A new technology concept called Cloud Computing promises to deliver benefits for network managers that not only reduces costs, but has an impressive set of green credentials.
Servers have become as vital to a functioning society as power stations are. According to a recent article by The Economist, by 2010 there are expected to be 15.8 million servers across the pond – three times as many as a decade earlier, and experts believe a similar growth pattern will follow here too.
As they increase in numbers,
servers are more powerful and densely packed, which means more
energy is needed to keep the data centres at room temperature and often just as much power is needed for cooling as for
computing.
This does nothing to help the green credentials of IT and as
CO2 emissions continue to grow, environmentalists have long been predicting the drain IT will continue to have on energy resources.
The world of IT is searching for
energy-efficient solutions. In 2007, IBM launched
‘Project Big Green’, when it committed $1billion to deliver
energy-efficient data centre technologies.
The emerging capabilities of cloud computing, or virtualisation services, hold the potential to drive efficiency and as a by-product improve the
green IT infrastructure.
Cloud computing attempts to consolidate application servers into fewer devices, thereby helping to cut energy consumption and make items and processes more
eco-friendly.
It provides services to remote users with ‘thin clients’, remote access devices similar to the terminals of yesteryear with much reduced components that are faster, more secure and more efficient than laptops in use today.
Not only is it aiding
green computing, but also will fundamentally change the way IT works.
It will enable small companies to work flexibly as applications and services will be remote.
It also means the amount companies can store will rise immensely and will not cause a huge rise in the consumption of energy.
As far as I can see only the banks have cause for concern about security.
Cloud computing could help bring about a revolution, virtually doing away with the home computer and multi servers on site as we know it.
It is easy to dismiss all of this as a way of making IT companies feel better about their green credentials. But a global consortium of companies called the
Green Grid –
www.thegreengrid.org/home – is dedicated to advancing
energy efficiency in data centres and computing ecosystems. It is a non-profit organisation and confirms the growing move among IT companies to develop greener practices.
Technology impacts every aspect of our lives, and the more we use it to help slow and combat climate change, the better things will be for us all.