76% of AsiaPac governments need ICT sustainability

While in Singapore, the focus is on reducing the energy and operating costs of Data Centres.

More than three quarters of Asia Pacific government CIOs and IT managers have realised the need for a dedicated office to plan and execute an overall ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) sustainability strategy, according to a new poll released today by Schneider Electric IT Business conducted at an industry event. Interestingly for ICT vendors, 72% of the participants indicated that they include sustainability criteria in the evaluation and selection of ICT purchases. As an effort to explore Asia Pacific’s attitudes towards energy efficiency, the poll results underscore the importance of spreading awareness of energy management amid the high environmental and financial cost of energy throughout this region.

Remarkably, of the 32% of respondents who said that cost and/or availability of electricity will have a significant impact on their data centre’s ability to support operations over the next 3 years, more than 70 percent were from developing countries – India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Malaysia. Representatives from the more developed Asia Pacific countries polled – China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore – were less concerned with the supply of energy, noting that it may only affect a limited number of departments or have a minimal impact.

“It’s important that government decisions makers understand that the cost of not solving this problem is significantly higher than the solution,” added Benedict Soh, IT Business VP - Schneider Electric Singapore. “All government CIOs and ICT managers now realise that this cost burden is unsustainable for their country – it diminishes the funds available for investment in productivity, expansion of output, and ultimately affects their overall global competitively.”

A majority of governments recognise that the data centre is a key focus area for reducing energy consumption, with only 20% of respondents not focused in this area. For building a new data centre or expanding existing operations, energy efficiency was considered a high priority by 72% of respondents. The top initiatives included server virtualisation and consolidation, policy implementation and cooling system re-design.

In Singapore, there has been increased emphasis on green ICT – the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore has partnered other government agencies and industry to develop a Singapore Standard for Green Data Centres. As data centres are extremely energy-intensive, with electricity accounting for more than 50% of the operating expenditure in a typical data centre, the Green Data Centre Standard will target to help companies reduce the energy consumption and operating costs of DCs and enhance their competitiveness. This is especially relevant for Singapore and Asia Pacific as data centre services business here is growing rapidly, with many multi-national corporations establishing their data centre facilities in Singapore.

“With the global rise of energy prices and the looming threat of an energy crisis, energy is becoming more than just expensive – it’s a liability,” added Benedict Soh, IT Business VP - Schneider Electric Singapore “It’s important for all Asia Pacific government agencies to recognise the urgency of implementing energy efficient technology, and an intelligent energy management data centre solution is one of the first steps to reducing risk and controlling costs.”