Tony Chan

A new report released by Vodafone and Accenture says that the use of mobile communications can reduce the annual energy bill for Europe by a €43 billion, equivalent to an annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by at least 113 Mt CO2e (metric ton carbon dioxide equivalents) by 2020. The figure equals about 2.4% of the CO2 emissions for the whole of the EU, or eliminating close to one-fifth of the UK’s emissions. Obviously, there’s a catch. Vodafone says that the only way to achieve those goals is for the industry and governments to collaborate. The report, titled Carbon Connections: quantifying mobile’s role in tackling climate change, identified 13 opportunities that could enable carbon abatement across 25 EU countries. But for these opportunities to come to fruition, governments will have to play an important role - like evolving regulation to set an appropri... (more)

Measuring the Savings of Data Deduplication

Storage management and disaster recovery software maker, Acronis, has unveiled a new online calculator that measures the potential cost savings of applying its data deduplication technology. The deduplication calculator works by prompting users for the number of servers and workstations being backed up, the data change rate, and the cost of data storage and then using that information to estimate the storage space savings, the storage cost savings, and the percentage of savings through deduplication. According to Acronis, a company with 10 servers and 2 TB of data that changes ... (more)

Build Your Own Cloud for US$262,615

IBM launched its CloudBurst solution last month, which the company says, will allow companies/anybody to set up their own cloud service offering in a matter of days. Well, you’ve heard of data centre in a box. CloudBurst is essentially cloud computing in a box (package?) Everything you need to create a cloud platform, complete with an integrated self service portal, service catalog, virtualization, comes built in with CloudBurst. In fact, IBM says that it is designed for “lights-out” automated operation, so no hands needed. You can check out the full details of CloudBurst from th... (more)

Orion, GE Smart Grid Deal Shows Disconnect Between Telco and Utility Nets

New Zealand electricity distribution network operator, Orion, has reportedly began a smart grid implementation with a solution from GE Energy. The project, claimed to be the first in the country, will deploy GE’s ENMAC Distribution Management System, which will help Orion monitor the distribution grid and give operators an accurate, real-time picture of power flow, trouble spots and potential workarounds for outages. The project is expected to be finished by mid-2010, and support Orion’s network covering 8,000 kilometres and 190,000 homes. “Finding proven ways to improve reliabil... (more)

NetSuite Claims Cloud Computing Platform Cuts Emissions

Yesterday, I wrote about NetSuite’s claim that cloud computing platforms can save users and indeed the world, carbon emissions, but I also noted some facts that were left out of the press release and the study that it was based on, conducted by environmental consultants, Greenspace. Today, Jason Howard, CEO and Founder of Greenspace, wrote to me and gave me the OTHER half of the story. “I am the author of a recent study that you mention in your article. I would like to provide you with additional information about our methodology so you have all publicly available information for... (more)