BusinessGreen.com: How would you describe Verdiem's
technology?
Kevin Klustner: We have developed technology for solving the problem of
PC power management. PCs waste around two thirds of the energy they use and we
have software to ensure they are switched to low power states or even turned off
when they are not in use, cutting energy use by between 30 and 50 per cent.
How much demand are you seeing for the technology?
Our qualified customer pipeline has trebled in size in the last 12 months. These
are strong customer leads who have agreed to an energy audit and are seriously
thinking about this issue. We're also seeing more and more industry analysts who
are looking at the area of green IT and all the leading equipment manufacturers
are now focusing on building more energy efficient kit. There is a real sense
that a green IT ecosystem is coming together.
Earlier this year you announced you were partnering with HP to
install your software on some of their PCs. How is the partnership developing?
It's working really well. We announced that the software would be
installed on HP's DC7800 high end corporate desktop earlier this year, and now
it is on the mid-range DC5000 as well. We're in the process of undertaking joint
customer calls in the US and are working to put together the strategy together
for the UK.
What kind of savings can firms expect from Verdiem's
software?
We are working with a law firm in the UK called Irwin Mitchell, which has rolled
out the software to manage 2,500 PCs. They've recorded savings of £25 per PC per
year, which is a total of £62,500 a year.
How much does the software cost?
It costs £15 per machine for a one time perpetual license, and then we charge 20
per cent of that each year for maintenance. We also do energy audits before we
roll the software out so we can show demonstrable returns on investment (ROI)
and the software contains reporting functionality so firms can continue to track
those savings.
So, you claim to have a product that delivers savings of tens of
thousands of pounds and generates a return on investment in significantly less
than a year. Why doesn’t every firm have this type of software deployed already?
Awareness that there is a problem is perhaps the biggest barrier we
face. Ask most people in IT what is the main user of energy and they will say
the datacentre, but according to Gartner research the datacentre uses about 20
per cent of the energy the IT department uses, while PCs and monitors use 40 per
cent. Because PCs are distributed right across the whole organisation people
don't think about them, but they are a huge consumer of energy. Also, there is
the issue of the cost savings typically going into a different department's
budget. But that said, it is just a matter of time before this technology
becomes a standard. It really is a no-brainer and it is also addressing the low
hanging fruit when it comes to energy savings.
Where does the company go from here?
Our vision is to measure, monitor and manage CO2 emissions and energy use for
all the IT devices in the corporation. We started with PCs and monitors because
they have the biggest energy footprint, but we want to go further and manage the
whole infrastructure, through laptops, printers, routers and switches. We are
currently looking to build relationships with manufacturers in all these areas
so that we'll finally be able to show companies how much energy their IT uses –
at the moment they just don't know the answer to that question.
How big a technical challenge is it to develop that
functionality?
The first component is to be able to detect the devices on the network and a lot
of that work has already been done. Then you need to look at how to analyse the
device's energy use, which is more complicated because at the moment a lot of
the devices do not record that data, so you are initially likely to be reliant
on algorithms and averages to calculate the energy use. The final phase, which
is furthest off, is introducing intelligence into these devices so that they can
be manipulated and even turned off automatically to save energy. That is where
we will need close partnerships with the manufacturers. We are already working
with several of those IT vendors that have made energy efficiency a priority and
will be making some announcements in the summer about those partnerships.
What can customers expect as a result of these partnerships?
The net result will be a dashboard that shows the company how much energy is
being consumed, where it is being wasted, how much money and carbon is being
wasted as a result and where there are opportunities for efficiency. In the
longer term, we'd be able to intelligently manage that infrastructure to ensure
products are powered down or turned off when not in use. When you consider over
15 per cent of the electricity used by a non-manufacturing firm is used to power
its IT equipment, we are talking sizable savings that can be realised. You will
also be able to aggregate all that data and report on it, which means some firms
may be able to monetise the system by selling carbon credits based on the energy
saved.
Could you see this automated turn off functionality being extended
into the datacentre? IT departments tend to get very twitchy about the idea of
turning servers off.
The datacentre is a complex beast. The first step would be just to get the
energy monitoring functionality in place and that would allow people to start
thinking about energy, without sparking their fears about turning things off.
But it is also worth remembering that we faced sceptics when we launched the PC
software who said turning machines off would disrupt productivity and make it
harder for the IT department to patch the machines. We developed functionality
to deal with those issues and we'd expect to breakdown those same concerns about
turning off servers in the datacentre.
What is the appeal to Verdiem of the UK market?
The UK is a great target market for us. It is home to plenty of Global 2000
headquarters, electricity prices are at least twice as high as in the US and
climbing, and culturally there is huge interest in this topic with more and more
businesses taking the issue of sustainability seriously. We are already
operating over here now and will announce the opening of a UK office this
summer.
About Kevin Klustner
Kevin Klustner is President and CEO of PC energy management software provider Verdiem Corporation.
Prior to joining Verdiem, Klustner was the Managing Director of Coastal Environmental Systems and President and CEO of Sightward, a venture backed software startup in Bellevue.
Klustner has also served as the Chief Operating Officer for PC network software company WRQ and held various management positions at Hewlett Packard.
