IBM Warms to Utilities in Energy Efficiency Drive

From CNET News.com:

IBM's top hardware executive, William Zeitler, will deliver a keynote speech at a large utility industry conference to make the case for bridging the worlds of IT and electricity. Zeitler, senior vice president of IBM's Systems and Technology Group, will speak at the Edison Electric Institute's annual meeting in Toronto on Monday, where he is expected to announce that New York utility Consolidation Edison intends to participate in a data center energy efficiency incentive program with IBM. "We want to challenge the (electricity) industry to stop thinking about lighting and motors--the traditional stuff--and look at IT as a big user of electricity," said Steve Cole, program manager for energy efficiency at IBM. It is estimated that data centers alone consume about 2 percent of the world's electricity. And the rate of energy usage--and spending--is going up steadily.

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