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... who is Greenest of them all?

Announcement posted by Connection Research 10 May 2010

Connection Research looks at the leading 'Green' vendors and discovers if 'Green' performance really is important to IT users


Sydney.10 May 2010.
Greenpeace has recently published the latest version of its Cool IT Leader Board, which evaluates IT vendors’ ‘green’ performance.

According to Greenpeace, the assessment covers a company’s “efforts to offer economy-wide technological climate solutions that contribute to global greenhouse gas reductions, initiatives to reduce emissions from their own footprint, and their active engagement in political advocacy and support for science based climate and energy policies”.

The 2010 Cool IT Leader Board places Cisco in top place, with double its previous score, followed by Ericsson, IBM, HP and Fujitsu. The worst performers are Panasonic, Sony, Sharp and Toshiba. Even though Google finished only sixth overall, it was commended for its top score for political advocacy.

The Cool IT Leader Board shares a similarity with the question “Who are the most important Green IT vendors” published in Connection Research’s new report: Green IT in Australia 2010. This is Connection Research’s second annual report evaluating the state of Green IT in Australia. It uses Connection Research’s pioneering Green IT Readiness index, which rates user organisations in five different aspects of Green IT.

Microsoft, Dell, IBM, HP and Google all feature in both the Greenpeace and Connection Research top 10. This suggests that there is a correlation between ‘green' performance and importance to users.

A further important correlation between the two rankings is their relative improvement in the last 12 months. Since last year, the Greenpeace Cool IT Leader Board overall vendor performance has improved by 26%, and the Connection Research Green IT Readiness Index finds IT users are on average 25% greener.


Connection Research goes further …

So it is not surprising to find that when Connection Research asked “Who is the most important source of information about Green IT?” respondents rate computer vendors at the top of the list.

Vendors and users have improved at similar rates in the last 12 months, and at the same time the data shows that vendors are the most important Green IT influence on users.We also believe that much of the user improvements can be contributed to technology changes, such as virtualisation, but the hard work is still to come.

But should users be paying so much attention to vendors? The vendors’ ‘green’ performance is still relatively low, reflected by their average Greenpeace 2010 score of 37.5 out of 100 (up from 29.8 in 2009). If users were to give more consideration to other sources of information and focus less on that provided by the computer vendors, their Green IT awareness and efficiency would probably improve at a much higher rate. With sustainability, technology is important, but behavior and innovation counts for more.

The Connection Research Green IT in Australia 2010 report explores attitudes, trends and influences of IT users. The vendor ratings are just one of many insights into the market, based on a comprehensive survey of over 250 Australian businesses. The report is available now. For more information contact Graeme Philipson at Connection Research.

Phone +61 2 9467 9811 email graemep@connectionresearch.com.au


About Connection Research

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St Leonards NSW 2065

Australia

Phone: +61 2 9467 9800

Connection Research is an Australian market research and analysis company with a focus on corporate and consumer usage of sustainable and digital technologies. Its primary methodology is demand-side research, surveying consumers of technology about usage patterns, attitudes and plans. It operates across four practice areas: Green IT, Carbon and Compliance, Building Industry and Trades, and Community Sustainability.