In the words of a popular Muppet, it’s not easy being green. But enterprises looking to improve their overall operations understand the importance the practice is taking for technology vendors.

 

The decision to reduce power consumption can directly impact businesses’ operating expenditures by cutting energy costs. In addition, capital expenditures are lower as companies scale back the amount of equipment they need for cooling and backup power.

 

A recent study found that more than 50 percent of enterprises consider “greenness” when choosing a vendor. One-third of businesses said they already consider it important, or very important, that IT suppliers have so-called “green offerings,” In addition, close to 80 percent of executives say Green IT is becoming more important to their organizations.

 

While a number of organizations are committed to various eco-friendly initiatives, many businesses have yet to take action. Yet, with an increasing amount of solutions from companies like Alcatel-Lucent, changes are on the horizon.

 

Perhaps one of the biggest drivers of Green IT is sustaining economics, a top factor to reduce energy consumption, Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) said. Some companies are taking advantage of Alcatel-Lucent’s communications equipment, which support environmental initiatives meant to help firms reach their Green IT goals.

 

Alcatel-Lucent, which develops and builds equipment that meets certain environmental standards, already complies with a number of environmental directives, including Restriction of Hazardous Substances, or “RoHS,” Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, or “WEEE,” and electrical emissions.

 

For example, the company’s enterprise switching and telephony equipment emits less power when compared to competitors’. What’s more, the initial cost of power backup and cooling expenses also drops when using the firm’s low-power equipment.

 

And the savings add up. Alcatel-Lucent, for example, developed an energy efficiency calculator with Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) to calculate environmental and energy cost savings. When the company compared its enterprise switching and telephony equipment to that of its competitors, revealed that

 

For an enterprise network with 6,000 1Gb access ports and 3,000 IP phones in a 10Gb backbone configuration, Alcatel-Lucent equipment can save businesses more than 1,000 megawatt hours and more than $150,000 over a five-year period, the company said.

 

So-called “Green” initiatives are nothing new for Alcatel-Lucent. The company recently launched a high-capacity and eco-efficient digital subscriber line platform that helps service providers deliver applications over installed copper base, while consuming up to 25 percent less power compared to conventional DSL solutions. The news supports the company’s eco-sustainability program, which includes using innovation to build smarter, eco-sustainable networks at all layers with a framework that addresses hardware, software, network and site innovation.

 

For more on how efficient communications technology can help reduce costs and help your business become more eco-sustainable, read its white paper on reducing power consumption.