Green Information Technology - Coursework Example

Fred’s Donuts This is a large bakery company that supplies baked goods such as doughnuts, scones and bread to cafeterias, groceries and convenience stores in three different states. The organization owns five different bakeries and office complexes which are spread over and it now wants to connect its computer system network to the five locations. However, the computer network infrastructure in the five different locations grew separately and this has led into the implementation of two different network/transport layer protocols (TCP/IP and SPX/IPX). However, the organization has realized that it needs to implement uniform technology across its information systems infrastructure in order to aid it in proper decision making and the management of that infrastructure. They need to embrace a uniform network/transport layer protocol and in this regard we will go for TCP/IP implementation across the five different networks. TCP/IP design is known to hide functions of the network access layer from users. It is mainly tasked with getting data across specific types of physical networks such as the token ring and Ethernet. This design also reduces the need of re-writing higher levels of TCP/IP stack when newer physical network technologies such as the ATM and frame delay have been introduced. TCP/IP protocol meets important needs such as worldwide data communication at the right time and this is mainly due to its important features such as: The open protocol standards are freely available and they are also independently developed from any specific computer system be it the hardware or software and because it is widely supported, TCP/IP is very ideal for uniting the different computer hardware and software even if there is no communication over the internet. Since TCP/IP is independent from the specific physical networking hardware, it is able to integrate many different kinds of network and this makes it ideal to be run over an Ethernet, token ring, dial up line, and virtually any physical transmission medium. TCP/IP consists of a common addressing scheme that allows any device to have a unique address over the network infrastructure regardless of the size of the network. Due to its high standards it is consistent with a variety of user services. And due to the modernity associated with it and also going by the fat that it is the de facto networking protocol used by the World Wide Web in communication it is a very ideal candidate for implementation. Merita Bank Merita Bank based in Finland runs approximately 3 million transactions on its IBM mainframe computer on a normal working day. Prior to its systems conversion, the banks mainframe computer used the Systems Network Architecture (S.N.A) and all the inbound data that came from the branches would arrive at the mainframe systems network from TCP/IP to SNA compatible. Likewise all the outbound traffic from the network had to be converted from SNA to TCP/IP before they were dispatched to the branches. This conversion consumed a lot of time and made the banks network very inefficient during periods of high activity. In order to eliminate the slow and complex conversion between TCP/IP branch network and SNA for the mainframe, Merita bank decided to replace the SNA protocol with the TCP/IP. This replacement was envisaged to make the network to run faster with no significant changes to the network hardware and software at the banks branch level. Some other contributing factors that led to the switching of the protocol were: Peer based networking entities such as routers have resulted in the evolving of design characteristics of SNA protocol coupled with changes in networking and communications. This means most modern technologies and networking systems cannot easily adapt to the SNA technology (IBM, 1999). Connecting SNA based networks to non-SNA network becomes very difficult because applications which required access to communication scheme which is not supported to current SNA version of SNA usually faced obstacles. Alternate pathways between every pair of nodes in a network has to be pre-designed and stored centrally, the choice among pathways by SNA protocol was rigid and could not take advantage of current load links for optimum speed. Implementing SNA network and its maintenance is complicated and the network products are extremely expensive. SNA protocol design was designed in the era when the concept of layered communication was not fully adopted by the Information technology industry and data bases, applications and communication functions were integrated into the same protocol or product in order to make it difficult to maintain or manage. SNA’s protocol connection based architecture interfered with the machine logic state to track everything, and while it was evident everything was running normal, there was an extra need for manual intervention by users and some simple issues such as watching the control point sessions had to be manually performed. After a careful consideration of the above factors, it was necessary that the bank switched from SNA to TCP/IP because TCP was also found to be universal compatible with most modern technologies, it was efficient and finally it was cost-effective. Green Computing Executive Summary There are concerns on the environmental impact on increased IT usage with far reaching ramifications on the sustainability of IT based business operation. Rising energy costs and increasing power utilization are having a direct business profitability and also considering the social concerns which has led to regulatory compliance initiatives which has forced businesses into finding solutions that ensure IT based business implementations are more environmentally friendly. This particular paper is deliberating on how organizations have to develop initiatives that increase energy efficiency and how solutions to these problems already exist and businesses have to implement green IT solution in order to effectively contribute to the global environmental movement, decrease its operating environment and boost its overall profitability. Letter of Transmittal Green Information technology (I.T)/Computing This report is deliberating on how environment friendly based technological systems may enhance organizational efficiency, reduce operational cost and maximize on its return on investment while at the same time it explains on how green computing may help an organization into gaining competitive advantages among its peers. The report goes on and explains on the advantages of green computing, how it is shaping our organizations, academia community and our entire society in general. It finally deliberates on the strategies that may be employed by a modern enterprise in ensuring that all its green strategies and goals are effectively implemented and met. With the benefits associated with the implementation and embracing of green computing initiatives, I would recommend organizations to follow and adapt their information systems infrastructure so that they may be in harmony with the goals of this particular initiative (Green computing). Green Information technology (I.T)/Computing Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Green IT 3. Why Green IT 4. Green IT & Operational costs 5. Green IT & Competitive advantages 6. Green IT management Strategy 7. Conclusion 8. Recommendations 9. References Introduction With environmental and energy conservation issue being the talk in the global business landscape, rising energy cost with its impact on international affairs coupled by increased concerns over the global warming crisis and other pressing environmental issues have significantly shifted the social and economic consciousness of the business community. Green IT is an initiative whereby organizations implement policies and procedures that improve on the efficiency of technological resources so as to reduce the environmental impact of their utilization. Green IT solutions attempts to address environmental issues and these solutions may involve energy efficiency, reduction of electronic waste, system virtualization, employing thin clients, telecommuting, remote system administration and green power generation which entails using solar and wind energy. Green IT After a number of business seminars dealing with the future adoption of technologies within the business framework a theme of Green IT and the need for the business sector to establish their green credentials became apparent. Not only was it supposed to be good for the environment but also good for the business Why Green IT With computing becoming increasingly pervasive, energy consumption which is attributable to consumption is on the upward trend despite calls to reduce consumption and reverse greenhouse effects (Diego Dagum) With exponential growth in energy consumption and costs, there is an increasing concern over greenhouse emission and toxic waste disposal together with the investments required to expand the data center facilities are altogether accelerating the interest and efforts toward green computing concepts. Different enterprises of all scales perceive green computing as more than just a technological issue by acknowledging it as a fundamental business challenge with key technological component. While modern information technology operations face various challenges in reducing their environmental impact, the value proposition for implementing green strategy initiative is likewise important (K.P.M.G, 2009). An increasing number of enterprises today are establishing energy efficient, “green” data centers in order to alleviate the financial and environmental impacts pertaining to skyrocketing power consumption. The available technologies and strategies in place today may aid in reducing typical server energy consumption by approximately 25 % and more energy savings is possible with advanced technologies. Successful implementation of a green data center requires a thorough understanding of the cost-benefit relationship with a re-assurance that systems performance and reliability will continue aggressively to meet modern business demands. With businesses becoming increasingly dependent on IT to achieve their organizational goals and driving productivity, energy consumption has proportionally been increased. This increase has led to an increase in operational burden such as escalated energy costs. Increasing energy cost with increased worldwide demand for power has exasperated the problem. This scenario has led into social pressures and in order to respond to these challenges, modern technologies and solutions have been developed to assist enterprises to achieve their power utilization goals. Green IT solutions are designed to improve the efficiency of technological solutions in a unique way that they reduce the environmental impact of IT utilization. Various enterprises have the challenge of instituting green IT strategies that eventually reduces costs and guarantee them long term power availability and according to the U.D dept. of energy, the average cost of electricity has gone up by approximately 24% since 2000 and with the increasing national power requirements, this trend is likely to continue (EMA, 2008, p.1). According to a 2007 report released by the U.S environmental protection agency, data center power utilization has doubled since the year 2000 and it now accounts for approximately 1.5% of the total consumption of U.S electricity (EMA, 2008, p.2). Increased power consumption is also exerting pressure for various enterprises in areas where power companies had to ratio power within their facilities. In order for these enterprises to meet the new and increasing power requirements, they have to embrace the concepts of green IT and its strategies in order to conserve the existing power consumption. There has also been the introduction of regulatory compliance initiatives within the power consumption sector in different locations which has become a very strong driver for the implementation of greener IT solutions. With the rising international concerns and pressures pertaining to climate crisis, different governments have managed to establish compliance standards that promote responsible power utilization and at the same time apply stiffer penalties for failing to meet the established limits. Organizations also have to maintain their corporate image which is very important in their marketing and public relations. Environmentally friendly organizations are often rewarded by their social commitments and sound corporate citizenship and potential investors are mostly impressed when a corporation embraces concepts that streamline business operations and reduces the cost of operation. In order for organizations to achieve maximum power efficiency and greater return on investment, enterprises need to identify strategies and energy efficient solutions that significantly reduce cost while increasing their operational performances and at the same time ensuring long term sustainable profits. Green IT & Operational costs Computer servers and workstations are always fully functional and operational round the clock, this is mainly done to provide 24 hour support, after hours functions which may entail back ups and maintenance. This has been cited as one of the reasons there is impractical energy consumption and this calls for true energy efficiency within the IT business landscape which requires that there should solid measures in place in order to conserve as much energy for the organizations as possible. One of the initial attempts to address the issue of energy consumption was the introduction of energy star which was a sponsored program which entailed and promoted voluntary labeling of automatic power down of unused devices. However, recently in 1997, more stringent measures were released which required that energy star compliant devices were required to have an 80% or more power supply efficiency. This has challenged the business IT groups into finding a long lasting solution in addressing power issues on client systems (EMA, 2008). Green IT & Competitive advantages With green IT concepts, organizational expenses which may be associated with plant overhauls, process & flow improvements, equipment and energy optimization which are know to be very costly to the organization can be avoided as long as there is a strategy to commit the organization into environmentally sustainable projects (Brett Wills, 2009). Some of the benefits to be realized with these initiatives may include: Direct cost saving: If less raw material is used in an organization it will deliver positive environmental impact that is going to save the organization substantial amount of money. If less energy & water is consumed, then, less garbage is produced and little distance is travelled, this brings substantial savings on the raw material and it reduces operational & administration cost (Brett Wills, 2009). Increased customer loyalty and attraction: According to a study performed by Cone Inc. in conjunction with Boston College for Corporate Citizenship, they managed to survey 1080 adults in which 59 percent of them agreed that they were so much concerned on the environmental impact on their consumption and that they were set to change their buying habit in order to lessen the impact. 66% of the respondents also indicated that they were changing their buying habits due to the environmental impact of their purchases and 68% of those surveyed also revealed that if an organization had a strong reputation for environmental commitment then it was more likely to influence its customer decision to purchase some certain products or services (Brett Wills, 2009). Increase employee retention and Attraction: Also in a separate survey from Cone Inc.’s Millennia survey. Employees who were working full time were surveyed and it was found that 79% of them said that they wanted to work for an organization that cares about its impact on the society while 64% revealed that their organizations social and environmental activities made them feel loyal to the organization (Brett Wills, 2009). Ability to grow: If an organization is focused on environmental impact of their products, they are likely to pursue and find environmental friendly alternatives which can help eliminate material cost increases. Also focusing on improving the organizations environmental impact is likely to see new energy reduction ideas flow freely from the staff to ensure the best decisions are continually made (Brett Wills, 2009). Green IT management Strategy The enterprise has to establish clear goals in order to ensure that all technological implementations bring quantifiable value to the organization and in instances of green IT, goals would include, power reduction, regulatory compliance, decreased carbon footprint and operational cost savings. The scope of these goals should also be established in order to determine the appropriate return on investment that is desired to be achieved and it is during the development phase of some of these goals that determines which green IT solution to consider for implementation. With the goals in mind, the systems and power utilization data that had been previously collected should be evaluated and by utilizing interfaces to access and correlate the important data, the executives in charge are also able to effectively deduce which particular green IT implementation is going to provide the greatest value. For instance, if the system utilization data has indicated that the servers are consuming significant amount of energy then they are the most likely candidates for retirement, power management or consolidation and if on the other hand the system has been heavily utilized and has been found to be consuming a lot of energy then, it is wiser to upgrade to newer and more efficient system (EMA, 2008, p.2). Different parts of the computers are manufactured using lead, cadmium, mercury and other toxic waste, and according to green experts, normal computers are known to contain at least 4-8 pounds of lead alone and this is the main reason electronic components make up to two-fifths of all lead in landfills. In order to counter this overpopulation threat all over the world due to the mushrooming electronic components, there is need to look into the initiatives of green IT (S. S. Verma, 2007). With the 21st century also belonging to computers, gizmos and other electronic products, energy issues are talk of the town as the general public are constantly debating on carbon emissions, global warming and climate change. It is being estimated out of the USD $ 250 billion being spent annually in powering computer related devices, it is only approximately 15% of that power that is spent on computing while the rest is being wasted through idling, this implies that energy saved through computing will equate tones of carbon emissions saved annually (S.S Verma, 2007). With today’s sophisticated processors, they are also known to be significantly consuming more power. Inefficient C.P.Us on the other hand, also consume more power while at the same time their waste heat increases air conditioning needs and this condition is mostly prevalent in server farms. This particular situation has prompted computer equipment manufacturers to roll out eco-friendly products that aim to reduce electronic waste in the environment (S.S Verma, 2007). Green IT has also led to a new concept known as virtualization; here computer servers may be virtualized in order to allow businesses reduce their entire capital cost of future server purchases, operational energy costs, their maintenance and management. Cost control being the strongest factor in driving most of these initiatives if not all, gives rise to four main benefits; decrease in electricity consumption, decreased consumable use, decrease in operational expenses and rebates from local utilities and governments for efficient energy consumption (Info-tech, 2009). In approximately 65% of all the green IT initiatives, organizational initial goals have been met or exceeded (Info-Tech, 2009). Conclusion Different organizations across the world have already discovered that going green is not only for the planet but for their bottom line as well. Governments are pressing organizations hard for action towards the environment via both the regulatory and international treaties while business clients and their partners are demanding greater environmental accountability. Employees have also not been left out and they are also seeking measures that reduce environmental impact whether it is through telecommuting or implementing a recycling program in their offices. This trend has set corporate environmental responsibility as a norm rather than an exception because pressures from stakeholders and government continues while chief executive officers are calling on their IT departments to play their role and part in reducing the entire organizations footprint. Recommendations With the benefits and envisage future prosperity that are likely to arise as a result of embracing green computing concepts, I would strongly recommend various organizations in different sectors to strongly implement green computing as a way of cutting cost, preserving the environment and finally as a management strategy for the future prosperity of their organizations. References Diego Dagum. Green computing. Retrieved April 2010 from http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/78813/AJ18_EN.pdf Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) (2008). Going green: A strategic guide to Green IT management. Retrieved April 2010 from http://ca.com/files/WhitePapers/ema-green-it-white-paper.pdf Dr. S.S Verma (2007). Science Tech entrepreneur: Green computing. Retrieved April 2010 from http://www.techno-preneur.net/information-desk/sciencetech-magazine/2007/nov07/Green%20Computing.pdf Info- Tech research group (2009). Green IT: Why midsize companies are investing now? Retrieved April 2010 from http://www-03.ibm.com/press/attachments/GreenIT-final-Mar.4.pdf KPMG (2009). Green IT and the bottom line. Enhancing Enterprise-Wide Economic, Environmental, and Social Sustainability. Retrieved April 2010 from http://www.kpmg.ca/en/ms/oi/documents/KPMGIntlGreenITandtheBottomLine.pdf IBM (1999). Systems Network Architecture Protocols. Retrieved April 2010 from http://www.filibeto.org/sun/lib/networking/internetworking_technology_overview/IBM%20Systems_Network_Architecture_%28SNA%29_Protocols.pdf Brett Wills (2009). The business case for environmental sustainability (green), Achieving rapid return from the practical integration of lean and green. High performance solution incorporate. Read More