Sun creates its own solar system of eco partners

Going back to my roots in writing about and for IT resellers, VARs and systems integrators with today's entry. That's because Sun Microsystems became one of the first high-tech companies a few weeks back to include its business partners in its ability have a green tech dialogue with its customers. Cisco and Polycom have also made some public outreach, but very little has been said publicly by Hewlett-Packard and IBM on this particular issue. Which is a shame, when you think about it, because each of them have thousands of business partners who could be preaching their unique green gospel. Sun's mantra on this particular issue is that it should be good business practice to marry "ecology and economics."

Sun's new Eco Advantage Program is aimed at helping the Sun partner community become more conversation about the environment and technology's impact, as well as energy efficiency and the appropriate solutions that can be deployed on the IT side. If you're a Sun partner, you can find the information at this Web address.

The main elements of the program include:

Training: Information about how to discuss data center power and cooling issues; training on consolidation and virtualization services with a specific green twist Services: Eligible business partners will be able to work with the Sun Eco Assessment Service, which is essentially a high-level evaluation of the specific consumption profile of the data center in question. Modeling and ROI tools: Basically, templates to help a VAR spec out various power, cooling or carbon savings options. Methodologies: Ideas about how to provide repeatable implementations that conform to a client's energy-efficiency needs.