Windows system management software provider 1E announced the release of NightWatchman 5.0, the newest version of its power management program. NightWatchman controls IT assets power configuration features to power down IT assets when they are idle, without disrupting workday use.
The PC Energy Report 2007, conducted by 1E and the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit coalition of business, government, environmental, and consumer groups that promotes efficient and clean energy use, found that turning off idle PCs at night in the United States would save almost 15 million tons of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere.
A Harris Interactive poll conducted on behalf of 1E found that of the estimated 104 million PCs used in the United States during the workday, 60 percent (62.4 million) are not shut off at night, and 20 percent (20. 8 million) are never shut off. The Energy Report estimates that powering down PCs at night could save $1.7 billion. A midsized company with 10,000 PCs could save more than $165,000 per year.
The agent-based Nightwatchman system deploys through any systems management tool, says 1E CEO Sumir Karayi. It shuts down open applications and saves user data before turning off. When deployed with 1E’s WakeUp patch management product, the agent will inform if a machine can’t turn off, why the machine can’t turn off, and attempt auto-remediation.
The desktop agent is small, from 200K to 1MB depending on whether additional 1E programs are also installed, and support both Windows XP and Vista, Karayi says. NightWatchman is priced around $15 per seat.
Because of growing energy costs and availability concerns, some states offer users rebates for using approved computer power management products. California offers a $15 rebate purchasing and using a power management solution, Idaho offers a $10 rebate, Texas offers a $5 rebate, and New York’s rebate will pay 50 percent of the application’s cost. Texas has a bill in the State Senate requiring all state-owned and PCs to have power-management software.
1E estimates that an organization can save at least $50 per PC, per year with Nightwatchman. The company provides an online energy savings calculator that considers the number of factors to determine possible energy savings, including the number of desktop CRT and LCD displays deployed in the organization, and the number of deployed laptops to determine an organization’s potential energy, money and CO2 savings.
