The Cloud = Greener Business

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With all the Cloud buzz taking place in the industry today, your Premier Support team would like to take a few moments to share some information relevant to Irish businesses. While some are already familiar with the Cloud concept, many are not. For those who want to learn more about what the Cloud is, check out the video below:

[View:https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QJncFirhjPg]

A Lifecycle Assessment was recently conducted by Microsoft, Accenture and WSP Environment and Energy to gain a firmer grasp of the positive environmental impacts businesses can contribute by transferring various applications into the Cloud. Perhaps the most salient finding of the study is the ability for large datacentre operators (such as Microsoft) to bring economies of scale and efficiencies in operations to reduce energy consumption and carbon emission (by at least 30%!). This is especially relevant for Irish businesses as Ireland, Inc. continues to make strides in and sets an example across the EU for conducting "greener" business. The Cloud accomplishes positive environmental impact via several factors which include dynamic provisioning, multi-tenancy, server utilisation and datacentre efficiency. The full study outlining the environmental benefits is worth a read and can be downloaded right here ( [View:https://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-85-69/7563.Cloud-Computing-and-Sustainability-_2D00_-Whitepaper-_2D00_-Nov-2010_5B00_1_5D00_.pdf:550:0]).

A popular trend for Microsoft customers who've made the move to the Cloud has been geared toward integrating Microsoft BPOS services in the Cloud into their overall IT strategy. BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) has been enabling customers to use great communication and collaboration tools like Sharepoint, Office Communicator and Live Meeting by accessing these applications from Microsoft datacentres without having the worry of managing these services themselves. And now exciting developments are bringing the newest version of Microsoft Cloud productivity tools together with the soon-to-be-released Office 365. Office 365 offers enhanced tools and services with robust security, reliability and control to help your run your business. Learn more by clicking below: