Making Green Datacenters for Future

Today majority of enterprises are executing green strategies by recycling archaic IT products known as e-waste and by bringing down energy consumption. As more and more organizations are willing to put in green constituents for technology services and goods, IT vendors today need to stay updated about energy conservation tactics to procure more business. Businesses that already have a systematic Green IT strategy in place have a greater chance to consider green initiatives into the IT vendor selection process than others.

Recent trend updates reveal that Green IT initiatives will continue to become a priority for global enterprises as more companies are rising up to the cause of having a better and greener working environment.

The concept of Green Datacenters

In line with Green IT initiatives, at the Green Grid Forum held in March 2012 various enterprises hosting social networks and digital marketplaces highlighted their attempts in establishing green datacenters. Datacenters today use more than 2 percent of the overall electricity. In U.S approximately half the electricity is produced by burning coal. The increasing usage of datacenter energy will lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions till the time we can match the processing data storage growth from fossil fuel pollution.

Market research estimates that the data stored and processed will keep on expanding and that too quickly. The number is predicted to expand by 35 zettabytes by 2020. Hence, it is an imperative today to focus on data center efficiency and renewable power usage.

Green Data Center Solutions

Eminent IT service providers have come up with efficient Green Datacenter solutions that follow a phased methodology. These solutions are cost-effective and offer sustainability to business operations and guarantee a positive bottom-line for an organization. The phases are as follows:-

● Assessment Phase

This phase sets up a baseline of energy usage and carbon footprint of the existing environment using an assessment framework which is used to audit the environment. After this there is a Gap analysis and Feasibility study done for recognizing transformational initiatives, performing impact analysis and assessing the cost structure.

● Planning and Design Phase

This phase helps in setting up an elaborate roadmap for certain Green IT initiatives such as DC optimization, procurement, recycling, financial and resource planning.

● Implementation Phase

This phase chooses and executes specific technologies for Datacenter Virtualization, virtualization, IT infrastructure management, power and cooling management and many more.

However, when it comes to Green IT initiatives and developing Green Datacenters a lot depends upon people’s attitude and their changing mindset. It is also the individual enterprise choice whether or not to make their operations and working environment green that counts.

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Innovative Cloud Computing Services

As the world is preparing for various advancements in computer technology, Josh Butikofer, Adaptive Computing’s Chief Solutions Architect puts forward his views for the development and future of cloud computing for 2012. Some of his predictions include the following:-

● The industry will shift from pilots and POC’s to transformational private clouds 
● There might be shake outs amidst cloud vendors, especially smaller organizations 
● Asia Pacific region would emerge as a successor in cloud implementations 
● Cloud bursting will reappear

Along with datacenter activities such as datacenter consolidation and virtualization, the modern day business scenario has led to other computing trends as well. With the added financial pressures that businesses are witnessing, it is expected that there will be true production roll-outs across major financial services organizations in 2012. Between, 2010-11 there were a number of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) clouds executed to experiment with the amount of workload that a data center can migrate.

Transformational clouds are set up to shift the entire data center progressively into cloud. This is going to be one of the most pertinent trends that will emerge in 2012. This is more so the case, as organizations are gradually realizing that the time for evaluation is over. Enterprises thus are going to act fast in order to save million dollars per year.

Therefore, major IT players have been acting upon these trends. With Green IT also being one of the prime concerns of 2012 IT companies specializing in cloud computing services are working hard to develop themselves as a cloud computing partner. Services offered by these enterprises help their customers to adopt Cloud by carrying out assessment services on workloads and transferring them to appropriate Cloud environments, such as Private, Public or Hybrid. The cloud computing services portfolio includes the following:-

Strategy
● Cloud Strategy Development 
● Infrastructure & Workload assessment

Assessment
● Risk and compliance assessment 
● Process-IT service assessment 
● Design & System integration of private cloud  
● EPaaS (Platform as a Service) & IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)

Implementation & Migration
● Application migration services 
● Multi-vendor ITIL process implementation 
● Risk and Compliance control implementation

Monitoring, Management & Support
● Cloud Service Management Platform 
● Monitoring and Management 
● Service catalog, dashboard, reporting

Leading service providers in cloud computing services has a global partner ecosystem that comprises ISV’s, OEM’s and Public cloud vendors. These partnerships enable users to realize the best value and return they make in Cloud investments. Furthermore, this partnership also facilitates Hybrid cloud environments for users making the best use of the present investments. At the same time, it offers effortless management of cloud and legacy infrastructure. 

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Opt in for Green Datacenters

Today in the data center industry, the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) has materialized to efficiently integrate the main evaluative constituents of data center energy usage to offer meaningful efficiency estimations. This standard will be equivalent to “Miles Per Gallon” figure utilized within the auto industry to enable customers to estimate fuel efficiency between different providers and models. 

Today many data centers are becoming short of space and power. They are not being able to add more servers as they have reached either their space/ power limits or they have reached the cooling capacity limits. Furthermore, environmental issues too are becoming important concerns as they also contribute to a company’s growing ability.

Sustainability is essential in a business. Hence, numerous data center clients are aiming at methods to preserve energy and reduce expenses for the company to grow. It is said that the journey to a green datacenter has its sustainability and cost rewards. Energy consumption and environmental issues are essential. If it is not addressed it can hinder a company’s growth and its ability to respond to organizational IT requirements. 

Green awareness has the potential to become green action and build the foundation for Green IT. Making use of green technologies to expand capacities, minimizing expenses and risks at the same time is much more than mere smart business. Planning for corporate sustainability and energy efficiency with positive outcome always go hand in hand. The global economy has made the modern day world more cooperative and competitive. Therefore, as companies today strive to thrive in a constantly changing scenario, becoming accustomed to sustainability tactics is a business imperative.

Leading IT service providers have introduced green data center initiatives recently. They generally follow a phased methodology to offer green datacenter solutions that are cost efficient in nature, offer sustainability to business operations and ensures a stable bottom-line. The three essential phases are:-

•          The Assessment Phase

This phase creates an energy usage baseline and carbon footprint of the present environment using an assessment framework. This is followed by Gap analysis and feasibility study to spot transformational activities, conduct impact analysis and evaluate cost structure.

•          Design and Planning Phase

This stage gives a detailed route map for certain Green IT initiatives like DC optimization, procurement, recycling, resource and financial planning

•          Implementation Phase

This phase selects and executes certain technologies for datacenter consolidation, virtualization, cooling and power management, and IT infrastructure management. It also involves helping a company to attain LEED certified. 

A well thought out green strategy can minimize operational expenses and other hazards. Being green by design can enhance a brands corporate image. However, prior to opting for any green initiatives it is essential to assess the existing greenness of your data center by researching on areas such as facilities, utilization methods, IT equipments and the best practices in use.

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IT Tools That Serve as a Benevolent Business Appendage

Insightful strategies and intelligent tools are mandatory today if you want to see your business reach the pinnacle of success. With the availability of sophisticated and complex technology you need tools that can manage the business process in a simple and efficient way. Rampant security breaches have revealed risks in IT with potentials to maim your business permanently. These risks have to be addressed effectively in order to make steady progress. Today is an age of prompt and accurate responses to garner appreciation from the customers and project a credible business image.

The cloud computing technology has revealed some astonishing benefits and become the first choice for the majority. There are plenty of outsourcing vendors that offer you promising managed services and it can be a difficult task to make the right choice. You have to evaluate the requirements of your business and judge how effectively these tools can help in enhancing your operations.

A reliable outsourcing vendor must provide you with consistent server monitoring service to help capture the latest information and promptly relay them to you without any delays. They must provide you with competent services that helps reduce time and costs, and leverages integration. They must offer you customization facilities so that you can use the solutions to fulfill the demands of your business.

You will always be bombarded with new challenges and risks and if you are not prepared your business will sink into oblivion. You need tools that help in ensuring a streamlined workflow and a centralized process that leverages cohesion and collaboration between the people, processes and technology. These tools enhance the visibility of your business and help you make mission critical decisions without any errors. They provide you with excellent network support services so that performances are not disrupted. They display a proficient and practical approach by deploying Green IT practices that meet the standards of the compliance regulations.

The tools must ensure the enforcement of stringent security policies so that vulnerabilities can be effectively detected and a robust risk management process can be deployed. The use of weak and incompetent processes in business invites unwarranted risks and challenges that can ruin your future. You need solutions that can place your business in a strong and assertive position. The environment is ruthless with aggressive competition and there are no second chances. You have to deliver performances that leave unforgettable imprints in the minds of your customers and competitors.

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Tips for a Successful Data Center Virtualization

Virtualization brings the potential to deliver dramatic savings in terms of server count, footprint, power consumption and cooling requirements for data centers. Data center virtualization encompasses a range of virtualization activities aimed at creating a virtualized computing environment, such as for use in cloud computing, within a data center. Here are some tips to ensure a successful data center virtualization

Leverage your existing investment

Most enterprises think that the implementation of a virtualization infrastructure will be expensive or very difficult to achieve. A virtualization platform can be simple to put into place. Find out the servers you already have to actually centralize and virtualize in your Data Center, so that server virtualization can be increased.  

• Consider the cost

Analyze the current and future costs.  The biggest cost in many data centers is the power to actually run the data center. By means of virtualization technologies, it is possible to cut your Data Center operating costs reducing the number of servers in operation. You can enable power management features, replace old disk and tape technologies with new equipment that increases capacity and saves power. 

• Ascertain what can to be virtualized

Although many packaged applications support Virtualization, there are few that don’t. Carefully examine which of your software and hardware platforms are supported and which might require upgrading before rolling out Virtualization.

• Plan and prepare for growth

Take care to ensure your Virtualization solution accommodates your long-term capacity and performance needs, as there is always the possibility of your requirements growing over time. Performance requirements are bound to increase along with the increase in capacity. The solution you choose must scale non-disruptively so as not to cause downtime and user disruption and also keep management costs down.

• Analyze management plans and instruct staff.

It is important to determine whether your staff has the skills to support Virtualization. Ensure that your consolidation solution accommodates increasing complexity without requiring a larger staff to manage it.

• Tackle Security

IT pros must secure virtual machines as they do physical machines and take extra steps to ensure the virtual environment is locked down. "Technology and disciplines for discovery, configuration, change management and more become critical to detecting virtual malware.

• A good storage plan is vital

A good virtualization plan is tied to a god storage plan. Backup is highly essential.  Virtualization is growing is because it can provide business continuity capabilities. Any Virtualization solution should provide a flexible architecture and the tools needed to help you manage capacity and include load balancing to ensure performance and fast response times and redundancy.  

The major benefit in datacenter virtualization is that it has almost direct impact is on the expenses and on wasted processing power and leans towards creating a green datacenter. With datacenter virtualization there is no need for additional physical consolidation and replicated storage of source data. It becomes quicker to build and lower the cost to operate when compared to data-warehouse-only system integration approaches.

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Be Energy Efficient with the Green IT Approach

Years ago Bill Gates predicted the presence of PC’s in every residence. Many opined that Bill Gates was merely promoting an unlikely situation of reaping in the benefits for Microsoft. Nevertheless, he was true in his estimation. Today not only our household, every organization is heavily dependent on the personal computer. There are cases when our computing devices are turned on unnecessarily in our home. However, for enterprises there are scopes for impacting the energy use, the public image, recycling and witness benefits by a streamlined Green IT approach.

Simply put Green IT refers to maximizing energy efficiency of the IT Data Centers, IT Hardware and other allied assets. Eliminating wastage of electronic parts forms a huge part of Green IT since it comprises of huge quantities of renewable and non-renewable sources of platinum and silicon. Eminent IT brand names that specialize in the modern day cloud computing services as well as managed hosting services profess the importance of Green IT not only in terms of energy efficiency but also focusing on the data center operations.

A Data center is a crucial part that leads to enterprise expansion. Going by a survey conducted by the AFCOM Data Center Institute, approximately 50 percent of each dollar that is used for purchasing a new server gets added on to the energy to cool and power it. Furthermore, the Lean & Green group previously predicted that as 2008 comes to an end, the server powering expense may surpass the server cost itself. Going by other reports, it is estimated that Data centers consume approximately between 1.5 and 3 percent of the overall power annually generated in U.S. When calculated and compared this is found to be equivalent to the amount of power required in Michigan for a year. Hence, one of the prime objectives of green datacenter is efficient power management. Simple everyday actions, for instance, switching of the unused PC’s, lights and other equipments are small actions leading to major changes.

The way to be able to manage the difficulties of turning a Data Center Green is adopt a holistic approach. An organization must take into consideration the overall environmental impact than just concentrating on the obvious objectives. There are cases when a plan made on paper resulted in miraculous outcome than expected. Hence, planning and deploying initiatives in a systematized manner is the key to clean, energy efficient and Green IT.

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The Green IT Environment Era

Much has being talked about Green IT these days. To begin with, let us try to understand the concept. Unlike popular opinion, Green IT is not at all about purchasing a suite of jazzy green hardware and or other IT paraphernalia. Rather the concept is all about holistic efficiency and that is what leads to more sustainable IT transformation.

In the recent past, there have been several concerns about global warming, corporate social responsibility and energy conservation issues that are resulting in an unmatched amount of media coverage about the importance and requirement of a Green environment. Apart from heavy press coverage, environmental protection concerns are gaining prominence even with the IT managers.

Therefore, adopting Green IT measures would mean to be environmentally accountable as well as adopt a cost-effective approach. A successful and efficient Green initiative increases the accessibility of IT infrastructure as well as minimizes the enterprise expense. Furthermore, it can be a platform for generating a fresh level of discipline in IT management and provisioning.

 The Why of the Green IT concept 

According to researchers and IT experts, IT has been thriving on an unsustainable path for some years. There are massive data centers that are feeding on electricity and millions of computer burn up processor power conducting background processes most of the time when users are in discussions. All these result in excess of documents and emails printed unnecessarily that remains unused.

 These above mentioned causes are the reasons as to why there is a need for Green IT infrastructure today. Other than this, there are other reasons too. Majority of EU and UK campaigns and regulations demand greener business. Today employees are becoming “green aware” and aims to see their respective organizations playing an active part in any solution than deteriorating any problem. Eventually, there will be someone or something, for instance a client, your boss or a government body, who would demand you to be aware of what you are practicing to comply with, advance or assist your organization’s attempts in becoming more environmentally accountable.

 Today there are numerous service providers offering Green IT solutions by increasing the efficiency of the IT hardware, IT Data Centers and other allied fields. Datacenter virtualization and Datacenter consolidation are two essential elements contributing towards a Green IT environment. In fact, it is estimated that virtualization is going to be the most influential trend-changing infrastructure throughout 2012. For the ones not prepared to undertake virtualization the best option is to consolidate the existing server.

However, the key in being able to address and manage the various aspects of a Green Datacenter is to adopt a holistic approach. The organization needs to take into consideration of all the environmental impacts rather than concentrating only on the obvious factors.

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Information Security- A Top Priority

With every success a business aspires for even more meritorious achievements. It expands its network and develops business alliances with various sources and this leads to an increase in information. This mass of information containing vital and confidential business essentials is the lifeline that helps the business to sustain and claim new achievements. Thus it becomes a delicate situation where the information becomes a vulnerable target for malpractices and devious tampering.

Many a successful business has been a victim and become extinct due to internal grudges amongst the existent employees, ineffective security measures like weak passwords and even external attempts of security breaches. To continue steadily on the path to success your business has to take some precautionary measures to avoid meeting with the same fate like the others. It has become a necessity to employ robust and results-oriented solutions for information security purposes.

The solutions should have exceptional qualities to address all issues related to information security effectively and should provide innovative strategies to ensure a compliant environment. The architecture should be resilient and deploy stringent identity and access management services to allow access to only users after rigorous authentication procedures. It should regularly provide auditing services and vulnerability assessment services to identify and intercept any suspicious activities.

The information security solutions must demonstrate responsible and accountable actions by consistently monitoring the online activities and send alerts if any threat is detected. The integrating nature also has a major role to play in prevention of security breaches as a collaborative effort between the existing and new applications builds up a stronger force against these threats. The solutions should have support service provisions and provide simplified access and controls to the users. It should strictly enforce the user privacy regulations. The solutions provide the users with a unique experience. Wastage of time and cost is reduced, and resources are optimally utilized resulting in leveraged performances.

As the world is making efforts to use environmentally friendly strategies there have been admirable contributions towards the use of green IT. The green IT policy ensures the best usage of resources and its disposal without causing any detrimental effects on the environment. This has helped increase the energy efficiency levels remarkably and lowered the costs for enterprises. Adopting and practicing green technology is an encouraging step towards an inculcation of healthy practices in the future with long lasting benefits. Your business is in good hands with the information security solutions.

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