One stopping shopping for telecommunications and energy by Doug Mohney

Views and Opinions on Green IT (Sep 3 2009) Power and Cooling

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   The chain leading from the phone closet to the utility bill may not seem obvious at first, but PAETEC CEO Arunas Chesonis says energy is the future of telecom. Since the entire IT and communications infrastructure has significant power requirements, there’s a ready relationship between the two.

   Chesonis, CEO of a national communication services company, predicted a decade ago that CIOs would be making all telecommunications decisions – a prophesy that has come true. Since CIOs are now increasingly more responsible for back-up power sources, data center energy usage, energy efficiency, green initiatives and real estate coordination, the next step is adding overall power and cooling costs to the portfolio.  

   Rochester, New York-based PAETEC is already planning for its role in the CIO’s future responsibilities.  About two years ago, the company purchased a two-person energy brokerage business and has grown it out to eight employees.   

   Supplying a range of IT offerings from leased lines to managed services to around 5,000 customers across the country, Chesonis believes PAETEC can become a competitive energy supplier in 12 to 15 states in the Northeast and Midwest.  He estimates some of PAETEC’s customers spend more than $100,000 annually on energy, so helping save on energy costs provides a big opportunity in terms of building relationships.  Energy and power services may provide the opening with other customers to have a discussion about telecom.

   But selling power for the sake of selling power isn’t the only aspect to PAETEC’s energy strategy. The company’s Energy for Service offering could be structured to fund a solar panel deployment in exchange for a percentage of a company’s network and telecom contracts – going green on the installment plan.  PAETEC also provides energy expense management services to help reduce energy costs to save green (dollars).

   PAETEC’s vision of the future is a bit radical, but it might not be that “out there.”  Implementation of smart grid technologies will further blend and blur the lines between energy consumption and telecommunications services – your data center may indeed be able to have a “single bill” for power and Internet services.

   
   

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