By Charity Parsons, Market Development Manager, Managed and Professional Services, Ricoh Americas Corporation
Cloud computing is a hot topic for discussion these days, and it certainly holds great potential to transform how enterprises obtain and utilize IT resources. The possible benefits to the enterprise of adopting a cloud-based IT infrastructure solution have been widely discussed, and include:
- Reducing IT capital and operational expenses
- Achieving greater efficiency with less over-provisioning of IT resources
- Gaining greater business flexibility through on-demand, pay-as-you-go IT services that are scalable based upon the enterprise’s changing needs
- Freeing IT personnel to focus on business innovation and other mission-critical tasks
These potential operational and efficiency benefits are the reason behind the recent buzz surrounding cloud computing. But there is another important potential benefit to cloud computing that shouldn’t be overlooked—the environmental benefit.
The choice an enterprise makes between building and maintaining its own data center or sharing cloud IT resources is in some ways similar to an individual choosing to drive their own car somewhere versus taking the train. Sharing a transportation resource holds the potential to reduce travel-related energy costs “per person.” With cloud computing, sharing the IT resources holds the potential to do the same, reducing the overall energy use and carbon emissions required to supply IT resources to numerous organizations.
The potential environmental benefit of utilizing cloud IT resources is a growing consideration for many corporations. A Forbes Insights Global CXO Outlook, Building Growth Strategies for 2012 and Beyond, found that more than three-fourths of the CXOs surveyed considered green IT a priority for their company. The strategies they listed for improving the environmental impact of IT included reducing data center footprints, increasing the use of server virtualization and greater use of cloud computing.
There are several ways that a cloud-based IT infrastructure solution may help reduce energy use and carbon emissions from IT. According to a study by Accenture, they include:
- Dynamic Provisioning: By matching server capacity with actual demand more effectively, the cloud model can reduce wasted computing resources
- Multi-Tenancy: Serving large numbers of organizations and users on a shared infrastructure flattens relative peak loads
- Server Utilization: Sharing resources allows for higher server utilization rates
- Data Center Efficiency: Utilizing advanced data center infrastructure designs that reduce power loss through improved cooling, power conditioning, etc.
While these aspects of cloud computing hold the potential to reduce environmental impacts, some analysts have pointed out that if cloud data centers are located in areas dominated by hydrocarbon energy sources as opposed to low emission energy, the potential benefits may be reduced or eliminated. Effective data center design is also an important factor, which has led at least one IT intensive business, Facebook, to plan a new data center near the Arctic Circle to reduce the power consumption required for cooling servers.
While important issues such as security and reliability must be addressed, it is clear that obtaining IT resources from the cloud holds many potential benefits for enterprises—and one potential benefit for everyone—lower energy use and carbon emissions.
Has your business gone to a cloud-based IT infrastructure? What are some other ways that your business is looking out for the environment? We would love to hear your thoughts!
