Captain Obvious Speaks on the Cloud
Microsoft has a new report that discovers facts so obvious even Jessica Simpson could have found them.
The profound realization is this: If you move your IT operations to the cloud, you save electricity. And if you save electricity, you'll emit fewer greenhouse gasses.
Let's see here... If I stop running so many machines in my data center, I won't need as much juice? You don't need Encyclopedia Brown to figure that one out!
Despite the laughably obvious nature of the findings, the point is well taken for large shops that are running out of data center space and having their budgets busted by cooling costs.
A cloud-hosting company, through sheer economies of scale, should be far more efficient. And they can place their data centers where it makes most sense, such as in cool caves, cold climates (using outside air instead of AC) or near hydroelectric power stations.
The move to the cloud is inevitable, though perhaps not in a full-scale fashion. And as we make this move, we may well save some dough and keep Earth a bit cool in the process.
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/16/2010 at 12:47 PM