Green Products: News

LAS VEGAS -- While few doubt the importance of maximizing the energy efficiency of their corporate data centers, executive vice president of data center technology for Las Vegas-based Switch, Mark Thiele's talk at Interop this week showcased just how much companies might still be missing. 

Greening your business has short-term effects that will save you money, let employees breathe better, and maybe even help land you a few more customers. These tips, sites, and kits can help your business go green for 2012.

Since January, David Filas, a data center engineer at Trinity Health, has been running decommissioned servers, networking gear and storage systems in a simple generator shed on the grounds of the healthcare provider's headquarters in Novi, Mich.

Well, last week's Backspin on Rossi's E-Cat power generator was fun. Between that column and a blog posting I made on the topic over at Forbes, I've had more than 100 comments and an insane number of page views which all goes to show just what a hot topic alternative energy is.

Most impressive was the tour through the zero carbon household that Panasonic has designed to show off to visitors.

The federal government will set up a $10 billion fund to invest in clean and renewable energy as part of its carbon pricing package.

Data center managers are well versed in distributing power efficiently to physical servers. But the proliferation of virtualization, with multiple virtual machines and applications running on a single piece of hardware, has made this task a lot more complicated.

LG-Ericsson has recently introduced a variety of Ethernet switches specifically designed for small to medium businesses (SMBs).

Over the past two years, solid state drives (SSDs) have only been sold directly to laptop or portable device manufacturers or through selected online electronics retail sites.

Alcatel-Lucent has hit its short-term goal, to reduce its carbon footprint by 10 percent by the end of 2010, a full-year early. The company said the move was aided by significant IT measures.

Broadband equipment provider, Billion, has launched a range of Smart Grid products in Australia through its partner, PC Range.

Lenvovo has released two high-performance laptops under the new L series range aimed at business and education markets.

A Silicon Valley start-up is getting ready to unveil an energy device this week that executives say could one day power individual homes and businesses while replacing the traditional power grid.

Chip designer Arm this week showed its first processor made using the advanced 28-nanometer manufacturing process, which should improve battery life and functionality in future smartphones.

Intel’s research labs have prototyped a resilient microprocessor that delivers as much as 41 percent more throughput using the same amount of energy as a comparable conventional core.

Tiny ribbons that generate electricity when flexed and flex when stimulated with electricity have been developed to flap the wings of mechanical dragonfly spy drones, but the technology can also find uses ranging from powering iPods and cell phones to charging batteries by converting to electricity the vibration of devices deployed in data centers.

With the economy in a downturn, it's no surprise that companies have been slashing travel budgets. But at MetLife, officials say the focus is also on employees' quality of life, keeping them home as much as possible.

In a year where money was tight, organisations were increasingly embracing green technology that improved efficiencies and reduced cost. And with increased Government pressure on environmental issues, green IT was a hot topic in 2009.

Brother will be donating a portion of proceeds generated from sales of its new printer range to environmental conservation group, Earthwatch.

Canberra will host a major conference on smart infrastructure on March 12, 2010.