The color that shall not be named. AMD's Vertal downplays green credentials, plays up efficiency arguments

I realize Advanced Micro Devices has some news in the offing this week that likely will supersede the urgency of this blog's content, but I wanted to recount some high points from a conversation I had about two weeks ago with Larry Vertal, the company's senior strategist when it comes to matters green.

Actually, I take that back, Mr. Vertal is decidedly not a fan of the Green IT label, much along the veins of the Forrester report that I blogged about last night. "We are not a fan of the phrase Green IT," Vertal told me when he checked in from the recent AlwaysOn GoingGreen conference, where he was a speaker. "Fundamentally, where we have influence is in energy-efficiency." I should note that he IS a board member of the Green Grid, so he hasn't entirely escaped the word on his business card. (In fun, Mr. Vertal!)

Any, so far, so good. I've always strongly urged IT managers and executives to focus less on the green word when making their energy-efficiency and environmental arguments. Definitely, you could make the case that AMD has gone really pushed Intel to new heights of innovation when it comes to low-powered processors. You can argue about which company has done what first and who leads where. I'm not going to. I'll merely point out that for all its ongoing corporate challenges, this is, after all, a company that has really helped push the multi-core dialogue, which is at its heart one of green-ness, er power-efficiency.

For illustration, Vertal points out that one of AMD's current desktop quad-core designs uses a mere 60 watts, and the release of its 45-nanometer version will bring additional power and thermal advantages.

One of the things that I think is even cooler to mention is the work that AMD is doing to help account for the power drain that features road warriors love, like super-duper high-end graphics, aren't such a huge power-suck on your notebook computer. AMD's dual-mode graphics defaults to the high-end features when plugged in, but switches to an integrated approach when the system is running on battery. Green? Perhaps not. Energy-efficient? You betcha, to steal a phrase from VP-wannabe Sarah Palin.

What else is on Vertal's strategy plate? Well, AMD is about ready to crank out its eighth Global Climate Protection Plan. Yes, the company has been producing statements regarding its focus on environmental issues for that long. It's not up on their site yet, but here's the link for when it DOES become available. The company recently opened up a Gold-certified facility under the Leadership in Energy Efficiency and Environmental Design rating system.

Vertal contends that the next phase for AMD's focus on environmental leadership will be on its supply chain, which should be interesting given the ongoing rumor that it will spin off its manufacturing operations moving forward. As more companies explore this route (remember the Dell stories of about a month ago), energy-efficiency and environmental/materials responsibility will be new checkoff items in the outsourcing process. How green is the high-tech industry willing to be in this economy?