IT-Expert Survey by ZEW and Lexta - Green IT Gains in Importance in ICT-Investments

Criteria such as low energy consumption or low environmental pollution in the production process and the subsequent recycling process (Green IT) are increasingly influencing the decision of purchasing information and communication hardware. This is the finding of a survey conducted by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, in co-operation with the Lexta Consultants Group, Berlin, among roughly 200 IT experts.

Around 48 percent of the experts expect the features of Green IT to have a strong or even a very strong impact on the investment decisions of computing centres and investment decisions regarding the modernisation or the extension of IT infrastructures in the near future. About half of the experts do not expect the impact of Green IT on investment decisions to change compared to the current situation. A negligible 2 percent of the IT experts expect the impact of Green IT to decrease in the future. Given the high environmental awareness in Germany it does not come as a surprise that the experts attach an increasing importance to the use of sustainable and ecofriendly ICT. Furthermore, significantly rising energy prices have made the use of Green IT, in other words energy-saving hardware, more and more important. As in the case of computing centres or other extensive IT infrastructures, energy costs are a considerable factor – and every saving involves a noticeable cost reduction.

In addition to Green IT, the experts taking part in the ZEW/Lexta survey were also questioned about the perspectives of the use of software and hardware as a service over the internet (Cloud Computing). This trend, which is to date only slightly visible, is expected to increase radically in the medium term. Overall, around 38 percent of the participating IT experts prognosticate a rising or significantly rising increase in importance of Cloud Computing in Germany. 55 percent of the survey participants expect the importance of Cloud Computing to remain on the current level over the coming year. Only a small share of seven percent, however, expects Cloud Computing to decrease in importance in the future.

For further information please contact

Dr. Jörg Ohnemus, Phone: +49/621/1235-354, E-mail: ohnemus@zew.de