In the current economic climate, it has become incumbent upon companies to rationalize their IT budgets along cost lines. However, in their scramble for cutting costs, environmental concerns may take a backseat. But a closer look will reveal that in several ways, "green" technology holds the key to keep your costs down. From reducing power consumption through consolidation of the datacenter through virtualization, to cutting paper usage, there are many ways that businesses can both help the environment and their bottom line at the same time.

MAIT has forecast economic recovery. The industry forum, representing the hardware, training and R&D services sectors of the IT industry in India, has released its findings for the Quarterly Industry Performance Review. The report shows total PC sales between October and December 2009, with desktop computers, notebooks and netbooks totalling two million units, registering a growth of 42 per cent. Sales of desktops stood at 1.35 million units, while netbooks and notebooks, taken together, recorded 0.66 million units, growing by 27 per cent and 90 per cent, respectively.

Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Telecommunications and Information Technology, has gone to the extent of predicting that telephone calls and related charges in the country could soon be free. According to him, the advent of mobile technology has "made India leapfrog into a country with a 51-per cent teledensity and made call rates come down to the lowest in the world – they are between one or two cents a minute". Anything is possible in the Indian telecom space. With the entry of so many players in the telecom market, the companies have no other option but to inject innovation in services and offerings.

SMEs can reduce costs through cloud computing. Cloud computing can definitely be a technology boost for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). According to the authorities, the on-cloud computing can help SMEs operate more effectively in a difficult economic climate. The main drivers for adoption of cloud computing are its low cost and flexibility of use.