January 2009 Archives

No argument for me: Green IT is critical important for Profit, People and Planet..

There're three problems with Cisco's EnergyWise.

Firstly, EnergyWise is a security breach waiting to happen. Do you want your network to be powering down your call server, or contact center or security cameras?

Hyperconnectivity includes all sorts of mobility modes and networking technologies.

I recently heard a BBC interview with Giovanni Pau of UCLA. He was discussing an innovative wireless mesh networking technology that he has deployed in a number of vehicles across the UCLA campus.

What he demonstrated was car-to-car video conferencing system, though perhaps this isn't the best example of how this technology could be used.

The Triple Bottom Line (3BL) captures an expanded spectrum of CXO criteria for measuring organizational success: Profit, People and Planet".

This comes from some UN work and is being adopted by governments around the world, perhaps even in your community.

It's both an accounting principle and a general philosophy.

40% reduction in energy consumption with Nortel Ethernet campus and data center solutions is a significant step towards the Triple Bottom Line.

Thirteen people were killed on Aug 1 2007, when an Interstate bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. This was just another wake up call of the aging of the highway infrastructure in US and elsewhere.

But there's a plan.

Many of the 600,000 bridges in the US will be equipped with wireless sensors to monitor loads, stresses, strains and cracks, and changes in chemical and electrical properties related to deterioration (e.g., corrosion and fatigue).

This is just another example of the Hyperconnectivity mega-trend.

Presence is an important feature of unified communications (UC), but is it really enough?

I say no. Presence is only an element of context.

Here's what I consider to be the four key dimensions of contextually enhanced UC:
> Identity/role: Knowledge of the identity and respective roles of individuals in a work flow is essential to any context-aware communications.

It's old news now. Last week, Nortel filed for creditor protection to undertake a business and financial restructuring. This process will put Nortel on sound financial footing once and for all, and represents the fastest and most effective means to do this.

Some people confuse what's going on (seeking creditor protection), with going out of business or liquidation as is happening, for example, with Circuit City.

Brian Riggs of Current Analysis does a good job distinguishing, between US Chapter 11 Bankruptcy (what Nortel is undertaking), and Chapter 7 Bankruptcy (what is happening to Circuit City).

Hyperconnectivity drives powering needs as everything and everyone gets connected and as server farms expand to meet the demand.

A to-be-published Nemertes survey report finds that 23% of US CIO have a green program. One element is of course improving energy efficiency of the underlying IT infrastructure.

One societal goal is to reduce energy demands, as we have done in our Ethernet switches (would you believe 40% less energy consumed compared to Cisco?).

Like many, you probably have a more powerful PC at home than at work. The Games computers your kids are using have much more wallop than your PC, certainly for multimedia. Podcasting, Wikis and iPhones, introduced for consumers, are finding their way into enterprises.

Meanwhile, as a business/IT person, you're faced with the economic realities of the day including: meeting budget challenges; retaining existing customers and acquiring new ones; keeping your remote staff skill sets up to the task; and providing more effective collaboration tools to your distributed knowledge and information workers.

The Lenovo "eLounge" virtual store is being showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week at the Venetian Hotel's AquaKnox.

But most of us business folks don't get to go to CES, so check out Lenovo's eLounge virtual store yourself.

As Ajit Sivadasan, VP Global eCommerce, Lenovo, one of the largest PC manufacturers and a ecommerce pioneer says: "Nortel's web.alive technology could help provide a potential next step in improving the online shopping experience for Lenovo's customers by allowing them to take a virtual tour of our online store, including browsing through Lenovo products, talk with our staff, look at video clips and meet other shoppers in an immersive 3D environment."

Imagine buying your next PC on-line and inviting your techie friends (wherever they are) to the eLounge virtual store to help you get the machine that best fits your needs and budget.

I've talked about web.alive before. It is a collaborative, browser-based virtual world application for enterprise use that provides an immersive, interactive and web integrated world with 3D voice and graphics.

This was one of the questions raised late last year in an interview I did with Greg Galitzine.

My response:
A suite of software applications will deliver unified communications, which I view as "Communications integrated to optimize business processes". UC not only unifies the user experience by integrating all forms of communications with desktop applications (dominated by MSFT and IBM), but also unifies the IT infrastructure through software. UC multi-vendor environments will be brought together through communications integration software and embedded into workflows for:
• revenue growth and more engaging customer service
• enhanced user communications and business effectiveness
• richer collaboration and enhanced group effectiveness
• better asset utilization and accelerated business processes.

Sam Palmisano, IBM Chairman and CEO. recently spoke on the reality of global integration. While he didn't explicitly mention Hyperconnectivity, he did say that "we are all now connected--economically, technically and socially."

Hyperconnectivity not only brings together people, but also the physical and digital worlds. This transformation can help us manage assets better, whether these assets are energy, or fresh water, or a supply chain or the delivery of healthcare.