Government IT goes Green

By Molly Webb, Head of Smart Technologies, The Climate Group.

Last week the UK Government announced that they are starting to look at going IT green.

"As the Government becomes the biggest user of ICT in the UK - spending around £12 billion a year - Government IT Goes Green will take a comprehensive look at the challenges and opportunities for public sector organisations looking to take a more responsible approach to the environment."

The event on 16th September (more info here) will 'discuss options available', however, it appears that at least some government departments have made their supplier choices already. The Cabinet Office is going with 'Flex', a Fujitsu Siemens Computers product, and other local authorities are already investing.

This could be great news, but the procurement process should also allow the smaller players a chance to compete on equal footing. This proves to be a huge challenge - It is a major investment for companies to develop whole new low carbon product lines, as FSC has done in developing their virtualisation technologies. partnered with them.

It would be interested to know what support is available for small companies to compete with their more established competitors.