Effectively monitoring data centres – their systems, applications and servers – can not only help streamline process but also enable quicker responses to failures.

As data usage and electricity costs spiral out of control IT managers are leaving no stone unturned, even changing individual components to lower power usage and increase effectiveness.

A study released by Stanford University professor Jonathan Koomey pegs growth in energy use among US data centers at 36 per cent from 2005 to 2010 - which is slower than some had predicted but nonetheless significant.

Company size is not necessarily an indication of an enterprise’s ability to deploy Green IT initiatives, according to findings from Fujitsu’s Green IT benchmark research for the financial services industry. In the fourth report undertaken with research partner, Connection Research, Fujitsu surveyed 638 organisations in four countries — the US, UK, Australia and India — looking at areas such as Green IT lifecycle, end-user efficiencies, enteprise and data centre efficiencies, the use of IT in carbon reduction and measurement and monitoring.

If IT inefficiency was measured in carbon dioxide emissions, The University of Sydney's transformation from a "train wreck" to a centrally managed, efficient fleet of client computers is like taking thousands of cars off the road, says IT director Geoffrey Brown.

It was 2006, and Tom Noonan had it all. Internet Security Systems (ISS), the company he co-founded and led as CEO, was pulling in $US400 million in annual revenue and on the verge of being acquired by IBM for a whopping $US1.3 billion.

Servers get most of the glory when it comes to energy management, but networking gear is about to catch up.

Reducing power usage and cutting carbon emissions is probably the right thing to do for the future of the planet. But keep this is mind: Green is a powerful marketing term right now and cost-savings promises are part of the marketing pitch. Like all marketing promises, results vary. One example: The amount of money a typical consumer can save by using or powering down energy-efficient computers, printers and the like is often small--in the case of an up-to-date laptop, the energy savings add up to perhaps just $10 a year.

Driven by more austere state budgets and shrinking endowments, universities and colleges are looking for ways to improve the efficiency of their data centers. For technology vendors, that push could mean big business.

Visitors to Disney's Epcot Center in Orlando can walk around the world, stopping at pavilions that aim to give them a taste of other countries. Now, Disney and IBM hope to give visitors a unique look at the information technology that delivers the modern world's everyday necessities as well.