Exclusive Preview of Enterprise Strategy Group Study on Green Storage

Mark Peters is an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) focused on storage systems, as well as on the (re)emerging challenges of power, cooling and space efficiencies throughout data centers. With more than 20 years of experience in IT and the storage business, Mark will be a featured speaker at the SNIA's upcoming Summer Symposium, giving a Keynote Address on "The End-User Perspective on Green Storage: A Market Research Report"

Mark recently sat down with FarSighted to give us a sneak peek and share some details of ESG's forthcoming study on end users and green storage.

FS: Tell us about your new study, the details of which you'll be presenting at the SNIA's upcoming Summer Symposium.

MP: This was the first extensive research of its kind on IT and business end user attitudes toward green storage. We surveyed 1,000 respondents, all of whom were senior managers and above. More importantly, the scope of the survey was international, and we had a 50/50 split in responses between IT management and business management. This is very important, because we found some distinct differences between the two audiences in terms of understanding.

FS: Can you give us a preview of some of your findings, in advance of the more in-depth presentation you'll give at the Summer Symposium?

MP: A key takeaway is that green is not a fad, it's not going away. If anything, green issues are becoming more and more significant. We found that green is a business issue as much as an environmental one. This is verified by our findings, and green will be a key consideration for decades, not just months.

Ultimately, there are three main drivers for businesses: they want to be good citizens, they need to comply to regulations, and oh, by the way, they can save some money. These factors combined make the pull toward green even stronger.

Certainly, there is a lot of messaging around green these days and there are too many people trying to "green cloak" themselves or "greenwash," whatever term you like. The users can see through this pretty quickly, and I would argue it does those trying this more harm than good.

I would advocate that true green is more than power, cooling, and space efficiency (what we at ESG call PCSE). Those are important and measurable things and easily applicable to data centers. But if you genuinely as a company want to buy your equipment from a green supplier, then there's a lot more to that company being green than simply using less power. For example, do they have recycling policies and other conservation measures? When you add up these small things, you find a supplier to whom green means more than a fast buck.

FS: So if a purchaser has a green focus as part of its core values, they would want to look at the bigger picture?

MP: Yes, and that's what we're seeing. Many companies - especially big ones - have an edict that they will be X% greener this year, or they have another specific green policy. So, I believe that it will be similar to ISO compliance, which was a great differentiator originally, and then ultimately, I would argue, has become commonplace. That doesn't make it unimportant - everyone wants to have quality standards in place, and as a result ISO compliance is in RFPs and in requirements for purchasing agreements.

I think eventually some terminology around green will go into RFPs, as well. Important work is being done by the SNIA, along with the Green Grid and Energy Star, to come up with defined metrics, and this will become the standard language to go into the RFPs, and it will be beyond power and cooling.

IT managers should appreciate this and recognize the opportunity to make themselves heroes in their company. Everything I just said about balancing the different areas of green presents a tangible opportunity for IT managers to make themselves more strategic and valuable. IT can lead the way and show that they understand what their business is doing and the value they can add.

is to be seen as a strategic leader in the business, rather than just an enabler.

Another key factor: business management isn't fully aware of the potential and breadth of green improvements IT can make. IT has an opportunity to bring it forward.

FS: So business management has a commitment to move in a green direction, but they don't yet fully understand the role IT can play in that?

MP: Correct. We're finding that it's usually the business managers who are leading the green initiatives and have the ability to fund it. That's well worth you knowing if you're in IT, so you can present your green case and potentially get the money from elsewhere in the company to get it done. And, let's be honest, that thing you're trying to get done that you need to justify, find a genuine green angle and go find someone else to help share the cost.

FS: How do the results of your study match up against common views on the green topic?

MP: That's what is interesting. For the first time, there is now rigorous research to test the assumptions we've had. While it was previously difficult to ascertain whether end users were embracing the green idea, now we no longer have to "make it up."

It intrigues me how this gets written about. A lot of the press is negative about it. Articles say things like, "we asked 100 people, and only 27 said green is important to their company." This is totally missing the point. A few years ago it wouldn't have been 2.7% let alone 27%! By the way, I'll share the real numbers at the Symposium in July. This is a growing and expanding area both horizontally and vertically, with necessity and interest as the motivator.

There are companies out there saving literally millions and millions of dollars by doing smart green IT initiatives, and I'm not just taking that number out of the air. There are a number of ways to get real results, and we'll be talking about this more at the SNIA Summer Symposium in July.

Mark Peters was interviewed by FarSighted editor Kellye Crane, of Crane Communications, LLC.