Cloud computing could halve carbon emissions

Cloud computing could halve carbon emissions

The financial benefits of cloud computing are now largely known by businesses, but the environmental advancements offered by the technology are only just starting to be noticed.

A recent report from the Carbon Disclosure Project has revealed just how much of a difference cloud computing could make in terms of the environmental impact of a business. The research found that large IT blue-chip companies in the UK and France could reduce their carbon emissions by as much as 50 per cent if they move their data storage to the cloud.

If they were to do so soon, the firms would see substantial cost savings and carbon reductions in the years ahead; something that is likely to become increasingly important as governments crackdown on carbon emissions.

News of these benefits is now finally starting to reach chief information officers and others with the power to alter the data storage systems used by large businesses. According to information gathered by the Carbon Disclosure Project, blue-chip UK companies intend to increase cloud adoption from ten per cent to almost 70 per cent of their information technology by 2020.

Meanwhile, the fast-paced finance sector sees a further advantage in cloud adoption. Citigroup's Paul Stemmler observed that carbon reduction is “one driver, but not the primary driver”.

He explained: “The primary driver is time to market. Developers used to take 45 days to get new servers, but in the internal cloud infrastructure that we operate in our own private network, it takes just a couple of minutes.”

This kind of network, however, can only really be relied upon for speed and usability if the correct hardware is in place to handle the quantities of data a major firm transfers on a daily basis. A leased line or MPLS network could help an evaluation to reveal that the existing network is unsuitable.

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