The Power to Go Green

Ask a CIO to tell you exactly how much power his data centers consume and therefore what it's costing to keep them running, chances are the answer will be a polite 'can't tell you.' Ask him if he'd be interested in keeping those servers humming away for less, and with reduced carbon footprint, and you better be prepared to tell him exactly how.

CIO in association with APC by Schneider Electric in a study of power savings and efficiency practices asked over 200 respected Indian corporate businesses to share information on their data center energy utilization. We found that most of the respondents are very aware of the need for more efficient energy utilization with respect to their technology infrastructure. What the study also found was that the practices in place to curtail wastage varied.

For instance, a majority of the respondents said their top-level executives, such as the chief executive officers, demonstrated an explicit intent to reducing the enterprises' carbon footprint by using power-saving methods. Yet, only about a fifth of the respondents rewarded their IT managers for putting in place practices that would save power.

The respondents cut across sectors - from retail trade to manufacturing, financial services and government. The best enterprises among them consistently affirmed they had solutions or best practices in place across a wide array of issues. Queries sought responses in areas ranging from top-executive-level backing for power saving efforts to enterprise-level audits that measured power efficiencies within the organizations.

The best also needed to have effective steps in place for regularly encouraging their workers, including IT managers and facilities managers, to adopt prudent power saving practices. The study also asked if the respondents financially rewarded their employees to encourage them to save energy costs.

The Study and Some Findings

The Study and Some Findings

The CIO - 10 Top Green-IT Organizations Study 2009 powered by APC by Schneider Electric had more than 200 organizations participating. The study had the respondents answer just 'yes' or 'no' to a battery of questions that sought to validate everything from top-level support for energy efficiency to the level of encouragement IT staff got for internalizing power-saving practices.

It's pertinent to note that beyond or even despite the top-level commitment to power savings, the study found that more than 40 percent of the firms didn't have set and published goals for energy efficiency, power savings and/or carbon-footprint reduction.

The study sought to get a bird's-eye snapshot of the state-of-the-enterprise when it comes to reducing wastage and boosting savings. Technology heads and their teams at some of India's most respected companies shared information on both broad organization-level strategies and department or office-unit level practices followed by individual managers.

They said 'yes' or 'no' to queries like whether they had mandated increasing use of video-conferencing to cut down on travel and questions like whether IT managers personally checked utility bills.

When as much as 40 percent of the energy used by data centers consists of power and cooling solutions, energy efficiency is vital to achieving overall data center efficiency. This calls for a supplier with proven expertise in energy management.

The better known ones are capable of supplying modular, scalable, 'plug and play' solutions that are end-user friendly, and also help reduce energy wastage.

CIO Speak: Ajay Dhir, Jindal Steel

Ajay K. Dhir, Group Chief Information Officer, JSL Ltd.

Q. What was the most important motivation to consider power conservation and carbon footprint reduction both at your IT organization and end-user level?

JSL has always been a Socially Responsible Corporate and this is reflected in our Vision Statement 2010 also, which explicitly states one of the tenets as 'To be admired as a socially responsible Corporate and a sustained value creator for all its stakeholders.' The motivation and drive to consider energy conservation and reduce carbon footprint at the IT organization as well as end user level came from within, which we consider as the best motivator and success factor, as there is no better motivator than one own self and no amount of external influence can drive an initiative unless there is strong conviction and belief internally. We have been making efforts in 'Going Green' not only within IT, but also moved beyond IT towards our Manufacturing Facilities, Power Generation, End User segment and our Suppliers as well as Service Providers. There is a very strong awareness at all levels, for the need to conserve energy, reduce the carbon footprint and preserve the ecology and environment in a responsible manner.

What challenges did you face in achieving your power efficiency / conservation targets?

We had started on this journey of power efficiency / conservation by looking at our existing consumption, identifying points of wastage, and very important - doing a benchmark against where we are against world class standards. This initiative had the mandate direct from the VC&MD himself and the support of the Management team, so creating the buy in and understanding of the initiative was not difficult, though it was not exactly smooth sailing also. A lot of communication had to be done - above, across, and below the line to make everyone in the organization understand what we were doing, why we were doing, how we were doing and what do we get from this. This involved meetings, presentations, communication, and infusion of the 'I believe, I can do, this is MY project' spirit in all stakeholders.

Q. What long-term benefits do you anticipate from the energy saving processes initiated at your organization?

By initiating energy saving processes in our organization, we have achieved significant benefits - immediate, short term as well as aiming for medium to long term gains. Immediate gains resulted in cost saving - direct contribution to the bottom line. Short term gains were an extension of these initiatives and savings to other areas not touched initially and medium to long term gains will be creating a sustainable organization which operates as per world class standards. In fact, one of the best gains that we achieved was that energy saving / conservations is now permeated across the organization and is a part of the DNA of every employee, no matter at what level he is.

Q. What else have you planned for 2010 in terms of energy conservation at your organization?

Energy conservation is a journey; it has started now in JSL with success and total commitment from Management and all stakeholders. We are in process of commissioning the largest, green field, integrated stainless steel complex globally, in Kalinga Nagar, Dist. Jajpur, Orissa, which will take us to the league of the 'Top 5 Stainless Steel Producers' globally. There is tremendous scope in 'Going Green' in this facility in every aspect, as it is Greenfield and we have all the flexibility to design and implement world class systems and practices here. The 'Green' initiative is being very closely monitored at all levels here and we're sure to create new benchmarks of excellence in this facility, as we have captive power plants, mines, hot rolling and cold rolling plants in this complex. These initiatives are being rolled out to our other subsidiaries also, which though smaller, but will contribute to overall preservation of the eco system and reduction of carbon footprint collectively.

CIO Speak: Amit Gupta, Fidelity India

Amit Gupta, Vice President IT, Fidelity Business Services India

Q. What was the most important motivation to consider power conservation and carbon footprint reduction both at your IT organization and end-user level?

The key motivation behind Green IT initiative is to build a better place to work and in turn a better society/world to live in, says Gupta. Many of these initiatives undertaken at FTI in the last couple of years were a result of innovative ideas submitted by associates, he says. They led to a substantial contribution in his enterprise's way of demonstrating concern for the environment.

Senior management displays a strong commitment in long-term investments in efforts that address ecological concerns, Gupta says.

Q. What challenges did you face in achieving your power efficiency / conservation targets?

''The biggest challenge is to motivate the mid management,'' says Gupta. ''Once there is a buy-in, then it is easy to implement and sustain.'' At Fidelity, the organization conducts workshops and uses those as opportunities to motivate people to seriously consider the environmental impact while delivering their day-to-day responsibilities. Fidelity has setup cross-functional teams to keep the momentum going in the IT enterprise's effort to address environmental concerns.

''It is not only the responsibility of internal IT teams to lead Green IT projects but everyone's conscious effort to make it happen.''

Q. What long-term benefits do you anticipate from the energy saving processes initiated at your organization?

With the Green business objectives touching almost every business vertical in the organization the units rely heavily on IT to assist in meeting Organization goals. The long-term benefits of Green IT initiatives anticipated at Fidelity include:

• Fulfillment of regulatory mandates
• Reduction of operational costs,
• Shrinkage of carbon footprints,
• Improvement of corporate market position and
• Demonstration of strong corporate stewardship and community commitment.
• Reduce costs and improve operational efficiency

Q. What else have you planned for 2010 in terms of energy conservation at your organization?

Fidelity's IT organization plans to implement the following initiatives in 2010:

Continued focus on Virtualizations - Able to run the same number of tasks on fewer servers, using less electricity and requiring less cooling, resulting in decreased emissions and costs.

Depreciation Schedules: Eliminate the common practice of three-year (or more) depreciation schedules for servers. Server technology is a rapidly changing area, and older servers are much less energy efficient than new servers.

Asset Disposal: Secured and Environmental friendly disposal of EOL IT assets. Proper asset disposal practices can eliminate toxic waste from entering landfill systems. Recycling old equipment, when possible, decreases waste and can offer potential cost savings to organizations that reuse IT assets.

Smart and Energy Efficient Data Centers:

Combined Heat and Power: Utilize Combined Heat and Power (CHP) technology to reduce emissions and electricity consumption.

Energy-Efficient Lighting: Install energy-efficient timers or motion-activated lights to reduce heat generated by lighting, and thus reduce the amount of cooling necessary in the data center.

Air Conditioners: Coordinate air conditioner settings to avoid waste (e.g. one may heat while another cools, and one may dehumidify while another humidifies); utilize "economizer" options on air conditioners, when available, which offer potential energy savings.

Data Center Staff: Align data centre staff properly by integrating the expertise of personnel who understand both IT systems and physical infrastructure systems

CIO Speak: Vijay Sethi, Hero Honda Motors

Vijay Sethi, Vice President IS and CIO, Hero Honda Motors Limited

Q. What was the most important motivation to consider power conservation and carbon footprint reduction both at your IT organization and end-user level?

The aim of green IT interventions is to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions within the organization.
Green IT is the practice of using IT resources efficiently and it directly impacts the triple bottom line of 'People, Planet and Profit.'
We at Hero Honda IT are working on various initiatives to reduce our electricity and paper consumption. Like any other strategic initiative, this needed a planned approach:
The first was to assess where we stood. This would mean knowing the areas which needed focus, such as data centers, travel, user-side equipment, paper consumption, checks being printed, passport (customer relationship) forms and paper-based approval documents.
An important part of our plan was an organization-wide awareness initiative - we sent in regular mailers on why saving electricity and paper was important not just for the organization but for society and why it is not the responsibility of just one department but the entire organization.
Progress is measured regularly so corrective action can be taken when necessary.

The Environmental impact for any organization can be broadly classified into 3 categories:

Environmental impact of IT used by an organization.
This includes consumption of energy in the data center or for PCs / Laptops, printing and networking equipment; electronic waste and asset disposal etc.
Environmental impact of an organization's business operations
This includes the environmental effects of material and energy consumption; emissions or waste from manufacturing and other operational processes; From IT perspective it includes areas like paper consumption for administrative purposes; workforce commuting and mobility; etc. Product development is a big area here for automobile companies where IT can help making more fuel efficient bikes and scooters. Similarly, process re-engineering to make processes 'greener' falls in this category.
Environmental impact during the 'in-use' phase of the enterprise's products
This is after the product has been sold to customer and is in use. This is a direct result of category B in terms of product design and also usage of product - where companies can train users as to how to use product properly. IT by usage of things like riding simulators and e-learning tools can help here.

For example, for a 2 wheeler manufacturer, the energy that goes into manufacturing components in-house or by our supply chain partners and having them shipped, assembling bikes, shipping to dealers etc is part of the category B. The fuel consumption for bikes and the carbon dioxide emissions are part of the third category C. Finally, IT that runs the factory, as well as all other processes, constitutes the category A.

We at Hero Honda IT worked on all 3 Categories

Some of the Green IT Initiatives that we have taken or are underway
    Green IT as a focus area in our IT policy
    New and Energy Efficient Datacenter with Power Management Features
    Virtualization and Server Consolidation
    TFTs in place of CRTs
    Reduction of Printers
    Video Conferencing / Collaboration Tools - to reduce travel
    Buying of Energy certified equipment - replacing old inefficient equipment
    Increasing usage of Video Conferencing / Collaboration Tools - to reduce travel
    Creating Awareness in organization
    Usage of e-learning to reduce trainee or trainer travel
    New IT initiatives to cut paper consumption, like:
    Digitization of Hero Honda passport programme
    Digitization of workflows needing approvals
    Electronic fund transfer
    E-fax to get fax on e-mail rather than on paper

Q. What challenges did you face in achieving your power efficiency / conservation targets?
Some of the challenges we faced were:

a) Hidden Energy Costs: Initially, we at IT did not know how much energy IT operations are consuming as IT was not bothered about electricity or diesel charges as it is not part of IT budget
b) Initial Cost: Most of the changes cost initial investments, even if there were savings to be had later on; and often, the return on the investment is not very quick. Though the economic environment over the last 2 years has not been very conducive, Hero Honda persisted went ahead and made the investments.
c) Change Management: There was some resistance from some quarters to reduce print volumes or use conference calls / video to reduce travel but very soon this was overcome by regular communication.
d) Sustained effort: Green IT is not a one-time effort - it is a continuous organization-wide process - so, we had to ensure that we sustain the efforts.
e) Disposal and Recycling: One challenge we faced was what to do with existing equipment. When we were replacing CRTs with TFTs keeping Green in mind - we looked for a vendor who will take back the existing CRTs and recycle them.

Q. What long-term benefits do you anticipate from the energy saving processes initiated at your organization?

While it's is true that economic benefits are an important factor of Green IT initiatives, there are a couple of other benefits as well:
a) We as an organization give a lot of focus on caring for society and environment. Focus on Green IT provides an excellent means for that.
b) For the employees, it also gives a sense of satisfaction and ownership when they feel that they are also trying to contribute at their level in saving the environment.
c) Many initiatives also help in improving productivity in the organization - e.g. video conferencing, workflow automation, passport automation, electronic transfer of funds, collaboration etc.
d) Green IT has also helped the IT team in day to day management - for example, the number of servers to be managed reduced as we virtualized; or the number of printers to be managed reduced.
e) An additional benefit of using TFTs in place of CRTs was people got more space on their desks.
f) There were direct savings in power consumption and the cost there of - whether at data center or at user end - it was not just power consumption by equipment but also considering the lower heat generation, the room required reduced air-conditioning.
g) Other savings include space, power and Administrative cost saving at Datacenter.
h) There has been a reduction in paper consumption costs
i) Use of VC and IM has also led to reduction in travel and communication costs.

Reducing long-term costs and improving environmental performance are not mutually exclusive in most cases.

Q. What else have you planned for 2010 in terms of energy conservation at your organization?
As 2010 progresses we are looking at:

• Sustaining Green IT activities
• Recycling & Disposal Policies
• Paperless Office (or one with less paper)
• Regular Energy Audits
• Extensive usage of e-learning tools

CIO Speak: Satish Das, Cognizant

Satish Das, CSO and AVP - ERM, Cognizant

Q. What was the most important motivation to consider power conservation and carbon footprint reduction both at your IT organization and end-user level?

Cognizant as an organization believes in the raising concerns of experts & leaders and wanted to actively contribute towards reducing global warming and developing a healthier environment for tomorrow.

Other key motivational factors have been as follows:

The recent power crisis and fuel shortages issues, which we wanted to mitigate using less power & reducing the load on the diesel-powered generators by being conservative on fuel usage.

Saving cost and optimization of resources, with equipments of highest efficiency, cost saving can be achieved even through the optimized usage of the power i.e. usage with valid reason & calculated requirement (Diligently understood). Unnecessary use of power will lead to over usage of raw material (HSD, Petrol, and Coal) thus leading to a revenue leakage in the form of cost of raw material & the machinery life.

Developing a clean and healthy environment, by reducing air and noise pollution levels, which indirectly improves the factors affecting general human health.

Q. What challenges did you face in achieving your power efficiency /conservation targets?

All initiatives have to face hurdles and ours was no different. We focused on three levels of challenges independently and planned for their resolutions.

First was to replace the inefficient equipments with new ones. We had to present case studies & financial statistics to justify all investment plans, explaining how they benefit the organization in the long run.

The next important challenge was convincing our employees on power conservation & resource utilization that this was more than a cost saving initiative; it was a drive towards a global cause; drive towards their better future. We had to focus on various mediums for improving their awareness and active participation.

The final hurdle was improving the knowledge & awareness of the operation and maintenance team, driving and motivating them towards our goals. They had to be made more reactive towards simple activities like moving around floors and switching off the lights in the unoccupied rooms.

Q. What long-term benefits do you anticipate from the energy saving processes initiated at your organization?

Contribution from the organization for the global cause of keeping the planet habitable will always have long-term benefits. Some other benefits from the entire green initiatives are:

• Long-term combating of the fuel and power crises
• Efficient operation of the existing infrastructure thus reducing operational costs
• Reducing the carbon footprint
• Minimizing air and noise pollution thus indirectly creating a healthy work atmosphere

Q. What else have you planned for 2010 in terms of energy conservation at your organization?

Some key plans towards a greener environment are:

Designing efficient data centers: Efforts are being made to tap all energy meters to evaluate the day-to-day usage with justifications for varying consumptions.

Solar panels for common area lights: Life of these equipments is longer and they also help in reducing carbon deposit & resource saving.

Efficient HVAC system: Interlinked sub-systems and efficient automation add lots to energy conservation. Also equipment-controlled switch over are more efficient in terms of operations.

Improving awareness among the building occupants: This will result in better participation & support to the green cause. Success can only be achieved with such collective participation.

CIO Speak: A.K. Gupta, IFFCO

A.K. Gupta, Deputy General Manager (Systems), IFFCO

Q. What was the most important motivation to consider power conservation and carbon footprint reduction, both at your IT organization and end-user level?

Our organization is very well aware of the need of the hour pertaining to lower carbon footprints and greening of the environment. We are trading the carbon credits accrued due to the implementation of energy savings schemes in our plants. IFFCO's IT team is well-versed with the concept of green IT and we are already reaping the benefits that it brings along in terms of cost savings and improving the corporate goodwill. .

Q. What challenges did you face in achieving your power efficiency/conservation targets?

Fortunately for IFFCO money was not the issue, but the real challenge lay in exploring the various tools and technologies available for optimum utilization of resources and in convincing the senior personnel from non-IT sections for implementation of these technologies.

Q. What long-term benefits do you anticipate from the energy saving processes initiated at your organization?

Implementing energy-efficient processes results in huge cost savings and also helps in achieving various certifications, which, in turn, helps in taking on new projects.

Q. What else have you planned for 2010 in terms of energy conservation at your organization?

We intend to slowly replace all our 3500-odd desktops and laptops with new ones that have 85 % or above power-efficient SMPS with star rating and are ROHS compliant. We would also be going in for laptops with higher battery back-ups. Besides, server consolidation is an ongoing process at IFFCO. We have been exploring the concept of video conferencing, web conferencing, and audio conferencing in our zonal, state, and area offices across the country.

In the first phase of our power conservation project, we also plan to outsource our disater recovery site. At present, the DR site is at our Kalol plant in Gujarat and we may now shift it to a third party location in either Bangalore, Hyderabad, or Noida. In future, we may have the primary site at the third party place.

CIO Speak: Laxman K Badiga, Wipro Technologies

Laxman K Badiga, CIO, Wipro Technologies

Q. What was the most important motivation to consider power conservation and carbon footprint reduction, both at your IT organization and end-user level?

Wipro is keen on power conservation and carbon footprint reduction at all levels. Wipro is aware that the effects of ecological degradation, such as ,- global warming, water scarcity, poor air quality, hazardous wastes, and  loss of rare animal and plant species, affect society in varying degrees. While issues like global warming affect the whole world, problems like air pollution and water scarcity are more localized, and have an impact on communities in a particular region or a country. Whichever way one sees it, one cannot overlook the fact that an organization's ecological impact spills beyond its boundaries.

Eco Eye, a Wipro initiative, is a journey we have embarked on because Wipro believes in addressing ecological sustainability. Our optimal use of energy stems from Wipro's commitment towards ecological sustainability. A plethora of initiatives have been launched under Eco Eye to optimize the use of energy at the organization and end-user level. Some of them are mentioned below:

Building design: LEED-rated campuses at Gurgaon (Platinum) and Kochi (Gold) help in improving energy efficiency by upto 25 percent. Our Kochi center is also a BEE, 5-star rated facility. Use of double glazed glass reduces cooling demands. Greater use of natural ventilation, lighting, and skylights in the basements are some of the methods adopted by Wipro to lower energy consumption.

Cooling design: We have shifted from window ACs to centralized cooling systems. Wipro has also adopted technologies that enhance cooling efficiency, for example, variable frequency drives, screw compressors, autovents, ambiators which use ambient air during winter.

Computing equipment: Wipro insists on using Energy star certified PCs, and power control tools for both PCs and laptops. Consolidation of application servers, increasing use of TFT monitors, in lieu of CRT monitors, use of virtualization technologies at datacenters, printer usage optimization are some of the methods we adopt to lower power consumption. Besides, optimization of weekend power consumption of all our laboratories had a significant contribution towards power conservation.

Lighting: Wipro uses occupancy sensors and timers to lower lighting requirements. We also insist on a 100 percent use of CFLs, and the use of natural light. Our first pilots on LED lighting have been completed.

Processes: Regular energy audits and life cycle analysis of equipment such as lifts and ACs goes a long way in improving the condition of our buildings. We have implemented energy analytics to monitor, compare, and benchmark facilities across all locations. Dashboards comparing laboratory power usage data have also been implemented.

Practices: Wipro believes in best practices, such as switching off all equipment - PCs, photocopiers, ACs, lifts - after office hours. We also recalibrate temperature settings in conference rooms and laboratories to reduce power consumption.

2) What challenges did you face in achieving your power efficiency / conservation targets?

Energy usage is driven by human behavior and business needs. Last year Wipro challenged human behavior on power usage without affecting business needs. This resulted in the evolution of energy optimal processes and power usage patterns across business units, while maintaining delivery excellence. Availability of the right, robust technology for energy optimization was also a challenge. Hence, Wipro was motivated to develop a couple of tools, such as power saver tool for desktops, that were successfully implemented as well. Finally, the scale of implementation is also a challenge, considering a company of Wipro's size and diversity of power consuming equipments.

3) What long-term benefits do you anticipate from the energy saving processes initiated at your organization?

Wipro has established a systematic approach towards energy saving methods and practices. Some of its facilities have emerged as leaders in implementing the processes, while others are fast bridging the gap. As these processes take deeper root in the organization fabric, in the near future Wipro will emerge as a lean-energy lorganization.

4) What else have you planned for 2010 in terms of energy conservation at your organization?

Wipro plans to invest in renewable energy generation and procurement, green datacenters and bio gassifier, and the use of LED lighting and geothermal cooling. Thus, we intend to achieve the next level of benefits in terms of our continued endeavors towards carbon footprint reduction and energy savings.

CIO Speak: Ravinder Jain, Aircel

Ravinder Jain, CIO, Aircel

Q.    What was the most important motivation to consider power conservation and carbon footprint reduction, both at your IT organization and end-user level?

Datacenters are critical to any telecom company and end up being one of their highly energy-intensive components, resulting in high operational and maintenance costs. Aircel designed its datacenter with an aim to increase IT efficiency through consolidation and energy efficiency through green energy solutions. Aircel has a strong belief in green enterprise as a social responsibility as well. These green solutions were designed and implemented by Wipro Eco Energy, the clean energy division of Wipro. These solutions have reduced the overall carbon footprint of the datacenter by over 400 tons per year.

Q. What challenges did you face in achieving your power efficiency / conservation targets?

Aircel has implemented the following green initiatives for conservation of energy in its National Technology Center. Some of the features that have gone into making this datacenter sustainable are given below:

(i) Adaptive Cooling Technology
Reduced load and accrued savings on operational costs with the use of sensors for optimum cooling, which adjust the CFM required by servers, based on the load.

(ii) Geothermal Exchange
Reduced operational and maintenance costs through a GSHP (ground source heat pump) unit which uses the earth as a heat sink, reducing the energy consumption as compared to a conventional chiller.

(iii) Earth Air tunnel (EAT)
Reduced overall load and capacity of the chiller, with an EAT system for fresh air intake. This has resulted in a 6 degree celsius reduction of fresh air temperature and thereby reduced the tonnage by 10TR.

(iv) Lighting Solutions
Optimized lighting design through modeling and simulation, combined with energy-efficient LED and CFL lights. This reduced the connected lighting load by 2.6KW.


(v) Solar Thermal Solutions

The challenges in implementing our plans were:

• Non-availability of standard equipment in India and the need to import part of it.
• Indentification of organization or partner that had executed such a green project and also had the scientific methodology to calculate power efficiency.
• The space and environment to deploy green initiatives for the National Technology Center.

Q. What long-term benefits do you anticipate from the energy saving processes initiated at your organization?

The green initiatives will help Aircel in reducing operational costs and, enhance the returns on the investments made for the project. The green initiatives will conserve energy and help save the environment. All the green initiatives taken by Aircel would help its people in maintaining better health.


Q. What else have you planned for 2010 in terms of energy conservation at your organization?

We plan to consolidate and standardize our equipment at both the Technology Center level and the user level. We also intend to initiate Application Virtualization in order to use maximum computing power. We are also trying to deploy cloud computing to optimize operational costs and conserve substantial energy. We are also working aggressively to make Aircel a paperless office to save the environment.

CIO Speak: Arvind Tawde, Mahindra & Mahindra

Arvind Tawde, Sr. VP and CIO, Mahindra & Mahindra

Q.    What was the most important motivation to consider power conservation and carbon footprint reduction both at your IT organization and end-user level?

Mahindra Group has always been conscious about the environment. A separate sustainability cell has been formed driving various sustainability-related initiatives across the entire Mahindra group. The sustainability roadmap and priorities are decided along with appropriate governance framework.
Environment responsibility forms the foundation of our sustainability roadmap. The focus is on alternate energy, propulsion technologies, safety, transport, services, de-stressing at workplace among others.

Mahindra is one of the few Indian companies to receive an A+ GRI checked rating for its Sustainability Reports for two consecutive years 2007-08 and 2008- 09.

The same is reflected in our IT strategy and operations. To mitigate the negative impact on the environment our various IT initiatives drive energy efficiency and resource conservation measures.
Another major motivating factor is the cost saving opportunities in IT operations. Initiatives such as virtualization and blade technology, in particular, have helped the organization reduce total cost of operations.

M&M's new datacenters at Mumbai and Chennai have been designed using 'green features' like power efficient blade servers, virtual server environment power efficient AC systems, air-cooled racks, heat resistant walls etc.

As server virtualization provides major power saving opportunities, we have virtualized 100+ servers in our datacenter. It has given proportionate benefits in terms of floor space, cost of hardware upgrade and energy consumption at the datacenter. Virtualization of storage systems and desktops is at the POC stage.

While energy saving and reduction in TCO are the driving factors, other benefits, which are accrued are improved business continuity, data security and scalable IT operations.
End-user engagement is critical in driving such initiatives. The initiatives such as awareness presentations, trainings, sustainability wall, and sustainability mela are conducted on a periodic basis to ensure end-user engagement.

On the IT front, awareness campaigns are conducted to educate IT users on the optimum use of IT facilities, such as switching off PCs while leaving office, minimizing printouts (especially e-mails), and using e-storage instead of physical copy storage.
What challenges did you face in achieving your power efficiency / conservation targets?
As mentioned above, server virtualization is one of our major power saving initiatives. The same is considered for all new procurements. However, the biggest challenge in this process is our legacy infrastructure which will need to be replaced by more power efficient infrastructure in a phased manner.

The speed at which such initiatives are brought in depends on the following factors:
1.    Inventory of legacy servers and other IT equipment
2.    Levels at which existing servers are being utilized
3.    Performance level expectation from various applications

We also need to manage with our existing datacenter and its deficiencies. This will be renovated over a period of time. The benefits, therefore, are accrued in a phased manner.

Q. What long-term benefits do you anticipate from the energy saving processes initiated at your organization?

On a long term basis, we are moving towards achieving our sustainability commitment through development and diffusion of environment-friendly technologies.

A 4-step process has been undertaken to institutionalize the sustainability initiative
4.    Create awareness on sustainability issues among employees
5.    Enhance the breadth and depth of sustainability monitoring
6.    Articulate sustainability roadmap
7.    Set targets for reduction of non-renewable energy

As an added advantage, the whole process would certainly foster innovation skills in the organization.

What else have you planned for 2010 in terms of energy conservation at your organization?
All best practices, established earlier, will be pursued during 2010 as well. In addition to these, systems which need to be disposed off are given only to those vendors who have eco friendly e-waste management or recycling capabilities. This ensures that harmful materials such as lead, mercury, chromium etc. are not dumped in the landfills.

The 'green' factor is considered critical in all our new IT infrastructure creations. We have progressively built additional green features in the new datacenters created at various sites. We would also be rolling out the best practices to the Mahindra group of companies during 2010.

CIO Speak: Muralikrishna K., Infosys Technology

Muralikrishna K ,Head –Computers &Communication Division, Infosys Technology

Q. What was the most important motivation to consider power conservation and carbon footprint reduction both at your IT organization and end-user level?

As a corporate citizen with a conscience, Infosys strives to cultivate a sustainable approach in the conduct of its business. In our interactions with stakeholders within and beyond the sphere of business, we recognize that we shoulder a larger responsibility. We do business with an open eye - continuously measuring and evaluating the consequences and impact of our actions.

Globalization continues to unleash far-reaching changes. The biggest benefit of globalization has been the rise of companies and economies and the consequent creation of jobs. However, the most telling consequence of development has been the deterioration of the environment. Infosys believes that the environment can be a participant and a beneficiary of progress.

Further, Infosys wishes to be recognized by all stakeholders, including customers, employees, vendors, share owners and the community at large, as a company committed to high standards of environmental management and to providing its employees, consultants and contractors a safe and healthy environment - free of occupational injury and illness.

To achieve this, we strive toward:

• Conservation of resources
• Prevention of pollution
• Adherence to all applicable legislations
• Elimination of accidents, occupational illnesses and injuries at work

What challenges did you face in achieving your power efficiency / conservation targets?

We have a focused strategy to optimize energy consumption by IT and address other IT-related sustainability aspects. Various tracks under the green IT initiative are formulated with a full life-cycle approach - from procurement to e-waste disposal. Energy efficiency has been included as one of our key architecting parameters along with performance, productivity, scalability, security, and availability.

During this year, optimized power management configuration has been rolled out onto over 70,000 desktops in the generic network. Ensuring uniform policy application on to targeted desktops leveraging various tools was one of the key challenges. Many customized scripts and tools were built in order fill the gaps.

Datacenters and sever rooms hosting network equipment, servers and storage devices, are large consumers of energy in the IT landscape. We have standardized an eco-friendly datacenter and server room design incorporating power and cooling best practices. While new facilities are being built as per the new standard, restructuring of existing datacenters and server rooms takes time as it requires downtime and hence requires detailed planning and co-ordination with multiple stakeholders.

In addition to energy consumption optimization, initiatives are taken to reduce paper usage in printers. Enforcing configurations like duplex printing, replacing printed forms with e-forms, user awareness drives with notifications based on usage, etc. have yielded good results. Ensuring that all printers across the enterprise support the new configuration, user communication and rollout was also a challenge during this change.

What long-term benefits do you anticipate from the energy saving processes initiated at your organization?

As a socially responsible corporate with sound business practices, the level of trust that society has in us is a crucial measure of our success. We have always aimed at improving and enabling the communities in which we function. We believe in developing sustainable solutions for society in partnership with our stakeholders and encouraging employees to contribute to social development. These measures help foster an environment that has a beneficial impact on society in the long run.

Infosys' vision is to become 'carbon and water neutral'. Electricity alone contributes to 72 percent of our emissions. Therefore, to meet our objective of carbon neutrality, we are focusing on energy efficiency initiatives and sourcing energy from renewable sources.

What else have you planned for 2010 in terms of energy conservation at your organization?

During 2008-09, we focused on implementing processes to monitor and measure various environment parameters. This step helped us achieve our goals on energy and carbon emissions. In FY 2010 the focus is on the following specific strategic and operational level goals.

Strategic level

• We will develop processes to integrate business and sustainability goals
• We will create and implement a sustainability score card to monitor and measure sustainability activities
• We will improve accountability in the business units through the Infosys Scaling Outstanding Performance (iSOP) framework
• We will strive to meet more stringent short-term goals while defining a roadmap to become a carbon neutral, water sustainable, and socially meaningful business.

Operational level

• Our goals include 5 percent reduction in energy, water, and carbon footprint. We will monitor quantity of water recycled to achieve water sustainability
• We will educate our vendor partners on our green procurement policy, and our security personnel on human rights issues
• We will deploy the governance guidelines for employee groups engaging with local communities
• On health and safety aspects and incidents, we will strengthen the monitoring of safety aspects and track severity rates

On the IT infrastructure side, opportunities for further consolidation and virtualization of servers and other infrastructure in datacenters and server rooms are being explored. We are working to shift from the current model of dedicated computing infrastructure for projects to a shared, secure, virtualized environment leveraging cloud computing concepts. We are also looking at expanding desktop coverage for rolling out power management configuration by building sophisticated custom scripts and migration to Windows 7 OS for better power management wherever feasible.

CIO Speak: Jai Menon, Bharti Airtel

Jai Menon, Director Customer Services and IT, Bharti Airtel

Q. What was the most important motivation to consider power conservation and carbon footprint reduction both at your IT organization and end-user level?

As a leader in the telecommunications industry, where IT is an integral aspect of our business, we wanted to follow the best green practices and set benchmarks for the rest of the industry to follow.

A major motivation was to showcase social responsibility and commitment from an organizational perspective; proving that growth doesn't have to come at a cost where environment and its sustainability is compromised.

Unlike the western world where industrial revolution (and the growth that followed) took place without any concerns for the environment, the developing world doesn't have the same luxury. The ecosystem in India is such that the availability of resources (especially energy) is not in abundance and we simply cannot replicate the western model of growth.  In India, growth must be sustainable and affordable - therefore it is imperative to achieve energy efficiency from the very start.

Also, we want to pre-empt any regulatory challenges that may be on the horizon, especially regarding carbon emissions and mandates on energy efficiency.

Lastly, and importantly, we believe green initiatives would help us bring about operational efficiencies. This is because looking at the 'efficiency' problem from the 'green' lens we were able to approach the problem differently.

Q. What challenges did you face in achieving your power efficiency / conservation targets?

As with any radical change, changing people's mindset is always the toughest part. We had to incorporate energy efficiency as a core building block, in the day-to-day working of our employees and partners. We call it zero-based design, where solutions are built ground up, rather than emulating any existing practice. This way new breakthrough technology can be incorporated in the most efficient manner.

Since Airtel is not in the core R&D business, we work with a large number of technology partners who are leaders in their respective spaces. Aligning their mindset to ours was a challenge that we faced as an organization. However, by leveraging our scale and market presence we were able to convince many of them to bring in energy-efficient designs into their solutions.

We changed our traditional measurement metrics by incorporating new measures that are aligned to energy efficiency (such as PUE - power usage efficiency). We benchmark these KPIs (key performance indicators) to global standards and continuously update and enhance them. Many of these KPIs are part of business heads' deliverables to enforce formal commitment to achieve these goals.

Q. What long-term benefits do you anticipate from the energy saving processes initiated at your organization?

The many benefits that we see range from tangibles, like cost benefits, to intangibles, like good will and recognition, as a socially responsible organization. More importantly, the 'green' drive will be a source of competitive advantage for us as our systems and processes are aligned to more innovative and energy-efficient processes.

Over the last year we have initiated many green IT initiatives. In the IT infrastructure space all new hardware is of low form factor and consumes less power. We are also adopting energy-efficient blade servers and storage technologies.

On the applications front, we have taken to server virtualization in a big way. As a result of virtualization of test and development environment, a large number of computing assets have been consolidated and made available for new applications.

Q. What else have you planned for 2010 in terms of energy conservation at your organization?

As part of an organization-wide change we have consolidated our many business units into one office in Gurgaon, Delhi. The new building is one of the most energy-friendly buildings in the area.

On the infrastructure space, we plan to consolidate about 15,000 sq. ft. of datacenter raised floor space and bring it to a more energy-efficient level.

We plan granular level monitoring of energy consumption of our IT equipment by installing rack level power monitoring - this should enable us to measure and improve power efficiency of underutilized racks.

We plan to take several initiatives at the datacenter level to optimize energy consumption. Some of these initiatives include alteration to raised floor space through sophisticated CFD (computational fluid dynamics) analysis of airflow in hot and cold aisles. On the other hand, the simplest of our initiatives will involve raising the temperature of our datacenters by 2 degree Celsius - keeping in line with new specifications of modern IT equipment.

On a business front, Airtel intends to launch services that will be based on virtual computing - taking advantage of the new virtualization platforms that are available in the market place. These will not only bring in a new revenue stream but would also be used by the internal IT operations to optimize their computing.

The Award Night

At the leadership summit in Mumbai, APC in association with CIO Magazine, recognized the winners of the 'Top 10 Green It Enterprise study'. The award was given for demonstrating the foresight, the initiative and the determination to follow through on a plan to reduce their IT enterprises' carbon footprint by improving energy efficiency.

The awards were presented at the CIO Leadership Summit held on February 5th at The Retreat , Madh Island, Mumbai to:

Awards Distribution - Picture Gallery

ARVIND TAWDE of MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA.

SATISH DAS OF COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY

AJAY KUMAR DHIR OF JINDAL STAINLESS.

NIRMAL IYENGAR OF BHARTI AIRTEL.

AMIT GUPTA OF FIDELITY BUSINESS SERVICES.

Awards Distribution - Picture Gallery 2

S.C.MITTAL & A.K.GUPTA OF IFFCO.

LAXMAN KUMAR BADIGA OF WIPRO.

K . MURALI KRISHNA OF INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES.

RAVINDER JAIN OF AIRCEL.

VIJAY SETHI OF HERO HONDA.