Gartner Outlines Three Steps to Reduce Network Environmental Footprint

December 24, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

The firm advises organisations that are looking to reduce their network environmental footprint to divide the network analysis into three steps:

• Determining how much networking is needed.
• Minimising the number of devices and layers.
• Reducing power consumption of the devices themselves.

"Unlike client computing, where significant footprint reduction can arise from simply turning off devices when they are not in use, the network needs to be always on regardless of its utilisation," said Neil Rickard, research vice-president at Gartner.

"As organisations can't turn their network off to reduce their environmental footprint, they must take simple steps to reduce it," he said.

Gartner defines environmental footprint as the combination of the energy consumed by the equipment, the environmental impact of its production and the impact of its disposal.

Gartner outlined three steps for reducing an organization's network environmental footprint:

• Don't overbuy. Gartner advises organisations not to let vendors influence them to buy networking technologies they don't require or to protect 'use it or loose it' budget cycles. However, adding additional network functionality can sometimes reduce environmental impact elsewhere in IT.
• Minimise the number of layers and devices. The blind application of established design practices in networking can result in the overlayering of devices and subsequent performance bottlenecks. Technological advances in many areas mean that the mountains of networking boxes in most networks today can be collapsed and replaced with a smaller number of devices, according to Gartner.
• Consider power consumption of networking devices during product selection. In addition to making power efficiency one of the new product selection criteria, power efficiency can become a factor in decisions regarding the replacement of aging network equipment. In the longer term, Gartner said it expects to see the evolution of new more energy efficient networking technologies such as energy efficient Ethernet.

"By following these three steps, organisations will be able to minimise the environmental impact of their business networks without negatively affecting the organisation's network functionality," said Rickard.

"However, this needs to be part of an ongoing network strategy, not just performed in isolation as a one-off."

For more information about the Gartner report Green IT: The New Industry Shock Wave, go to http://www.gartner.com.

Source: Gartner Inc.