One of the fastest development markets related to green information technology has been the one for software applications that help enterprises get a handle on their energy consumption and on the environmental impact.
There have been plenty of lists about this category. The latest one from independent sustainability and environmental research firm Verdantix shows that the market is evolving quickly and that about a dozen leaders are emerging from within the broad pack of approximately 60 different, supposedly enterprise-ready products on the market.
The four companies that make out especially well in the Verdantix report, “Green Quadrant Energy Management Software 2011,” are the ones that the researcher identifies as market leaders: CA Technologies, CarbonSystems, IBM and Verisae. The factors that distinguish these enterprise software companies according to the Verdantix report are their support for a wide range of meters and other sensor and control devices, a good representation of customers, and relationships with technology integrators including CSC, Deloitte and Wipro. Another big deal is domain expertise. So, for example, Verdantix advises buying from technology vendors that have had proven experience in vertical markets.
In the release about the report, Verdantix senior manager Janet Lin said:
“The energy management software market is transitioning from a jumble of tactical, operational applications deployed at the facility level to enterprise-scale applications that enable firms to implement strategy energy management programs. But buyers need to select energy management software with extreme caution. Our research unearthed a number of implementation train wrecks.”
The other group of enterprise software and energy management software companies that Verdantix is watching closely are C3, Hara, Infor, JouleX and SAP. That is because all of these companies have good product road maps (not to mention some decent relationships with companies such as Hewlett-Packard).
The 15 companies included in the report are (in alphabetical order):
- 4Tell
- C3
- CA Technologies
- CarbonSystems
- ENXSuite
- eSight Energy
- Hara
- IBM
- Infor
- Johnson Controls
- JouleX
- Pace Global
- SAP
- Schneider Electric
- Verisae
