We are all getting ready for Earth Day in one way or another. I taught my three-year old what goes in the recycle bin, and he is quite obsessed with recycling these days - in a good way, that is.  He is certainly doing his part, and I am also doing mine by sharing with you a new book with a very green cover and content to match any IT manager’s “green IT dreams.” I am talking about a must-read for those trying to create an eco-friendly data center while taking advantage of the latest virtualization technologies, but also conserving existing resources, “The Green and Virtual Data Center” book by StorageIO founder Greg Schulz. I own the book, I read the book, and I think this less-than-green IT world needs it. Here’s why.

If you live in the storage and server world, you probably know Greg. He is the friendly analyst ready to give you his straightforward opinion, because he knows this is what you want to or should hear. We are all familiar with his webcasts, various conference sessions or panels, press articles, as well as his entertaining IT blog (http://storageio.com/blog/). It’s time to read his book. “The Green and Virtual Data Center” brings the latest virtualization technologies in a new light, organizing our thoughts and explaining why we need virtualization and how it would help our data center become the green place we have always wanted to be part of, without the additional expenses. It shows the readers what the best practices are for maximizing existing resources such as power, cooling, floor space, storage, server performance, and network capacity.

The book covers topics such as:

• Energy and data footprint reductions
• Cloud-based storage and computing
• Intelligent and adaptive power management
• Server, storage, and networking virtualization
• Tiered servers for storage, network, and data centers
• Energy avoidance and energy efficiency

“Many technologies already exist today while others are emerging, allowing a green and efficient virtual data center to sustain business growth with reasonable return on investment,” said Greg Schulz. “This book presents virtually all critical data center technologies and techniques, as well as the interdependencies that need to be supported to enable a dynamic, energy-efficient, economical, and green IT data center.”

If you need more details before making the purchase, then feel free to go to www.thegreenandvirtualdatacenter.com, a new website providing information for enabling and deploying eco-friendly next-generation data centers.

You can purchase the book now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, CRCPress.com and other venues around the world at an MSRP of US$79.95. Make sure to get your copy.