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Virtualisation for green IT centres?

Power consumption is already on the minds of IT managers, having replaced space as the main (non-staff) cost of running IT centres. The recent publication of the Stern report on the economic effects of climate change [full report; BBC online coverage] gives extra incentive to look at ways of reducing power use.

Virtualisation and Grid seem obvious tools to investigate for this end. Case studies have shown they can more than double the utilisation rates of existing servers. The Grid Computing Now! team are looking into this approach and we're keen to hear your stories. Please get in touch if you have experience of increasing server utilisation - or if you need to control your power bills!

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