Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Distributed Computing and the Cloud
By combining the resources of multiple computing devices, grid and clus-
tered computing solutions make supercomputing power available without
the cost of dedicated top-500 systems. Tools used to create compute and
storage grids and clusters, together with system virtualization hypervi-
sors, have evolved into the current generation of cloud computing ser-
vices, which hide the nuts-and-bolts details of “where” a service resides
so that users need only request a particular scale of resources to be made
available from an aggregate pool. Many technology vendors now produce
specialized server hardware for high-performance and cloud computing,
coordinating high-speed network attached storage with high-density
blade server architectures and multicore CPU/GPU processing power.
The Sustainable Enterprise
Virtualization, distributed computing, consolidated storage solutions,
remote desktops, and a myriad of other recent technology improvements
offer ever greater opportunities for technology cost reductions and data
center energy and cooling requirements. Policies should also be put into
place to reduce the environmental impact of technology operations,
including reducing water and energy requirements, reducing the envi-
ronmental impact caused by production and disposal of equipment, and
reduction of consumables used and discarded into public waste dumps.
These policies, collectively known as “green IT” are becoming more
widely known and can provide significant benefits to the organization
through reduced costs, improved public image, and tax credits. This is
still a nascent field, with only one vendor-neutral professional certification
covering green IT practices (the CompTIA Strata Green IT certification
for data center planners). However, examples of the benefits of environ-
mentally sustainable practices provide ready proof of their potential value
to the organization.
Equipment Replacement and Disposal
Because construction of computing devices involves energy and water
consumption, together with the use of hazardous chemicals and materials,
