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May 07, 2008 | Comments: (0)

A timely proposal for IT energy conservation

InfoWorld's Tom Yager has long been outspoken on matters of green computing, and in today's blog proposes an idea for energy conservation that he calls "green delay."

"When a Web site takes more than 7 seconds to be ready for interaction, it's said that a great many users will go elsewhere rather than wait the few additional seconds it might take to put up clickable buttons. Sure, time is money, but when did we start calculating the value of our time in increments of seconds or even milliseconds? "I think it's time to consider the flip side of the time/money equation: Time is carbon."

Yager's specific proposal is a painless one that actually addresses two problems at once: "Outside first-shift business hours, e-mail servers don't need to offer a quick response. ... Let's take advantage of that. Instead of treating e-mail like instant messages when recipients can't possibly read them, let there be latency."

And that added bonus? "If you make e-mail wait, you gain another benefit. Spammers have zero patience."

Posted by Caroline Craig on May 7, 2008 07:28 AM

April 24, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Laying a green IT foundation for your users

Your users may actually want to make greener decisions, even if they don't know the best ways to do so.

"A surprising assortment of factors will influence their decision, and many of them may be based on groundwork you've laid for them," Ted Samson explains.

It's more than just technology solutions, which can only do so much. And small acts can reap big rewards. Samson breaks it down:

Let's say a non-green choice costs 50 cents, be it in paper, ink, watts, gasoline, whatever. If you have 500 employees, and each makes just one non-green choice per day, you're looking at $250 being tossed in the can daily. At the end of the year, that's $62,500 worth of wasted resources (assuming 50 five-day work weeks). That affects your bottom line and your company's impact on the environment.

Samson goes to suggest that companies give employess rewards for reducing waste, in Empowering people for the greener good.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 24, 2008 07:27 AM

April 23, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Green IT, cheap and easy

Reading the InfoWorld Green 15 awards that we unveiled yesterday brought Bob Lewis back to the 1980s.

Indeed, that was before the words Green and IT went together as they do today. "My old friend Fitz should be on the list, but won't because his innovation took place too many years ago," Lewis explains in Go green the cheap and easy way.

Fitz, you see, tapped the cold Minnesota winter to cool his datacenter by asking not the CIO, but the company's construction department, to install a vent.

"It's nearly free, pretty much foolproof, saves electricity, and will make you look smart besides."

What ad hoc green IT approaches have you found success with?

Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 23, 2008 10:32 AM

April 23, 2008 | Comments: (0)

No easy answers to power efficiency

Power management is only 5 percent process, but it's 110 percent policy -- and because of that Tom Yager asserts that the book on fairness policy for power benchmarking will never be quite closed.

"Don't expect easy answers to power efficiency. InfoWorld's Test Center is taking on power testing and considering SPECpower as part of that plan," Yager writes in For server power management, there's only one shortcut.

"Count the number of active server power supplies in your shop and commit to reducing that."

Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 23, 2008 07:34 AM

April 22, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Lessons the Green 15 can share

Whether for practical business reasons, purely environmental concerns or a combination, Green IT caught on in 2007.

With that in mind, and on Earth Day, we reveal The InfoWorld Green 15 awards.

Winners run the gamut from tech stalwarts such as BT group and IBM, to paper company gm2Logisitics, to Miami Dad County Public schools -- each has a lesson to offer and we share six that are chief among those.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 22, 2008 05:12 AM

April 22, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Lessons the Green 15 can share

Whether for practical business reasons, purely environmental concerns or a combination, Green IT caught on in 2007.

With that in mind, and on Earth Day, we reveal The InfoWorld Green 15 awards.

Winners run the gamut from tech stalwarts such as BT group and IBM, to paper company gm2Logisitics, to Miami Dade County Public schools -- each has a lesson to offer and we share six that are chief among those.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 22, 2008 05:12 AM

April 17, 2008 | Comments: (0)

5 tips for picking green desktop gear

Upgrading your PC fleet presents the opportunity to invest in greener machines, which cost less to power and help the planet -- as well as your company's bottom line.

"Many of these tips apply not only to desktops, laptops, and monitors -- but any piece of IT gear," senior analyst Ted Samson explains in 5 tips for buying greed desktop gear.

Know your needs, embrace energy-efficiency and don't discount other green criteria, just to get you started.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 17, 2008 05:53 AM

April 10, 2008 | Comments: (0)

6 resources to help you move to green IT

Making the big move toward greener IT pastures can be intimidating but, fortunately, help does exist.

"There are some valuable resources out there to assist you. Some sources might cost a bit of money. Some deliver information for free. And there's one that might not only provide some gratis guidance but will also help you pay for an energy-saving green-tech implementation," Ted Samson explains in 6 valuable green IT resources.

Some of them, such as the EPA and the Department of Energy, you may already know about, while others you’ve likely not yet heard of.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 10, 2008 06:04 AM

April 03, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Turning hot air into ROI

Rather than paying to cool the heat servers generate, some organizations are taking a different approach – and putting all that hot air to valuable reuse.

Intel and NetApp are each separately reaping that heat into hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings.

"We'll no doubt continue to see approaches to reusing heat waste evolve. Perhaps, soon, there will be a way to efficiently transform it into power for the datacenter. Even today, though, there's already a potential ROI, both in terms of economic and environmental benefits," senior analyst Ted Samson writes in Harnessing datacenter heat for savings.

IBM, for its part, is warming a swimming pool outside Zurich with what would otherwise be wasted datacenter heat...

Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 3, 2008 09:30 AM

March 27, 2008 | Comments: (0)

5 green ways to recession-proof your business and reap ROI

Being environmentally conscious and fiscally smart are not opposing forces -- and it's about time corporations realize that "green-technology investments positively affect the bottom lines of the companies that make them," Ted Samson contends.

In The ROI of green IT, Samson shares five examples of "green-technology projects and investments that, in the right organization, will likely yield cost savings while delivering environmentally-friendly benefits."

"If your company is among those facing tough choices due to the frosty economic climate, don't be too quick to dismiss any proposal with the word ‘green’ attached," Samson asserts.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 27, 2008 09:08 AM

March 25, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Xerox hops on green IT bus

Xerox today is releasing a sustainability calculator along with a slimmed-down Web edition, both of which help companies gauge the environmental impact of their document-technology systems, such as printers, faxes, and copiers.

"It might be tempting for to dismiss this type of tool as simply a marketing scheme to exploit CXOs who've caught a case of the green fever that's swept the U.S. and beyond," Ted Samson explains in this Sustainable IT post.

"But the reality is there are cost savings to be had from certain sustainable practices, and making adjustments to your company's network of printers and other document-technology products is one of them, such as moving to fewer multi-purpose machines as your older ones are ready for retirement."

Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 25, 2008 08:12 AM

March 20, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Measuring your carbon impact

Nobody wants to be Greenpeace's Public Enemy No. 1. To help companies avoid that by balancing profitability and environmental responsibility, some vendors are rolling out increasingly sophisticated tools.

Ilog, with the Carbon Footprint extension it released this week for its supply-chain application, is one such example.

"We'll no doubt continue to see more vendors offering similar assistance -- such as tools for predicting the carbon output of a newly remodeled datacenter -- aimed at helping companies gauge the carbon footprint of their operations," Ted Samson writes in Carbon-measuring software evolves. "The market is ripe as more decision-makers are forced to choose between saving that extra dollar or releasing that extra pound of CO2."

Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 20, 2008 08:17 AM

March 13, 2008 | Comments: (0)

The greening of Microsoft

The software giant steps forward to loudly proclaim its support for the sustainable IT movement and, with a notable list of credentials under its belt, the company appears to be off to a good start.

“By shining a green spotlight on itself, Microsoft is calling attention to the fact that it understands the role that it -- and the software and platform industry as a whole -- has to play in the complex green-tech ecosystem,” Ted Samson writes in A green light for Microsoft.

The company even designated a chief environmental strategist, Rob Bernard, and charged him with guiding and promoting the evolution of the company's green agenda.

“What remains to be seen is how that seemingly newfound green religion will manifest itself in future product offerings, particularly, in my mind, with respect to the successor to Vista.”

Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 13, 2008 08:15 AM

February 27, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Another unseen benefit to green IT equipment

Giving a nod to Ted Samson's Sustainable IT blog blog, Curtis Franklin points out in A green network a less-considered advantage of eco-friendly technology in the back office.

"For me, the best part of many 'green' networking products is that they've eliminated the fan ... loud equipment can drive me batty. Quiet equipment is wonderful."

Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 27, 2008 11:20 AM

February 21, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Turning Green IT into greenbacks

With an upfront investment totaling $50,000 and three months implementation time, one Web host managed to save $1 million in power just this year.

The Planet's VP of facilities called that "found money."

"This story of sustainability doesn't begin with aspirations of a cleaner, greener plant; rather, it's firmly rooted in a practical business conundrum that many a datacenter admin no doubt faces," Ted Samson explains in Cashing in on Green IT. "In addition to padding the company's bottom line, the new energy savings means more growth potential for The Planet."

Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 21, 2008 05:49 AM

February 20, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Green IT machine

Eco-friendly and energy-efficient are all the rage in IT these days, at least when it comes to vendors’ marketing strategies.

But for customers, questions linger. Harper Mann addresses some of those in Green IT machine.

"How do you know if a particular component is consuming more power than it's specification calls for? What makes sense cost-wise and how did you approach implementing it?"

What green measures have you found to be effective?

Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 20, 2008 06:51 AM

January 29, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Intel's green spree

Sustainable IT: Chipmaker Intel said it will purchase more than 1.3 billion kilowatt hours per year in renewable energy credits -- making it, according to the EPA, the single largest corporate purchaser of green power in the U.S., Ted Samson reports. RECs are effectively electricity generated from renewable sources. "I commend Intel here for its move. In an ideal world, of course, companies seeking to run their operations on clean technology would be able to draw on clean energy straight from the grid, rather than having to buy RECs," Samson explains in this Sustainable IT post. "Given the momentum of the clean-tech movement, that should become feasible in coming years."

Show of the week: The semi-annual Demo conference is underway in Palm Springs, Calif. and the most recent demonstration to impress Ephraim Schwartz was of Hubdub's combination news aggregation and predective platform. Hubdub, however, is but one of 77 companies presenting what they hope is a good idea and, in so doing, looking to snag VC investment from audience members. Ongoing coverage: Demo 2008 Tomorrow's tech today. (Full Disclosure: Demo is owned by IDG World Expo, the parent company of InfoWorld.)

Data management: While many are saddened by the death of Ken Henderson, author of Guru's Guide to SQL Server series of books, among others, Sean McCown feels it on a more personal level. "He was the coolest guy I think I've ever met and I know his family is devastated. I'm going to miss sitting in his office at MS talking about just anything and everything," McCown writes in Felt around the world. "I consider myself lucky to have been brought into his circle."

The news beat: Earthlink founder Sky Dayton is stepping down as CEO of Helio, to be replaced by Wonhee Sull, Helio's current president and COO. eBay says it will lower fees and tighten seller standards in changes it hopes will make shopping safer and easier. A report released on Tuesday estimates that India's BPO industry could reach $50 billion by 2012, up from $11 billion of today. And Apple readies MacBook Air add-ons, including an external optical drive, an Ethernet adapter, a video connector, and new thrid-party cases for the unusually-sized computer.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on January 29, 2008 11:05 AM

January 15, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Why XP is greener than Vista

Sustainable IT: Here's yet another reason to keep Windows XP alive: Retiring XP means wasteful upgrades to Vista-capable PCs. "Refreshing your organizations' fleet of desktops for reasons that have no positive impact on your business whatsoever is clearly wasteful (i.e. not green) on many levels: It's a waste of your staff's time and energy. It's a waste of your organization's money. And whether the systems end up refurbished, recycled, or tossed in a landfill, it's a waste of resources," Ted Samson explains. Sign the petition at SaveXP.com.

From the InfoWorld Test Center: BEA Systems prides itself on being a front-runner when it comes to incorporating new standards and technologies into its middleware, and virtualization is no exception. BEA's WebLogic Server 9.2 Virtual Edition, in the words of Andrew Binstock, "delivers interesting innovation, but awaits the arrival of VM management tools before it is ready for deployment in production environments." Binstock got VE up and running, but it wasn't easy. "I examined a shipping version of VE and found it to be somewhat uneven. Installation was hampered by insufficient documentation, and I had to make use of the tech support staff at my disposal for simple provisioning -- exactly the opposite of the expected experience." Read the full review.

Show of the week: Apple CEO Steve Jobs kicks off the 2008 Macworld Conference and Expo today with a keynote. And while only he knows for sure what the company will unveil, Tom Yager offers up his best guess. "Although Leopard and Penryn have pushed the Mac to dizzying heights and should thus gain some stage time, the Macworld Expo keynote will still go heavy on iPhone and iTunes," he writes in What to expect at Macworld. "And this time, the hype will be justified." Related: Eight-core Xserve puts Apple back in the majors.

Full disclosure: Macworld is owned by IDG World Expo, which has the same parent company as InfoWorld.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on January 15, 2008 04:37 AM

January 11, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Time for InfoWorld Green 15 awards

Sustainable IT: True, green IT started to bud just last year. But the growth was significant in that time. Enough, indeed, to warrant a look at its positive impact, namely in the form of innovative products and initiatives. "I've made a sincere effort to highlight green-tech projects of note over the past 12 months, but let's face it: I'm but one man (by my most recent count), and there's little doubt in my mind that many more organizations out there have wrapped up some excellent, innovative IT projects geared toward realizing their sustainability goals," Ted Samson explains. With that, InfoWorld is introducing the Green 15 awards, our newest. "Through the end of February, we'll be accepting nominations for, generically speaking, green-tech projects that were completed, or mostly completed, in 2007." Bottom line: winners will be projects that leverage technology to measurably cut waste, reduce organizations' negative impact on the environment, and/or promote sustainable business-technology practices. Sumbit nominations at the Green 15 FAQ page.

Gripe Line: It's a point proven, and quite aptly at that, by Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec, among others: corporate-wide licensing enforcement systems usually just cause trouble for customers and vendors alike. Add Business Objects to that list, Ed Foster maintains in Business Objects licensing tool doesn't deliver. For the past few months one reader found that the BI vendor "has had massive problems with their ESD service." That's ESD, as in Enterprise Software Delivery licensing system. "Our group has had to delay testing and a roll-out of a product we've paid for and licensed to use simply because we couldn't download what we needed to!" the reader wrote. What licensing lunacy have you encountered? Talkback via the above link, or in the comments section below.

Columnist's corner: Among the many new concepts and capabilities that Web 2.0 technologies bring is some confusion over the lines between enterprise and consumer software. "This is not quite the same as the consumerization of enterprise software," Ephraim Schwartz explains in this installment of Reality Check. "But the shift to Web 2.0 applications goes beyond workers wanting the same kind of capabilities built into their business software as they have in their home applications." For one, the popularity of Facebook has opened eyes of forward thinking corporate executives to untold possibilities. But, Schwartz asks, what does it mean? Where it will lead? And, ultimately, where will all this end?

Tradeshow of the week: Highlights from CES.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on January 11, 2008 04:35 AM

December 28, 2007 | Comments: (0)

IT's greenest year yet

Sustainable IT: Although there are still miles to go, one thing about 2007 is certain: this year was greener, IT-wise, than the past. At least in recent history. "It seemed that just about everyone had green on the brain," Ted Samson relates in 2007: The year in green. "The impetus to be eco-friendly wasn't just tied to concern for our little blue-green planet. One of the obvious benefits for reducing energy waste is saving cash, be it in the form of lower electric bills or fewer dollars pumped into the gas tank." The looming datacenter power crunch came under the spotlight in the IT fray. And a jam-packed raft of vendors turned their eye toward greener IT, including: AMD, Cisco, IBM, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, and many, many others. "2008 will undoubtedly yield more technological innovations and internal efforts to save energy, cut waste, and reduce GHG emissions." Related: Out with the old -- what to do with unwanted tech gear (from Computerworld).

The feature well: Every company has them. Those bonehead end users and tech hacks, otherwise known as IT simpletons, that give us cause, and pause, to erupt into laughter. The year in IT idiocy includes bumbles that fit into categories such as stupid user tricks, IT horror stories or amazing tales of stupidity.

Careers: If you'll be looking for a new job in the New Year, Nick Corcodilos has some advice about How not to get hired. Don't be a "media hog who uses community environments to get noticed -- and nothing more." The opposite approach, of course, can help raise your profile, and for the right reasons. "It's simple: participate and contribute to your professional community without expecting to get anything in return. The more you do for the community you're in, the more you'll be recognized for the value you contribute." What's more, in a previous post, Who ya gonna call?, Corcidilos reveals some secrets to hunting for contacts, a practice that, he asserts, "ain't rocket science, but it does take patience, diligence, and a solid bit of diplomacy and respect."

Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 28, 2007 05:10 AM

October 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)

A business case for green IT

Video: Sustainable IT guru Ted Samson speaks with Judy Glazer, Hewlett-Packard's director of global operations and environmental responsibility, about the ways HP benefits from keeping a close eye on how its suppliers are environmentally and socially responsible, how HP meets regulations, and the business case for a green supply chain and green IT in general. Watch it here.

Best of the blogs: That's not all from Mr. Samson, either. He also delves into Strategic steps down the green IT path. The first move, as in so many projects, is to identify and prioritize goals. "That task in and of itself can demonstrate just how complex a green transformation can be," Samson explains. "Tempting as it may be to start throwing resources around to reap rewards of sustainability, planning, assessing, monitoring and procedural changes are critical -- and IT has a central role to play in it all."

Tech's bottom line: Forget today's ticker, Bill Snyder advises. "Tech companies are showing strength across multiple sectors." IT's rational exuberance. Software is still a mixed bag, to be sure, but chipmakers, outsourcers, e-commerce companies, PC makers, and so on are issuing solid reports. Even still, "the volatility has been rather amazing," Synder writes of Amazon's bump then dip. "Tech's losses have been largely caused by larger worries about the credit crunch and its parent, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. I'd be sweating a lot more if I didn’t see solid sales and earnings by the major players."

Columnist's corner: It's been two years in the making but Total system disruption, part 2 is here. The original focused on Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing anarchy, arguing for smarter predictive modeling for human response to natural disasters. "Today I sit watching as a million-plus people stream out of San Diego County, fleeing a totally foreseeable chain of extreme firestorms," David Margulius explains. "Every-man-for-himself planning and predictive modeling is not enough anymore. We need a nationwide early-warning data-modeling platform that can be shared by industry and leveraged by the private and public sectors, as well as the military." Related: Katrina's total system disruption.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on October 26, 2007 04:48 AM

October 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Poster child for sustainable business technology

Green IT: Virtualization is the highest form of sustainable business technology, asserts Ted Samson in Factor sustainability into your SaaS decision. And alongside virtualization is SaaS, "an interesting proposition indeed as the model becomes increasingly popular and viable." Centralized datacenters, by nature, can result in less energy consumed and fewer carbon emissions.

Best of the blogs: Oracle just might be ready to delay, again, the upcoming Fusion platform, rumor has it anyway. SAP has had problems with its NetWeaver and this week when Microsoft unwrapped Office Communications Server 2007 it took care to point out that it is not a platform play, Ephraim Schwartz explains in Are we witnessing the demise of the big platform? "Perhaps SOA was the final nail in the coffin of the platform view of the world." Thus, another question: Will NetWeaver and Fusion slowly die from neglect?

Columnist's corner: There are differences between Oracle's push to acquire BEA Systems and its hostile takeover of Peoplesoft. This time around "nobody really cares," writes David Margulius. "We're unlikely to see a court case, a Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit, customer protests, or lots of media hand-wringing," he adds in BEA vs. Peoplesoft: Top 10 reason it's different. For one, Oracle could really use application-neutral middleware right about now to tie together all the disparate legacy platforms it sells. "It's a 'tuck-in' acquisition, like going to the doctor's office to get a little hit of Botox."

Notes from the field: Amazon's 1-click patent has always struck Cringely as excessive. "Apparently Peter Calveley thought so too," he writes in Click on this, Amazon. "The USPTO ruled in the Caveley's favor, rejecting 21 of Amazon's 26 patent claims as overbroad." Cringe, of course, has a patent of his own in incubation.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on October 19, 2007 04:37 AM

July 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Five ways to cool your datacenter

Green IT: Summer's here and the time is right for cooling down your datacenter. Senior editor Ted Samson offers 5 tips on beating datacenter heat, cheap. First up, fight heat with, well, heat. These suggestions not only trim "some expense from your cooling bills, but as a result, shrink your organization's environmental footprint in the process," Samson explains.

Notes from the field: Calling it "craptacular" Robert X. Cringely turns his attention back toward Microsoft's Windows Vista. At least one reader would prefer chewing a broken pipette to using the new OS, while another lost everything on his Vista-(un)ready Dell box. "There are of course those who are enthralled with Vista, and they tend to be both uppity and vociferous," he reports in Is Vista an orphan? (Sheesh. Not sure why Cringe has to go picking on orphans, anyway...)

Best of the blogs: The Apache Software Foundation was the lone dissenter in a vote this week to approve a JSR for Java EE 6. The Apache group claims that, "Sun in violation of the Java Specification Participation Agreement," by proposing unacceptable intellectual property restrictions on field of use. Read the Tech Watch post here.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on July 20, 2007 04:41 AM

July 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Best reasons for green IT

From the feature well: Being green isn't easy for IT. Determining long-term savings for a bunch of new laptops, or figuring out how to set up your server racks to maximize energy efficiency can be incredibly complex. "It's likely that you [have] seemingly more important things on the brain than developing a strategy for a greener, more energy-efficient operation," Ted Samson writes in Four reasons to cultivate greener IT. First, the money. "Less energy consumption means lower bills -- and here's the kicker: You're likely burning (or cooling) away thousands of dollars each year paying for energy that's really not contributing to your bottom line." But it doesn't stop there, no, that's only the beginning. Related: The continued greening of IT.

Special: Search engines including Google, Microsoft Live Search and Yahoo store more than most folks think. Take queried terms, for instance, along with the date and time it was processed, your IP address and a cookie-based ID. "If all this sounds Big Brother-ish to you, you're not alone," writes Mary Brandel of Computerworld, in What search engines store about you. The question, of course, is why? Well, they claim it helps them personalize. But it's not just the search engines who have such data.

The news beat: Researchers at SPI Dynamics point out a security risk in Apple's iPhone that hackers could use to attack the device and monitor phone calls. The IT Policy Compliance Group details a report stating that 90 percent of companies fail compliance efforts when it comes to data-handling regulations and reducing the potential for information leaks. And hundreds of groups and individuals weigh in on Net Neutrality during the final day of submitting opinions to the FCC.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on July 17, 2007 04:33 AM

July 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Smartening the nation's grid

Green technology: Power outages cost U.S. business at least $50 billion a year, according to Electric Power Research Institute, so it's good news that Congress has begun to contemplate upgrading the nation's dumb electricity-delivery infrastructure to a smart grid. Sustainable IT looks at the proposed energy bill and the ways in which a smart grid also can deliver energy more efficiently.

In the news: Google still hopes to influence changes that Microsoft plans to make in Vista's desktop search function and has petitioned the court for the right to file comments on the antitrust case. Hackers predict that they will successfully unlock Apple's iPhone within the week. Unlocking the iPhone means users will be able to use the handset with other service providers, not just AT&T. The European Commission has been asked to investigate the Google DoubleClick deal because of complaints that the proposed merger will harm consumers' privacy rights.

Posted by Caroline Craig on July 5, 2007 06:43 AM

June 15, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Powering PCs down and savings up

Green IT: Whereas many IT projects (think ERP, CRM, CMS) are nearly impossible to break down into anything less than abstract ROI terms, Ted Samson has one that is not. "PC and monitor power management falls under that easy-to-measure, cost-saving, carbon-reducing, CFO-self-masochism-inducing category," he reports in When PCs don't snooze, you lose. If that seems like minutia -- I'm happy to know since I practice this nightly myself -- it's not. A machine left on all the time, in fact, results in an extra half-ton of CO2 emissions per year. Cough ... cough. It's not just a matter of relying on users, either, and the sustainable Mr. Samson looks at a few tools to help. Related: GreenPrint bets customers will save on printer waste.

Wireless: Fueled by what it claims is a desire to increase the capabilities of mobile Web browsers, Opera Software says it is developing native video functionality for its mobile browser that will replace the Adobe Flash plug-in, Eprhaim Schwartz reports in this Reality Check post. The company points to a trend that will see more powerful browsers on mobile devices, including Apple's iPhone which, Schwartz adds, "already has its first application on the Web from Webware." Related: iPhone disappoints mobile developers.

Columnist's corner: After raising quite a few folks' blood pressure with previous columns on Kaiser Permanente's healthcare digitization megaproject, David Margulius invited Dr. Andy Wiesenthal, one of Kaiser’s lead docs on the project, to our San Francisco offices for "a no-holds barred checkup." Diagnosing healthcare IT. The prognosis? Doctors' view on digitization, and technology in general for that matter, corresponds quite predictably with their ages. It's the midcareer ones who are most cautious. "To its credit, Kaiser has decided that health care needs a tech upgrade anyway." You can also watch the full video interview here.

Best of the blogs: Congratulations are in order for Linspire, at least if you ask Dave Rosenberg, who notes that in signing yesterday's Linux patent pact with Microsoft the company is "relegating its Linux desktop to the dustbin of technology." And he goes on in this Open Sources post to write that there's "nothing like making a mediocre product absolute crap by adding in lame Microsoft services."

Posted by Tom Sullivan on June 15, 2007 04:48 AM

June 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Cut printing costs, the green way

Sustainable IT: "The average employee wastes $85 worth of printer paper and ink each year through unnecessary prints," begins Ted Samson in Hands on: GreenPrint cuts printing bills. Think of it in dollars. "If you've got 5,000 employees, that's around $425,000 tossed in the trash each year." Ouch. Startup GreenPrint, though, has an application it claims can chip away at such waste. Samson had the chance to play around with the product. "Overall, I'm fairly impressed by what I've seen in the software. While there is room for improvement (and what Version 1.0 product doesn't have that?), I see plenty of potential value for companies."

Best of the blogs: Here's a question for you: Would you have allowed Bill Gates to be born? Pointing to the MSNBC piece, Matt Asay responds, "Of course. He's done a huge amount of good for computing."

Podcasts: The more that technology permeates our work and private lives, the higher the need for security. Google, for instance, jumps into the security software market via its GreenBorder acquisition, and David Marshall explains just what that means. "It sounds like this service might be going head-to-head with Microsoft's Windows Live OneCare." Tune into
The Virtualization Report.

Notes from the field: The oft-sassy Robert X. Cringely is at it again. Or, perhaps it's Microsoft that is actually up to some old tricks. Microsoft to OEMs: Bend over and take Vista like a man. The software giant, you see, sent certified letters to its harem of hardware makers about what might happen if they ship a system with a non-genuine copy. The answer: the system is crippled for 30 days. "This would be fine if Microsoft were a reasonably competent organization and Windows Genuine Advantage worked flawlessly." Alas...

Posted by Tom Sullivan on June 5, 2007 05:02 AM

April 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Green not an easily measured trait

Best of the blogs: Looking at tech companies that are garnering attention for eco-friendly accomplishments points one to Sun and HP. "The problem is, it's difficult to gauge which company is the greenest, because the potential criteria are so broad," Ted Samson explains in Who's the greenest of them all? "I'm not convinced the rankings have too much value."

Columnist's corner: After seeking instances where iSCSI made inroads into more than just SMBs database server or SAN box, Oliver Rist writes, "I'm just not seeing it." No warm fuzzies for iSCSI? It's not for lack of software support, either. "Give virtualization a little time to spread into the SMB segment, however, and we may see that change."

Notes from the field: Despite its customer claiming otherwise, Dell inspected the now-notorious vintage pickup truck that exploded after a Dell laptop caught fire inside and determined that the notebook was not the cause after all. What's more, the company is citing rules about customer confidentiality as a reason to keep quiet on further details. "It was an opportunity lost," writes the judicious Robert X. Cringely. "Dell had a chance to show itself as something more than a faceless multibillion corporation that doesn't seem to care about its customers." Dell's reputation up in smoke

The news beat: RIM's BlackBerry service is back, but users are unhappy with the company's responsiveness. Google offers up an AJAX API for creating mashups. And Oracle unrolls its content management strategy scroll.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 18, 2007 10:59 AM

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