This is an arena where IT users have the capacity to change the scenario. Environmental services firm PSC, for example, holds vendors highly accountable for their sustainability claims, by refusing to conduct business with firms that don't put their money where their mouth is. "I've gotten more than one 'let me get back to you' response from major vendors," says Pamela Rucker, vice president of IT for environmental services firm PSC. "We have not done business with them."

Green With Envy

This particular market sentiment is what Eastern Communications (Eastern), a local connectivity and data center hosting provider, is currently latching on. In February this year, the company launched their Tier II data center, with a keen emphasis on its being a "green" facility.

But just how green is "green"? In the case of the Eastern data center, green translates to a careful data center design aimed at reducing energy consumption by power-hungry servers. "The traditional data center design requires cooling the entire room," explains Calixto Salud, Jr., director of product management and development group, Eastern Communications.

In Eastern's green data center, Salud says they employ a method called "precision cooling."