Welcome Mira Perry with this guest post. Mira is a Sr Analyst in IDC's Software Sales Channels Program in my Software Business Solutions Group. Catch up with her on Twitter @miravperry.
Mark Landler of the New York Times reported on Monday that U.S energy secretary, Steven Chu "favored tariffs on Chinese goods if China did not sign on to mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas emissions — underscoring how the “green economy” could be the next trade battleground." Tuesday on Twitter, a string of "eco-tweets" began with the USA Today article "Leaving PCs On Overnight Costs Companies $2.8B a Year," followed shortly thereafter by similar tweets from two other major media outlets. The crescendo of eco-media coverage continued through the week, building to Saturday's Earth Hour. Leading IT companies, once criticized for their environmental impact, are now at the vanguard of this surprising shift toward green priorities in the midst of a recession.
For example, IBM is making serious financial investments in their green initiatives, over $1 billion in fact. This month's announcement of GreenCert is one of a metronome-like cadence of eco announcements from Big Blue. While much of IBM's investment is earmarked for the greening of IBM technology, there is still a considerable amount of cash that has been invested in their channel program, PartnerWorld, to help partners deliver green solutions to IBM customers. Whether addressing the requests of their customers or driving their own Green IT agenda, IBM partners have access to a number of tools like "The IBM Carbon Management Model" which helps partners present greener solutions for their customers by identifying opportunities to reduce carbon emissions through products and solutions. Other tools include a How-To Guide for implementing Energy Efficient Data Centers, plus whitepapers, and seminar kits.
Sun's most recent update to their corporate backgrounder calls out and details a single corporate initiative: Environmental Stewardship. In the channel, they back this up with their Eco Advantage Program, designed to help Sun's partners build an Eco IT practice. The program offers partners tools to guide their customers toward greener IT solutions that use fewer resources for power and cooling, helping customers reduce operational costs and lessen their impact on the environment. In conversations with the team behind this initiative, the passion for and belief in their work is evident. It also makes sound business sense. Leveraging their partner network extends the reach of the Eco Advantage Program while also anticipating customer demands, ultimately burnishing Sun's brand image.
Sun, IBM, and other IT vendors are not alone. Chu's statement signals government's belief that eco-positioning may offer American companies an important competitive advantage. Interestingly, consumers also seem to be pressing American businesses for more environmentally sound IT solutions, creating an unusual alignment of government, consumer, and industry interests toward this salient concern. With any luck, we'll all heed the call and power down for Earth Hour.
