Thin is in: Considering the green impact of desktop virtualization and thin clients

When it comes to making existing tech more green, many of the most meaningful (“real” if you will) energy-efficiency policies point back to the hottest/coolest technology in the entire tech industry: virtualization. Which makes sense, because virtualization is, after all, about saving money by doing more with less.

But virtualization isn’t just about servers. So this entry is a nod to all the random tidbits I’ve picked up that relate back to virtualization at the desktop level.

First point of business: Emerging desktop virtualization player Pano Logic includes an ROI analysis tool with its thin clients so the customer can track the amount of carbon they have offset by using the technology. Pano Logic reports that a deployment of 1,000 Pano Logic clients with the associated server infrastructure avoids the creation of 2,888 tons of carbon dioxide emissions compared with the alternative: deploying 1,000 desktop PCs. So, that's your benchmark.

Another virtual PC player, NComputing, figures that its installed base of 500,000 virtual PC seats represents a reduction in 88 million kilowatts per year, compared with comparable PC installations.

For those of you needed much more granular information about the impact of desktop virtualization and thin clients on the environment, Forrester recently completed a report tying thin computing, and by association desktop virtualization, to the green movement.

When comparing thin clients to desktops, Forrester finds they consume between five and 60 watts per device compared with the 150 to 350 watts typically used by a PC. The possible power conservation by opting for thin clients could be 24 percent. The research firm also points out that thin clients last approximately seven years, compared with the three to four years for a desktop or a notebook.

For the entire report as well as the research firms recommendations for how to evaluate thin clients along green lines, visit this link.