EcomNets: The Future of Green Cloud Computing

What would it take to reduce the power consumption and TCO of traditional PCs' by 70 percent? Incorporating the same technological specs of a normal PC, however, at half the price? The answer was given by Raj Kosuri, Founder and CEO of EcomNets, in the form of the famous Verdio line of Green PCs'. The Verdio green PC ushered in the next generation of energy efficient computers. The product was not an overnight phenomenon, but a result of the amalgamation of the expertise and experience of Raj and his team at EcomNets, a veteran provider of enterprise integration in the cloud, business process management and IT governance consulting company in innovating the best green technologies for a better world. Today, Kosuri has taken EcomNets to the next level of green technology engagement and cloud enablement by leveraging a new Data and Technology Innovation Center that spans over 27,000 sq ft of energy efficient storage space in Danville, Virginia. Understanding the dire need for companies to sustain their businesses through energy effective products, EcomNets strives towards providing cloud solutions and IT sustainable initiatives to create relationships that redefine interactions not just with customers, but also with vendors, competitors, and employees as well.

Initiated as a pure disk-to-disk solution, EcomNets was built by Kosuri to today be the only data protection platform that can be consumed as a cloud service, deployed as on premise software or appliance, or any other combination thereof. With most data transfer providers suffering from slow speeds, which in turn pose a threat to cyber security, the organizations’ efficient and secure data transfer processes have been programmed to automatically move backup data offsite to the customers cloud. The leverage of flexibility built into the platform has given the customer the power to easily switch deployments as an individual’s business grows. Started in 2000 with a primary focus on sustainable IT solutions, Kosuri’s goal was to reduce power consumptions and to increase energy efficiencies in IT and its data centers. With IT companies spending over 20 percent of the power consumption in the offices, companies like EcomNets are the need of the hour “We were in constant talks with the CIOs of different companies explaining that the impact of the shift to sustainable IT towards cutting down on their power consumption which in turn can be utilized to buy hardware and software. So as we progressed we helped companies reduce the carbon foot print and helped them increase the bottom line in the budget,” explains Kosuri. The building of Verdio, the first green PC in 2000 established EcomNets stronghold into the market. With the sprawling green data center in Virginia as its backbone, the company today provides top of the line services to Fortune 500 and global 2000 organizations. “We integrate solutions on the desktop side and the virtual data side. We let companies come to us and use our infrastructure to build their cloud computing solutions. We are cloud computing enablers and we help companies get their own cloud computing solutions,” says Kosuri.

Helping Enterprises Move to the Cloud

Many businesses are combating the explosion of data and constantly contemplate the question of cloud enablement. For the past 13 years, EcomNets has been turning this vision into reality with the assistance of complex consulting services which helps decision makers create a blueprint depicting the end goal and the intermediate steps required to obtain the same. The team then works on effective planning and governance across all cloud services, to simultaneously establish and enforce controls and manage risk. “While planning and managing systems; it is equally important to factor in the ‘people change’ effect — which is typically more demanding than the technology issues,” points out Kosuri. The cloud platform was built by the team to provide security for operating systems that include the likes of Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, VMware, Linux (Red Hat and SUSE), IBM, IBM AIX, HP-UX, and Sun Solaris to name a few. The applications secured are Oracle databases and Microsoft SharePoint Server, Exchange Server, and SQL Server. The icing on the cake is the ability to perform ‘Hot’ backups without closing the current work in progress made possible by the EcomNets team to engage backing up of open files and applications.

With organizations still stuck with traditional testing limitations, EcomNets focuses to help customers leverage the benefits of cloud testing and avoid being stuck with traditional testing restraints, the team at EcomNets has offered two unique capabilities that are difficult to replicate with traditional testing i.e. virtualization; and compatibility with cloud services. Incomplete runs caused by scalability barriers severely hamper test cases. Hence the cloud testing module on offer has been designed by the EcomNets team to specifically target and avoid such incomplete test runs, hence throwing new light onto traditional software testing strategies and enable a number of unseen testing activities, such as the highest quality of testing environments along with parallel development and testing activities. Apart from traditional reviews, the company helps IT Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity for Fortune 1000 and Global 2000 companies in the world leveraging the tier III data center infrastructure located in Danville, VA. The Data and Technology Innovation center backs up almost all of the processes designed and staffed to be able to efficiently handle very large volumes of data serving customers throughout the mid-Atlantic region. A testimony to the success of the company’s solutions is EcomNets being conferred with the NVTC Green Award in 2010 and Inc 500 listing for 2010, both coveted recognitions.

The awards can also be reasoned to Kosuri ensuring that the best advice and solutions are imparted to achieve a successful client’s software deployment cycle. Realizing that each software project is different, the team works hard to match the right solution and the right tools for every specific stage of development. “We know what appeals to our network of financial institutions and corporate, so we can minimize management distraction by running a tight process to deploy software project on time and on budget,” Kosuri adds. Focusing fully on the technology industry at all steps of the value chain, EcomNets has identified six verticals with maximum traction capabilities mainly– Government, Internet & New Media, Enterprise IT, Telecom& Hardware, CleanTech & MedTech.

Eliminating Server Sprawl and Increasing Utilization Rates

Another problem that organizations in the above mentioned verticals face is the combat against server sprawl. When disproportionate amounts of the physical server machines are running at very low rates of usage; it wastes a lot of the data center's resources like power, cooling and space, as well as the internal resources of each server such as CPU cycles, memory and storage. To mitigate server sprawl, EcomNets has taken to the next step of Virtualized Server Consolidation and eliminating the problem via deployment of systems as virtual machines (VMs) that can run safely and move transparently across shared hardware. The company has been successfully delivering increase of server utilization rates from 5-15 percent to a whopping 60-80 percent. For reducing the cost and complexity of business continuity, Kosuri has enabled a high availability and disaster recovery solutions by encapsulating entire systems into single files that can be replicated and restored on any target server, thus helping companies that struggle with minimizing downtime. In a combination of Microsoft’s virtualization software and the company’s own propriety Green PC “Verdio”, EcomNets has enough artillery to replace PCs, workstations and laptops without compromising end user autonomy by layering a security policy in software around desktop virtual machines. “We will reduce TCO at the desktop $1500 per PC, per year,” adds a confident Kosuri.

Enlightening Organizations on the True Potential of Energy Efficiency

Almost every enterprise has the capability to consume less power. To make firms realize the true potential of their energy and cost saving abilities, EcomNets’s sustainable IT solutions have partnered with the most advanced solutions for helping the user reduce PC network energy consumption to the tune of saving $20 to $60 per PC, per year. EcomNets has partnered with several Electronic Recyclers to provide On-Site Data Destruction and Electronic Waste Recycling which gives the power to recycle computers, laptops, printers, monitors, and other IT devices with almost a hundred percent zero export. Although there are many aspects to designing a data center Kosuri ensured that the green data center of the company was developed with the latest LED certification standards. Close to ten percent of the data centers power comes through renewable energy, which is one of the highest in the industry. Solar power is used to power the light, while most of the hardware is built by the green electronic council which makes the green initiative very sustainable by not wasting any hardware which can save power. “Our electricity bill is 20 to 30 percent less than the other data centers. The reason for it is that it goes all the way from the design. We also have a program which tells us if any hardware is not being used for the past several years, these are the kind of micro level management that saves us electricity,” explains Kosuri. Even when a router, printer or a scanner is not being used, the company asks its engineers to shut it down.

Unique Organizational Culture

The continued success in a relatively unique field of sustainable IT, can be related to a belief system that the work environment and people characterize as one of a kind. Employees at EcomNets are constantly given the chance to grow and understand the corporate culture in which they work hence directly given the option to be able to comprehend organizational goals.

EcomNets clearly understands the seriousness of retaining quality talent to development of a company’s brand. “When individuals are involved in defining culture they gain a strong corporate identity and appropriate culture behaviors that support positive culture practices that are conducive to corporate success,” explains Kosuri. Developing consistent and positive culture practices has a huge role to play in the Green IT services provider’s ability to attract and hire quality talent. The talent management team has been built painstakingly to understand the core values that have been fundamental to the company’s business identity, vision and success. The management team is directly held accountable for sustaining a positive culture by staying aware of the need for change or culture improvement. To put it in a line we believe in developing, defining, and maintaining successful culture is an institutionalize responsibility of all EcomNets members,” says Kosuri.

With an environment that fosters a culture that inspires achievement and engagement in technology projects, Kosuri aims to touch 50 million in revenue by 2016 and increase headcount to 500. With the all the extensive importance on innovative green IT technologies, and judging by the success streak of the organization, EcomNets looks set to break into one of the top five cloud computing providers in the world while enabling midsized companies realizing the true power of the cloud and the true potential of Sustainable IT.