MJ's Business IT Blog

Blog : Jenaly Technology Group shows how to “Green I.T.”

The following was posted to the Green Alliance Blog...

By Jim Cavan

In the “Green IT” section of their May Newsletter, Jenaly Technology Group introduced many on the Seacoast to “Granola”.

Not the oats and berries variety, mind you. More of the circuits and chips variety.

Released in January by MiserWare, a Blacksburg, Virginia IT company specializing in green and intelligent software management systems, Granola is a free software program that can help reduce your PC’s energy use by up to 30%.

Granola saves energy by applying dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) to the CPU of a system – sort of like a "dimmer switch." When a user is browsing the web or working on a document, Granola scales down the power needed; when the CPU is running at full blast for creating charts and graphs or other computing-intensive processes, the software draws more power.

While certainly a novel and welcome idea for anyone interested in reducing their individual carbon footprint, for Portsmouth-based Jenaly Technology Group, such advancements are par for the course.

Jenaly boasts a number of green approaches and programs that set them apart from others in their industry. Their Virtual System Administration (VSA) management services remotely service your computer to keep it running at maximum efficiency, cutting down on frequent updates, travel and maintenance time, and subsequently reducing e-Waste. Their Disaster Recovery service removes costly and wasteful tape media from your computer’s backup, reducing waste and making your backup capabilities more reliable.

Jenaly also boasts an impressive paperless filing and billing system, as they work towards their long term goal of being 100% digital. They work with several e-waste recyclers to help people dispose of their used computer parts responsibly, and they often encourage employees to work from home in order to reduce carbon emissions and needless travel time.

Then, of course, there’s the “Green IT” section, published in every monthly FY I.T. newsletter. The section provides readers with easy, common-sense solutions and alternatives to help them reduce their energy use, particularly with respect to their computer. Some past tips have included: encouraging downloading of software instead of having a CD delivered; showing how to convince suppliers to ship your equipment with minimal packaging; and providing guides to the country’s greenest electronics companies.

For Jenaly’s Customer Advocate Ellen Sargent, such initiatives reflect an ethos that everyone at Jenaly is proud to rally around. “In a nutshell – and this can be applied to a lot of industries – even the little things you do can make a huge difference,” says Sargent, who among other things is tasked with publishing Jenaly’s FYI.T. newsletter. “And because they are effective solutions that are also green, it’s a win-win.”

What are these “little things”? It can be anything from switching to online data backup, uploading as many as five servers onto one physical server to save energy, or even something as seemingly benign as single-spacing your documents. In the end, they all add up to a smarter, more efficient computer, while subtracting energy and waste from the equation.

They’re also making bigger moves to bring awareness to their ever-greening portfolio. In 2009 the company joined the Green Alliance, a Seacoast-based “green business union” and discount member co-op that helps raise the profile of local green businesses.

While many of these measures fall under the heading of common sense, Sargent maintains that everyone at Jenaly is encouraged to “think outside the box”.

“I remember one of the employees was fascinated with combining server spaces and really wanted to run with the idea,” Sargent recalls. “MJ told him to go for it, like he does with a lot of ideas that don’t necessarily fit into the current program. It’s that sense of experimentation that I think really makes our office unique.”

But for all the specific examples of how Jenaly is greening the face of IT, and for all the reasons they provide for doing so, the company’s commitment can perhaps be best summed up with the first eight words on their website’s Green IT section: “Simply put, it’s the right thing to do.”

Is 'green IT' living up to the hype?

Going green is everywhere. Whether it's recycling at home or the office, the cars we drive or the products we purchase, we all know there is a lot of momentum behind going green. Even the new fire station just opened in Portsmouth is being praised for its green construction, which will save taxpayers money not just today, but throughout the station's lifespan.

With all the awareness and sensitivity to green initiatives around us, it only stands to reason that we should occasionally ask ourselves if we are really improving things when trying to be more green. I think it's clear to most people that it's the right thing to do, but from a business sense, in addition to doing the right thing, will it also save our businesses money? I believe the answer is yes. And in the world of IT, I also think it's relatively straight-forward to monetize green initiatives as cost-saving measures, as well.

Especially as we move into the warmth of summer, one of the obvious areas is cooling. Computer technology generates a lot of heat, from the computer itself, the monitor and all the peripheral devices that drive a present-day office network. The more gear, the more heat. The more heat, the more cooling required. It's fairly simple in this respect. While at the individual desk this may not seem substantive, if your company runs multiple servers and associated networking devices, it may generate significant cooling requirements. This translates into power costs, not to mention maintenance of the cooling capacity, which may be significant.

I have seen several examples where power consumption may be reduced by as much as 30 percent by leveraging more power-efficient technology and even by simply putting computers to sleep when not in active use and turning off printers and monitors outside of business hours. Newer equipment has sophisticated power management capabilities that some manufacturers state are up to 80 percent more efficient. With even a few computers, an 80 percent gain in efficiency may translate into hard savings on monthly electric bills.

However, all this said, the real opportunity for IT to be more green starts with the manufacturing of the computer equipment and its ultimate disposal. Improvements in the manufacturing processes probably hold the most potential for improving the sustainability of technology hardware and this responsibility rests with the manufacturers themselves. That does not mean we, as users of these technologies, should not do what we can to help in the process. When we are ready to dispose of computers, they should never go into the office trash. Computer equipment needs to be properly recycled as there is a very large industry growing around providing these services. It's not difficult to find responsible companies that will come and pick up your old technology and repurpose it for good or properly recycle it. Every computer has hazardous metals and chemicals, and these need to be properly disposed of. This, too, is part of being greener.

There are many rapidly maturing technologies that will have a positive green impact on business. The adoption of more online, or cloud, technologies has the potential to allow businesses that are able to leverage these to be more green with their IT footprint. Paperless technologies also improve a company's green footprint as it allows a business to require less space for records storage as well as generate significantly less paper and printer waste.

Remote, mobile and telecommunication technologies all have a positive impact considering the reduction in space, power and emissions that each is able to deliver. Some of these have direct benefit to the business and some to the employee, but the net gain in terms of lower costs and less waste transcend both business and individual. Businesses that embrace these technologies also report gains in productivity and quality that translate to direct profits.

There is no shortage of opinions that challenge the benefits of green IT, however, I do believe green IT makes sense. I would expect to see some tangible cost savings for even the smallest offices. Globally, green IT makes even more sense as the potential to reduce environmental impact of our increasing use of technology is just good business, not to mention good stewardship of our environment.

Virtualization for the Small and Mid-Size Business

Virtualization is a hot topic in the IT industry, but like many hot topics, is there a clear benefit for your business?  The simple answer is a resounding YES.

VMware is the market leading virtualization pioneer, though several other companies have their own excellent virtualization technologies, including Microsoft and Citrix.  For even the smallest business with just a single server, virtualization makes sense.  In these environments, we recommend VMware's ESXi platform, which believe it or not, is also FREE!  Price is no issue here.

ESXi leverages hardware resources very efficiently and does not require much more overhead than a traditional single server.  All that is really necessary is a little extra memory and fast hard disks, neither of which will add significantly to the cost of a new server, depending how you configure it.

Running your server virtually offers many benefits, some that are "green" in nature and others that are quite practical from a business point of view.  Say you need to add a new server to your environment, either for a line of business application like a document management server, or to provide more robust remote access, like a terminal server.  With a virtualized foundation, you don't need to install another physical server, rather you can leverage your existing server hardware and simply setup the new server right alongside the existing one, within the virtualized environment.  Upgrades and backup become a snap, as in snapshot.  You may easily take snapshots of your virtualized environment to help speed the efficiency of your upgrade process or to provide enhanced disaster recovery capabilities.

As your business grows, a virtualized environment will serve you well in terms of flexibility and expandability.  You may decide to graduate into a more robust virtualized environment that will provide advanced management and features like redundancy.  Instead of having to scrap your existing infrastructure, you will be able to smoothly migrate into these new technologies.

So, if you will be considering any type of server upgrade, be sure to evaluate virtualization and it's many benefits for your business.  It will serve you well.

Does Green IT Really Have An ROI?

It's a very fair question.  Heather Clancy, one of the industries most respected journalists (and someone I like to call a friend) posted a great piece about this today on her blog, GreenTech Pastures.  Heather points to several interesting facts, many based on a recent report by Computer Economics that points to the hard ROI being difficut to quantify, which I agree with.

However, whether the ROI is easily measured in dollars is one thing.  Whether adopting Green IT practices is the right thing to do is another entirely.  Heather quotes some interesting statistics related to small and large company's adoption of Green IT.  While it's clear that large organizations are the most active in this space, small businesses have plenty to be proud of.

I look at our own client base as a representative sampling of the overall small business community.  I find the Northeast region, New England in particular, to be an interesting paradox of traditional Yankee conservatism mixed with some very progressive elements.  Initiatives like Green IT have traction in this region of the country.  Many of our clients came to us over a year ago asking what they could do to "green up".  Some were motivated to cut their energy costs, others wanted to prolong the life of their IT investments and others just felt it was the right thing to do.  Regarless of the reason, Green IT is making a positive difference, even if it is not in direct financial measures to the bottom line.

Check Out Our Latest Newsletter

Jenaly's November newsletter is online at our sister site, www.jenalyfyit.com.  Check it out and please share any feedback, comment or suggestions.

This month, learn:

 4 “Techie” Reasons Small Business Owners Can Be Thankful This Season

 How To Get Paid $817 Every Year For "Going Green"

  3 Time-Saving Reasons To Use Windows 7

  How Manufacturers Have Increased Productivity 5.5% Despite The Recession

  Check Out Our Monthly Contest

You may also download our newsletters in PDF format if you like, just click here.

Enjoy Jenaly FYI.T. "For Your Information Technology"!

It's Windows 7 Launch Day!

Today, October 22, 2009, is Windows 7 Official Launch Day.  You will find lots of new information on Microsoft's web site today, as well as on retailer and technology related web sites all across the Internet.  If you have not yet seen Windows 7, beginning today, you will be able to see and work with it anywhere new computers are on display.

Several of our clients have taken advantage of our Windows 7 Sneak Peek special offer that we extended to attendees of our Windows 7 seminar last month.  These clients are as excited as we are, to take advantage of the improved performance, stability and feature sets in the new operating system.

I have written several columns over the last year, including What Windows 7 Means For Your Business, Windows 7 Is A Grand Slam and Is Windows 7 A Smart Upgrade For Your Business?   My latest column, welcoming Windows 7 to the market and highlighting some of the most useful features, will publish tomorrow, including on this blog.

So, stay tuned and learn even more about Windows 7 and how it will benefit your business.

Helping to Promote Sustainability

We are fortunate to be located in the beautiful Seacoast region of New Hampshire.  Nearby, slightly inland in the Town of Durham, we are also fortunte to have the University of New Hampshire, one of the nations premiere public universities.  Regular readers of this blog may remember that I am an alumnus of the University and an avid fan of the Men's Hockey program.  You also know that Jenaly has taken some specific undertakings this past year to promote Green IT and we have launched a Green IT section of our web site and a month Green IT tip in our Jenaly FYI.T. newsletter.  So, I am very pleased to announce that Jenaly is supporting UNH's sustainability efforts and participating in the first GO GREEN with the Wildcats, taking place during the opening home football game on September 5th.  Jenaly will have an educational booth offering infomation about Green IT and how businesses can be more sustainable in their use of IT.  If you will be in the area of Durham of Saturday, September 5th and want to see a great football game and learn more about sustainable practices, I hope you will come to the event.

Following is a copy of the press release put out today by UNH Athletics:

Aug 17, 2009
GO GREEN with the Wildcats: Join UNH Football to learn ways to protect the environment 

DURHAM, N.H. – Recognizing the rising interest among students to support environmentally responsible choices and the university’s commitment to sustainability, University of New Hampshire (UNH) Athletics is partnering with UNH’s sustainability office to focus on eco-friendly products and choices at the first football game of the season on September 5, 2009.

“The 'Go GREEN with the Wildcats'” event will set recycling and sustainability more broadly as the standards that will carry on throughout the year at all athletic events,” says Marty Scarano, director of UNH Athletics. “We are excited to give UNH fans ways to lessen their environmental footprints.”

Wildcat Corporate Partners will have tables around the stadium displaying their "green"
products and services. Volunteers will be on hand to remind fans to recycle. Some of the featured vendors will include: the Green Alliance, Ultra Geothermal, SEA Solar Store, the Jenaly Technology Group, ReVision Energy, The Fiddlehead Loop, Simply Green, The Green Tee, UNH Energy Club, and the Southeast Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. To learn more, click here.

UNH is a leader in integrating sustainability throughout its curricula, operations, research, and engagement efforts. Committed to being a model sustainable learning community, UNH has earned several awards for its sustainability initiatives, which range from having the largest transit system in the state and being the first in the nation to receive an EPA Energy Star building rating for residence halls to innovative research and engagement through efforts like Carbon Solutions New England and the NH Farm to School program. Discover the sustainable learning community at UNH at www.sustainablelunh.unh.edu and www.discoversustainability.org.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea and space-grant university, UNH is the state’s flagship public institution, enrolling 11,800 undergraduate and 2,400 graduate students.

GO GREEN FACTS:  Did you know…….?

1. UNH has committed to reducing its carbon emissions to 50% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 under its Climate Action Plan, WildCAP.

2. UNH's ECOline project will meet up to 85 percent of campus energy use with landfill gas. Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) will be sold to help finance the project and to invest in additional energy efficiency projects on campus.

3. UNH Dining services purchases produce from an on-campus organic garden as well as food from 88 local farms and producers.

4. UNH Dining offers beverage discounts for bringing reusable mugs.

5. UNH Dining composts 90% of pre- and post- consumer food waste in the dining halls. The composting program collects over 92 tons of compostable material annually.

6. UNH mandates that new construction and renovations meet LEED Silver or equivalent standards and use low-flow toilets, urinals, faucets, and showers.

7. UNH is installing a rainwater reclamation system at James Hall as part of its renovation; James is registered to pursue LEED certification.

8. The UNH campus features eleven Energy Star-labeled buildings. Congreve was the first Environmental Protection Agency ENERGY STAR rating for residence halls in the nation.

9. The UNH Ecological Advocates is a student group that raise awareness about living sustainably at UNH. Students can also participate in a variety of organizations, including the Energy Club, the Organic Garden Club, and the Student Environmental Action Council.

10. A Living Green community will house 25 students during the 2009-2010 academic year.

11. The Sustainability Internship Program engages students in internships on and off campus.

12. UNH strives to run all of its diesel fleet on B20 low sulfur diesel and is expanding its compressed natural gas, hybrid, all-electric, and other clean technology vehicles as part of its Clean Fleet program.

13. The Cat Cycles bike program allows any member of the university to sign out a bike and accessories for up to one week at a time.

14. The university has an extensive public transportation system with numerous routes both on campus and off and with links to regional bus and train services.

15. UNH uses GoLoco ridesharing and will offer ZipCar in the 2009-2010 academic year.

Green IT Seminar a Hit

Thanks to everyone who attended our Green IT seminar yesterday.  We had a series of great presentations from yours truly, Xerox, e-Waste Recyclers and The Green Alliance. 

I spoke about the various things we are doing here at Jenaly to be more green.  Everything from office recycling to improved power management and virtualization.  You can learn more about our green initiatives at our Green IT page on our web site.

Xerox gave an engaging presentation about their innovative solid ink technology and how it saves money and is very environmentally friendly.  Check out the enteraining video below, that really drives home the solid ink message.

We also learned about Xerox DocuShare document management technologies and how Xerox overall approach to sustainability has become a cornerstone for their business.  It's one of the main reasons Jenaly has partnered with Xerox, as we have a lot of respect for their sustainability initiatives.

e-Waste Recyclers gave an interesting presentation about what really happens with a lot of electronic waste and the importance of using a legitimate and accredited recycler.  Check out the video below.  Once you watch this, you will never throw another electronic device in the trash...not to mention it's illegal to do so in most areas now.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Finally, The Green Alliance presented an overview of this innovative organization and how they can help businesses understand sustainability and realistically improve their business practices to be better members of their communities.

It was a very informative afternoon.  Attendees were treated to some excellent snacks and beverages thanks to the outstanding staff at fellow Green Alliance member, Roberts Maine Grill and each pre-registered attendee received a special gift, a Belkin Conserve surge suppressor, to help kick start their own Green IT efforts.

Thanks again to all who attended.

Green IT Seminar June 29th

If you are an area business and would like to learn about Green IT and how it can save you money and make your business more sustainable, I invite you to join us on June 29th for an educational seminar.  I will be speaking about what we are doing here at Jenaly to be more Green and we will have speakers from Xerox Corporation, e-Waste Recyclers and the Green Alliance.  Visit our events page here to learn more and register.  Hope to see you on the 29th!

Read Our Latest Newsletter

We have just released our June newsletter over on  www.jenalyfyit.com.

Check out this month's news, including:

 Security Alert: Hackers And Cyber Criminals Are Now Concentrating Their Attacks On Small Business

 Are You STILL Keeping Critical Passwords On A Post-IT Note Next To Your Computer? Read On For An Easy Way To Remember Your Passwords And Maintain High Security...

  Green IT Action Item of the Month - Attend Our Free Seminar

  June 21st Is A Busy Day

  Would You Spend $15,000 On A New Computer? These Guys Do...

  Need To Upgrade Your Network But Don't Want The Huge Cash Outlay? Read On For The Solution...

  Answer Our Trivia Contest And Win A $20 Starbucks Gift Card!

June 2009 Jenaly FYI.T. PDF Version

Enjoy!