sustainableIT has announced that it is deploying NightWatchman PC power management from 1E on 5,500 desktop computers across Sanlam’s operations to help improve energy efficiency and reduce ICT environmental impacts.
Shutting down corporate PCs during non-work hours is expected to save Sanlam more than 1,5 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year and eliminate 1,545 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions — equivalent to the electricity required to power 125 average South African homes. As a result of the power downs, Sanlam also expects to see annual energy cost savings of close on R1 million per year.
Powering ICT equipment is a significant portion of a company’s energy costs, particularly in financial services where technology is pervasive. According to industry analysts Gartner, the majority of this energy use is attributable to PC’s and monitors and so PC power management tooling is the logical first step in Green IT initiatives.
Sanlam ITISS needed a solution to integrate its existing IT environment, allowing the wake up of machines after hours, ensuring software updates are deployed seamlessly and automatically whilst controlling desktop PC power use more effectively”, commented Abdurrauf Sonday, Head of End User Computing at Sanlam ITISS . “NightWatchman is a best of breed power management solution and ticks all the boxes both in terms of technical integration and functionality”.
The solution will centrally control the power settings on Windows desktop computers to reduce energy waste and ensure consistent policy across the PC estate. A managed shutdown of computer systems not in use, especially overnight and on weekends, will be implemented to further reduce energy usage.
NightWatchman will also ensure that all desktops connected to the Sanlam network are awake or woken up to receive software updates after hours, decreasing end user downtime during working hours due to software installs and reboots.
Tim James, director at sustainableIT, 1E’s local business partner, said: “sustainableIT is proud to work with Sanlam ITISS on this project. The deployment of NightWatchman reflects Sanlam’s commitment to find sustainable business solutions that not only help the company reduce costs and improve its environmental impact, but also streamlines business operations from an ICT perspective.”
Powering down idle IT equipment during both peak and non-peak times is one way that corporate citizens can reduce energy consumption. The company is working to further enhance energy performance and reduce energy consumption in company buildings, data centres and IT systems.
9 March 2011
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