BPM Forum and Rackable Systems Launch Think Eco-Logical Initiative to Educate Companies on the Business Benefits of Going Green

BPM Forum and Rackable Systems Launch Think Eco-Logical Initiative to Educate Companies on the Business Benefits of Going Green Pilot survey confirms resounding support for campaign

(Palo Alto, CA - December 2, 2008)

The Think Eco-Logical™ initiative, a milestone thought leadership program supported by IT professionals across multiple industries, is being launched today to educate enterprises and organizations on combining environmental concerns with intelligent business management. The core theme of the Think Eco-Logical movement addresses both the environmental side (Eco) of IT sustainability imperatives and the economics (Logical) of achieving environmental efficiencies. The program is operated by the Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum in partnership with Rackable Systems (NASDAQ: RACK), the leader in built-to-order server and storage solutions, Intel®, and the Global Renewable Energy and Environmental Network (GREEN). Through original content, assembled insight and contributions from leading industry influencers and associations, Think Eco-Logical creates a reservoir of intellectual capital for organizations dealing with the challenges and business opportunities around environmental responsibility. “IT departments have a great opportunity to be the catalyst for environmentally and fiscally responsible initiatives,” said Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the BPM Forum. “Think Eco-Logical cuts through the eco-hype by going deep into vertical markets to uncover real-world business drivers and pain points specific to those industries and offering impactful best practices that can be implemented today.” A pilot survey conducted by the BPM Forum of more than 200 IT professionals assessed the validity, resonance and supporting drivers for Think Eco-Logical. Results show that the market is highly supportive of the term Think Eco-Logical and the powerful messages that it delivers. An overwhelming 96 percent of respondents believe it is a strong campaign theme for energy reduction, and 85 percent identified data center energy conservation as a high priority. 84 percent associated cost saving benefits with the term Think Eco-Logical. “The Think Eco-Logical initiative is intended to help companies which have been struggling to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint,” says George Skaff, vice president of marketing at Rackable Systems. “Rackable Systems has been a long time advocate for enabling organizations to achieve IT sustainability through its high efficiency, high-performance server and storage products. Through this initiative, we will continue to elevate market awareness on how to improve data center productivity while reducing costs and environmental impact.” According to consultancy group McKinsey & Company “In the United States alone, growth in electricity used by data centers between now and 2010 will be the equivalent of ten new power plants. Without efforts to curb demand, current projections show worldwide carbon emissions from data centers will quadruple by 2020.” "The Think Eco-Logical initiative is important as companies look for better ways to reduce carbon footprint, build in better efficiencies, and achieve significant cost reduction," said Lorie Wigle, General Manager Intel® Eco-Technology. "We have worked closely with Rackable Systems in development of their build-to-order servers based on Intel® Xeon® Processors to provide an efficient, power-friendly, high-performance solution that is in line with the core tenets of the Think Eco-Logical campaign." Think Eco-Logical will examine multiple vertical industries, starting with digital media and entertainment as well as Internet and eCommerce. These industries are in the midst of embracing ways to address mushrooming data delivery and storage demands combined with rising eco-pressure and operational costs. With huge production facilities and distribution networks pushing massive amounts of data, including downloads, streaming video, renderings and animation, media and entertainment companies stand to gain substantial benefits from logical improvements to their IT infrastructure. At the same time, a recent UCLA study suggests that contrary to the industry’s highly-publicized eco-initiatives, like recycling, eco-friendly packaging and hybrid vehicle use, the film industry is second only to the oil industry as California’s largest environmental polluters. The increased demand for Internet services like music, video downloads and massive volumes of Internet search queries are placing a huge strain on the nation’s energy infrastructure as well. One single Google search consumes 2 to 8 watt-hours of energy. Factor in hundreds of millions of queries a day, and it translates into well over a billion watt-hours of energy consumed daily just for Internet search on Google alone.

Inaugural Industry Surveys
Two Think Eco-Logical surveys have been commissioned to measure and quantify the current needs, concerns and attitudes of these industries as they weigh decisions about investing in green technology. The surveys will examine challenges and success scenarios in enabling the ecological data center and supporting the high compute needs specific to each industry.
To participate in the Media & Entertainment industry IT survey, please click here.
To participate in the Internet & eCommerce industry IT survey, please click here. New White Paper Outlines Proper Mix of Eco-Consciousness with Sound Business
The Think Eco-Logical initiative is supported by a new white paper that describes how through this new strategic approach of combing both environmental and fiscal thinking, companies can satisfy social responsibility and bolster business value: Think Eco-Logical – A New IT Mandate for Eco-Consciousness and Sound Business Sense. This paper explains how organizations can engage in sound efficiency practices to achieve IT sustainability imperatives through dramatically reduced power usage. By focusing on business drivers, they can significantly reduce costs and achieve bottom-line benefits. The Think Eco-Logical white paper and logo can be downloaded at http://www.rackable.com/thinkecological.  

About the BPM Forum
The Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum is dedicated to advancing performance accountability, process improvement, operational visibility and compliance in global organizations. It provides support to thousands of senior executives and practitioners representing enterprises with more than $500 billion in combined annual revenues. The BPM Forum’s C-level members engage in research, thought leadership, and knowledge exchange programs around a variety of strategic issues and challenges. More information is available at: www.BPMForum.org.

About Rackable Systems
Rackable Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of Eco-Logical™ servers and storage for large-scale data center deployments. The company’s products are designed to provide benefits in the areas of density, thermal efficiency, serviceability, power distribution, data center mobility and remote management. Founded in 1999 and based in Fremont, California, Rackable Systems is a founding member of The Green Grid and serves Internet, enterprise software, federal government, entertainment, financial services, oil and gas exploration and HPC customers worldwide. To learn more about Rackable Systems and this initiative, visit www.rackable.com