Wednesday, 2 July 2008

HP Establishes Asia’s First “Green” ICT Center

Hewlett Packard Singapore (HP) has teamed up with one of the nation’s tertiary institutions Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) to establish Asia’s first “green” information and communication technology (ICT) solutions center...

Hewlett Packard Singapore (HP) has teamed up with one of the nation’s tertiary institutions Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) to establish Asia’s first “green” information and communication technology (ICT) solutions center.

The new Green ICT Solutions Center, which is located within NYP’s premise, will serve as a bedrock for students and industry professionals to learn “green” ICT technologies and enhance their experience in environmental-friendly ICT solutions which they can then apply when designing new solutions that drive down energy consumption and drive up business growth.

According to HP, with energy consumption on the rise, the concept of “going green” should no longer be seen as an expensive extension of a company’s business model but should be integrated into an organisation’s core values to allow businesses to achieve sustainable business growth whilst being environmentally friendly.

A Springboard Research report has highlighted just how much in revenues organisations are loosing by wasting energy, estimating that USD 15.5 billion is spent annually on powering business technology equipment in the Asia Pacific-- USD 34.8 billion globally-- with more than 66% wasted on systems in idle mode.

HP also said that although ICT makes up only part of the entire “green” equation, it plays a significant role and should not be overlooked.

The solutions center will see students trying their hands at developing enterprise solutions that will protect the environment whilst meeting business objectives using energy and thermal technologies.

Besides sponsoring some of the hardware, HP plans to it deploy its staff who will hold ICT workshops, seminars and training courses on “green” best practices for both students and industry professionals who are involved in areas such as infocomm, engineering, ICT infrastructure, thermal cooling and virtualization.

HP and NYP will also jointly develop the curriculum and case studies relevant for NYP’s students.

“NYP is pleased to partner HP in setting up the Green ICT Solutions Center. The centre will play a key role in developing much-needed talent and expertise in the increasingly important field of “green” ICT,” said Mr Chan Lee Mun, Principal and CEO of NYP.

“…our students will also benefit from the technologies and industry practices offered by this centre and we look forward to them contributing to the “greening” of the ICT industry and society at large.”

A total of 2400 students and industry professionals are expected to be trained over the next three years, 600 of whom will be students.

HP said there are no plans as of yet to roll out a similar initiative in other parts of the region. HP also declined to comment on how much it invested in this facility.