Poor server utilisation is proving a drain on enterprise resources, according to a survey by maker of IT efficiency software 1E. Three-quarters of server managers polled said at least 15% of their servers “are not doing anything useful”.

The survey found that 63% of companies rely on manual checks or trial and error, or wait until faults occur to find unused servers, while 75% said their ability to improve efficiency was hampered by their company’s level of IT service requirements.

Virtualisation – which can be used to improve server utilisation – can also be part of the problem: 65% of server managers polled said they have unused virtual servers, while 32% claimed to be actively trying to combat virtual server sprawl.