Rounding up the Green IT figureheads

Harapin: From VMware’s perspective, Green is one of the big drivers of why we have been so successful as an organisation. 50 per cent of our firm’s electrical use is IT-related. We have gained a lot of big business recently due to the CEO signing off because of the Green impact. We are seeing Green as a very important topic, with large and small organisations.

Spiteri: Just in the areas which we operate in, it is a financial model. People want to cut down their energy costs.

Walters: I think it is cost and I think it is government regulation not being strong enough yet. The main thing is the practicality of it all. We have got to make it easy to do business with and if we don’t make it easy it won’t happen. For instance, in my garage today, I have a black, a green, a yellow and a blue bin. Four bins, where three years ago, I had one. There should be a computer bin in there somewhere too potentially.

Dickerson: Is there a central ewaste collection company?

Torre: Yes, but the problem is what they do with it afterwards.

Dickerson: I think we need the data that we can point to as an industry and say to end-consumers: Here is the information which assesses the total lifecycle of the equipment. We need to have cold hard research data which shows that there is a benefit for them.

Wright: I think an inherent awareness around the size of the issue is one of the main challenges, from the consumer perspective and across the board. I don’t think there is a quantifiable understanding of the impact the industry currently has or clear steps to reducing issues. It is about awareness.

Morton: We are in danger of just creating noise as an industry. To move forward I think we are going to have to turn that noise into salient, substantive comments.

Chan: I agree with the Green regulations coming into place and while we are all waiting for this, what we are actually doing is spending more money on the marketing side.

Johnson: I don’t think there is anything holding us back, I think there is probably too much to do. It is important to prioritise what to do and not jump to the detail. It is the lifecycle approach. As an industry how do we keep an eye on the lifecycle issue? We are a hyper-competitive industry, so when we talk about standards it is important that we continue to have that dialogue as an industry. There is always that temptation of “my solution is greener than yours”, then we will start to lose our way because we are fighting amongst ourselves. Yes it is a competitive weapon, but as an industry we should be socially responsible.

Larsen: I agree to a certain extent with a lot of what has just been said. I think within businesses one of the things holding them back is who is responsible for Green. Who has got the budget?

Dickens: I would also agree with a lot of the comments that have been made already and I don’t think there is anything holding the industry back. The issue comes down to the quality of the regulations, the quality of the standards, the quality of the information provided to customers. The regulations and standards will enable the outcome.

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