Cloud-Based PC Power Management Offered For SMBs
Verismic and 1E discuss PC power management at the Green IT Expo in London
Cloud-based PC power management is being offered to smaller businesses, to enable them to get the benefit of reduced power bills and lower carbon emissions.
Power management specialist Verismic showed a system for host-based PC power management at the Green IT Expo in London on Tuesday, and rival 1E discussed plans to come out with a cloud-based option, which can manage PCs in low-power states in the next few months.
PC power management for the rest of us
Managing the status of PCs and other desktop systems allows them to be switched off when not in use, and yet still available for important software updates and security patches.
The potential for saving electricity (around £25 per desktop per year) and reducing a company’s carbon footprint is immense – eWEEK readers recently rated desktop power management as the number one way to cut the carbon footprint of IT.
However, most desktop management systems require an on-site server, and represent the kind of IT commitment that only a large organisation can make, even though the payback time is usually around six months.
“For the small to mid-size business this can often mean PC Power Management is too difficult to justify as a project,” said Mark McGinn, Managing Director of Verismic, at the event. Allowing companies to have their PCs managed remotely with a web-based interface could open up the savings to more businesses.
Remote management
“Our system was designed from the ground up with the potential to be managed remotely,” said McGinn, who addressed questions about security in his talk, and emphasised the importance of getting user co-operation in any move to control desktop systems remotely.
“The penetration of PC power management is only about 80 percent,” said analyst Andrew Donoghue of the 451 Group. “Cloud based services could make it more practical for smaller businesses.”
Other vendors agree. “This is an important opportunity which we plan to address in the near future,” said Andy Hawkins, product manager at 1E, maker of the NightWatchman power management product.
