Marshall aims to improve energy and IT efficiency


The Marshall School of Business has implemented a new initiative from Verdiem Surveyor, a major provider of IT energy management and efficiency software. The new system aims to successfully reduce energy expended by PCs and Macs on Marshall’s IT network without negatively impacting users or the IT system as a whole.

A primary objective of Marshall’s IT team is to manage the more than 5,000 PCs and Macs for updates. Having a machine go to a low power state at night when users might still want remote access was a concern for the school.

“One of Verdiem’s selling points for USC Marshall were that it offered a centrally managed solution. Another key piece was its Wake-on-WAN solution that extends Wake-on-LAN technology by providing a reliable and practical method for waking computers over a large organization,” said network engineer Brian Wood, who works in Marshall’s Information Technology Architecture for Academic Information Services, in a press release.

Verdiem’s Wake-On-Wan technology minimizes network traffic and security issues to more effectively allow Marshall to centrally wake remote systems.

The move has been financially rewarding, with the school experiencing a 32 percent reduction in annual energy costs. In addition, it successfully recouped its initial investment within a month through an energy rebate from Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power.

“This measure is helping propel the business school toward its 2012 goal of 80 percent energy savings overall,” said Mr. Wood. “In addition, we’re assisting the entire University of Southern California with implementing Verdiem.”