Hitachi and Intel are making waves this week, with one company debuting speedy solid state drives and the other making pre-holiday price cuts. And both moves bode well for green computing, in both the enterprise and consumer realms. Hitachi debuted a new line of 2.5-inch, enterprise-grade SSDs called Ultrastar SSD400S, which was developed in conjunction […]
Archives for November 2010
Good-bye yellow pages – Score one for dematerialization!
Farewell, phone book. It’s been inky-fingered fun! In a move that’s been a long time coming, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania are the latest states to kill off the phone book after having granted Verizon’s request to stop distributing phone books. So far, a total of 15 states have stopped, or are in the process […]
Microsoft: The cloud’s greener
Can the cloud help businesses green their IT? Yes, says Microsoft. A study commissioned by the software giant, and conducted by Accenture and WSP Environment and Energy, finds that cloud computing can cut emissions and reduce power consumption by up to 30 percent. The reductions are more pronounced for small businesses, which lack the expertise […]
GE wants EVs, 25,000 of them
(click here for the full-sized image at GE) It’s somewhat fitting that a company that’s big lately on EV (electric vehicle) chargers is trying to spur the adoption of electric EVs — and avoid a chicken and egg problem — by committing to replace half its global automotive fleet with EVs by 2015. All told, […]
Facebook weans itself off coal for second data center site
This is a step in the right direction. Facebook has selected Rutherford County, North Carolina for its second data center, largely sidestepping the furor that erupted early this year when it selected Prineville, Ore., which relies primarily on coal for power, for its first data center. As The New York Times’ Bit Blog notes, Forest […]
Gov’t data center consolidation’s hot, PUE’s not
For shame! According to CDW’s 2010 Energy Efficient IT Report, just 17 percent of the government IT managers surveyed (federal, state and local) currently track PUE (power usage effectiveness). A pity, but at least the vast majority, 79 percent in fact, are planning or are already in the midst of data center consolidation projects. Washington […]
Dear Utilities, Get with the program
It pains me that utilities are still struggling to connect with consumers. After all, there’s no more compelling message nowadays than pure, simple savings. Forget putting some money aside for a rainy day; consumers today are getting downright frugal and aren’t afraid to show it. During my stint as Green IT curator at GigaOM Pro, […]
Facebook friends Green IT
After taking some lumps by situating its first ever data center in a primarily coal-powered region, Facebook is now making a concerted effort to become synonymous with Green IT. With its newly launched Green on Facebook page, the social networking company is spotlighting relevant articles from around the web and pulling back the curtain a […]
Rise of the solar-powered gadgets: Is the Energizer Bunny facing joblessness?
Solar-powered devices are nothing new, but they typically reside in the lonely fringes of the gadgetsphere (Yay for made-up words!). Admit it. Given the choice of a sleek iPhone or a Samsung E1107, which would you choose? Lately, however, some electronics makers have been making a concerted push to move beyond niche status and bring […]
