Press Releases

2008

FORCE10 NETWORKS VICE PRESIDENT EXPLORES ECO-EFFICIENCY AS A HOLISTIC APPROACH FOR ALIGNING BUSINESS GOALS WITH POWER AND COOLING DEMANDS

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 30, 2008 –The impact of rising costs associated with data center power and cooling are not just confined to IT and facilities budgets anymore but are beginning to impact the quality of business on many different levels, including customer satisfaction and the bottom line, said Stephen Garrison, vice president of marketing for Force10 Networks, at Interop 2008.  While the notion of being “green” has become a familiar marketing concept, the key to reducing power consumption in the data center is through a holistic, eco-efficient approach, he said.

“The phrase “green IT” has become an overhyped way to confuse customers and muddy the waters of an important discussion that is impacting the way organizations design their networks and increasingly do business,” Garrison said during a session at the industry’s leading global business technology event.  “The climate is ripe for business and IT communities to re-examine their power consumption through an eco-efficiency lens that offers tangible ways to optimize data centers by integrating environmental, social responsibility and economic impact analysis into the planning and design processes.”

In addition to mounting costs, a vast majority of businesses have reported server and storage downtime, outages and, ultimately, loss of customer satisfaction and revenue as a result of power and cooling-related issues, according to a survey by industry analyst group IDC.  Through optimization, however, a process which includes many eco-friendly tactics, a typical data center can reduce energy costs by as much as 50 percent – or $400,000, according to the report.

“From design to management to equipment choices, IT managers can make a huge difference in what kind of statement their data center makes at the business level,” Garrison said.  “Building a strategic and reliable network that can act as a flexible foundation for implementing network automation as a tool to optimize power consumption is one of the most crucial and fundamental steps an organization can undertake to optimize their data center.”

For additional information on Force10’s eco-efficiency program, please visit http://www.force10networks.com/company/eco-efficiency/.

About Force10 Networks
Force10 Networks is the global technology leader that data center, service provider and enterprise customers rely on when the network is their business. The company’s high performance solutions are designed to deliver new economics by virtualizing and automating Ethernet networks.  Force10’s high density and resilient Ethernet switching and routing products increase network availability, agility and efficiency while reducing power and cooling costs.  Force10 provides 24x7 service and support capabilities to its global customer base in more than 60 countries worldwide.  For more information on Force10 Networks, please visit www.force10networks.com.

Contact:
Kevin Kimball
Force10 Networks Inc.
+1 408 571-3544
kkimball@force10networks.com

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