M'sian firms see green benefit, but few adopt

Enterprises in Malaysia are beginning to weigh in the benefits of green IT in an effort to reduce operational costs. However, the impetus to go green--especially among small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)--is still lacking, say some industry observers.

Robert Lye, general manager of systems technology group, IBM Malaysia, said the benefits of green IT "outweigh the challenges involved in implementing it".

"Profit-driven businesses are likely to capitalize on costs savings, and energy efficiency poses a substantial way to do so," Lye told ZDNet Asia in an e-mail interview.

Citing an IDC study, he said that globally by 2010, for every US$1 spent on hardware, 70 cents will be spent on power and cooling. By 2012, the amount spent on power and cooling will increase to US$1, he said.

"Many Malaysian businesses realize that they are facing an energy crisis and this is clearly reflected in banks, telecommunication and multinational corporations (MNCs) with regional hubs and data centers in Malaysia," said Lye.

Gan Boon San, chief of operations for Sun Microsystems Asia South, said companies today are more advanced in their environmental programs and have a better understanding of the potential for efficiency within their own organization.

"The first step in being eco-responsible is to minimize the environmental impact of operations," Gan said in an e-mail interview. "Companies should be determined to integrate eco-principles into every aspect of their operations."

Ovum's senior analyst Ian Brown, said green IT strategies that were successfully implemented in Europe were aimed at specific customer issues. This meant that, initially, the focus was not so much on ecology but economy, Brown said.

"The data center, power, space and cooling issues are concerns that have impacted many large enterprises, so vendors have done a lot of work in this area," he said.

Stumbling blocks to adoption
Despite the optimism shown by vendors, some analysts believe there is still uncertainty over what green IT actually encompasses. They noted that this will likely deter companies, especially SMBs, from going green.

Philip Carter, associate research director for IT services research at IDC Asia-Pacific, said potential for green IT cost savings focuses mainly in the area of energy efficiency and reduction of electricity bills.

However, Carter said there is confusion in the market with regards to what green IT is and where its value resides.

"All the hype created by the vendors is not helping," Carter said, adding that this issue can be resolved if vendors embark on educational campaigns to explain how they define green IT and identify its benefits to customers.

Ovum's Brown noted that vendor discussion about green IT means little to most SMBs. Unless they had specific issues around power, space and cooling, most of these companies will not view power efficiency or reduction as a priority.

"Much of the vendors' focus on green IT is associated with consolidation and virtualization, which are often big issues for large enterprises," Brown explained.

"The situation is usually less clear cut for SMBs because if they're running a small number of machines, energy savings from virtualization may be outweighed by the cost of training, software and the implementation of a virtualized environment," he said.

Brown added that the tools to measure IT energy usage and carbon footprint are currently still immature. The industry, he added, must "overcome the hype and establish the real value and cost of green products and services".

IBM's Lye said green IT adoption could also be hindered because IT personnel may not understand issues pertaining to heating, air conditioning and ventilation.

"IT personnel responsible for purchasing and operating IT equipment are [often] not the same people who manage the power consumption," he said. "Neither are they the ones accountable for the bills."

IDC's Carter said: "The lack of government regulation in guidelines around energy efficiency in the data center is another factor that [may] impede green IT adoption," he said. "This can be overcome through proactive action by private sector-led committees putting together guidelines on a country-by-country basis."

Edwin Yapp is a freelance IT writer based in Malaysia.