Sustainability as a Selection Criteria
The factors involved in IT purchasing decisions vary from organization to organization as well as between industries and use cases, however, in general there are a few criteria that are consistently weighed to some degree in all data storage decisions. Traditionally the criteria consist of some combination of cost, scalability, and performance. Specific feature sets, vendor relationships, and other criteria also often play a role, but it is the previous three factors that are often at the core of storage decisions. In turn, data storage vendors typically heavily emphasize these three areas across marketing materials, sales tools, and test validations.
More recently, sustainability has also entered the discussion as a key criterion for IT decisions. Global concern over environmental issues and the impact of COշ emissions on the climate have been growing for some time. Social and in some cases legislative pressures are now causing organizations to consider their own practices with regards to environmental impact and sustainability. While pressure to increase sustainability and decrease emissions goes well beyond IT, data centers find themselves under particular scrutiny due to high energy usage that contributes significantly towards global emissions.
With an increased focus on environmental concerns, IT organizations are adding sustainability into their core set of selection criteria alongside cost, performance, and scalability. In return, storage vendors have added additional focus on providing greater sustainability in their products and amplifying their
messages around the topic.
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