Sustainability

With the Government's objective of public sector organisations becoming carbon neutral, IT Managers are being charged with implementing green strategies that must drive down the cost of the ICT infrastructure and increase the organisation's energy efficiency.

As networks become more complex they consume more energy and therefore more money. Enterprises whose networks produce a lot of heat need cooling and air conditioning, taking up additional power and increasing operating costs. In fact, networking is now estimated to account for at least one per cent of an organisation’s energy consumption – a figure that’s growing.

3Com is committed to maximising the efficiency and profitability of enterprises while ensuring minimum environmental impact.

Independent research firm In-Stat has found that 3Com’s local area network (LAN) switches are up to 60 percent more energy efficient, or “green,” than competitors’ products. The report, “Green Networking Equipment: Who Leads and Who Lags,” says there are “significant differences in the energy efficiency of similarly equipped switch equipment” and that “as many businesses develop ‘green’ initiatives… IT managers will be forced to absorb some degree of responsibility for their organization’s power usage.” Find out more, read the In-Stat report.

Over the last three years, the power consumption of all 3Com’s stackable switching products, from the entry level 3Com Switch 4200 family to the high performance Switch 8800 family, has been reduced by as much as 78 per cent over previous generations.

3Com also delivers enterprise network infrastructures that incorporate collaboration applications and provide flexible working in a secure network environment. By allowing staff to work from anywhere, including home, reduced travelling time can contribute to shrinking the environmental impact such as CO² emissions.

Furthermore, a wireless infrastructure can help cut enterprises’ carbon footprint by reducing cabling requirements, while open standards and interoperability all significantly reduce hardware waste.