
November 2007
Tax Incentives For Tech Hardware Procurement
Euan Davis
December 2007

2007, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

November 26, 2007

Topic Overview: Green IT

For IT Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Videoconferencing To Telepresence: Tools To Trim Your Carbon Footprint

Claire Schooley
December 2007
Enterprises Shift From Awareness To Action On Green IT
Christopher Mines
January 2008
ISVs Should Lean On Green IT, Not OEMs
Frank E. Gillett
January 2008
Targeting Green Technology Consumers
Christopher Mines
January 2008
PC Power Management Is It All Its Cracked Up To Be?
Natalie Lambert
February 2008
Sizing Green IT Services
Christopher Mines
February 2008
Sourcing EMIS
Euan Davis
February 2008
The Industrial Age Of IT
Robert Whiteley
February 2008
The Forrester Wave: Environmental Management Information Systems
Euan Davis
March 2008

November 26, 2007

2007, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

Topic Overview: Green IT

For IT Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Analysts To Watch
Forrester is continuously researching, analyzing, and writing about changes and new developments
in technology. To keep abreast of future Forrester research on the subject of green IT, you may want
to watch for new research coming from the following Forrester analysts:

Euan Davis. Euan is a principal analyst who covers a broad range of topics for Sourcing &

Vendor Management professionals. His expertise spans IT and business process outsourcing,
shared services, and the ongoing developments within the European IT services industry. Euan
also researches and consults around sustainable ICT strategies.

Frank E. Gillett. As an analyst, Frank primarily contributes to Forresters oerings for the

Technology Marketing professional. He is a leading expert on the evolution of IT infrastructure,

and researches topics such as customer use and adoption of virtualization, grid computing, and
utility computing.

Christopher Mines. A 10-year veteran of Forrester, Chris is an analyst working with clients

at global technology suppliers to improve their market position and strategy execution. He
researches the overarching relationships of enterprise IT buyers with their strategic suppliers,
especially the advent of environmental considerations in IT decision-making (green IT).

Galen Schreck. Galen researches networking, storage, and processing technologies and their

eects on business. Current topics include servers, data center automation, and grid computing.
Galens areas of technology expertise include enterprise networking, enterprise resource
planning (ERP) implementation, and wireless technologies.

Research Help Desk

Research specialists in Forresters Research Help Desk collaborate with Forrester analysts to compile
these Topic Overviews for selected areas of Forresters coverage. If you have additional questions
about this topic, please contact us at researchhelpdesk@forrester.com, and we will respond to your
question within 36 hours.
Research Alerts
To be notied when a new document is published about green IT or by any of the analysts listed
above, set up a Research Alert.

2007, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

November 26, 2007

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