Environmental concerns are a key challenge with Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) accounting for nearly 2% of global CO2 emissions - as much as the aviation industry. The issue of data centers is the IT industry’s no.1 problem, and it is urgent to take action as quickly as possible. Making the situation all the more urgent, greenhouse gas emissions from information systems are expected to increase by 50% by 2020 if data centers continue to grow at their current pace.
At Atos Origin, Green IT addresses two issues from different perspectives:
Improving our environmental performance and helping our clients optimize their environmental efficiency.
Improving the environmental performance of our data centers and desktop assets
As a global operator of IT infrastructure, we can leverage our experience in successfully improving our own environmental performance to devise innovative solutions for customers in the areas of data centers and servers, workstations and their environment (mobility, networking, enterprise 2.0, printing, recycling, etc.) and the definition of responsible purchasing policies.
More than half of Atos Origin greenhouse gas emissions come from its 50 data centers, which host tens of thousands of servers. To remedy this situation, we have been preparing to apply the European Code of Conduct for Data Centers. In 2008, we joined the Green Grid, a consortium of IT manufacturers and users founded in 2007. Green Grid members have committed to reducing energy consumption in data centers by 10% between now and 2011. This would save 10.7 billion kWh and avoid 6.5 million metric tons of CO2 emissions.
In 2008 Atos Origin took action in three areas to improve environmental performance:
- Making each data center more energy efficient by improving its Power Usage Efficiency (PUE), which measures the amount of energy dispersed by UPS, cooling and other non-IT systems. After an audit, a PUE improvement plan is launched based on our Green Cookbook, which provides simple solutions that can deliver substantial gains. In the event that upgrading may be too expensive, we may consider closing under-performing centers in the long run.
- Optimizing the energy consumption of hosted components by implementing low energy-use solutions, eliminating unnecessary redundant servers, identifying under-employed infrastructure and equipment that remains powered up when not in use, and reducing the number of components through virtualization. A radical response to the widespread use of over-sized servers, virtualization breaks the link between an application and a particular type of machine and operating system. Atos Origin enhanced its forefront position in this area in November 2008 by signing a global strategic partnership with VMWare, the unrivaled leader in virtualization solutions.
- Building an energy sourcing policy by selecting energy suppliers with the smallest carbon footprint per kWh. Several Atos Origin centers already use alternative energy sources, including self-generation (in Germany), wind power (in the Netherlands), hydroelectric power (in Belgium), solar power in many countries or supply contracts with green energy providers.
Delivering IT solutions that optimize our customers’ environmental efficiency
Since energy production and transportation are the largest sources of human greenhouse gas emissions, it is not surprising that our Green IT solutions focus on these two areas - first, by delivering energy savings and promoting efficient production and second, by providing mobility applications that optimize travel and supply chain operations.
The measures we test in-house are fully transposable and enhance our credibility in the marketplace. As a test lab for green operations, we have the expertise it takes to support our customers in their own Green IT and sustainable development projects. Customers benefit in two ways:
- First, they immediately reduce their environmental impact by transferring their physical servers to Atos Origin data centers, and make additional gains afterwards through virtualization.
- Second, they can tap into the advantages of the Atos Workplace Solution's new services, which include remote management and incident resolution, even for servers or workstations that are not turned on; Enterprise 2.0-type cloud computing, where users access data and applications stored on remote servers via the web; and the selection of more energy efficient infrastructure and equipment, in accordance with the Group's Purchasing Charter.