New is the expansion of the program across the entire data center and facilities landscape. Customers earn certificates for the total energy demand reductions attributable to a project based on total megawatt hours saved through a certified Measurement and Verification (M&V) plan of energy reductions, an emerging business metric for corporate sustainability, which creates a true measurement of energy reduction. The end goal being the joint promotion of efficient use of electricity that results in reduced emissions of green house gases and other pollutants -- these verified results lead to real environmental protection. In addition to traditional data center projects, is the new ability to verify projects and earn certificates for reducing energy consumption beyond the data center including facilities components such as office lighting systems, cooling requirements, monitors and printers. Going forward generating the data required to validate energy reductions is being made simpler with the planned integration of automated reporting with IBM Tivoli Green Management.

IBM is also announcing a new service to help clients, just starting their green transformation, to identify the most rapid areas of reduction in IT carbon emission across the infrastructure, including both the data center and the distributed environment including offices, retail stores, warehouses, etc. While early momentum has clearly been in the greening of data centers, studies are starting to reveal that in fact there is at least as much emission reduction potential in the distributed environment -- in some cases 50 percent or more. As few companies have existing infrastructure that has been built with energy efficiency as part of the design criteria, the IT Carbon Strategy Study provides clients specific recommendations on project priorities with the biggest potential gains. Projects could comprise the network, printers, distributed servers (server closets outside the data center), facilities upgrade (HVAC, UPS, etc) and desktop computers and monitors. A typical 3-4 week study includes a kick off workshop to agree on overall objectives and targets, data gathering and data analysis leveraging a carbon impact analysis tool to help assess cost benefit analysis. After completing an action oriented workshop, clients are presented with the results in a report including the specific findings and recommendations.

IBM is also announcing a three dimensional Virtual Green Data Center that allows visitors to learn how to manage and improve their data center energy efficiency. It will demonstrate IBM's leading green data center technologies covering energy efficiency, virtualization, and resiliency. Available on the Green Data Center on the IBM Island in Second Life and staffed 24 hours a day with multi lingual avatars, this new Virtual Green Data Center provides a realistic and immersive experience of IBM's Roadmap to a Green Data Center. It offers easy access to "inside workings" of a data center in ways not readily duplicated in real life data center visits. It also creates an immersive experience that simplifies the understanding of complex concepts and processes and provides a public, open environment for self-guided tours, individual, or group tours with a trained staff guide. For additional information please visit www.ibm.com/green