IBM Smells the Roses

Following its announcement last month that it will dedicate $1 billion per year to reducing energy consumption (Project Big Green), IBM 's newest expansion will officially be a green one. The computer company is dropping a cool $86 million into a green data center in Boulder, CO.

The expansion will add 80,000 square feet of space by next April. The new facility will reduce energy costs for IBM and its clients by using recycled materials for manufacturing and increasing virtualization use and overall computing density.

IBM has also been awarded incentive funding by both the state of Colorado ($632,000) and the city of Boulder (a $100,000 rebate program).

IBM has over eight million square feet of data center space worldwide. Project Big Green aims to double IBM's data center capacity by 2010 without increasing energy use. Sun and HP are also vowing to green their data center operations. In the expansion announcement, TechSpot.com wrote:

Power concerns are huge, and more companies are seeing it better, for both public relations and ultimately for business, to work "green."

Sources: TechSpot, IBM, Commercial Property News, ComputerWorldUK