Because cloud computing is underpinned by virtualisation, the deployed cloud servers utilise far less energy than a single server.
So says Jonathan Kropf, CEO of Cloud On Demand, who points out that utilising less servers means less energy and less space is used. This also means there are less physical servers in circulation that need to be recycled, he adds.
Consultancy firm Accenture believes that both cloud computing and sustainability are emerging as transformative trends in business and society. It adds that the business community has begun to embrace cloud computing as a viable option to reduce costs and to improve IT and business agility.
"Data centres are built to high levels of energy efficiency. Normal organisations would not be able to put this kind of efficiency in place due to cost and, therefore, on premise environments usually use more energy and take up more space and resources than a cloud environment in a purpose designed data centre would," says Kropf.
He also explains that the cloud model is one of pay per use and is, therefore, an opex type of spend versus a capex spend when implementing on premise solutions.
"You get all the benefits of scale but pay for what you need. The cost and availability of bandwidth could play a large factor in the decision making though," he notes.
To Kropf, cloud is not only about flexibility and agility, but a very real step to decreasing the impact that an organisation and its technology use is having on the environment.
He is of the view that in as far as cloud adoption is concerned, SA is on the right track. "According to IDC, our region has a huge public cloud services compound annual growth rate of about 24%. This is very rarely seen in the IT sector, so the uptake is huge, especially in the e-mail, backup and disaster recovery areas."
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