Power management still more talked about than deployed

Just how much power are businesses and the federal government wasting by failing to manage whether or not their PCs are on or off at night or, if you prefer to think in convenience, when they're not needed? A new study says that desktops and laptops are left on approximately 94 percent of the time. Which, if you do the math, suggests that people use their computers roughly 22.5 hours per day. Talk about productivity! Seriously, even if you consider that patches and maintenance will go on during some of those hours, that's a long time.

The study -- commissioned by a large utility company, promoted by power management software maker Verdiem and conducted by researcher QDI Strategies -- goes on to suggest that energy consumption could be reduced by 45 percent if steps are taken to manage power usage centrally. If you're looking for proofpoints for your own organization, there's plenty of data packed in this thorough, if self-interested analysis, including some industry-specific stats.