IS YOUR DATA CENTER ALIGNED WITH YOUR GREEN IT INITIATIVES?

译 者 说

数据中心受绿色IT倡议影响越来越大，运营方在满足合规要求的同时，也有商业利益的考量。

驱动 IT 部门和企业组织响应新的绿色倡议原因各不相同。一些组织机构将环境问题作为其业务使命的核心部分，其它组织机构则为进行绿色转型后商业利益的激励所吸引。

The forces driving new green initiatives for IT departments and enterprise organizations can vary. While some organizations embrace environmental issues as a core part of their business mission, others are incentivized by the business benefits of undertaking green transformations.

情况各异，当地政府或行业法规正推动各企业组织遵守新的规则和标准，以通过控制能源消耗和浪费来支持环保举措，并阻止被证明对环境有害的商业行为。无论你的IT部门出于何种原因致力参与“绿色IT”倡议，任何实现绿色的努力都肯定会涉及到对你的数据中心进行更改，特别是你仍在使用原有解决方案。

In other cases, local or industry regulations are pushing organizations to get into compliance with new rules and standards that support environmental initiatives by controlling energy consumption and waste, and discouraging business practices proven to be detrimental to the environment. Regardless of the reasons your IT department may have committed itself to “green IT” initiatives, any effort to go green will surely involve changes to your data center—especially if you’re still operating off a legacy solution.

传统数据中心与高效、可持续的IT运营不兼容原因有很多，但如果你认真考虑在组织中采用绿色IT，则必须用云或SaaS方案替换传统解决方案。后面的文章可帮你了解有关这些数据中心环境和业务成本，以及如何通过切换到绿色数据中心来解决这一不足。

While there are many reasons why the traditional data center is incompatible with efficient, sustainable IT operations, legacy solutions must be replaced with cloud or SaaS alternatives if you are serious about embracing green IT at your organization. Read on to learn more about the environmental and business cost of these data centers, and how to address this shortcoming by switching to a green data center.

传统数据中心的高能耗成本

THE HIGH ENERGY COST OF TRADITIONAL DATA CENTERS

运营数据中心成本高昂。对于许多公用市政和合作单位而言，数据中心是巨大的能源消费方，是他们的主要客户之一，突显了数据中心能源成本的占比。

Running a data center is incredibly expensive. For many utility companies and co-ops across the country, data centers are massive energy consumers that rank among their top customers, underscoring the relative energy cost of these data centers.

更糟糕的是——尤其是对于许多企业来说---这种能耗效率极低。据专家估计，数据中心消耗的能源中有多达90%被浪费了（译注：不只PUE，更包含IT部分的使用效率），并且可以通过更有效地管理这些数据中心来避免。

What’s worse—especially for enterprise businesses—is that this energy consumption is incredibly inefficient. Experts estimate that as much as 90 percent of the energy consumed by data centers is wasted and could be eliminated through more efficient management of these data centers.

本地实体数据中心因其使用能效低下而成为趣谈。越来越多的共识是，基于云的数据中心可通过其规模经济和采用管理策略来实现更高的能源效率，从而最大限度地减少能源浪费并减少单个客户的能源消耗。

Physical on-premise data centers are particularly notorious for being inefficient with the energy they use. But there’s growing consensus that cloud-based data centers can offer greater energy efficiency through their economies of scale and the embrace of management strategies that minimize energy waste and reduce energy consumption for each of their clients.

企业绿色倡议的商业利益

THE BUSINESS BENEFITS OF ENTERPRISE GREEN INITIATIVES

绿色IT --- 以及更广泛地说，贯穿整个企业的绿色计划 --- 不仅仅因为高管对通过公司的商业模式和业务运营支持环保工作感兴趣。高管决策者越来越意识到在IT和其它运营中采用和实施绿色倡议所带来的商业利益和价值创造。

Green IT—and, more broadly, green initiatives spanning an entire enterprise—aren’t motivated solely by executive interest in supporting environmental efforts through the company’s business model and business operations. C-suite decision-makers are increasingly aware of the business benefits and value creation that come with embracing and implementing green initiatives across IT and other operations.

降低能源消耗及其相关成本是绿色倡议的重要动力，但这远非该战略带来唯一价值创造的类型，绿色倡议还可以获得以下商业利益：

Reduced energy consumption—and its associated costs—are a significant motivator for green initiatives, but this is far from the only type of value creation this strategy offers. Green initiatives can also reap the following business benefits.

• 通过对绿色倡议来吸引某些客户和类似投入的IT合作伙伴的能力。
• The ability to attract certain clientele and IT partners with a similar investment in green initiatives.
• 减少因法规合规特别是强化绿色监管而导致的业务中断。
• Reduced business disruptions from regulatory compliance focused on enforcing green regulations.
• 改善人才获取和客户保留。
• Improved talent acquisition and customer retention.
• 通过可持续的 IT 基础设施创造长期价值。
• Long-term value creation from sustainable IT infrastructure.

无论这种绿色倡议是否IT基础设施项目的主要推动力，或是仅仅是附带利益，在为 IT 转型制定业务案例时都应考虑到这一价值，尤其是在倡导数据中心迁移等资源密集型项目时。

Whether this green initiative is a primary motivator of IT infrastructure projects, or simply a fringe benefit, this value should be accounted for when making a business case for IT transformation—especially when advocating for resource-intensive projects such as data center migration.

绿色数据中心如何支持你的企业使命

HOW GREEN DATA CENTERS CAN SUPPORT
YOUR ENTERPRISE MISSION

虽然每个云数据中心选项都可能比你当前既有的解决方案在能耗方面有改进，但并不是每个云数据中心默认都是绿色的。如果你渴望迁移到利用并实施绿色IT举措的数据中心，你需要寻找反映对绿色IT基础设施有所承诺的标准。

While every cloud data center option might be an improvement over the energy consumption of your current legacy solution, not every cloud data center is green by default. If you’re eager to migrate to a data center that embraces and implements a green IT approach, you will want to look for certain criteria that reflect a commitment to green IT infrastructure.

例如，大多数绿色数据中心通过优化及自动化方式来确定、调度、安装维护和支持数据中心运营的各种举措来降低能耗。数据中心还可以优化运营中供电、冷却所需电力和水，从而为企业客户节省成本，同时满足企业对绿色IT解决方案的期望。

For example, most green data centers reduce energy consumption through optimized, automated approaches to determining, scheduling, and installing various initiatives that maintain and support the data center’s operation. This data center may also optimize its use of energy and water to power and cool its operations, creating cost savings for enterprise clients while also meeting expectations for green IT solutions.

绿色数据中心也许从风能和太阳能等可再生能源中获得部分甚至全部能源供应 --- 运营方可能计划陆续增加对此类能源的需求比例，减少对化石燃料和其它不可再生能源的依赖。

Green data centers may also receive some, or even all, of their energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar—and they may have plans to increase this energy reliance over time, reducing their dependence on fossil fuels and other non-renewable energy sources.

随着你所在企业接受和承担迁移数据中心带来的业务中断可能，重要的是要考虑绿色IT倡议在选择新数据中心时可能发挥的作用，尤其是在考虑到你所在企业组织长远规划时对绿色倡议与日俱增的影响。

As your enterprise takes on the business disruption that comes with migrating its data center, it’s important to consider the role green IT initiatives may play in choosing your new data center home—especially when accounting for your organization’s long-term plans to increase the impact of its green initiatives over time.

深 知 社

翻译：

Eric

DKV（Deep Knowledge Volunteer）计划创始成员