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Green IT – what is it, and how can you play your part

Environmental experts have warned that fundamental changes will be needed if we want to combat some of the damaging effects technology is having on our planet. We discuss some steps and challenges that will need to be undertaken to reduce the impact IT has on our world and make some sensible and practical suggestions for how you can contribute to your organisation’s Green IT strategy.

Introduction – defining Green IT

“Green IT” can be described as making decisions and buying, managing and disposing of IT and communications equipment in a manner that maximises efficiency and minimises the overall cost to society and the environment, taking into account ecological issues in the overall decision making and management process. It recognises the negative impact technology and its use can have on the world around us, and attempts to improve upon this by factoring in sustainability at each stage of the equipment’s life-cycle.

Current environmental situation in the UK

Compared to the rest of the world, the UK is not considered to be among the worst environmental offenders taking into account the Environmental Performance Index (EPI). In fact, 2018 EPI results show that the UK is the 6th highest performing country (out of 180 countries). However, the approach to greening our IT and reducing the footprint technology has on our environment is a continuous challenge to be met by all and the trend globally is for increased use of, and reliance on, IT with all current research showing the immediate action needs to be taken – by everyone.

How technology is affecting environment

Unfortunately, technology’s effect on the world we live in happens on multiple dimensions from the sourcing of raw materials and the production and distribution of equipment to the energy consumed in their lifetime of use – and then their eventual safe and useful disposal.

At each stage there are choices we can make and actions we can take to minimise, if not mitigate, the impact our consumption of IT has on the environment, and in a wider context the communities it affects.

Raw materials and components

Many of the metals and materials that go into the production of electronic components are extremely toxic, and their mining, refining and production can have catastrophic effects on the local and wider environments. Look for manufacturers that are open about their efforts to source their components and raw materials through partners who carefully manage the process, and who also promote material and component recycling.

An example of what to look for in this regard is an ethical sourcing policy, such as Dells conflict minerals policy:

http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/corporate/corp-comm/en/Documents/conflict-minerals-policy.pdf

or Hewlett Packard’s sustainability impact assessments which it publishes on its site https://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-information/environment/footprint.html

They can be toxic from a social perspective too, as their high value makes them lucrative sources of income for the wrong sorts of people and regimes, particularly in regions were there is conflict or political unrest. Avoid suppliers who obscure, or simply don’t publish, their efforts to reduce the harmful effect IT has.Sites such as the Ethical Consumer rate suppliers according to their recycling, supply chain management and attempts at power management:

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/technology/shopping-guide/desktop-computers

The Technology Supply Chain

The vast majority of IT equipment is assembled from components and materials sourced from around the globe, and usually assembled in Asia for shipping to Europe and the US.

Green IT global

The carbon footprint of this distribution network is enormous. Many of the larger brands single source their components or produce the key ones themselves, reducing the miles travelled by a computer and its assembled parts. There is no getting around the fact, however, that producing and supplying electronic equipment locally is simply more expensive, and will be a long-term barrier which will be hard to overcome. Labour, taxes, land, energy and materials are cheaper in countries like China, Vietnam and Indonesia, and their Governments are very keen to remove as many barriers to trade and production as possible, including more relaxed environmental regulations.

Ultimately, choosing more local producers of equipment will be a choice as to how much of a premium you are willing to pay for greener equipment, notwithstanding any other features or variables at play.

Green IT management

With some well-chosen initiatives it is actually possible to reduce costs, increase the reliability of your systems and contribute to the greening of IT. It may seem too good to be true, however reducing your environmental impact can sometimes be a side effect of a drive to reduce costs, and many of today’s emerging trends in IT service provision have been borne out of a need to reduce power consumption and to consolidate and harness the full power of today’s hardware, leading to an overall reduction in carbon emissions and resource usage.

Power Consumption

The amount of energy that our reliance on IT consumes is possibly the greatest problem facing the IT industry today.  Everything IT related depends on a steady, and vast, supply of power and the demand is growing.

The greatest culprits for power consumption are the large data centres, paradoxically hosting the cloud-based services which help organisations reduce power consumption locally by offloading individual organisations’ processing and storage and centralising consumption. These large data centres are at the forefront of the changes which reduce energy usage, such as using low-energy servers, using more intelligent power management software and systems to accurately model and shape usage to exactly match demand and who also face the double whammy of needing to design facilities to better dissipate heat – the more energy a system uses, the more energy is required to remove the heat generated. Less energy used means less energy is required for cooling, and better physical design of systems and facilities means less power consumption overall. These design improvements eventually trickle down to end users as well, maximising their benefits over time.

Green IT power

There are several changes that smaller organisations can make as well to optimise power consumption:

  • Configuring systems to power down when not in use, most usually overnight and quite periods. These systems can be configured to power back on again as needed
  • Implementing 3rd party power management software across the network to centrally manage computers and servers power consumption 
  • Carefully specifying and choosing computer systems to ensure they are not more powerful than necessary, and selecting systems which have been tested to have high energy efficiency. For example, many end user systems ship with video and graphics capabilities which consume more power than the rest of the computer combined – which many never use
  • Moving appropriate services to cloud providers – moving some or all or your data and processing power to more efficient online providers reduces the need to have expensive hardware (and software) in your offices, often doing not much a lot of the time. Often these service providers use a “pay for what you use” model, meaning that when the systems aren’t in use you don’t incur any expenditure, invaluable for some systems which have only light to moderate usage
  • Virtualisation. Consolidating many logical servers onto fewer physical devices as “virtual servers” saves on materials, power consumption and gets the most out of your hardware investment
  • Looking out for industry certification in energy efficiency during procurement such as Energy Star https://www.energystar.gov/ , EPEAT http://www.epeat.net/ or the EU’s ENERG labelling ensures the equipment has been tested to be efficient
  • Upgrade outdated equipment – old IT equipment often does not run as efficiently, and therefore draws unnecessary power. This needs to be balanced against the benefits of updating, below.

Other ways to combine saving money with reducing environmental harm:

  • Extend the life cycle of equipment: many organisations replace their equipment on a strict 3-4 year rotation, usually in line with accounting and depreciation practices rather than any actual need to replace the underlying computers or infrastructure. Extended warranties are available from most suppliers, and with careful monitoring and management many quality products can last well beyond this lifespan.
  • Upgrade rather than replace: If you feel you need more computing power, its is usually trivial to add extra memory chips to computers, and upgrading older machines to SSD drives gives a profound performance boost. It can be very inexpensive to make meaningful changes to your infrastructure, again prolonging their usefulness. Look for modularity and upgradability at the outset when purchasing your equipment – some computers, for example Small Form Factor computers, intuitively look like they should consume less power but often consume more, and can’t easily be upgraded later
  • Print only when needed: printer accounting software and sensible policies can discourage unnecessary printing. Many people print documentation out of habit, not necessity.

The green disposal of IT equipment and computers

At the end of the useful life of your IT equipment, current regulations (the WEEE directive) stipulates for electrical and electronic goods, in this case your IT equipment, that “Reduction is achieved through various measures which encourage the recovery, reuse and recycling of products and components” in order to reduce the amount of potentially hazardous waste that is sent to landfill. There is plenty of information available online.

Green IT recycling

When your ICT reaches the end of its useful life, make sure you securely remove or erase any data from its storage media and then check for an authorised (and reputable) WEEE collection organisation to collect and dispose of your equipment responsibly. Its a tricky area, as producers try to avoid the sometimes high cost of collecting and recycling equipment, but check with your supplier that you may be able to have old equipment (and packaging, another source of problems in the IT industry) taken away when new equipment is delivered.

Challenges of Green IT

Whilst it is easy enough to say you can make some of the above changes in the workplace and “hey presto, we’re green!” it isn’t often as easy that. There are a number of challenges that need to overcome before a green-friendly approach can properly embed itself:

  • The switch can be expensive. There is no doubt that replacing old PC’s and servers in order to ensure they run as power efficiently as possible is going to cost money in the short term, and migrating to the cloud or virtual systems comes with costs too
  • Companies that use resource intensive applications (such as 3D modelling software like Autodesk) are always going to need highly specified, and power hungry, workstations. Sometimes there is no easy way to reduce the footprint of your IT requirements
  • Going paperless or cloud based comes with privacy risks. Whilst reducing the amount of paper used in the office can have many benefits, storing data online instead can risk hackers gaining access to it illegitimately and thus potentially sensitive data can be breached.
  • Product prices could rise. Ethically sourcing materials as well as improving designs for better power efficiency all come with a cost, and replacing old equipment with new may encounter a premium from suppliers as they capitalise on the new environmentally-friendly product market
  • Getting employees on board. Having an eco-conscious strategy and policies in place is worthwhile, however ensuring everyone thinks it is a good idea, and adheres to the policies and plan, may be difficult. It will inevitably involve some change and inconvenience, and some will take some convincing that it will have any impact at all. Educating individuals is invaluable as it will help them understand the importance of taking care of the environment, not just for yourself, but future generations, however some hold deep seated beliefs (or disbeliefs) about the environment and whether “Green technology” is even a worthwhile reality
  • Overcoming the futility perception. There is a common misconception that only big companies and global enterprises can actually make a difference, and that at the SME level any efforts are just potentially expensive box-ticking exercises. Nothing could be further from the truth – in the end demand drives change, and if everyone scrutinises the services they receive and make informed procurement and management choices that factor in environmentally considered issues then over time every enterprise, small and large, contributes to a better overall picture for our and future generations.

Conclusion

Choosing to spend more time and potentially money to play your part in making your organisation’s IT greener can be a difficult one to make a business case for, however it can be offset by sensible choices in asset management policies and power consumption management. Overall, we should aim for a net positive on all fronts, including monetarily if planned well, and in the longer-term aim to minimise and mitigate our impact on the planet. Eventually it may become a more forceful matter for regulatory compliance anyway, as the restrictions and obligations placed upon larger enterprises trickle down to others in the commercial ecosystem.

How enterprise networking is changing with a work-at-home workforce Network World updates the latest COVID-19-related networking news

As the coronavirus spreads, public and private companies as well as government entities are requiring employees to work from home, putting unforeseen strain on all manner of networking technologies and causing bandwidth and security concerns.  What follows is a round-up of news and traffic updates that Network World will update as needed to help keep up with the ever-changing situation.  Check back frequently!

AT&T reported that Email traffic is down 25% as more people opt for phone and video calls.  Video conferencing is on the rise with more than 470k Webex Meeting Calls on April 9, the highest during the COVID-19 pandemic.  It also stated instant messaging, including text traffic from messaging apps and platforms, has slightly declined since the week prior, but overall is up nearly 60%.

For the second straight week, Verizon reported that data usage is basically flat or down slightly week-over-week — including gaming, streaming video, virtual private network (VPN) connections, web browsing and social media — indicating people have settled into their new routines.

Internet performance across the top 200 cities continued to improve through April 15, according to BroadbandNow.  The company reported 91 (45.5%) cities have seen download speed decreases, down from 97 (48.5%) last week. 135 cities (67.5%) have experienced upload speed decreases, which is once again down from last week’s total of 139 (69%).  Only two cities have experienced significant download speed decreases of greater than 40% out of range this week: Evansville, Indiana and Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Ookla reported that as of April 15 the U.S. has seen a very slight increase in mean download speed over mobile and fixed broadband when comparing the week of April 6 to the week prior. Specifically mean download speed over fixed broadband increased very slightly in King County, Washington during the week of April 6 while mobile download speed was relatively flat when compared with the week before. San Francisco County, California saw an increase in mean download speed over fixed broadband during the week of April 6, while mobile download speed remained flat. Westchester County, New York saw a decrease in mean download speed over fixed broadband when comparing the week of April 6 to the week before. Mobile download speed increased during the same period.

With support for Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011 ending in 2020 and nothing in the pipeline to support an all in one business server, where do companies and schools go next.

This moment has been threatening to come for several years now and in fact Microsoft have extended the support for the very popular all in one package, but now the final curtain is upon us. Microsoft will be ending support for this operating system on the 14th of January 2020.
A colleague of mine said that this opening statement is a bit over the top, it is not the start of doomsday or a new
With support for Microsoft
Windows Small Business
Server 2011 ending in 2020
and nothing in the pipeline to
support an all in one business
server, where do companies
and schools go next.

financial crisis. But this for many Bursars, Business Managers or Administrators may ring true, the sound of money needing to be spent and budgets raided.
This event may seem like a long way off at the moment but forward planning is always the key. Time is ticking and considerations need to be made on what happens next.
As well as having a shiny new Small Business Server 2011 operating systems, 99% of companies also purchased a shiny new Server for it to go on at the time. This is also now old and probably starting to struggle with the demands of today’s users.

So what are the options?

You could go all on premise –

This would mean a new exchange server OS and a standard server OS for active directory file sharing etc. This would mean two new servers or a bigger server that would host the two new virtual servers.
This would be a pricey option as it means two major purchases on the operating side as well as on the hardware side.

You could go hybrid – (Something we would recommend)

A new server for a standard server OS to run your active directory, file sharing, etc. and then take advantage of Microsoft O365 for the email. It is up in the cloud and able to access anywhere. This would mean a smaller upfront cost for the server and a monthly fee for O365, so not as much as a big hit at the start as on premise. However, there would be a fee to pay in order to move mailboxes from exchange to O365.

Alternatively, you could go all cloud –

You could go O365 for your emails and Microsoft Azure for your AD, file sharing etc. This would mean no servers on premise, everything up in the cloud and so can be accessed anywhere.
Depending on the amount of data you have stored, although not a big expense in one hit at the start, Azure storage can get pricey the more storage you need.

The choice is yours but it is better to start to get the ball rolling early, so your staff have time to adjust to the idea, rather than springing it upon them and having the whole thing rushed. The transferring of data whether mailboxes or folders generally does run smoothly but on occasions there can be issues. The fact that someone has been hoarding their emails and has kept everything from the past 8 years and so due to the size of a mailbox could mean a longer transfer time. Being able to have time to plan and put a good strategy into effect is key to having it run smoothly.

At this moment in time this may be a lot to take in, so what can we do to help?
We can advise which is the best for you going forward
Help with a strategy plan
Implement the plan
Help and support after the plan has been implemented
Whatever you need