Companies seeing benefits of power management tools

The market for PC and server management software will increase by a factor of five by 2015 as more companies wake up to its economical and ecological benefits.

The industry is currently worth around $168m (£104m) but will expand to $783m (£485m) by 2015, according to analysts at Pike Research, who said that this increased adoption equates to taking around eight million cars off the road.

"Power management tools offer a fast return on investment for companies looking to save costs and reduce emissions," said senior Pike Research analyst Eric Woods in a new report.

"Often, this software may even come free of charge, thanks to utility company rebates. This is a particular boon for corporate IT departments, since servers use 60 per cent of their maximum power while doing nothing at all."

However, these benefits have not yet been enough of an incentive to drive adoption, according to Woods, as IT departments are not involved in, or responsible for, energy costs, and there is no clear incentive to investigate or invest in power saving software.

Woods suggested that only by rectifying this will businesses be able to reduce their own energy costs.

"The degree to which IT is given a greater stake in reducing energy costs will be a significant factor in the development of this market," he said.

"The market will also be shaped by competition between dedicated PC power management software providers, and those that offer power management as part of a lifecycle management solution."

However, the market is likely to mature as adoption increases. The largest market will be made up of public sector organisations, Pike Research found, followed by the financial services and retail industries.

Perhaps surprisingly, technology firms such as those working in telecoms are expected to be lesser adopters, although the analyst said that their investment would still be significant.