VMware VP joins Computers Off initiative

IT environmental organisation, Computers Off Australia (COA), has appointed VMware’s vice-president, Paul Harapin, to its board of advisors.

The not-for-profit group’s labelling scheme classifies an organisation’s IT energy usage through three colour-coded ticks representing Power Management (Green), Virtualisation (Blue) and Carbon Neutral (Gold).

COA founder, Mark Winter, said Harapin’s experience in virtualisation was a boost to the expertise of the board.

“Harapin has a lot of experience and is basically our virtualisation ‘specialist’ with Microsoft’s Bianca Wirth,” he said.

Harapin’s appointment brings the board’s headcount to six.

Winter said COA was looking for other board members who could provide independent experience as it looked at expanding its classifications.

“Potentially, there are other areas of classification we can branch into. We’ve been getting a lot of pressure around e-recycling and printing waste,” he said.

Winter claimed the uptake of the labelling system had been positive. Twenty-eight organisations had joined the initiative.

COA is an educational marketing and awareness campaign and has been endorsed by peak ICT industry bodies including the Australian Computer Society, Australian Information and Industry Association, as well as the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts..