Keeping you in the Know

HP Wins Green Enterprise IT Award from Uptime Institute

HP has announced it was selected as a winner of a prestigious 2010 Green Enterprise IT Award, presented by the Uptime Institute.

Green Enterprise IT Awards showcase organizations pioneering energy-efficiency improvements in their IT and data center operations or providing technology that can significantly reduce energy consumption.

HP was recognized as the winner in the Data Center Design category for its Wynyard facility here in the United Kingdom. Commissioned in September 2009, the data center uses a large quantity of fresh air supplied by fans through high-efficiency filters to reduce the energy required for cooling. The building features an energy-efficient and sustainable design that incorporates recycled materials as well as harvested rainwater.

"HP has a distinguished history of improving data center energy efficiency and providing stewardship of the environment," said Ed Kettler, an HP Fellow and strategist in the Green IT organization at HP. "We are honored that the Uptime Institute has recognized HP for the design excellence that can be found throughout the Wynyard facility."

The Green Enterprise IT Awards Ceremony was a part of the fifth annual Uptime Institute Symposium being held in New York through May 19. The Uptime Institute's 2010 awards were co-sponsored by Jones Lang LaSalle and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Applications for the awards were evaluated by an independent panel of expert judges selected by the Institute.

More information about HP's Data Center Services is available by contacting DTP on 0113 276 0210 or email us at tellusmore@dtpgroup.com

With LTO-5, tape storage just keeps getting better

When it comes to data, the more you have, the more you're at risk. This concern applies to companies of all sizes, from small and midsize businesses to large enterprises. Data growth is outpacing storage capacity, and there is a need for more cost-effective ways to manage this growth.

Tape plays a critical role in the storage strategy for resource-constrained businesses. Combined with disk storage in a multi-tier protection strategy, tape offers a storage solution with low total cost of ownership. Tape is also portable, making it ideal for secure offsite and offline backup, disaster recovery, data compliance and long-term archiving.

Tape continues to improve. New LTO-5 tape drives, tape media and automated tape libraries offer significant efficiency gains over previous generations. LTO-5 is the fifth generation of the LTO Ultrium standard. Companies using older LTO generations will find some compelling reasons to upgrade.

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Source: www.hp.com

Don't watch England at work, say IT managers

More than half of IT managers believe that employees should be banned from streaming 2010 FIFA World Cup matches at work, according to Blue Coat Systems.

The networking firm carried out a survey that showed IT and networking professionals believe their corporate networks could be placed under severe strain from bandwidth-hungry internet video, as employees spend part of their working day following their teams during the tournament in South Africa.

One of England's group matches is scheduled to take place during the work day, and companies may find their bandwidth is fully occupied by streaming video. By watching England's match online, employees could prevent their employer's network performing important business functions, as many companies say they have no policies (65 per cent) or technology (59 per cent) in place to prioritise vital business applications and ensure the most efficient delivery of video streaming.

While most of the IT managers surveyed believe that watching matches at work should be banned, 69 per cent were convinced that employees will be determined to watch them. With just three weeks before the first kick-off, companies must promptly educate employees or put technology in place to alleviate the problem.

"As a streamed football match consumes around 750MB of bandwidth, it's important that IT and HR managers clearly communicate their corporate rules to employees."

Source: www.v3.co.uk

HP Envisions Cow-Powered Data Centers

Saying that there is a whole lot of b.s. in the world of green IT is certainly not an overstatement, but only Hewlett Packard could turn that truth to its advantage.

In fact, the company has just published a research paper showing how data center operators could put the oversized loads of crap that emanate from dairy farms to work in powering computing facilities.

The paper, "Design of Farm Waste-Driven Supply Side Infrastructure for Data Centers," was presented today at the ASME International Conference on Energy Sustainability, taking place this week in Phoenix.

By turning cow manure into energy, the research paper shows how a mid-sized dairy farm -- one that numbers about 10,000 cows -- can generate one megawatt of energy, enough to power a mid-sized data center, saving on energy costs and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 6,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent.

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Source: www.greenbiz.com