Good news for the CISO here – more infrastructure in a secure and controlled environment and less ad hoc access over WANs. For office workers and many branch workers, the network used will be a private one, so not too much extra concern about the remaining network traffic.

To some organisations, getting access to high quality data centre space may sound expensive. But it need not be. First, it is possible to procure such space from co-location providers like Centrinet, Telehouse Europe, or Netcetera, or just rent hardware provided by managed service providers who use co-location facilities like Rackspace or NTT Europe Online.

But an increasingly popular alternative is to turn to software as a service (SaaS) vendors, which provide subscription-based access to applications ranging from CRM (e.g. salesforce.com, NetSuite, RightNow) to IT security (e.g. MessageLabs, Google/Postini, Qualys). All SaaS providers have to use robust well managed data centre facilities to underpin their business model.

Usage

The real security headache for CISOs is around usage outside of the office. This is not so much about what employees do with IT, but the fact that any business going green needs to open its IT infrastructure to a broad spectrum of external users.

Unlike other industries that are lambasted for their CO2 emissions, such as air travel and road transport, IT usage already has the potential to be low or zero carbon. So rather than being an environmental pariah, IT can be used to drive initiatives that green the business in other areas.

Collaborative applications like web and video conferencing are becoming more and more widely used, and while claims that these reduce the overall carbon footprint of a business need to be substantiated, their use is a direct alternative to travel. But such collaboration needs to be with suppliers, customers, and other business partners - not just between employees. This requires open access over the internet.

Business processes such as supply chain management and distribution are increasingly being opened up for direct access by businesses to external entities. This helps ensure the efficiency of the transportation and storage of goods. But again this requires wide ranging access to IT over the internet by third parties.

And then there are employees working flexibly, field service engineers clocking in remotely using handheld devices, sales staff logging orders direct from customers' sites, and call centre workers based in their own homes. All have the potential to make a business greener, especially if the applications themselves are run using low or carbon zero facilities and infrastructure.

So, the greening of IT means housing as much infrastructure as possible in secure data centres that will become increasingly remote and potentially zero carbon – this introduces more control, security and resilience. But it also means providing wide ranging access to applications housed in such facilities, often over an inherently insecure network – the internet.

However, unlike many other activities that are hungry for power, well managed IT has the potential to give more back to the environmentally-aware business than it takes.

Copyright © 2007,

Bob Tarzey is a service director at Quocirca focused on the route to market for IT products and services in Europe. Quocirca (www.quocirca.com) is a UK based perceptional research and analysis firm with expertise in the European and global IT markets.

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