For most organizations the efficient use of energy delivers two key operational requirements: - cost reductions and improved environmental responsibility. The two elements combined can be considered as "Green IT" - everyone is talking about reducing CO2 emissions and in the current economic climate, reducing energy bills is an equally appealing target. Industry analysts show that IT energy costs are often one of the highest on the company’s IT budget and one that is most overlooked for efficiency management.

CrossTec EMS now features as standard a new "energy monitor" component that provides a simple and concise high level summary of potential energy wastage across an organization by computer systems that are left powered on out of business hours.

PCs and monitors account for 39% of the information and telecommunications industry's emissions, which is equal to a full year of CO2 emissions from 43,900,000 cars.
-Gartner June 2008

Firstly, CrossTec EMS already monitors all systems across an enterprise to detect changes in hardware inventory and new software installations, as well as recording application and internet usage. It also checks to verify the powered-on state of all computers and its local monitoring component keeps an accurate record of each time a computer is powered on, off or hibernates. Once it knows the times of day each computer was operational, an average (and customizable) “power consumption per device” calculation is used, facilitating a baseline energy usage calculation for all computers. The indicative energy usage calculation is then combined with each customer’s specific energy rates (per Kw) allowing CrossTec EMS to reflect the overall cost for all identified systems.

Once implemented, department heads or management can see a high level view of energy usage by computers across the organization, see where "out of hours" usage is highest and identify whether this is a result of diligent staff working late or simply systems that have been left switched on overnight.

All companies have an obligation to themselves to prevent unnecessary costs and an obligation to the environment to conserve energy. CrossTec EMS provides a simple and easy to use step in the direction of efficient and cost effective energy usage.