Celebrate Earth Day with Cloud-Based Unified Communications April 22, 2011 @ 12:14 PM | By Rodney Horton

Today is Earth Day and it got me thinking about how InterCall helps companies be more earth-friendly.  We have long been the global leader in conferencing, with over 20 billion minutes of conferencing provided last year alone.  That astounding number racks up more than just savings for our customers; it reduces our customers’ carbon footprint by eliminating several TONS of emissions and other pollutants each year. 

There’s no doubt you’ve heard this message before:  audio, video and web conferencing save you money by reducing travel which translates into a green approach for doing business. Rather than airports, taxis, highways and hotels, we’re meeting in telepresence rooms and at desktop video stations, collaborating over conferencing bridges and sharing information on streaming websites. But InterCall can help you become green in more ways than that.

Leveraging over 20 years as a provider of hosted and managed services, InterCall has been strategically building solutions and services that position us as an industry leader in Unified Communications. Our team of experts help companies to select, migrate and deploy cloud-based UC solutions in a fully hosted or hybrid environment. These solutions comprise another important way you can green your business.

So how is the cloud green?

Less Hardware

Because cloud solutions deliver applications, storage and more in a virtual environment via the internet, businesses have a reduced need for on-premise servers. From the source of materials, to their ultimate demise, production of computer hardware has a significant environmental impact. Manufacture of server parts, packaging and transport can all contribute to environmental pollution and waste.  Of course, the need for servers is not completely removed because of the cloud, but their numbers could be significantly reduced.

Less Space

Reduced hardware and servers require smaller building areas. What can you do with a little extra space on your company property? Increase your pervious surface area. Pervious surfaces keep more rain out of storm systems and filters pollutants out of run-off before it drains into rivers, streams, and water tables. Less building area also means an opportunity for more trees, which provide natural cooling of structures and a more pleasant work environment.

Less Energy

Large server rooms have high cooling requirements. Moving your server to the cloud reduces cooling costs, as well as greenhouse gas emissions coming from the cooling system. Likewise, energy bills and pollutants from energy sources are reduced. You can further reduce your carbon footprint by choosing to work with data centers that use cleaner or renewable energy.

I’m excited to be part of a company that is making a large impact on the environment. From conferencing and instant messaging, to IP telephony and more, Unified Communications solutions can have a positive environmental impact. So for all of you out there, continue to telecommute from your home. Use a conference bridge or video call to collaborate with co-workers half-way around the world. And if your company is interested in leveraging cloud-based UC solutions, be sure to reach out to us.

Happy Earth Day!

Rodney Horton is senior director of hosted services for InterCall, the business unit for UCaaS and other hosted UC and collaboration solutions. Rodney spends most of his time providing direction and support to the hosting services area of InterCall by working with internal teams and external customers to develop solutions that will enable companies to save time and money through the adoption of cloud-based UC. When he’s not working with InterCall customers on their UC strategy, Rodney enjoys spending time with his family, traveling and exercising.