Security #1, Environmental Impact #2 in eWaste IT Pro Survey

Intechra has a survey on IT Asset Disposition, aka eWaste showing the change in priorities of security to #1 vs. environmental impact.  Some of you may disappointed environmental is not #1.  The reality is few people will lose their job for environmental impact, but you can definitely lose your job for letting company data escape into the waste stream and survive.  In Disposal of IT Assets, #1 priority is to make sure information is disposed of properly.

On the environmental side, the desire to avoid the legal and financialrisks of improper e-waste disposal has surpassed the desire to be“green” on the list of motivations for outsourcing an ITAD program.IT pros are aware that there are more laws governing the disposal ofe-waste than ever before, creating special challenges for enterpriseswith locations in multiple states and countries.

Here is breakdown of the priorities.

Here is another view of the prorates in a 1 to 5 ranking view.

Attending 2011 Data Center Efficiency Summit

Nov 18, 2011 is Silicon Valley Leadership Group's 2011 Data Center Efficiency Summit.  Registration is here.

2011 Data Center Efficiency Summit Friday, November 18, 2011 from 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM (PT) San Jose, CA

I"ll be there as besides great presentations, there are some great people attending.

It is sad to think that the 2010 summit is the last time I saw my departed friend Olivier Sanche, and we didn't get a chance to connect for dinner.  My thought was that's OK I'll see Olivier next time.  I was so wrong.  I am sure i'll have a tear or two when I go to the event and I reminisce with others the last time we saw Olivier energetically walking the group, greeting many with a smile and high energy.

Microsoft comes a long way with Water use in Quincy, Transfers water treatment plant to City of Quincy

When Microsoft's Quincy data center opened, I was able to get a tour of the data center.  One of the questions I asked is how much water does the data center use.  I asked the data center operations staff, they didn't know.  I asked the data center design team, they didn't know either.  And, a response was why do you want to know?  Because I think you use lots of water, and it is an issue in a green data center.

When I went back out to the data center a few months later, the data center operation team said they are storing blow-down water in tanks, and they have 6 months before the tanks fill up.  This problem was not unique to Microsoft as other data center operators had blow-down water that cannot be put into the waste stream.

A water treatment plant was built to reduce the environmental impact.  And now, Microsoft has put a plan in place to transfer the water treatment plant to the City of Quincy.

Microsoft’s Data Center Takes Fresh Approach On Water Reuse

msdcblog

13 Oct 2011 10:00 AM

• 0

Today we are transferring our $ multi-million water treatment plant to city of Quincy, WA

By: Christian Belady, General Manager of Data Center Advanced Development

Around the globe, water is becoming a scarcer and more valuable commodity, and that’s an important factor for data center operators and cloud service providers to consider as consumers and businesses aggressively adopt cloud-based computing. It’s even more critical that all of us in the industry make sure that beyond building sustainability into our designs, running data centers to higher standardize efficiencies, and measuring impact constantly, that we are helping the industry at large in thinking out of the box.

Today offers one of those opportunities. In Quincy, Washington, we are taking steps to transfer the operations of our Water Treatment Plant, located on our data center site, to the City of Quincy. This project involves innovative agreements for promoting a long term sustainable use of a limited natural resource, water, in a desert area that has the added benefit of supporting the foundation of Quincy and Grant County’s growing economy for years to come. To my knowledge, it is the first known transfer of a water treatment plant to a municipality in our industry and I would like to share why I think this type of collaborative project helps the industry and environment benefit as a whole.

Microsoft’s Quincy, Washington Water Treatment Plant

Google's Joe Kava discussed water use in data centers in its 2009 data center summit.  Joe's presentation on water start at the 9:20 mark.

A green data center has smart water use in addition to efficient power and cooling systems.

Day One, at IT Asset Management Conference

A few months ago, I decided to start studying the state of Asset Management in data centers.  Fortunately, there is a conference on Asset Management, and when checking with some friends they were also attending the same conference.

When people think about greening the data center they think about the building.  Some are thinking about the energy efficiency of their equipment.

But, only a few are thinking of how asset management and better utilization of their assets fits in a green data center strategy.

I am used to going to conferences that can be a little geeky.  This conference is about people who live and drink (even in the bars) asset management.

There are a lot of eWaste companies here and software asset management.  Hardware asset management is covered as well and RFID has a  presence with companies like RF Code which many of us have run into at other data center conferences and given many of the guys came from APC NetBotz team there are familiar faces.

There is a small group of people I've been hanging with who are focused on data center asset management at the scale that is interesting, not 10,000 servers, but more around 100,000.

Overall the first day was a good, and I am looking forward to a 2nd day of diving in deeper.

Syska opens Data Center office in Dubai to serve Middle East and Africa

Data Center Growth in emerging markets is hot, and one of the regions growing fast is the Middle East and Africa.  It can be difficult to understand those markets and I was quite excited to hear one of my data center friends has relocated to Dubai to be a local resource for the market.

Syska has made a press release announcing their office in Dubai with VP Greg Jasmin running the local office.  I met Greg years ago as he was one of my early followers on this blog.  We have had many great conversations about green data centers and how sustainable approaches can be applied, and I am sure we will have many more interesting conversations as he services one of the high growth data center markets.  Connecting with great people makes my day. :-)

Syska Hennessy Group Establishes an Office in Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Syska Hennessy Group, Inc. a leading global consulting, engineering and commissioning firm, is underscoring its commitment to clients in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region by opening a permanent office in Dubai’s Internet City, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

...

Syska Hennessy Group's global presence is continuing to expand with the formation of Syska Hennessy Group MENA. The new entity is the result of a joint venture between SH Group, Inc., the parent company of Syska Hennessy Group and LZ Technologies Middle East FZ-LLC. The new company will be led by Greg Jasmin, a vice president of Syska Hennessy Group, and Bassem Hariri, of LZ Technologies Middle East FZ-LLC. Mr. Jasmin will serve as co-managing director of the firm's Dubai office, overseeing operations and assuming technical leadership of the enterprise, while Mr. Hariri, also co-managing director, will oversee client relations and business development.

Syska Hennessy Group has enjoyed long term success in the region with signature projects throughout Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. Jasmin commented, "Syska has been active in the Middle East for more than 30 years but we've never had a permanent presence. Now we both live and work here, elevating our commitment to this strategic region. Being in the region will certainly help Syska Hennessy broaden its array of platinum-level clients, as these clients seek out the experience and technical expertise that we bring from the U.S. to help solve the challenges these clients face in building exceptional buildings."