For the most part, cloud computing (which IronOrbit Hosted Desktops and Hosted IT Infrastructures are examples of) is a “green” technology because it consolidates many inefficient onsite IT infrastructures into a much smaller number of efficient datacenters.
The efficiency of cloud computing datacenters isn’t just a matter of economy of scale—servers in cloud computing datacenters are much more efficient than onsite servers because they’re able to process and store the IT solutions of multiple businesses at the same time.
Businesses can use virtualization to maximize the resource utilization of their onsite servers, too, but it’s rare for the IT requirements of a business and the IT resources of physical servers to match up exactly (more likely than not, the company will end up with two physical servers, one with an efficient 80 percent server utilization rate and another with an inefficient 5-10 percent server utilization rate).
Because servers in a cloud computing datacenter are more efficient than onsite servers, less total servers end up being used to satisfy clients’ IT requirements than if the clients had set up thousands of independent onsite IT infrastructures; and less servers mean less energy usage and e-waste.
The environmental benefits of cloud computing were recently confirmed in a report from Harvard University, Imperial College, and Reading University, “The Enabling Technologies of a Low-Carbon Economy: a Focus on Cloud Computing.” According to a summary of the report by Graeme Philipson of the Green IT Review, the researchers estimated that cloud computing “has the potential to save over $2.2 billion…from a reduction in energy consumption and reduced global environmental damage.”
In addition, cloud computing—again according to Philipson’s interpretation of the report— reduces greenhouse gasses by 95 percent compared to onsite datacenters, and could potentially reduce energy consumption by 11.2 TWh and CO2 emissions by 4.5 metric tons if adopted by 80% of organizations in the 11 countries in the study (including Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, and the UK).
Businesses that switch from an onsite IT infrastructure to IronOrbit solutions such as Hosted Desktops and Application Hosting can therefore expect to reduce their energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and e-waste.
By signing up for our solutions, businesses reduce the amount of hardware they have to purchase, supply with energy, and eventually have to throw away and replace (our solutions can be accessed from anywhere with any Internet-connected device, so businesses don’t have to purchase any onsite servers or PC workstations), and they reduce the amount of people that have to show up at their office (our solutions are managed, maintained, and supported 24x7x365 by our technicians and don’t require businesses to hire any additional IT personnel, and can be accessed from home), which cuts energy usage and emissions associated by precluding those people from driving to work and using electricity at the office.
To switch to a more eco-friendly IT infrastructure today, businesses should contact IronOrbit at [email protected] or (888) 753-5060 and sign up for our Hosted Desktops, Hosted IT Infrastructures, or Application Hosting solutions.