eWEEK Europe UK: Green Experts Pour Cold Water On Sweating IT Assets
The Green Grid’s John Tuccillo and Zhal Limbuwala from the British Computer Society argue that consuming less IT and upgrading less frequently isn’t necessarily the most sustainable approach
IT vendors are very keen on discussing environmental and low-carbon approaches to IT in terms of energy efficiency. The idea that new technology will be more efficient and “greener” than older kit fits nicely with the perpetual upgrade mantra that has been the mainstay of the computing industry since its inception. Out with the old and inefficient and in with the new and shiny.
But alongside the focus on energy efficiency, some experts, including representatives from UK government, have begun to look to the IT industry to expand its sustainable horizons to include the entire life-cycle of technology. For example one study from the University of Tokyo estimates that of the total carbon debt of a PC through its life-cycle, 75 percent is incurred during the manufacturing phase. Most of the carbon damage is done when devices are built – not from the energy they consume during their lifetime, experts argue.
Not surprisingly the idea of embedded carbon is not one the IT industry is as eager to embrace as energy efficiency, just as the concept of selling less kit that lasts longer doesn’t fit well with the “new shiny thing” fundamentals of the technology industry.
eWeek Europe UK recently caught up with two experts in IT energy efficiency to discuss the issue. John Tuccillo is chairman of the board for international data centre energy specialist The Green Grid, and Zhal Limbuwala is chair of the British Computer Society data centre specialist group.
The Green Grid is a consortium of IT vendors – including Intel, Microsoft and AMD – and end-users of IT, which aims to develop tools and approaches to help its members improve the energy efficiency of their data centres. The BCS data centre specialist group is one of the 40 or so sub-organisations of the British Computer Society – also known as The Chartered Institute For IT – focused on similar issues to the Green Grid.
The two groups have announced a partnership which will see them collaborate on initiatives designed to improve the sustainability of data centres, including the development of simulator tools which should enable IT professionals to make more accurate judgements how sustainable their infrastructure could be.
For more go to: eWEEK Europe UK
Computer Aid provides refurbished PCs to schools in Africa
One of the world’s poorest countries is following offer African nations in looking to IT offshore services and crowd-sourcing
The effects of a twelve year civil war may still be very much in evidence in the African Republic of Burundi but aid-workers and educators believe the Internet could offer a brighter future for the country.
Neighbouring Rwanda has invested heavily in broadband and IT infrastructure in the years since the country was rocked by genocide in the mid-90s and Burundi appears to be following a similar strategy. UK charity World Emergency Relief issued a statement this week explaining its decision to fund a computer lab in a school in Burundi’s capital city Bujumbara.
The charity said over 500 pupils from some of the poorest areas of city attend the Himbaza School – and the new IT suite goes some way to offering them a future. The charity believes that by giving more African children access to computers and the internet, the continent could potentially challenge India and Asia in the market for outsourced IT services and virtual admin tasks also known as crowd sourcing.
“At the moment this is principally benefiting areas which already have a reputation for competitive software development such as India and South East Asia but there is absolutely no reason why Africa should not become an extremely competitive option,” the charity states
For more go to eWeek Europe UK
Despite a struggling economy and public debt, the Hungarian government continues to spend millions on Microsoft licences when cheaper alternatives exist, say open source groups
With governments across Europe including the UK looking to slash public spending to tackle budget deficits resulting from bank bail-outs and other effects of the recession, open source could be an important way to cut IT costs, according to free software advocates.
But with Microsoft and other IT vendors equally keen to maintain lucrative government contracts as the private sector continues to keep costs down, open source groups in countries such as Switzerland and Hungary are asking hard questions about why the software is not even being considered as an option for some public sector departments.
According to a statement on the EU Open Source Observatory and Repository for European public administrations (OSOR) – a site for information exchange about community developed software – five open source groups including the Hungarian Open Document Format Alliance (ODFA) are petitioning the Hungarian government to disclose how much it spends on proprietary software licences.
In an open letter to the Hungarian government’s procurement agency – Directorate General for Central Services (KSZF) – the ODFA states that last year the government spent around 9.5bn Hungarian forints (35 million Euros) on Microsoft software and has already spent 6.3m Euros on educational licenses and millions more on consultation and services from the software giant. “Please make your calculations known to the public which will prove that open source will not be a viable low cost alternative,” the letter states.
Like other economies in eastern Europe, Hungary has taken a battering during the financial crisis and was the first EU country to accept a loan from the International Monetary Fund in October, worth around £15.6 billion.
For more go to: eWeek Europe UK
Internet registry RIPE NCC turned a blind eye to cybercrime, and Russian police corruption helped the perpetrators get away with it, according to the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency
Amsterdam-based Internet registry organisation RIPE NCC has been singled out for its involvement with notorious criminal network provider Russian Business Network (RBN) by the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency.
The registrar took money from the well-known criminal organisation, and subsequently corruption in the Russian police allowed the network’s organisers to escape SOCA’s clutches according to Andy Auld, head of intelligence for the agency’s e-crime department, speaking at the RSA Conference Europe security event this week in London.
RIPE NCC denies any wrong-doing and Auld explained that the registrar wasn’t actually being investigated for its involvement with RBN – but as the registry body had accepted payment from the Russian criminal organisation, it could be seen by some as having been complicit in criminal activities, he said.
“An entity like Russian Business Network – a criminal ISP and recognised as such by just about every media outlet worldwide that covers these things – RBN was registered as local internet registry with RIPE, the European body allocating IP resources to industry,” explained Auld.
The SOCA officer argued that any company that does business with a known cyber-criminal organisation such as RBN could itself be open to accusations of acting illegally.
For more go to: eweekeurope.co.uk
Brian Crowley MEP
European legal committee member Brian Crowley has publicly supported an Irish investment by Intel – which was recently fined €1 million for market abuse
The comments from Brian Crowley, MEP for The South, one of four European constituencies in Ireland, appear in a press release issued by Intel this week discussing the launch of a new Innovation Open Lab at the Intel Ireland campus in Leixlip, County Kildare.
The launch of the lab was also attended by Conor Lenihan, Ireland’s Minister for Science, Technology & Innovation as well as Dr. Martin Curley, global director, Intel IT Innovation and director, Intel Labs Europe. In a press release issued by Intel, Crowley praised Intel for its contribution to research and development in Ireland.
For more go to: eWeek Europe UK
A senior lawyer at Microsoft is calling for the creation of a global patent system to make it easier and faster for corporations to enforce their intellectual property rights around the world.
In a blog posting on Tuesday, Microsoft’s Deputy General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez said that a backlog of patent applications internationally was needed to tackle the 3.5 million pending patent applications around the world — including around 750,000 in the US.
“In today’s world of universal connectivity, global business and collaborative innovation, it is time for a world patent that is derived from a single patent application, examined and prosecuted by a single examining authority and litigated before a single judicial body,” said Guiterrez. “A harmonized, global patent system would resolve many of the criticisms leveled at national patent systems over unmanageable backlogs and interminable pendency periods.”
Guiterrez went on to praise efforts to harmonise international patent systems through projects such ad the Patent Prosecution Highway and the “IP5″ partnership but said more needed to be done to allow corporations to protect their intellectual property.
For more go to: ZDNet UK
The UK government has taken Internet copyright-protection out of Ofcom’s hands, and is rushing through measures that could cut off everyone at an address
File sharers in the UK could have internet access for their whole household suspended. New government proposals would bypass a planned Ofcom consultation and enact swift retribution for those persistent copyright-infringers.
Privacy advocates have criticised a government announcement that called for feedback on a swifter, tougher regime than that originally proposed in the Digital Britain report. Tthe forthcoming Digital Economy Bill could allow more drastic action against file-sharers including suspending their internet access.
The government said that it was considering actions that would include forcing ISPs to take action against “repeat infringers” which could include blocking access to download sites, reducing broadband speeds or even “temporarily” suspending an individual’s internet access.
For more go to: eWeek Europe UK
Technical progress has spurred some wasteful use of resources; but it’s also key to green thinking, argues Andrew Donoghue.
Switching PCs off at night and sensible recycling are just some of the ways to tackle climate change, we are told. But if, as a society, we are really concerned about global warming, surely some more radical action is called for?
For example, why not just ban progress? I mean we’ve got garlic crushers, iPods, electric cars and SuBo on Britain’s Got Talent – how much more progress do we really need?
We could simply decide that all the current designs for cars, washing machines, medical endoscopes and wind turbines actually work pretty well thank you very much; so let’s just stop developing any new ones.
If your toaster breaks down, don’t buy the latest Toast-amatic 3000 with self-levelling Bagel cradle; just fix the one you have. Or if you really must consume, order exactly the same model again.
Sweat those assets
A ban on all thing new would go down well with environmentalists, who are very keen on the idea of using things for as long as possible, otherwise known as “sweating assets”. Their reasoning is that everything comes with an in-built carbon debt accrued during its production.
For more go to my Green Scene Column
Fleet management: Could the recession cause the trend towards greener fleets to go into reverse?
Green motoring
Companies appear to be changing the way they operate vehicle fleets in response to the recession and climate change but if the economy improves, will the trend towards greener fleets go into reverse? By Andrew Donoghue.
For more go to: HR Magazine UK
The Home Office is now talking less about counter-terrorism and more about easing travel in Europe
ID Card Final Version Released
The UK government appears to have changed tactics when it comes to the roll-out of its controversial ID Card with the idea that it will make it easier for Brits to travel in Europe without having to lug about a bulky passport and will simply be another plastic card for people to carry about.
Mock-ups of the card have been made public before, but this week the government announced the final look of the plastic card at events in London and Manchester this week. The card design includes “the Royal Coat of Arms on the front and features a floral pattern representing the four floral emblems of the UK: the shamrock, daffodil, thistle and rose”, the Home Office revealed.
But in a rather downplayed statement on the benefits of the card, Home Secretary Alan Johnson opted to avoid the rhetoric about preventing acts of terrorism which have previously been attributed to the ID Card and instead appeared to argue that citizens already carry around plenty of pieces of plastic already and the ID Card was just another, albeit important, addition.
“Given the growing problem of identity fraud and the inconvenience of having to carry passports, coupled with gas bills or six months worth of bank statements to prove identity, I believe the ID card will be welcomed as an important addition to the many plastic cards that most people already carry,” he said.
For more go to: eWeek Europe UK
