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Green IT Infrastructure: The trend in catching on in the developing countries!

In a couple of days I will be traveling to Africa, again! If you could follow my trip last year on RealTravel, then this time you're in for a real treat again!

I will be doing the following:
  • Virtualization Training Workshop: Here I'll train the staff, that I hired for the international project, in Virtualization . This will be a ILT+ CBT combo class. I liked the idea when I attended an advanced ADS designing class last year, it was "self paced learning" . Obviously I will customize this training so as to put the candidates to proper test so that they can get into the workshop mode and bake (and break and then replay) a lot of virtual appliances.
  • Green Virtual Infrastructure Evangelizing : I will be presenting a "green template" and may also be interviewed by the press there, I will discuss issues about green and environment friendly data centers. I will be traveling across the country to do that.
Anyways a lot of things will be posted when I'm there, but for now, I think you know that "Green" is not a proprietary word, it comes at no cost. Its everybody's baby, our planet is our baby. Just say the following out loud, don't be ashamed : "My Planet", " I inhabit this earth", "I really ought to take care of my planet".

Do you want to know what one liter of gasoline (petrol) costs in India or Uganda? It is not any cheaper than what we have here in Europe, which is really shooting high. Electricity costs can shoot sky high too! And as a prime or even budding off shoring candidate, you have to find a way to keep the salaries down, keep the bills down and keep everything down and have that competitive edge over the other.

So, are you willing to keep waiting until its too late. A lot of businesses have called off the off- and near-shored operations due to several reasons. High costs has always been the reason. And how do all the costs add up, that we don't need to take a look at, what we need to see and show is how we can cut down costs while expanding..., I know this crude interruption, Huh??? Costs going down while our business keeps growing..are you nuts!!?!!

I know, I can imagine a reaction like this, I have faced enough people who have hated the technology, who hate the guts of folks if they ever use that buzz word starting with letter "V" but I have also seen the same folks gushing and ogling at the very same technologies when they really start seeing the return.

I do understand the notion though, a consultant does some tests, checks you monitoring software for peaks and averages it all and tells you "all you need is 7 servers!" and you are a proud owner of a "large data center"; you spend huge sums to maintain all those servers; you have management reports flowing in on server report. But here comes the question: "What do you really do about it? What do the reports tell you? And what do they conceal?" Most of the occasions nothing, until of course an "external" change, a new IT director or a CIO comes in, no one knows why the last why left and when , and tells you to get ready for the "big change". Why would you wait that long?

Just look at this example and think. This vehicle, Toyota Prado, was bought in Africa for our project.




It is really a fun and a cool gas guzzling machine. I love its power though I really can't go fast as the traffic is a murder there. Really proud to talk about it but seriously it is the same mindset as the "large data center". So tell me, how long can you keep up? Someday, I promise you that, the gasoline will be gone. Sure Toyota is also working on the hybrid cars and I would have, if I were to choose back then, gone for the hybrid vehicle. The very same way, the same IT managers and Directors will look back and not really be that proud of those "large data centers" with "hundreds of servers".

Just this example then, in India, according to this news:

With Indian electricity rates among the most expensive in the world, chief information officers (CIOs) responsible for large data centres at companies such as Maruti Udyog Ltd and Tata Teleservices Ltd, as well as the government’s National Informatics Centre, are finding new ways to trim energy costs: migrating to energy-efficient computer servers that reduce operational and cooling costs.

On an average, power and cooling costs contribute between 20% and 45% of the total cost at a data centre, which typically houses several computer servers that handle large amounts of data for users such as banks or telephone firms. For every square foot a server occupies, for instance, an extra 3sq. ft is used for support structure, such as the air-conditioners and power back-ups.
Analysts say that in an emerging market such as India, where sectors such as telecom, information technology, banking and financial services and manufacturing—all of which require large data centres— are booming, IT managers are increasingly veering towards energy-efficient servers.
“In the next two years, as consolidation strengthens in the servers space and virtualization happens, there will be increased deployment of power saving solutions and products by IT managers in India,” says Naveen Mishra, analyst at research firm Gartner Inc.’s offices here.
Maruti, which has two data centres and updates its technology almost every two years, plans to upgrade to energy-efficient computing by the year-end. “Energy-saving products can reduce operational costs, such as power and cooling bills, for any organization by 20%-25% and have become an important factor for CIOs. We are planning to partially install these products at one of our data centres at the end of next year,” says Rajesh Uppal, IT general manager.

Your data centers have been screaming long before you felt the tremors. A silicon valley start-up did listen to it in 1997. They did think of changing the world back then, and they are doing it today. You can choose for the "conventional" models that blow bazooka holes in your wallet but you can also choose the same cooler data center and for all you know, you will still be taking pride in " I have a very optimal Green Grid where I house 50 services per physical machine!" And when asked where your data center is, you would proudly reply: " Its in this floor, 100 bucks if you can find it!" while your data center silently whispers in the next room. And surprisingly enough, it will still feel large, trust me, like this hybrid highlander!



Link to the India article.

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