Singapore and Hong Kong, December 9, 2008 – According to IDC's latest research, "Green IT Software – Nutritious Supplements for Your Datacenter" (Doc#AP322309Q), Green IT software can enable significant economical benefits as well as environmental sustainability through the efficient management of existing hardware or services within datacenters. With rising power costs in datacenter operations a top concern of IT decision makers across the Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region, applications that can help to better manage power and cooling and improve management, automation, load and capacity administration of these servers, will be in demand.

"As businesses in APEJ continue to grow, power consumption in energy hungry datacenters also increases. Green IT technologies has become even more appealing as businesses look towards energy efficient solutions to reduce power consumption and to alleviate the costs," says Adren Lim, Market Analyst of IDC’s Asia/Pacific Software Research. IDC has classified these applications into three main categories: power monitoring and management tools, asset management and automation tools, and server virtualization software.

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Through the recent survey, IDC’s Asia/Pacific Green Poll, IDC finds Green IT technology gaining strong momentum and mindshare across the region. This is largely driven by benefits from cost savings, followed by corporate social responsibility (CSR) and compliance. This result was based on the strong response of over 75% of the surveyed population agreeing that cost savings was the main reason for them to invest in green IT technology. An interesting point to note is that respondents also revealed the level of "greenness" portrayed by the IT suppliers had become increasingly important when they made buying decision on IT-related materials.

While mainstream green IT in the datacenter is largely a combined effort of more energy-efficient hardware, best practices, and consultation services, software is playing an increasingly important role in facilitating the whole "green engine" to achieve business and environmental sustainability. Green IT software helps in virtualizing, monitoring, measuring, and automating tasks, etc., that would otherwise require manual involvement and incur higher costs.

"A large portion of Green IT practices and supporting software revolve around virtualization products, but equally important, is the management of these consolidated virtual and physical assets that will bring value through lower power, hardware, and manpower costs," Adren added.

IDC's Green IT software research focuses on software offerings by key vendors that fall into three categories – power monitoring and management tools, asset management and automation tools, and server virtualization software, while also providing opinions on the benefits of using Green IT software to datacenter operators. For more information about purchasing the research, please contact Selina Ang at +65-6829-7717 or sang@idc.com.

This is an ongoing end-user survey focusing on awareness and adoption of Green IT in the region. Green IT is a growing, global phenomenon, with customers seeking out IT suppliers whose offerings are more energy efficient, more material efficient, less hazardous, designed for greater recyclability, and supported by end-of-life recycling programs. IDC's green IT research team — in Europe, the Americas, and Asia/Pacific — offers the only 360-degree perspective on green IT: analyzing the complete spectrum of offerings, services, and providers as well as customer adoption of green IT across all major regions and within energy, manufacturing, and other key industries.

IDC ran its Asia/Pacific Green Poll in January 2008 in order to get a better understanding on the current state of Green IT in Asia/Pacific. Countries involved in the Green Poll include Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, New Zealand, the PRC, Taiwan and Singapore. In total, there were 582 respondents.

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