September 2007 Archives

President George Bush today proposed the creation of an international fund to finance research into clean-energy technology. He announced that U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would reach out to other governments soon to discuss next steps.

 

Speaking at a White House-sponsored climate change conference, the president urged the global community to set targets for curbing emissions, but stopped short of accepting the mandatory limits proposed in the Kyoto Climate accord.

 

Bush has long contended that the Kyoto agreement is not in the best interest of United States financial policy.

 

“We share a common responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while keeping our economies growing,” the president said. “Each nation must decide for itself the right mix of tools and technology to achieve results that are measurable and environmentally effective.”

 

Just before Bush took to the podium, administration staffers handed out a booklet to the assembled media that emphasizing that the president was serious about the issue.

 

The handout contained the following statements:

 

GreenBiz has an interesting interview with IBM’s Sharon Nunes, who heads the Big Green Innovations program, and Wayne Balta, IBM's Vice President of Corporate Environmental Affairs.

Executive editor Joel Makower speaks with the IBM execs about the company’s Big Green initiative as well as the convergence of Information technology and so-called ‘cleantech.’

 

In the interview, Nunes talks about:

 

 

To read more, check out Makower’s interview here.

Saw a catchy tagline in an Intel ad online: “Earth Day, Every Day.”

 

 

Clicking on the ad, and following the link takes you to Intel’s site where one can learn about the many ways that the chip maker is working to constantly improve its product line and “drive global standards, solutions, and products that ensure the delivery of energy-efficient performance while reducing overall environmental impact.”

If you ever wondered how IP communications and green technology are similar, take a look at this blog post explaining how it all works. We hope to see you at Green Technology World conference very soon. The show kicks off in a few hors and we can’t wait to host you.

As of the publication date of this interview with Codian’s Simon Downey, Norway-based video conferencing giant Tandberg announced that they are acquiring the high-definition (HD) video conferencing gear maker for $270 million in cash and stock. The deal, which is expected to enable Tandberg to more rapidly pursue current opportunities within its core videoconferencing and telepresence markets, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2007.

 

Codian designs and manufactures advanced video conferencing products, which include Multipoint Control Units, ISDN gateways, Video Conference Recorders and Streaming Servers.

 

Rick Snyder, President of TANDBERG Americas, is scheduled to kick off the Green Technology World Conference program with a keynote address in Petree Hall D at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA, on Tuesday September 11 at 9:00am.

 

Snyder plans to describe in practical terms how adopting a strategy to reduce carbon emissions can increase a company’s brand value, driving competitive advantage.

 

“The key to engaging enterprises in the environmental movement is to identify CO2 reduction programs that can be implemented easily, do not sacrifice productivity, and demonstrate measurable ROI for an organization,” explained Snyder. “I am looking forward to sharing the experience of our customers who are reducing their carbon footprint by eliminating unnecessary business travel and implementing visual telecommuting programs.”

 

While we will no doubt hear more about the two companies as the acquisition progresses, I’d like to share this interview I conducted with Simon Downey, senior product direct at Codian, about telepresence and the evolution of the IP communications space in general.

 

Downey will be presenting during the upcoming ITEXPO as part of a panel discussion titled The Dawning of Telepresence. The session is set to take place on Monday September 10 at 12:30pm. For more information on the event click here.

 

 

SD: HD is fast becoming the new standard in video communications, with telepresence emerging as the next big wave. Codian is at the forefront in developing solutions that deliver unrivalled quality experience that allows users to seamlessly integrate their legacy standard definition equipment with today’s emerging technologies, all without limitation or compromise.

SD: IP communications is core to Codian’s DNA. Codian is focused on delivering the best IP communications experience to users regardless of how they connect, where they connect and when they connect.

 

SD: To date, SIP has had little impact on the video communication market. It has accelerated the lower end of the IP communications market, both on voice and desktop video, but it has yet to be widely deployed across meeting room systems. However, as the adoption of Unified Communications gains momentum, we are seeing SIP emerge as the unified standard for IP Communications.

 

SD: The rapid adoption of high definition and telepresence is increasing the demand to provide customers who have traditionally deployed video conferencing equipment with a solution that seamlessly integrates their legacy systems and today’s high end technologies while delivering their users a quality, “in person” experience. At the same time, as our customer base begins to deploy desktop solutions, they want the uncompromised experience and interoperability they’ve come to expect from Codian with their boardroom in a highly scalable solution capable to support thousands of their desktop users.

 

SD: Codian will continue to meet the video communications needs of businesses with products that deliver unrivalled performance, quality and scalability.

SD: IP communications has opened the doors to truly unifying communications across the enterprise, including mobile and fixed telephony, desktop collaboration and end-video communications. This opportunity will create significant challenges for network equipment providers, requiring an integrated solution that is not only scalable and high performing but maintains a superb level of quality and ease of use for the user.

 

SD: We are seeing tremendous growth across the board with the U.S. in the lead, closely followed by Europe and then Asia.

 

SD: It’s a testament to the increasing growth opportunities within the IP Communications space.

 

SD: Microsoft is in a great position to dominate from the desktop; however they have unfortunately chosen to remain partially proprietary rather than adopting a complete standards-based architecture which may slow their penetration. We believe that ultimately they’ll compete with Avaya and Cisco in the PBX business as well as with Cisco, Adobe and IBM in the Web collaboration space.

SD: The increased performance of mobile devices and the replacement of desktop computers with laptops are showing an increased demand for full mobility. As a result, more of our IP communications solutions need to address this notion of any device, any time, any location and over any network.

SD: Your guess is as good as mine. While we don’t have the crystal ball, it’s fair to assume that the exponential growth in terms of performance and network throughput will continue. As a result, today’s high-performance requirements will expand far beyond the boardroom and out to end-user devices.

 

SD: Today’s telepresence solutions create an immersive “in the same room” experience for all; or so you think. More often than not individuals attempting to be part of this experience from their existing video equipment are completely isolated as a result of system incompatibility issues. That is not the case with Codian solutions which provides a no comprise quality HD experience while integrating with legacy standard definition systems. I will discuss how to successfully deploy telepresence and high definition communications across the enterprise network while avoiding potential pitfalls commonly encountered by IT managers.

SD: When it comes to infrastructure required for supporting HD and TP, Codian offers the only comprehensive and end-to-end HD capable solutions available in the market.

 

SD: Codian is the fastest growing voice and visual communications company in the world and has set the standard by delivering today’s most advanced video conferencing infrastructure solutions.

I’m really looking forward to my trip out to Los Angeles tomorrow for next week’s Green Technology World Conference. We’ve assembled quite a lineup for this inaugural event, and I’m excited about moderating several panels at the event: one on the Greening of the Datacenter and one on the Future of Green Technology.

 

Rick Snyder, President of TANDBERG Americas, is scheduled to kick off the program with a keynote address in Petree Hall D at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA, on Tuesday September 11 at 9:00am.

 

Snyder plans to describe in practical terms how adopting a strategy to reduce carbon emissions can increase a company’s brand value, driving competitive advantage.

 

In case you haven’t yet heard, TANDBERG has acquired high-def videoconferencing gear maker Codian for $279 million in cash and stock.

 

The reason I’m all over TANDBERG this morning is I’m very impressed with the company’s commitment to educating the market on how green technologies can help lessen everyone’s impact in the environment.

 

I urge you all to take a look at the company’s green Web site at www.seegreennow.com.

 

In addition to providing a series of five steps to reduce your carbon footprint, TANDBERG provides several links that will help Web site visitors to:

 

 

I hope to see you at next week’s Green Technology World Conference!

 

Registration for the event is open now.

 

Thanks to all the readers of TMC’s green blog for supporting the Green Technology World conference taking place next week in Los Angeles, CA. Our attendance numbers are far ahead of where we thought they would be based on the limited time we had to market this event. We now expect up to 2,000 people to register for the show when all is said and done. In addition there may be some of you who don’t want to use a computer to register just so you can lower your carbon footprint. We completely understand and that is perfectly OK.

 

For this particular show we will be using electricity in our registration system. We are thinking however that at the next event we may get a bank of Inveneo bicycle-powered PCs to handle this task. We are of course evaluating the carbon output of a human breathing hard versus just getting the juice from a wall socket. More to come later.

 

Oh and by the way, I forgot to mention some of the attendees at the show. We have representation at a high level from Boeing, AMD, Alcatel-Lucent, Qwest, Toyota, British Telecom, Ericsson, Lockheed Martin, Texas Instruments, Cisco, Intel and The United Nations, among others.

 

Here are the sessions we will be focusing on next week in LA:

 

 

 

 

Here is more from the press release.

It isn’t easy eating green but the good news is your backyard cookouts aren’t as bad for the environment as you might think. Still there are things you can do to become an even better world citizen. Make sure you stay away from disposable plates and cutlery and be sure to use DEET-free insect repellents. Here is more from CNN.

Have an appetite for more information on green technologies? Be sure to come to the Green Technology World conference next week in Los Angeles, CA.

Polluters are the next target in our litigious society.

 

In a CNNMoney article, staff writer Steve Hargreaves is reporting on a series of lawsuits that environmental groups are bringing in an effort to “force polluters to change their ways.”

 

According to Hargreaves:

 

 

 

 

It’s an interesting article that shows just how serious green groups are about forcing polluters into cleaning up their mess.

 

Check out the article and then feel free to share your thoughts below. Is this an example of using the full authority of the law to help curb polluters? Or is it yet another case of a litigious society gone mad?

I have a confession to make. I like sports cars. Does that make me a terrible person? Well the answer from an environmental perspective was a resounding yes – until now that is. While every auto maker is going green, I recently came across an extreme green racing machine. The Eco One is touted as the world’s greenest race car and is made from potatoes, cashew nut shells, hemp and rapeseed oil among other plants. (Boy is writing this article making me hungry )

Now that I’ve snacked, I am not afraid to share the car has other food and plant derived components. The tires are made from potato starch for improved fuel economy. The brake pads are made from ground cashew shells and the brake oil is derived from plants.

What’s more, the body is created from hemp and rapeseed oil. And it runs on fuel derived from fermented sugar beet.

If I had heard about this car sooner I would have purchased one. It happens to be the perfect vehicle to get me to TMC’s Green Technology World conference which is just over a week away in Los Angeles, CA.

 

Assuming I got one tomorrow, I could log about 400 miles per day for a week on this little baby and be there before I know it. Actually, Google Maps tells me the 2,837 mile ride can be performed in one day and 18 hours of continuous driving. But then again, I am sure I can do it faster. Remember, the cofounders of Google each drive a Toyota Prius which the last time I looked is no Eco One.