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Moving on the Desktop
While application and server level virtualization have more or less matured,
the concept is now moving on the desktop and rightly so. The need is huge
considering the amount of power a typical desktop consumes, around 150-180 Watt.
Compare this with a thin client that consumes between 30-50 Watt. Thus, by
simply shifting from desktop to thin clients, an organization can make huge
savings in terms of power consumption.
“Thin clients is the best answer for companies that have a large number of
PCs running on the network and are looking at reducing the energy consumption.
It also makes the desktop PCs more reusable reducing the property need of
companies. Earlier thin clients were considered a dumb device and unless you had
the necessary solutions around the device and software to back that solution it
would have continued to remain a dumb device. But this is not an issue anymore
with some leading hardware vendors tying up with virtualization solution
providers like us to deliver better and intelligent thin client solutions to the
end customer. Today, with the help of thin clients refresh cycles become easier,
reusability of systems increases, security becomes more stringent, etc,” says
Das.
But there is more to green software than merely virtualization (it is very
much though a good starting point); lot many companies across the globe offer a
host of solutions to monitor, and to reduce the energy consumption by both
desktops and servers. Some of the solutions that are available currently are
listed in this section and a lot more would be done in the coming issues of
Dataquest.
| The Green Cloud? |
| A new concept that is doing the rounds
currently is 'Cloud Computing'. Basically, it is an Internet-based
development and use of computer technology. The cloud is a metaphor for the
Internet, based on how it is depicted in computer network diagrams, and is
an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it conceals. It is a style of
computing in which IT-related capabilities are provided 'as a service',
allowing users to access technology-enabled services from the Internet
without knowledge of, expertise with, or control over the technology
infrastructure that supports them. According to the definition on Wikipedia,
cloud computing is a general concept that incorporates software-as-a
-service (SaaS), Web 2.0 and other recent, well-known technology trends, in
which the common theme is reliance on the Internet for satisfying the
computing needs of the users. Like virtualization had some years back,
cloud computing too has hidden green benefits that an enterprise can tap in
to. Take for instance the solution provided by companies like Salesforce.com
and others. By the use of cloud computing (or basically SaaS), many
companies have been able to do away with the need for physical
infrastructure and thus reduce their energy footprint. Likewise, through the
use of thin clients, companies are also able to reduce the need for desktops
on the front end. Thus, in many ways cloud computing enables green, and
could be a great way to reduce the carbon footprint by both big and small
companies. The cloud is indeed quite green. |
| How Chitale Diary
Went Green |
| Located in Pune, Chitale Dairy is one of
the most popular ones in Maharashtra. Established in 1939, the dairy
produces about 400,000 liters of milk every day and manufactures products
like cream, butter and yogurt. The business ran on ten physical servers
across two data centers in a town 500 kms from the nearest large city. The
management was having a lot of trouble in terms of running the disparate
infrastructure both in terms of cost and manpower. Solution
Sometime in 2005, the management at Chitale Dairy began evaluating ways
of streamlining and enhancing its technology environment. That is when it
came across VMware's virtualization suite of products. After much
deliberation, the dairy decided to implement server virtualization technique
to better manage the infrastructure and also in terms of business
productivity. “We determined that if a server became corrupted, we would
need six or seven hours to fully restore it,” says Vishvas Chitale,
director, Chitale Dairy. “Using VMware High Availability (HA), we could
reduce this to just ten minutes.”
By 2007, Chitale Dairy had consolidated its environment to three physical
servers operating in one data center. These host twenty virtual servers
running multiple production applications and operating systems, including
64-bit Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. “Our environment is highly scalable,”
says Chitale. “We can easily support another twenty virtual servers on our
existing hardware to service our growth of 15% y-o-y and expansion into new
lines of business.”
Results
The benefits borne out of the whole virtualization implement were highly
encouraging. Chitale Dairy achieved the following:
- Reduced server hardware acquisition costs by 50%
- Cut software acquisition costs by 75%
- Reduced server deployment times from three weeks to three hours
- Gained the ability to restore a corrupted server in ten minutes rather
than six to seven hours
- Eliminated second data center, with consequent 50% reduction in power,
cooling and real estate, by consolidating from ten physical servers to
three
- Reduced storage costs by 25%
- Gained the ability to seamlessly migrate virtual environment to new
physical node
- Delivered flexibility by supporting a range of storage options
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While software-based 'Green IT' solutions might not have generated much hype
like the hardware-based have, it surely does not mean that there is not a big
story here. And that is what precisely, we will be focusing in the upcoming
green coverage.
Shashwat DC
with inputs from Mehak Chawla
shashwatc@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1 2 3
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