Utility firm E.on Energy has reduced its power consumption by 55 per cent by consolidating servers and introducing storage virtualisation technology.

E.on has centralised its IT operations and consolidated nine computer facilities into three UK data centres.

The infrastructure from vendor Hitachi Data Systems will offer E.on the flexibility to increase storage capacity as and when it requires, as well as saving a considerable amount of power.

‘We have to provide storage economically to five different business units, all with different needs,’ said E.on technical architect Dave Coggon.

‘This system allows us to grow according to demand. Within our organisation we have all been told to start looking at where we conserve energy. Previously this was a facilities thing, but it came down from on high that we need to make savings, and that became our responsibility,’ he said.

Coggon says despite virtualisation technology having been around for some time, uptake has been surprisingly slow.

‘It is the larger organisations that are looking to go down this road because of the perceived costs in putting this infrastructure together,’ he said.

‘But I think any organisation should be able to see the clear benefits that come out from this.

‘The key thing is to migrate when the equipment is coming up to end of life and needs refreshing anyway.’

John Collins, analyst at Freeform Dynamics, says IT directors can have problems presenting a business case for virtualisation.

‘As an IT director if you are asked if the company has to have this technology, you often squirm. You have to make sure you are engaged with business people, so you can present the justifications from a business point of view,’ he said.