Green IT for Dummies
If you are the kind of person who makes New Year’s resolutions – maybe you are thinking about being a better “green” person within your organization? The thing is – for most folks – just what does this really mean?
I’ve become a big fan of simplicity and transparency. Both in sales process, sales execution and sales training. If you are trying to train yourself in something new – start with the simple stuff first!Case in point – this book which I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of from Carol Baroudi who you may recognize from the Aberdeen Group. Carol is a Green and Sustainability consultant – so she lives and breathes this stuff!
I’m not that big a reader to be honest. I’m more of a scanner – so this book is good if you want to quickly get a grasp of what Green IT is also about and maybe some thoughts on how to drive these initiates within your organization.
Part 3 of the book is titled “Greening the Data Center” – so I would draw your attention to this section and chapters:
- Chapter 7: Laying the Foundation for Green Data Management
- Chapter 8: Maximizing Data Center Efficiency
- Chapter 9: Racking up Green Servers
- Chapter 10: Cooling your Data Center
- Chapter 11 Building a Green Storage System
- Chapter 12: Grooming the Network for Green
- Chapter 13: Using Virtualization
Wow – you can quickly get the big picture as you read through these chapters of all the different aspects of the data center that “green” can influence.
Cooling is the biggest cost in the data center – so chapter 10 has a section in “Benchmarking your Cooling System’s Efficiency” where we start to get into The Green Grid and PUE calculations. It’s easy reading – and the sections are not designed to tire you out which is good!
For anyone who is new to the notion of “Greening the Enterprise Data Center” – this is a great book to help you get started. If you want to pick up a copy – just google it and the usual sources show up. Thanks Carol for getting the word out!



