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Technology
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Written by Janani Gopalakrishnan
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Saturday, 20 September 2008 00:00 |
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For most people, 'Green computing' seems like the end-user's responsibility. They have to use and dispose IT resources in an energy-efficient and eco-friendly manner. However, in reality it is a concept that pervades the whole lifecycle--right from the design to the disposal of IT equipment. A considerable responsibility rests with the creators of technology too.
Whether it is to be environment-friendly or to achieve economic gains, the users of technology - especially in business - are suddenly waking up to the concept of green computing. This is all about making efficient use of computers and computing, so that the devices consume less energy for operation and cooling (thereby reducing electricity bills), live longer (reducing capital outlay in the long run), and are ultimately disposed of neatly, in an eco-friendly manner, without leaving behind toxic residues (thereby serving the purpose of corporate social responsibility too).
As Nitin Chaudhry, director - Commercial Products, HP-Personal Systems Group, India, points out, "The idea is to make the whole process surrounding computers friendlier to the environment, economy and to society. Once computers are sold, businesses or people use them in a green way by reducing power usage and disposing of them properly or by recycling them. The idea is to make computers - from beginning to end - green products. Green computing requires an efficient system that implements these factors in an environmentally friendly way.
IDC defines Green IT as "the design, manufacture, deployment and recycling of IT products and related materials in an environmentally-responsible manner." As is evident from this definition, a major chunk of the responsibility for 'going the green way' rests with the creators and manufacturers of technology. Unless a manufacturer is committed and contributes to greening through the many stages of the product's development, ranging from design to recycling, it is immoral and misleading to use the green buzzword for marketing alone. That said, going green and enabling greening (on the consumer front) are not easy tasks, even though they pay off ultimately.
Greener pastures for companies that go green
In today's economy, there is an increasing need for more environment-friendly business practices and strategies. With energy costs skyrocketing and the threat of global warming, organisations will eventually be forced to take a look at IT's ecological impact," says Sharad Srivastava, director - Sales (India & South Asia), Western Digital. "The benefits of going green include the more efficient application of IT to business and therefore lowered energy use and waste. The customer has started understanding these needs and is aware of the benefits from green computing. So even though companies may not lose market share now -- in the long term, they will surely feel the brunt if their products are not eco-friendly."
It is not just about cost savings, though. Chaudhry points out that all types of consumers, both individual and industrial, are becoming more concerned and aware about the environment. Pinning some numbers to his belief, he claims that about 25 per cent of the consumers in India consider environment-friendly products to be safe for nature. Another 28 per cent are concerned about the effects on human health and happiness, and are also protective of nature. "Given these figures, it can be assumed that products with environmental characteristics will have a competitive advantage over products with non-environmentally responsible alternatives," asserts Chaudhry. There are numerous examples of firms that have strived to become more environmentally responsible, in an attempt to satisfy their consumer needs.
With awareness amongst consumers on a slow but steady rise, it would be wise for manufacturers to genuinely adopt green practices. This would involve a certain amount of investment in research and development, but would ultimately pay off. Although the price of the product might also increase marginally to include the R&D effort, knowledgeable customers are unlikely to mind that because their total cost of ownership will ultimately be lower in the long run - thanks to lower energy costs, greater operational efficiency, and other significant benefits. Western Digital's Green Power hard-drives, for instance, consume almost 40 per cent less power than normal drives. Besides, these also provide increased power availability when the computers or other appliances using these drives run on power-generation equipment such as inverters, generators, etc. Such a benefit is obviously appreciated by the customer in a country like India where power cuts are a common and accepted phenomenon!
Ramdinsanga Saiwi, head-Marketing, WeP Peripherals, elaborates on how the benefits offset the investment in R&D: "Pursuing the cause of green IT necessarily means investments in manufacturing facilities. Plus, the adherence to certain environmental norms does lead to an increase in the cost of manufacturing in the case of certain products. Once the norms are more widely adopted and become part of industry standards, the costs do reduce." For example, in certain areas that WeP works in, such as remanufactured toners, mature technologies and processes ensure that the remanufacturing costs are low. These benefits are passed on to the consumers, who are then able to reap the financial as well as social benefits of green computing. "On the other hand, credible green IT initiatives also lend themselves well to promotion. Discerning customers are learning to segregate the true green IT companies and products from others who jump aboard the green bandwagon without credible green initiatives. This tends to raise the value of true green IT companies and products, which has a direct impact on profits,"adds Saiwi.
How do consumers evaluate the genuinely green product?
To make it easier for customers to decide on the credibility of Green IT products, companies could go in for various standards and certifications.
One of the most popular certifications in relation to green IT is the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT). It is a procurement tool that helps institutional purchasers in the public and private sectors to evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products, and provides an opportunity for manufacturers to secure market recognition for their efforts in reducing the environmental impact of their products. Essentially, it concretises the design and technological innovations aimed at greening. It rates electronic products in three levels of environmental performance Bronze, Silver and Gold. Products are evaluated on the basis of 23 required criteria and 28 optional criteria in eight categories. “IT managers purchase hardware that is EPEAT approved because this means that their maintenance is reduced, the hardware's life is extended, and it makes recycling the computer easy once it is no longer necessary," explains Chaudhry. HP's green products are also EPEAT certified.
Similarly, an Energy Star certification (http://www.energystar.gov/) for the product's energy-efficiency is likely to positively influence those customers looking for considerable cost-efficiencies due to power saving.
Is all this mandatory?
As of now, India has no hard and fast laws with reference to e-waste management. However, when manufacturers aim to export to other countries, they have to - typically - comply with the regulations in the importing nation. WeP, for example, was one of the first companies to start exporting its printers to the European market (since 2001) in conformance with the RoHS (Restricttion of Hazardous Substances) - an environmental legislation adopted by the European Union. WeP has taken up this initiative - with a commitment to extend the programme to all products manufactured by it - without any regulatory pressure, as there is no similar mandatory provision in the Indian law.
"Internationally, companies could be liable to huge penalties if they breach the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive. India is likely to reach that stage soon. Even now, the Indian government has taken steps in this regard and is progressing in an aggressive manner," says Saiwi, pointing out that India is party to the Basel Convention on trans-boundary movement of hazardous waste. "Under this convention, India has to regulate and help decrease the import of hazardous or other waste for disposal or recycling. It also has to veto the export of waste to countries that have prohibited the import of such waste. E-waste generation also needs to be curtailed taking into account the social, technological and economic aspects and the waste generated needs to be managed in a suitable manner."
Saiwi feels that the onus now rests with the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) and the respective state governments, to implement such measures. "We expect the central government to
also involve itself in this process, for the centralised allocation of funds," he adds.
Plan and proceed
Any tech manufacturer with a long-term vision has to go green, now or sometime soon. This requires working out a holistic strategy that addresses the greenness of products manufactured, the adoption of green practices within the company itself, and educating the consumers about Green computing.
The initiative taken by WeP Peripherals is a good example of a holistic strategy to go green. WeP Peripherals has put together a green strategy to enter into the recycling of IT hardware products and has commenced this activity through its WeP Long Life Business Group where IT consumables like print heads, toner cartridges etc, are being recycled to reduce IT waste in the environment. In addition to this, the company has entered into an agreement to give its waste to India's first authorised Pollution Control Board e-waste recycler E-parisara.
Also, as mentioned earlier, WeP's products are in conformance with the RoHS and this was done way back in 2001! The company creates awareness mailers and booklets for the channel community, to educate them about the green toners and the importance of these products in promoting green IT. It also provides regular incentives and engagement programmes at the reseller-level to encourage them to use and promote green IT products. Many activities are conducted on World Environment Day and Earth Day to sensitise channel partners to get involved in environment-friendly issues.
Apart from internal initiatives to ensure safe e-waste management practices, WeP also started a Bangalore-wide citizens' programme in April last year, and set up e-waste bins across Bangalore. This is basically a simple set-up of special collection centres across the city to institutionalise the collection and segregation of CDs, floppy discs and dry cell batteries. What started as a small network of ten centres located at popular shopping areas in the city has now grown to around 150 collection centres in schools, colleges, offices, apartments and commercial establishments in Bangalore. Apart from this, WeP also organised an event called Green Dreamz in January 2008, aimed at creating awareness about e-waste management at the school level - this was done through tours of the PCB authorised recycling facility in Bangalore (e-parisara), interschool contests, etc.
"Globally, consumers are becoming increasingly conscious about green IT. In India, WeP is striving to create this awareness, although in a small manner. However, this is still in its nascent stage and it will be too early to comment on the effect of this on market share, per se," says Saiwi.
It is clear that any company with a long-term vision has to pay attention to green IT, because as consumers become more aware of its benefits, they are also going to become more choosy. Manufacturers are also becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of green computing, and are moving towards making and selling greener products. So, unless one moves fast to capture this emerging market, one is likely to face stiff competition. Being green will soon spell greenbacks - and the planet won't be complaining!
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Why go green?
- Energy-efficiency, reduction in waste, etc, lead to significant reduction in the total cost of ownership for the consumer. Done well, this could lead to a greater market share for the manufacturer, as customers are becoming more aware of green IT. So, going green has a positive impact on revenues.
- Being green makes it easier to export to regions like the European Union, where there are strict environmental legislations.
- Green certifications add credibility to the design and technological innovations of the company, positioning it well amongst the consumers.
- Environmentalism is no longer just another CSR initiative or a lifestyle choice. Internationally, companies could be liable to huge penalties if they breach the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive. India is likely to reach that stage soon.
- The use of poisonous substances like lead, zinc, mercury, chromium, etc, in the manufacturing process harms the human nervous system— affecting those involved in the production line as well as those who use the product over years. Exposure to mercury is so hazardous that half a teaspoon of mercury can poison an entire lake and, in turn, harm inhabitants of the surrounding area, immensely. So, green practices can help consumers and manufacturers shed the guilt of directly or indirectly harming many lives.
- By reducing carbon emissions, green products also reduce global warming.
- The power saved by devices may well be routed to provide electricity to more villages! According to statistics released by IBM a year ago, saving 80 per cent of the power consumed by 3,900 servers that use green alternatives, could result in enough electricity to power a small town.
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Janani Gopalakrishnan Vikram
The author is a freelance writer, columnist and editor. More at http://gjanani.googlepages.com. You may reach her at
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Technology
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Written by Janani Gopalakrishnan
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Friday, 01 August 2008 00:00 |
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Animation movies might be for children, but making them is not child's play. In fact, it is a feat that requires the prowess of high performance computing (HPC). As the entertainment industry grows in India, so does the market for HPC solution providers.
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Read more...
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Technology
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Written by Janani Gopakrishnan Vikram
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Monday, 01 September 2008 05:30 |
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It is easy to forecast far into the future, as it gives licence to the imagination! Such predictions, however, do not have much of an immediate impact. Short-term forecasts, on the other hand, are far more helpful for decision-makers to align their current moves. Unfortunately, making such predictions is not easy and comes with its own responsibilities. This was the challenge we threw at experts this month, to tell us what social networking (SN) would be like in 2010. Which media and tools would gain ground, what forms would social networking take, and what would it be used for? Here is a summary of their views...
Social networking as a 'technology'
Social Networking 1.0 focused on establishing virtual connections between people, creating 'Social Graphs'. The last few years have seen the emergence of Social Networking 2.0, where the priority has shifted from the connections between people to content. We have seen the emergence of rich media sharing, RSS feeds, digital whiteboards, custom application programming interfaces (APIs), podcasts, etc.
Romit Dasgupta, director, India Konnects, says Social Networking 3.0 would see social networking being used as a technology (SNT) rather than as a product or a service. "The future of social networks would see custom tools (APIs) being built for networks of specific interest groups. For example, a business networking portal like Konnects.com might have a business lead-generation tool whereas a Shelfari.com, which is a social network for book lovers, might include a tool to track authors and their recent releases. So, new features would mostly be added on in the form of custom APIs."
A segmented world
Dasgupta feels that the users of 2010 would follow a segmented approach to social networking. "I see services like Ning dominating the social market space whereas services like LinkedIn or Konnects would dominate the professional networking space. Portals like Facebook, Orkut and MySpace would still have a decent market share because of the volume of their registered users," he says.
When you look deeper, even these broad-based SN sites thrive on segmentation. For instance, Facebook organises networks according to city, workplace, school, and region. Members can interact by sending messages to one another. Users can be members of multiple networks and even have access to their friends; profiles. By understanding that all these people have a common objective, like their place of education, they are better placed to provide a more successful and proficient service to the user.
There are two broad reasons why Dasgupta believes segmented or niche products will rule the future of social networking. To begin with, the society that we live in is segmented by nature, and therefore people are trained to think in a segmented environment. So, when SN sites are in line with this, it would make the adoption process easier. Second, a segmented market becomes a premium option when it comes to digital advertising, which is the main revenue stream for most social networks.
On a similar note, Vishwanath Alluri, chairman and CEO of IMImobile, adds, "Networking based on shared interests is very popular. For example, a site that provides a music download service can allow its users to create personalised pages, create playlists that can be shared with other users, create wish-lists that can then enable gifting, etc."
Sites with a specific purpose
Alluri feels that the sites with a specific purpose will survive in the long run. "Social networking sites will need to stay true to their core to remain successful. Analysing viewer-centric sociality is the key to long life," he says. Even today, most successful social networking tools tend to have a specific purpose. For example, del.icio.us for bookmarking, Flickr for photo-sharing and YouTube for video-sharing. The core functionality has been revealed as the main attraction for frequent users.
More life on virtual worlds
Sundararaj S, partner - Convergence and Technologies, Anantara Solutions, points out to reports from Gartner and Forrester, which indicate that virtual worlds (like Second Life) are the next major Internet wave and that 80 per cent of all Internet users will be part of virtual worlds, within the next five years. A McKinsey says that all consumer-oriented businesses have to be experimenting with virtual worlds, and even goes on to say that those businesses ignoring virtual worlds would be doing so at their own peril.
"Given the unlimited capabilities of these virtual worlds, it is seen that there will be a convergence between virtual worlds and other social networking tools, to work together to provide a more complete virtual networking experience," he says. "We see that 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life with over 14 million residents (subscriber base) provide a new online space for creativity, collaboration, commerce, and entertainment. They are attracting large business houses to set up a presence in this world; it has a marketplace that supports millions of US dollars in transactions. Even educational institutions have campuses in Second Life and conduct courses and seminars in their virtual classrooms!"
Better identity management
"It is difficult to maintain multiple online profiles and constantly update them. Hence, it is not advisable to have too many sites catering to the same audience with similar features. The past trends have shown that such fads come and go wherein many register, but few are sustained users. Only the most popular, the most simple to use and the most scalable ones shall survive in the market," says Bhavin Turakhia, founder & CEO, Directi.
However, more sites will emerge, and that is the law of the market too - users need choice. Further, even if there is only one leading site in each genre, a single user might still have to be part of many sites - a blog, a photo-sharing site, a video-sharing site, and one for each such function. So, how do users manage so many identities? Projects in the identity management space like OpenID and the Higgins Framework might gain more traction.
Plus, we might see the rise of secure "front-ends" or interfaces that rope in multiple services within their purview. We can already see a bit of the convergence happening now, in sites such as digsby.com. "The world is looking at the convergence space, where services with multiple offerings converge onto one common platform making the user interface seamless and effortless," asserts Jaideep Shergill, partner and member, Corporate Leadership Team, Hanmer MS&L Communications.
Native networking
It might only be a fraction of the Indian population that is networking online, but then they are being noticed! Blogger introduced the capability to blog in your native language, and Indic language support has been included in other social networking tools like Orkut too. Will social networking in native languages gain popularity in the next few years?
"Currently 4 per cent of Indians are using the Internet. There surely is awareness of the potential India has as a market, mainly because of our population. Today blogs have transliterations in a few Indian languages. Popular social networking sites also allow users to write in native languages. The regional languages are already popular within the south Indian communities. However, this makes social interaction specific to that particular region. In order to interact with a wider base, people will opt for English. All in all it is less likely that native languages will take precedence over English," says Turakhia.
Dasgupta agrees that English cannot be done away with. "At some point there would be an emergence of translation tools. This would help two individuals to communicate with each other in their native languages while the tool does the translation," he says.
Convergence of many media platforms
Dr Srikanth Sundararajan, chief operating officer, Persistent Systems, feels that in the future, social networking will happen through easy-to-use platforms that integrate multiple tools as well as multiple media.
Social networking that was once limited to the realm of computers has now pervaded the mobile world too with SMS groups (e.g., SMS Gupshup), microblogging (e.g., Twitter etc) and other such tools. There are more advanced options too, e.g., UnIspace is a solution from IMIMobile that allows users to blog, create, upload, share and sell content through SMS, MMS, 3G Video Calls, WAP (wireless application protocol) and a host of interactive applications.
In fact, considering that the mobile has penetrated across India more than the PC, it is social networking's biggest hope of reaching the masses. Several Asian markets such as Japan, Korea, Malaysia and China also have significant use of mobile social networks. Most of them are extensions of PC-based services such as Mixi (Japan), Cyworld (Korea) and QQ (China), but others are mobile-focused offerings such as Mobile Game Town by a company called DeNA in Japan, which has over 10 million users.
Over time, Dr Sundararajan feels that more platforms will be factored into the social networking space, including devices that are popular and common across the country. For example, can you network through your television? Perhaps in 2010, you will be able to send a message or e-invite through the cable network to your acquaintances, and this will be displayed like a ticker on their televisions! Maybe other media like telephones and the radio might also become platforms for social networking. These might not be as 'personalised' as the kind of social networking we see today, but if you think of it in the context of rural India where the Internet is still a novelty, this is a great way to include them in the trend.
Shergill expresses similar views: "Social media, which are continuously evolving and adding newer platforms of reaching out and connecting with their users, such as introducing mobile features, using the newer, yet unexplored IPTV (Internet protocol television) format, etc, will continue to dominate."
Focus on utility, rope in more people
Today, social networking focuses more on niche groups with specific interests. In the future, it will become more utilitarian to draw in more people, from across generations. "It will even target the older generation by around 2010-12, by becoming more usable and utility-oriented," says Dr Sundararajan. For example, social networking sites that talk about (and have services to) pay bills, hire maids or nurses, would interest the older generation too. Other uses will also be explored, he says, and cites an example: "How do you use it for education? Perhaps you can rank blogs on a particular subject, route them to colleges, etc?"
Already, social networking is being used for professional purposes such as business networking, referral recruiting and so on. Alluri adds, "Businesses are becoming more savvy and we expect a far greater percentage of companies tapping into the scene by 2010. Social networking offers huge benefits to companies and start-ups like LinkedIn are riding that wave. LinkendIn is a networking tool for business minded people and it provides recruitment support for most large organisations. LinkendIn already claims to have more than 20 million registered users from 150 different industries. The potential here is huge. Companies can stay updated on important life events, tastes and preferences of their employees, customers, partners, etc. When you integrate customer relationship management products with social networking tools, you have a killer proposition at hand. Companies like Oracle are already investing in this area."
Sundararaj of Anantara presents another interesting application: "Social network services are increasingly being used in legal and criminal investigations too. In some countries, content posted on sites such as MySpace has been used in court to determine an appropriate sentence based on a defendant's attitude. Social networking will also be used to build special purpose communities for research, philanthropy, education, political campaigning, travel and tourism, media and entertainment, etc, which can bring about major changes."
Real-time, video-enabled social networking
Vineet Tyagi, associate director, Engineering, Impetus Technologies, feels that the current form of social networking based on instant messengers and scraps, is still a 'disconnected' medium. As the Web becomes more video-enabled, he feels that the communication will become more real-time. He recollects a tool his team developed for a customer, a browser-based videoconferencing tool that works on a social context. You can chat in video! No installation is required, and it simply runs off the browser.
With social networking becoming more mobile, and prices of phones with VGA (video graphics array) cameras going down, he feels that very soon video-chat will be the norm. "The hardware is there," he says, "What we need now is more innovative applications."
He adds that location-based services will also add to the real-time nature of social networking, where a user's presence is not simply 'online' or 'offline' any more, but mapped to the person's physical location. So, you would be able to log on to a social networking site, see where your friend is, and even plan an ad hoc meeting!
Plus, such a real-time nature can even create many employment opportunities, not just for the tech-elite, but also for the low-income groups. For example, there could be networks for mechanics, and if you request for help through a website, a message is sent to the mobile phone of the mechanic nearest to your location, and he rushes to your rescue.
Touched by Web 3.0
Tyagi feels that the influence of Web 3.0 on social networking will only be evolutionary and not revolutionary, by 2010, that is.
With the advent of Web 3.0 or the semantic Web, the Web becomes a huge database that you can query, and with social networking it turns into a database that you can query for user opinion. For example, a company can query it to see what people think about their product.
Similarly, it can also help you understand the social implications of random information. For instance, by analysing social graphs and friend-of-friend networks, you can find out if one of your friends is in a particular company and can get you a referral or play some other useful role. Or you might unearth interesting patterns like most Punjabi girls from Delhi get married to guys in California!
Dasgupta adds to this insight: "Peter Morville, a well-known author who has written several books on Information Architecture, stated that 'Findability' in the real world would be the key driver for the future of search technology. This is where social networks score a high point. Who knows, social networking technology (SNT) tomorrow might lay the foundation for a robust, efficient search engine!"
Interesting trends, and we see the current crop of social networking sites working in that direction. But as Shergill says, "Out of these, the future looks good for social media, which will innovate and embed newer technologies, focus on becoming a niche offering (you cannot be everything to everybody), on community development, and using effective means to monetise their existence. Eventually the venture capital dollars and seed funds would look at an exit clause and unless the eyeballs and user base is converted into a saleable feature, the monies would dry up." |
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Technology
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Written by Charu Bahri
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Tuesday, 10 June 2008 00:00 |
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By merging the multiple identities of a tech user, identity management technology facilitates the transitioning from one online or offline application to another.
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