FRAMINGHAM, Mass., October 21, 2008 – IDC and its family of Industry Insights companies today announced the launch of a holistic Green initiative, designed to help decision makers understand the role of technology in addressing the challenges and opportunities amidst today's energy, environment, and sustainability requirements.

"A recent survey of IT executives in 10 countries showed us that, globally, energy costs continue to be the most pressing reason a company adopts a Green IT initiative. However, with expectations for corporate social responsibility on the rise, business leaders must also prepare their companies to meet the demands of future environmental mandates, such as carbon trading and asset disposal," said Vernon Turner, senior vice president, Enterprise Infrastructure, Consumer, and Telecom Research at IDC.

"Ultimately, Green IT is about the use of IT across the enterprise to create sustainable businesses that are environmentally friendly," Turner continued. "Business leaders need to create holistic Green IT plans that tie in their customers, suppliers, partners, finance, and asset management teams to ensure they meet emerging environmental requirements. The IDC Green initiative brings together a wealth of technology and industry-focused research in one place to help facilitate the creation of these plans."

Central to the IDC initiative are Green Speak, a collection of multimedia presentations on a variety of green topics, and Green Community, where members will find the resources and relationships needed to increase their knowledge and understanding of how business, technology, and energy issues intersect. Community members will enjoy a range of benefits, including complimentary eBooks, invitations and discounts to Green-related events, and the results from IDC's most recent U.S. and Global Green IT Survey.

Upon registering, members of IDC's Green Community will also receive the following complimentary research:

U.S. and Global Green IT Survey Results - This IDC Presentation discusses the results of IDC's Green IT Survey. Survey respondents represent a cross section of business and IT decision makers, including presidents, CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, VPs of IT, directors and managers of IT, and five CSOs (chief sustainability officers). In addition, respondents came from a wide range industries, including banking and credit, manufacturing, construction, healthcare, government, retail, IT services, and professional services. The survey revealed that the three most important factors influencing the adoption of Green IT were: cost of energy, growth in data volumes, and reputation and brand recognition.

IT For Green: A Call to Action for the CIO - While IT organizations have been focused on ensuring that the technology being used is "green," it has been far less involved in providing the IT tools and services needed to support a company's overall green initiative. This study, authored by IDC Insights, was designed to help CIOs understand their role, craft messages to their organizations, and communicate with the global business community about joint interests in IT for Green.

Leveraging IT in Building Green Businesses - This study explores how businesses within the manufacturing, energy, retail, and financial services sectors are working to create more sustainable business practices. As these organizations seek to become "green," IDC Insights expects to see greater investments in IT to aide their efforts. This study identifies those technologies IDC Insights believes will see the greatest uptake from organizations engaging in sustainability efforts.

To learn more about the IDC Green initiative, or to join the IDC Green Community, please visit http://www.idc.com/research/greenit.jsp

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