Carol Wilson

In Iceland, Making Lemonade Out of Ash

Explore Light Reading (May 8 2010) Geothermal , Hydro , Cloud Computing

...to Halifax and from there to Montreal, Boston, or the 60 Hudson St. facility [in New York City]." — Carol Wilson, Chief Editor, Events, Light Reading Working Smarter Through Dynamic Business Networks and Highly A... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Iceland   Europe   Verne Global

One Thing that could sink a cloud by Carol Wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Oct 19 2009) Cloud Computing

NetApp CEO Tom Georgens acknowledged the elephant in the cloud computing room last week, in his speech to the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s Data Center Energy Efficiency Summit. Georgens acknowledged that security remains a major concern for those considering adoption of cloud computing. There has been a plethora of problems recently with loss of data stored on a server somewhere in the network, the most recent being the Microsoft-T ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Google   Carol Wilson   At&T

Energy czar promises “certainty” on energy usage rules - by Carol Wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Oct 8 2009) Power and Cooling , Emissions

Most businesses view new government regulations on energy usage much the same way college students view 8 a.m. classes, i.e., as something to be avoided. The reasons are obvious: Government regulations invariably add costs. To date, most data center energy savings efforts have also focused on reducing costs, by using server resources more efficiently and cutting energy usage. Even against that backdrop, however, the Obama Administration has said ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory   Carol Browner   Carol Wilson

Green IT not a buying priority, Gartner said by Carol Wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Sep 29 2009) Construction , Power and Cooling , Cloud Computing

A new Gartner Group study shows that environmental concerns are not driving IT purchasing, despite the fact those concerns are a top priority. In the latest Gartner study, two-thirds of respondents see energy management as the most important environmental challenge facing them over the next 18 months, but only seven percent see green procurement as a top priority. The reason, Rakesh Kumar, research vice-president at the firm, said in a ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Gartner   Carol Wilson

Can Kundra tame the fed's it beast? by Carol Wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Sep 20 2009) Construction , Power and Cooling , Cloud Computing

Last week, U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra gave cloud computing a considerable boost – as if it was needed – by saying the federal government will now shift from building large, power-hungry data centers to using cloud computing to support the many IT initiatives needed to address societal problems, including education, health care and energy. But Kundra also challenged the industry to provide solutions to security, so that the federal government doesn ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Vivek Kundra   Carol Wilson

Jobs versus environment - what wins? By Carol Wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Sep 7 2009) Cloud Computing

Given the considerable presence of the U.S. auto industry in Michigan, that state has been particularly hard hit by the current economic downturn. So when state government goes on an IT efficiency kick and decides to systemically reduce its costs by consolidating operations and eliminating When the state goes one step further and plans to build a massive 100,000 square foot data center to host not only all ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Carol Wilson

Large Corporates Fall Short of Green Goals by Carol Wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Aug 31 2009) Monitoring , Carbon Reduction Commitment

With all the attention being given to reducing greenhouse gases, a major new report says we’re not doing nearly enough. “The Carbon Chasm” was produced by the Carbon Disclosure Project and supported by BT, and shows that the world’s largest companies need to do much more than they are currently planning in terms of reducing carbon emissions if we are to reach scientifically-recommended level of greenhouse gas cuts ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Carol Wilson

Energy-aware Internet could mean data center revolution By Carol Wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Aug 24 2009) Networking

A new study from some of the big guns of technology -- MIT, Carnegie Mellon University and content delivery network Akamai – is saying that major Internet players could save up to 40% of their electricity costs by using routing that automatically sends traffic to lower-cost data centers. The study, published in the MIT Technology Review, shows how an algorithm that makes Internet routing energy-aware could save millions of dollars. The idea ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Carnegie Mellon University   Carol Wilson

Data Centers in the downturn by carol wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Aug 17 2009)

While everyone expects data center traffic to continue to grow exponentially for the foreseeable future, the reality of the current economy is that some companies are cutting back on their IT and telecom spends, to match the decline in their own revenues. How will that affect hosted data center services? Two new studies from Forrester Research, released this week, show interesting trends in how businesses are cutting back. The two ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Forrester Research   Europe   Carol Wilson

Looking beyond the Kyoto Treaty by carol wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Aug 10 2009) Carbon Footprint , Emissions

Many within the environmental movement hoped Barack Obama’s election to the White House would mean U.S. ratification of the Kyoto Accord, the U.N. climate treaty that seeks to limit the carbon emissions thought to cause global warming. What President Obama has done instead is establish the U.S. as a leader in negotiating the next version of Kyoto, which expires in 2012. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   U.N.   Barack Obama   Carol Wilson

Getting the right cloud by carol wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Aug 3 2009) Cloud Computing

As much as we all rail against hype in the world of technology, the truth is hype plays a significant role – it draws attention to innovations and enables those that ultimately succeed to get the focus, funding and market power they need. Gartner realized this years ago in defining the hype cycle. But the down side of hype is that it often renders once-meaningful terms into clichéd marketing gimmicks, which ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Carol Wilson

Falling for hydro all over again by carol wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Jul 27 2009) Power and Cooling , Hydro

You can’t deny there’s a romantic ring to the idea that Niagara Falls will power Yahoo!’s next data center, being built in Lockport, N.Y. And while this is a recent development, hydroelectric power was the first renewable source of energy sought by those building data centers. The reasons are obvious – there’s nothing uncertain about hydroelectric power – its costs and benefits are well established, as is ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Google   Yahoo   The Green Grid

Finding the balance by Carol Wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Jul 22 2009)

One word that you hear repeatedly in any discussion of finding new energy sources is balance. Literally speaking, balance is a state of equilibrium, but in the context of the environment, it often means juggling multiple interests, priorities and forces to find a reasonable compromise. In most parts of the world, keeping things in balance where the environment is concerned means doing what can reasonably and affordably be done to ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   New York Times   The New York Times   Iceland

A long-winded answer to powering data centers by carol wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Jul 17 2009) Wind

T. Boone Pickens goes on television to tout wind power. Warren Buffet says his Berkshire Hathaway investment firm will continue to invest heavily in wind energy, especially in states like Iowa, where 11% of the nation’s wind energy is generated. When big money men talk, people tend to listen. But they are not the only ones talking up wind energy. The U.S. Department of Energy has said the ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Department of Energy   Carol Wilson

Finding the right incentives by Carol Wilson

Explore Views and Opinions on Green IT (Jul 7 2009) Cap and Trade , Emissions , Fossil Fuel

If you want to guarantee a flood of angry email responses, write something that appears to endorse the energy bill just passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. I did, and the stream of vitriol that followed was stunning. “Idiot” was the kindest remark and “You are absolutely batty” the most succinct. When I could get past the nasty comments, the thinking fell along a few lines: First, that ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Carol Wilson   Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act.