The cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts that PC power management software alone could be saving almost 47 MTCO2e of emissions by 2015, equivalent to taking nearly eight million cars off the road.

In the PC power management segment, the research firm anticipates that the largest vertical market over the next five years will be public sector computing, followed by financial services and retail/wholesale. Smaller, but still significant, vertical markets will include telecommunications, manufacturing, services, transport, and energy/utilities.

Eric Woods, senior analyst at Pike Research, said: “Power management tools offer a fast return on investment for companies looking to save costs and reduce emissions. Often, this software may even come free of charge, thanks to utility company rebates. This is a particular boon for corporate IT departments, since servers use 60 percent of their maximum power while doing nothing at all.”

However, adds Mr Woods, these benefits are not yet a sufficient selling point in some cases, due to the fact that many IT departments are not responsible for energy costs, and therefore do not have a powerful incentive to make changes.

Mr Woods said: “The degree to which IT is given a greater stake in reducing energy costs will be a significant factor in the development of this market. The market will also be shaped by competition between dedicated PC power management software providers and those that offer power management as part of a lifecycle management solution.

“Market evolution will also be determined by the speed of development of standards and the level of product integration.”

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