Oct. 23, 2007 Leading tech companies, including Microsoft, HP, Dell, Sun, and IBM, have launched a new industry partnership geared toward developing energy-efficient solutions for data storage.

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) Green Storage Initiative will focus on greening shared storage technologies such as disk and tape systems, server connectivity, storage appliances, fabrics and other storage network infrastructure, file services, and storage applications.

"Our green efforts will include helping member companies design more energy efficient products, investigating specific technologies such as data de-duplication, thin provisioning, and tape-based archiving, as well as providing education that can help contribute to energy efficiency," says Vincent Franceschini, chair of SNIA's board of directors.

Charter members of the SNIA Green Storage Initiative are: 3PAR, Brocade, COPAN Systems, Inc., Dell, EMC, EqualLogic, Emulex, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, Intransa, IBM, LSI, Microsoft, NetApp, QLogic, Seagate, Sun, Xiotech, and Xyratex.

Initiative members and others who join later will complement the work of the SNIA's Green Storage Technical Work Group, which will develop tutorials and educational material, white papers, and best practices for energy-efficient data center storage operations.

The group says it will also collaborate with The Green Grid and the U.S. EPA on environmentally friendly data center solutions.