In my role, I have the opportunity to speak with many customers all over the world. For the ones that I do not get to speak with personally, I hear their stories through my colleagues that work with them in deploying VDI solutions.
While our customers continue to talk about the need for their desktop virtualization environments to deliver the highest levels of security and mobility for their workforces, another benefit has become a common theme: the need for energy efficient solutions.
Organizations across all sectors are increasingly looking to install solutions which can bring greater energy efficiency. While customers have enjoyed significant cost savings by implementing Dell Wyse zero and thin clients throughout their organization, this isn’t the only reason why they are looking for energy efficient technology solutions. Many are setting energy consumption goals to help improve their carbon footprint, or to meet various industry and government compliance benchmarks.
To illustrate the power (no pun intended) of energy efficient zero clients, one of our customers, SHAWCO, is a non-profit organization staffed by volunteers that supports developing communities in South Africa. The organization runs multiple healthcare and educational projects, including the Dell Learning Labs.
These low-cost, solar-powered portable classrooms are equipped with virtual desktops to create economic and learning opportunities within the South African communities where they operate.
“We have certain challenges in the environments we work in, but the Dell Learning Labs are a perfect fit. The labs are secure and, above all, incredibly power efficient. They’re ideal for a community where power supplies are frequently interrupted,” said Debra Lodder, Finance Manager at SHAWCO.
As the learning labs are situated in communities where power supplies are frequently interrupted, energy efficiency is a paramount concern. To meet these needs, the organization implemented Dell Wyse 1010 zero clients running virtualized Microsoft Office Desktops, which consumes substantially less energy than a standard PC, to ensure the devices would be the most energy efficient as possible so that people who don’t normally have access to IT can learn important computing skills. In just 12 months, SHAWCO helped 420 people of all ages gain vital access to computers and the internet. Here’s a peek into one of the labs:
According to the Earth Day Network, the majority of scientists agree that human contributions to the greenhouse effect are the root cause of climate change. In the U.S. alone, carbon dioxide emissions by the electric power sector accounted for about 37 percent of the total energy-related CO2 emissions. Business leaders and IT decision makers have a responsibility to make certain their operations are as energy efficient as possible. By deploying virtualized desktop environments, organizations can reduce power consumption by 16 percent, and Wyse zero clients use about 90 percent less energy than a standard PC. Not only does this help companies conserve energy, but it also helps them save money.
To learn more about how Dell Cloud Client-Computing can help organizations improve the energy efficiency of their IT-environments and ultimately reduce their carbon footprint visit: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/cloud-client-computing
