Energy Management and Cloud Computing Trends

October 8, 2010

I’ve spent a lot of time blogging about cloud computing and its various trends in both the venture capital funding world as well as it relates to businesses/management teams and consumers. It is a rapidly growing trend with no signs of slowing down. Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft on Oct. 5th: 

“Our industry is going through quite a wave of invention, powered by one major phenomenon… the shift to the cloud.”

Over the past year alone, cloud computing has exploded to a $16.5 billion dollar market, with more to come in the next couple of years. One of the many advantages of cloud computing — besides trimming operation costs — is the ability to cut down on energy costs and become more “green”. Everyone wants to be more green, especially businesses. But what about all the data centers, how do they maintain their green status as the market heats up? As more and more companies move their data and infrastructure to the cloud, the energy necessary to power those centers will and has been expanding — thus potentially driving up the cost to consumers, driving up the possibility of climate change and creating the opposite effect of the benefit of moving to the cloud in the first place.

Some of the best practices process as talked about by William Clifford here:

  • Right-Sizing the Data Center
  • Eliminating the “Silo Effect” Between IT and Facilities
  • Monitoring the Data Center’s Energy Performance

One of the largest technology market trends right now is certainly cloud computing and, as the market evolves, the ability to handle the surge in scale and energy is an important part of cloud computing success…not to mention environmental impact.

GM

Peter Zotto is the GM at <a href="http://www.priceintelligently.com">Price Intelligently</a>. Previously he was an analyst at OpenView where he helped to identify qualified investment opportunities.