|
Amey: Amey reduces its carbon footprint; Virtualisation installed for
green benefits
(M2 PressWIRE Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
RDATE:28032008
The company Amey is one of the UK's leading support service partners,
specialising in the outsourcing of sustainable business solutions. Amey
works in partnership with customers across the aviation, central
government, defence, education, local government, rail and strategic
highways sectors.
Operating from 200 locations with 8000 employees, Amey has high
visibility in its field.
The challenge
Julian Proudfoot, Contract Manager at Amey is responsible for
overseeing one of Amey's IT contracts, which is to ALC , a joint
venture of Amey Plc and VT Group Plc, for the 'C' Vehicle Capability
Private Finance Initiative.
As a company confident in all that it has achieved and can achieve in
the future, Amey is actively involved in developing procedures that
integrate key social issues with its business model. Therefore it is no
surprise Amey takes very seriously its impact on the environment.
Sustainable computing and the greening of power-hungry data centres, is
central to enacting its green corporate social responsibility (CSR)
policies.
The Benefits
* Virtualisation - a green technology - helps reduce the corporate
carbon footprint
* Server consolidation frees up valuable business resources
* Increased business continuity
Implementing server virtualisation at this contract, Amey was able to
make a substantial impact on its commitment to sustainable computing. A
massive reduction in power consumption at the data centre of over 35%
has resulted in considerably improved energy efficiency.
Amey was able to measure and quantify the extent to which it went green.
The new server farm running in a virtual environment used just 67,162
KW/h. Before virtualisation, servers required 104,316 KW/h. Lower power
consumption being used by servers also had a knock-on effect of
reducing power demands being made by air-conditioning units. Before
virtualisation, air-conditioning required 52,046 KW/h. After the
project, just 33,523 KW/h was needed.*
Consolidating growing numbers of physical servers also freed up both
floor space and the IT team's time. Support staff have found that time
being spent managing physical servers is now spent on other projects,
which adds value to their client's business operations.
The new system provides a cost effective fail over solution. In the
past, malfunctioning servers had to be physically removed from the
network. This resulted in downtime and was inconvenient as well as
expensive. The new system enables the team to transparently reallocate
servers with no downtime. In the event of a bottleneck or if a server
needs to be moved, staff simply move resources around through the
management console.
The Solution
Designing and implementing a green solution required the need for
expert advice. Intercept was given the challenge of designing and
implementing a robust and cost effective solution.
Intercept recognised that maximizing efficiency gains made by rolling
out a new system requires careful design and planning. Accordingly, a
wide range of diagnostic and analysis tools were applied. PlateSpin
PowerRecon, for example, was used to provide further intelligence and
forecasting on server metrics.
Intercept then went on to install VMware ESX servers and virtualisation
software across the network. They transformed ALC's server architecture
from the "usual" hardware focused infrastructure, to a modern virtual
infrastructure requiring less maintenance with increased scalability
and flexibility.
Testimonials:
"Intercept provided us with a green IT solution that not only made a
real difference to the environment, but also massively improved our IT
system. The guys at Intercept really provided us with a personalized
plan. It was amazing to see how attentive they were to our individual
needs."
Julian Proudfoot, Contract Manager, Amey
* The KW savings are equal two round the world trips in average family
sized car.
http://erasemyfootprint.com/calculator.cfm
Amey
Amey is one of the UK's leading support service partners, specialising
in the outsourcing of sustainable business solutions. Amey works in
partnership with customers across the aviation, central government,
defence, education, local government, rail and strategic highways
sectors.
Amey is part of Ferrovial, one of Europe's largest infrastructure and
services groups, which brings with it the strength and additional
capabilities of a world-leading organisation.
Amey has been listed amongst the 'Top 100 Companies that Count' in
Business in the Community's (BITC) Corporate Responsibility Index since
2005.
CONTACT: Amey
WWW: http://www.amey.co.uk
Katherine Maddison, Spreckley Partners Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)207 3889988
e-mail maddison@spreckley.co.uk
((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information
provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties.
Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at
http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to
info@m2.com)).
Copyright ? 2008 M2 Communications Ltd.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
