The road to green IT should not stop half
way
Adam Hitchmough, Chiltern IT
I was incredibly disappointed to read John Hardy's letter
"Toxic hardware is just a drop in green IT
bucket" (Computer Weekly, 30 January). I was apparently
under the naïve belief that everyone was supportive of green IT
and helping the environment.
I do applaud his company's efforts to be green, but why stop
half way? Or is it that the home working and laptop provisions fit
in with the business, but as soon any actual effort is required it
all becomes too much like hard work?
For months Computer Weekly has been supporting the green IT
campaign, but this view implies that the efforts have been wasted.
It is absurdly irresponsible to have this view after all, if
everyone took Hardy's stance, the green IT bucket to which he
refers would surely overflow.
Messaging is not instant way to save the
planet
Chris Greaves, Ipswitch
I was amused to read about consultancy BWCS' notion that instant
messaging is saving the planet,
(Downtime, 30 January). While I welcome any
solution that helps to reduce the UK industry's carbon
footprint, I think it is probably a stretch too far to suggest
that instant messaging could reduce carbon emissions by as much
as 14.2 billion pounds.
The assumption that 25% of all UK office workers will cease to
commute to work in the next three years as networking technologies
improves is a big one.
Corporate instant messaging can be a great tool that allows
staff to communicate in real time, regardless of their location.
However, it is not the knight in shining armour eco warrior riding
to save the environment from CO2 emissions as suggested by
BWCS.
SMEs should not be alarmed at licence to
bill
William Old, Inrucan
Contrary to the story
"Microsoft targets SMEs in blitz on illegal
software" (Computer Weekly, 6 February), the Business
Software Alliance (BSA) cannot fine anyone - it has no judicial
or quasi-judicial authority whatsoever. It might try to pursue
civil remedies in the courts on behalf of Microsoft, but in
England and Wales, any recovery proceedings up to the value of
£5,000 would be via the small claims track, and so it would not
be able to recover any of its legal costs in such cases.
There is no need for SMEs to complete or return the "survey". If
you are happy with your licensing position, bin it if it
arrives.
By the way, yes, we use Linux.
Desktop virtualisation can also yield
benefits
Jon Rolls, ScriptLogic
Arif Mohamed's article on
virtualisation (Computer Weekly, 6 February)
was a very interesting read, however, I could not help but
notice that desktop virtualisation was not covered.
Just as server virtualisation is about consolidation of server
hardware resources, the aim of desktop virtualisation is to
consolidate desktop hardware and software and reduce PC
complexity.
We have seen flavours of this already with thin client
technology and virtualisation software for workstations. In
addition to the management benefits, there are other advantages,
including data security, high availability and easier provisioning
of offshore systems.
However, not all desktops can be replaced with virtual ones, so
although desktop virtualisation can yield cost savings, there will
always be a mixture of virtual and non-virtual desktops in the
enterprise.
IT security anarchy is just adding to the
problem
Earnie Kramer, Lightspeed Systems Europe
In response to your article
"Standalone security will vanish in three
years" (Computer Weekly, 13 February), I completely agree
that it is no longer enough to take an outside-in approach to
security by building a fortress around data.
Breaches and incidents continue to increase, despite escalating
year-on-year spend on security products, and as organisations
create a highly complex infrastructure of point security systems,
they are in danger of losing control. To be frank, most security
installations in place today are an accident waiting to happen.
Much of the blame can be laid at the door of the IT security
industry and its vaunted multi-layered strategy. Adding systems in
response to every emerging threat is not reducing the risk it is
simply creating an anarchic environment that offers nothing more
than an opportunity to sell more products.
It is only by monitoring network activity that you can develop
the security controls - and solutions - that truly reflect business
risk.
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