How Symantec Workspace Virtualisation Can Help Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Every day, a new story emerges about a species, habitat or a community affected by the impact of climate change. Climate change is the number one environmental issue of the 21st century. And the United States is one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gases, with nearly five times the world average in carbon emissions.

Last week I read an article on polar bears. Because of CO² emissions the average temperature of the world is rising and the polar ice is melting. The average weight of the female polar bear reduced from 300Kg in 1980 to 230 KG today. This is because the polar bears have less time to eat because their food is further away. In 1980 the polar bear had 7 months to feed for the winter sleep and now they only have 5 and a half months.

DID YOU KNOW that there are only 25,000 polar bears left on this planet and that they are near extinction when we do not help them?

What can we do?

Current and new IT technologies demand a large power usage. More servers and faster processors use much more power. Over 30% of the power usage of computers, servers and other IT equipment is transformed into heat. The more power we use the more heat we produce.

Because this heat production we buy more air coolers for more cooling production. So over 30% of IT power consumption takes also a lot of power to get rid of the heat.

This is what we call the Carbon Footprint.

We have to work all together to reduce our Carbon Footprint and best thing is that we start yesterday. Not tomorrow, not today but yesterday.

So how can SWV help?

That is an easy question if you understand how you can utilize SWV.

When we startup a computer the computer is loading a lot of drivers and all our software. Inside this software are drivers and services and these drivers and services take some of the computer resources. This makes our system work harder than necessary. Just think of it like a TV. When you do not watch TV we turn it off. Then it is not using any power. The same for our lights. When we leave the office we turn the light off.

On our computer we do not use this. We just install applications and even we realize that they are slowing down our PC we just let these programs run. And we do not use them. Most of the time these programs just reside and run without doing anything with them.

On my computer I use several Graphical software packages. I need them to design logos, banners or for editing pictures. I also use snagit. It is on my PC but I only use it once or twice a month.

Instead of keeping them on I have them Virtualized instead of installed locally. So now I have a q switch to shut them of and on as needed.

That is how I describe SVS to our customers.

SVS is like a light switch. It has three functions.

• On
• Off
• Replace lightbulb

Or for your convenience:

• Activate layer
• De-Activate layer
• Reset layer

You wont even notice it, but can you remember how fast your computer was when you installed Windows on it? Think about that time and now take a look at your PC. A fresh install of Windows XP on your computer would startup in about 60 to 90 seconds. After half a year of working on that computer it will take over 2 minutes or even longer. The only reason is all this junk in your computer when you install, de-install and re-install software. Registry keys are left, files are left, and your computer slows down after every action or corrective action you take.

SVS is giving you a choice.

When you install a fresh copy of Windows on your machine and you only install SVS on it, your computer is fast. Then only use virtualized software as SVS layers. Software inside layers is deleted completely not leaving any traces after you delete an layer. In fact after using SVS for 1 year, my computer returned almost in the same state as I started using it when I deleted all the layers.

The only changes made where Windows Update and my Virus scanner.

SVS also gives me the ability to keep my layers De-activated when I do not use the layer. I have the layers that I need almost daily configured as auto activate on start. All the other applications I need must be activated when I want to use them.

This helps our environment already because my system does not need to work extra for these applications. Only on use.

So Yes, I turn the light off when I leave my office. And I turn my applications off when I do not need to use them.

For the polar bear it is just a small step, but if all people in the world will do this, it will make a big difference for the polar bear.

And if you do not want to use this?

Go to the following link and you can support the polar bear another in another way.

Save the Polar Bear

Let's take care for our environment and act NOW.

You can start by downloading SVS.

Want to know more about Green savings in your environment?

Green Savings