Mar 10, 2008 -- Datamonitor

Two-thirds of European companies already have or are developing plans to tackle energy and carbon footprint is the encouraging news from a European green survey by BEA.

Less encouragingly, this willingness to act is clouded by uncertainty over where to invest and a lack of knowledge and understanding about the technology available. In particular, the survey revealed poor awareness about one of the key componenets in the green data center story: virtualization.

"Companies are getting to the point where they see a being green as being important, but it seems there's still a lot they need to understand," said Martin Percival, senior technology evangelist, EMEA at BEA Systems.

Key drivers behind those companies with green initiatives were rising energy costs (cited by 55% or respondents), corporate social responsibility (45%), regulatory compliance (41%), and storage capacity 15%).

Cost was the biggest inhibitor behind company inertia on green issues for more than half the companies, but this was seconded by a lack of understanding about what was out there to help them (23%) and products (16%). Lack of board support was also a key inhibitor. This knowledge gap was further highlighted by the fact that 39% of the respondents described themselves as being "not very aware" about virtualization and its place in the data center and its ability to slash costs.

Percival said customers still need education about virtualization and tools to help them reduce their energy and carbon footprint.

"Virtualization has been talked about a lot by operations staff and CIOs, but understanding has not reached other parts of the organization," he said.

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