The PC and server power management software market is set to expand nearly fivefold from $168 million in 2010 to $783 million annually by 2015, according to a new report from Pike Research.  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 8 million cars off the road.

"Power management tools offer a fast return on investment for companies looking to save costs and reduce emissions," says senior analyst Eric Woods.  "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% of their maximum power while doing nothing at all."

However, adds 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.  "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," says Woods.  "Market evolution will also be determined by the speed of development of standards and the level of product integration."

In the PC power management segment, Pike Research 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.

Pike Research's report, "PC and Server Power Management Software", examines the global market for PC power management and server power management.  The study looks at the factors that are driving the market and those that are holding it back, and provides insights into the market issues and technology developments that are shaping how vendors approach the market now, and how that may change in the future.  The report describes the competitive landscape, including vendor profiles and SWOT analyses, as well as revenue forecasts through 2015 for both the PC and server power management software markets.

source: Pike Research