Poll: More APAC firms looking green

update Green IT efforts have reached critical mass in the Asia-Pacific region, security firm Symantec declared, citing findings from a survey released Wednesday.

Its Green IT Report, which included Japan, determined that 97 percent of companies polled were discussing their plans for green initiatives. Some 50 percent of companies polled had already implemented green measures.

The survey was conducted via telephone interviews by Applied Research, between late-February and mid-March this year, and polled 356 companies in the Asia-Pacific region.

A popular green deployment, among 96 percent of respondents, was the replacement of old equipment undertaken during the company's hardware refresh cycle with new energy-efficient products.

However, Alvin Ow, Symantec's technical and systems engineering senior director for Asia-Pacific and Japan, said companies were using a wide range of green IT strategies. These included more complex measures, such as reconfiguring data center hardware to work more efficiently and make better use of energy resources, Ow said at a media briefing Wednesday. Some organizations also said they monitored power consumption for physical storage devices, and used software tools to power up or down these devices as needed.

Server virtualization and consolidation were seen as key green strategies by 94 percent and 93 percent, respectively, of companies surveyed. Some 60 percent highlighted software-as-a-service (SaaS) as another potential green initiative.

More green dollars
According to Symantec, budgets to support environmentally friendly efforts were also on the rise.

The survey found that 79 percent of companies expected an increase in their green IT budgets over the next 12 months. In many cases, IT was more than willing to pay a premium--of as much as 20 percent--for energy-efficient products.

Ow said: "The respondents realize although it costs [more] to buy such equipment, they will reap the returns later."

According to the study, IT departments are leading the way in a company's green policy, occupying a seat in corporate committees focused on green efforts, and are involved in various green initiatives.

Some 89 percent of respondents said IT plays a significant role in managing their company's green efforts. In fact, the IT departments of 85 percent of those surveyed were responsible or cross-charged for electricity consumption. Also, 85 percent of companies had a green advocate, most of whom had an IT focus.