Doing Business in the Cloud: An Eco-Friendly IT Solution
January 2014
Businesses worldwide have a significant impact upon our environment; and the bigger the business, the more significant the impact. Fortunately, many companies today have begun to take notice of the negative effects of their day-to-day business activities on the environment, and are instituting “greener” practices and technologies to ameliorate that impact. As green technologies improve, not only does this help in reducing ecological damage, but in many cases it can even save money in the long term.
A chief consideration for a business endeavoring to go green is the IT solutions utilized in its daily operations. Inefficient IT systems create air pollution, energy waste, and carbon emissions. The manufacture of computers and monitors requires considerable amounts of fossil fuels, chemicals, and water, and the average PC wastes nearly 50% of the electricity used to run it. Green computing initiatives, such as cloud-based IT services, can help to significantly reduce these impacts on the environment.
Recent advances in wireless technology, networking systems, and storage solutions have made it possible for more companies and organizations to move away from hardware-intensive IT to cloud computing. In cloud computing, thin clients are used to connect with the online cloud infrastructure, where servers, storage, and many business applications are accessed. This reduces energy consumption, carbon emissions, and capital expenditures on IT hardware. A study recently released by the Carbon Disclosure Project estimated that within the next decade, large companies shifting to cloud computing solutions may conserve as much as $12.3 billion in energy expenditures in the U.S. alone.
More companies today are adopting cloud computing rather than running their own applications. By requiring less hardware, consuming less energy, and utilizing more of a server’s power, this provides both environmental benefits and long-term business economy. Greentec Systems is a leading provider to some of the leading cloud providers such as Amazon, Savvis, SunGard, Centurylink Cloud and more.
