Climate Corps 2010: Reaching Beyond the ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’

July 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

When I originally set out to spend the summer as an EDF Climate Corps fellow at eBay Inc., I anticipated spending my 10-week fellowship focused on making the business case for energy efficiency in the company’s data centers. On my first day at eBay headquarters, I realized I had been mistaken. The greatest energy efficiency gains would actually not be in the data centers, but found elsewhere.

Near the start of my fellowship, eBay Inc. unveiled a new data center named Project Topaz that was 30 percent more efficient than any other data center in the company’s portfolio. In “geek speak,” it has a power usage effectiveness (PUE) rating of 1.4 thanks to water-side economization, in-row cooling and 400V power distribution.

As a Climate Corps fellow who has been trained on data center efficiency measures aimed at enabling companies to pick low-hanging fruit and cut costs on wasted energy, it has been nearly impossible to make any recommendations for a facility that is already so advanced in its green initiatives.

Obviously I needed to refocus the scope of my project.

Thankfully, my supervisor introduced me to colleagues throughout the organization in workplace resources, procurement, IT and corporate communications. Considering over 2,400 of eBay Inc.’s employees are members of the Green Team, I was not surprised by the contagious enthusiasm for sustainability.

Academic studies on energy efficiency in California show that while commercial consumption has grown, efficiency has remained the same. Despite this marketplace reality, I was not surprised to hear that as of May 2010, the number of watts per listing on eBay had declined 55 percent since the second quarter of 2008. Members of the Green Team are efficiency experts in a company that has championed sustainability in both its e-commerce business as well as its own operational footprint. Atop the building I’ve been sitting in this summer, stands the largest commercial solar installation in San Jose. Next to it is a 500kW installation of Bloom Energy boxes that together account for more than 30 percent of the campus’s energy needs.

All of these factors do, however, make my 10-week treasure hunt for energy efficiency that much more difficult.
!–pagebreak–

While other Climate Corps fellows this year have reported massive savings from finding lights on at night and changing fluorescent lighting to T-8s from T-12s, eBay’s facilities and operations have yet to yield such low-hanging fruit.

The Green Team has already installed automated lighting schedules and motion sensors, upgraded to T-8s years ago, employed direct digital control and air-side economization in HVAC, and certified a building as LEED Gold back in 2008. I even eat from the “Low-Carbon Diet” line at the cafeteria.

Very rapidly, I’ve adjusted any expectations of sweeping in to heroically discover major energy efficiency gains. This is not to say that eBay Inc. has finished a “job well done.” On the contrary, I have found my value add this summer as a needed resource for ongoing projects as colleagues try to manage the energy usage and carbon output of their business unit or department. Although energy efficiency is a continuing goal, rarely does a decision-maker understand the energy impacts of each option up for consideration without relying on other expertise.

And who knows? I still have three weeks left this summer — plenty of time to continue digging around for that hidden goldmine of energy efficiency treasure.

Megan Rast is a 2010 EDF Climate Corps fellow at eBay Inc. and a member of Net Impact. She is an MBA candidate at Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. Further coverage of the Climate Corps program is available at GreenBiz.com/edfclimatecorps. This content is cross-posted at Environmental Defense Fund Innovation Exchange Blog.

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Twitter moving into its own data center

July 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Twitter hopes to improve the reliability of its service by moving into its own, custom-built data center later this year, the company said on Wednesday.

The announcement comes a day after Twitter suffered yet another outage that prevented users from logging in or posting updates to its service. After a fairly good start to the year, Twitter has suffered several outages since June, partly due to traffic spikes during the World Cup but also for other reasons.

Moving into its own data center probably won’t solve all the problems — the issue on Tuesday had to do with a database glitch — but it should help, especially with those related to its fast-growing user base. The company says it has been signing up more than 300,000 new users a day this year on average.

“Keeping pace with these users and their Twitter activity presents some unique and complex engineering challenges,” Twitter said in a blog post Wednesday. “Having dedicated data centers will give us more capacity to accommodate this growth in users and activity on Twitter.”

It will also give it more control over how its networks and systems are configured, and allow it to make adjustments more quickly as its infrastructure needs change.

Web giants like Yahoo, Facebook and Google already have their own data centers, but many smaller companies work with hosting providers that manage their IT equipment for them. Twitter’s provider is NTT America.

Its new data center — the first that Twitter will manage itself — will be in the Salt Lake City area. It will give it “a much larger footprint in a building designed specifically around our unique power and cooling needs.” It will house “a mixed-vendor environment for servers running open source OS and applications,” Twitter said.

It’s unlikely that having its own data center would have prevented Monday’s problems, however. They occurred when the company’s user database, which stores records for more than 125 million users, “got hung up running a long running query.”

Twitter forced a restart of the database, which took 12 hours and then didn’t solve all the problems anyway. So it replaced the database with another copy that was working properly — “in the parlance of database admins everywhere, we promoted a slave to master.”

“We have taken steps to ensure we can more quickly detect and respond to similar issues in the future. For example, we are prepared to more quickly promote a slave database to a master database, and we put additional monitoring in place to catch errant queries like the one that caused Monday’s incidents,” it said.

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Great Recession Doesn’t Slow the Greening of GE

July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Ecomagination continues to pay big dividends for General Electric, according to its just-released sustainability report.

After investing $1.5 billion in ecomagination products since 2005 — and growing the portfolio from 17 products to 90 — GE has earned $18 billion in revenue on ecomagination products. The success of ecomagination has led the company to greatly increase its investment in the coming years, putting an additional $8.5 billion in R&D investments in ecomagination by 2015.

With its sixth annual report, entitled “Renewing Responsibilities,” GE set a goal of growing ecomagination revenues twice as fast as the company itself grows.

Of course, in the wake of the Great Recession, the company isn’t necessarily growing that fast — revenues in 2009 declined by 14 percent — but ecomagination revenues were up 6 percent in 2009.

Despite the economic hit GE has taken, the companies overarching environmental initiatives are having an even larger impact on its footprint: Its overall intensities in water use, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are down more than 30 percent each, with emissions intensity down 39 percent and overall emissions down 22 percent.

GE continues to set ambitious environmental goals on its intensities — the amount of resources used per million dollars of revenue — including a goal of 50 percent reductions in energy intensity from its 2004 baseline, a 25 percent reduction in emissions over a 2004 baseline, and a 30 percent reduction in water intensity over a 2006 baseline.

The full report is available online and in downloadable format from GE.com/Citizenship.

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T-Mobile Expands Super-Fast Network and Availability of T-Mobile® webConnect Rocket™ USB Laptop Stick to Cover 25 Major Metropolitan Areas

June 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

BELLEVUE, Wash.–(Business Wire)–
Today, T-Mobile USA, Inc. announced the expansion of its super-fast mobile
broadband network, now offering 4G speeds1 to more than 25 major metropolitan
areas across the U.S., and expects to cover more than 75 million Americans with
HSPA+ by the end of June. Complementing the network expansion is the
availability of the T-Mobile® webConnect Rocket™ USB Laptop Stick, the first
HSPA+ capable device from a national U.S. wireless carrier, in T-Mobile retail
stores in these new areas.

Now HSPA+ and the T-Mobile® webConnect Rocket™ USB Laptop Stick are available in
major metropolitan areas across the country including Los Angeles; Dallas;
Atlanta; Houston; Seattle; Tampa and Orlando, Fla.; Pittsburgh; Charlotte,
Greensboro, and Winston-Salem, N.C.; Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla.; New
Orleans; and Charleston, S.C. In addition, HSPA+ has been expanded to
Bentonville, Ark.; Anderson, S.C.; and Fayetteville, N.C. T-Mobile`s HSPA+
mobile broadband service is already live in New York; Philadelphia; Las Vegas;
Memphis; Upstate New York; Connecticut; Providence, R.I.; and the Washington,
D.C., suburbs.

“T-Mobile has rolled out HSPA+ service to more than 25 major metropolitan areas
in four month`s time, as we drive towards having the most pervasive mobile
broadband network delivering 4G speeds in the country,” said Neville Ray, senior
vice president of Engineering and Operations for T-Mobile USA. “T-Mobile is
delivering unprecedented value to our customers with the availability of a
super-fast mobile broadband experience combined with compelling and affordable
devices and data plans.”

T-Mobile`s rapidly expanding HSPA+ mobile broadband footprint makes it easy for
customers to enjoy 4G speeds on the HSPA+-enabled T-Mobile® webConnect Rocket™
USB Laptop Stick. In addition, T-Mobile currently has 15 3G devices that can
benefit from enhanced speeds when they`re on the HSPA+ network, including the
newest smartphone available from T-Mobile today – the Nokia E73 Mode.

T-Mobile has made considerable progress in the number of areas with faster
mobile broadband – and expects to continue this aggressive pace to deliver HSPA+
speeds in 100 major metropolitan areas with backhaul in place, covering 185
million people in the U.S. by the end of this year.

“With the rapid expansion of its HSPA+ network this year, T-Mobile is in a great
position of being able to deliver high-speed data service to a broader number of
customers today,” said Peter Jarich, principal analyst, Wireless Infrastructure,
Current Analysis. “Ultimately, consumers don`t care what technology powers the
network they`re using – they care about the quality and experience of their
mobile data service, the cost of those services, and the devices available to
access them. HSPA+ has the potential to deliver higher data rates across a
broader lineup of devices in the next one to two years than competing
technologies.”

For more information on where T-Mobile network service is available, please
visit http://t-mobile-coverage.t-mobile.com/coverage.

Note to Editors

For images and video of T-Mobile services and products, please log on to
http://www.TheNewsMarket.com/T-Mobile. Registration is free for media.

1Based on comparison with 4G network speeds currently available to mobile device
users in the U.S.

About T-Mobile USA, Inc.

Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile USA, Inc. is the U.S. wireless operation of
Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE:DT). By the end of the first quarter of 2010,
approximately 150 million mobile customers were served by the mobile
communication segments of the Deutsche Telekom group – 33.7 million by T-Mobile
USA – all via a common technology platform based on GSM and UMTS, the world`s
most widely used digital wireless standards. T-Mobile USA`s innovative wireless
products and services help empower people to connect to those who matter most.
Multiple independent research studies continue to rank T-Mobile among the
highest in numerous regions throughout the U.S. in wireless customer care and
call quality. For more information, please visit http://www.T-Mobile.com.
T-Mobile is a federally registered trademark of Deutsche Telekom AG.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the current
views of Deutsche Telekom management with respect to future events. The words
“anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,”
“project” and “should” and similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current
plans, estimates and projections, and therefore you should not place too much
reliance on them. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, most
of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond Deutsche Telekom`s
control, including, without limitation, those factors set forth in
“Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” contained in Deutsche Telekom`s
annual report. If these or other risks and uncertainties materialize, or if the
assumptions underlying any of these statements prove incorrect, Deutsche
Telekom`s actual results may be materially different from those expressed or
implied by such statements. Deutsche Telekom does not intend or assume any
obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Media Contact:
T-Mobile USA Media Relations
425-378-4002
mediarelations@t-mobile.com

Copyright Business Wire 2010

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Obama Orders Federal Data Center Consolidation, Expects $3B in Savings Computing

June 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

President Obama last week opened up a new front in the war for green IT in the government, with the signing of a memorandum aimed at shrinking the federal government’s stock of data centers.

As part of an overarching attempt to reduce the government’s real estate costs — as well as the energy and resource use associated with real estate — the memorandum requires agencies to work toward a target of $3 billion in cost savings by 2015. Data centers, far from the largest slice of the government’s property footprint but a huge part of its energy consumption, were singled out for special efforts. The memorandum reads in part:

For example, over the past decade, the private sector reduced its data center footprint by capitalizing on innovative technologies to increase efficiencies. However, during that same period, the Federal Government experienced a substantial increase in the number of data centers, leading to increased energy consumption, real property expenditures, and operations and maintenance costs….

In addition, in order to address the growth of data centers across the Federal Government, agencies shall immediately adopt a policy against expanding data centers beyond current levels, and shall develop plans to consolidate and significantly reduce data centers within 5 years.

The memo requires agencies to file plans by August 30.

The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) states that there are currently about 1,100 data centers owned by the government, up from 432 in 1998.

The president’s move follows on a string of green IT-related moves since taking office nearly 18 months ago. Starting right off the bat, the day after Obama’s inauguration we reported that IBM CEO Samuel J. Palmisano urged Obama to make all federal data centers green within three years. Although the White House passed on that advice, the federal stimulus funding offered a big boost to green IT initiatives, and Obama’s CTO, Aneesh Chopra, has taken a number of pro-green IT stances.

Across the pond, the U.K.’s government has already made big progress on its own green IT initiatives, with a number of simple projects saving millions of pounds per year in energy costs.

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UPDATE 1-StanChart seeking organic growth in S.Korea-exec

June 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

SEOUL, June 10 (Reuters) – The head of Standard Chartered’s (STAN.L) South Korean unit said on Thursday the Asia-focused bank was seeking organic growth in the country, ruling out interest in acquiring Korea Exchange Bank (004940.KS).

“Our strategy in Korea is an organic strategy,” SC First Bank Chief Executive Richard Hill told reporters on the sidelines of a bank ceremony.

“We’ve invested now $5 billion of capital in Korea … so we’re going to continue to aggressively expand the business we’ve invested in already. It’s a core market for us,” Hill said, when asked by Reuters about possible interest in KEB.

Britain’s Standard Chartered Bank (2888.HK), which derives more than four-fifths of its profit from Asia, was the first European bank to set up a branch in South Korea and later expanded its presence with the acquisition of Korea First Bank in 2005. South Korea is now its second-biggest market.

Jaspal Bindra, Group Executive Director and Asia CEO for Standard Chartered, earlier told Reuters the bank would be disciplined about any acquisition.

“In our footprint we look at everything that is relevant in the banking space for us, but we are also very disciplined about any acquisition because it has to have both a financial and a strategic fit,” Bindra said on Monday in Vietnam.

“So far we have stayed with that principle, it’s worked well for us, so we’ll have to sort of apply this.”

Asked if there were banking M&A targets in his sights, he said: “Not so much in this region because we are pretty much in every market in Asia.”

He mentioned South Africa and Saudi Arabia as places they might look at.

“In Korea we are already quite big. We have 400 branches in Korea, we are one of the largest foreign banks in Korea. So Korea is not a small place for us,” he said.

U.S. equity fund Lone Star [LS.UL] has put up for sale its 51 percent stake in KEB, South Korea’s sixth-biggest lender by assets, but has seen slow progress in drumming up interest for the stake, worth 4.3 trillion won ($3.45 billion) at market price.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ.AX) and private equity house MBK Partners have shown interest, but South Korean banking groups remain inactive, while sources said ANZ was shifting its M&A focus to another target in Indonesia. [ID:nTOE658058]

HSBC (HSBA.L)(0005.HK), which had been speculated as another possible contender for KEB, has also ruled out its interest. [ID:nTOE63Q06A] ($1=1247.3 Won) (Reporting by Rhee So-eui and John Ruwitch; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

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Intellifiber Partners With CENX to Expand Carrier Ethernet Services

June 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

RICHMOND, VA, Jun 07 (MARKET WIRE) —
Intellifiber Networks, serving the growing network needs of enterprise,
service provider and government markets, today announced it has partnered
with CENX, operator of the world’s first and most connected Carrier
Ethernet exchange, to provide expanded Ethernet services to service
provider customers. Through an initial connection at CENX’s New York
location, Intellifiber will offer its services, including Ethernet over
Copper (EoC) connectivity, and have access to CENX-connected providers.

“Ethernet services continue to be a rapidly growing market segment, and
our partnership with CENX allows Intellifiber and CENX members to broaden
Ethernet adoption,” said Clint Heiden, president of Intellifiber
Networks. “We can deliver cost-effective Ethernet services to more than
100,000 buildings across our network to any CENX-connected location
around the world. CENX’s expertise and global Ethernet reach were key
factors in our partnering decision.”

Through CENX, Intellifiber will offer its full suite of Ethernet
products, including Ethernet over Copper connectivity in its coverage
area. Intellifiber has more than 300 central offices directly connected
to its fiber network, providing dense EoC coverage in markets from
Norfolk to Philadelphia to Cleveland to Richmond. EoC allows Intellifiber
to leverage existing copper infrastructure to cost effectively deliver
midband Ethernet access directly to customers without having to match
demand to legacy circuit sizes.

“We are delighted to welcome Intellifiber into our rapidly growing CENX
membership. Our focus is to simplify and enable expanded carrier Ethernet
growth for our exchange members by eliminating the cost and complexity of
direct service connections,” said Eric Gillenwater, vice president,
Worldwide Development, CENX. “Connecting with CENX immediately creates an
even more extensive footprint while allowing all of our members the
opportunity to seamlessly purchase Intellifiber’s services.”

About Intellifiber Networks
Intellifiber Networks, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Cavalier Telephone, owns and operates a high-capacity fiber
network spanning 17,000 route miles. Its scalable, reliable connectivity
solutions for service provider, enterprise, and government customers
include custom built private networks, low latency routing, SONET,
wavelength, Ethernet and data services. For more information, please
visit www.intellifiber.com.

About CENX
CENX, Inc. is the first and most connected Carrier Ethernet
exchange provider to deliver carrier-neutral, location-neutral, Carrier
Ethernet exchange services to global telecom/internet service providers.
CENX interconnects service providers’ Carrier Ethernet networks worldwide
and enables vast revenue opportunities, dramatic cost-saving and Carrier
Ethernet global ubiquity — a foundation for next generation
telecommunications networks. Through its work in the MEF
(http://www.metroethernetforum.org) and in the industry, the CENX
management team has played a leading role in the definition of and
standards for Carrier Ethernet and the development of the Carrier
Ethernet market over the last eight years. For more information visit
www.cenx.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Lisa McCausland
Dahlia Public Relations
(303) 888-2137
lmccausland@intellifiber.com

Copyright 2010, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

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Level 3 Launches New Vyvx Local Switching Services

June 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Updates Include a Flexible Commercial Approach and Support for High Definition
BROOMFIELD, Colo.–(Business Wire)–
Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) today announced significant updates
to its local video switching offering, enabling its Vyvx customers to transmit -
or “switch” – video feeds between two local loops within a single market.

Starting in June, the new offerings will give broadcasters access to Level 3`s
extensive national Vyvx footprint of coverage and a cost-effective alternative
for local switching services. New features and a competitive new pricing
structure will add to a compelling value proposition that includes:

* An extensive footprint – At its launch, new local switching rates will be
available in more than 50 markets, far surpassing the nearest competitor.
* HD support – Level 3`s Vyvx network will support HD loops in a number of
markets starting the first day of launch, with support for both 1.5 Gigabits per
second and 3 Gigabits per second. These services will initially be available in
a dozen markets, including New York City, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and
Miami, with more cities added in the coming year.
* International reach – The same local switching rates apply in all U.S.
markets, as well as London.
* Loop flexibility – With Level 3, there are no access restrictions. Unlike
other providers that require access to be procured through them, customers using
Level 3`s Local Switching service will have the option to procure their own
loops or buy through Level 3 Vyvx.

“Level 3 has a leg up on the competition in this area in that we have the
largest number of fiber-video television switching centers in the U.S. We invite
broadcasters to make the switch and take advantage of our superior
connectivity,” said Peter Neill, senior vice president of Content Markets. “That
connectivity, combined with Level 3`s extensive footprint and an attractive
pricing structure will give Level 3 customers a significant value for their
local switching services.”

The announcement furthers Level 3`s commitment to local markets and allowing
customers to Link Globally and Connect Locally.

Local switching is currently one of a number of broadcast services Level 3
offers. For more information on Level 3`s Vyvx services, click here.

About Level 3 Communications

Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) is a leading international provider
of fiber-based communications services. Enterprise, content, wholesale and
government customers rely on Level 3 to deliver services with an
industry-leading combination of scalability and value over an end-to-end fiber
network. Level 3 offers a portfolio of metro and long-haul services, including
transport, data, Internet, content delivery and voice. For more information,
visit www.Level3.com.

© Level 3 Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Level 3, Vyvx, Level 3
Communications and the Level 3 Communications Logo are either registered service
marks or service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC and/or one of its
Affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. Level 3 services are
provided by wholly owned subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc. Any other
service names, product names, company names or logos included herein are the
trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

Forward-Looking Statement

Some of the statements made in this press release are forward looking in nature.
These statements are based on management`s current expectations or beliefs.
These forward looking statements are not a guarantee of performance and are
subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are
outside Level 3`s control, which could cause actual events to differ materially
from those expressed or implied by the statements. The most important factors
that could prevent Level 3 from achieving its stated goals include, but are not
limited to, the current uncertainty in the global financial markets and the
global economy; disruptions in the financial markets that could affect Level 3`s
ability to obtain additional financing; as well as the company`s ability to:
increase and maintain the volume of traffic on the network; successfully
integrate acquisitions; develop effective business support systems; defend
intellectual property and proprietary rights; manage system and network failures
or disruptions; develop new services that meet customer demands and generate
acceptable margins; adapt to rapid technological changes that lead to further
competition; attract and retain qualified management and other personnel; and
meet all of the terms and conditions of debt obligations. Additional information
concerning these and other important factors can be found within Level 3`s
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this press
release should be evaluated in light of these important factors. Level 3 is
under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any such obligation to, update
or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise.

Level 3 Communications
Media:
Alexis Hammack, 720-888-2441
or
Investors:
Mark Stoutenberg, 720-888-2518

Copyright Business Wire 2010

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Telenor India unit expands to five more zones

June 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 1 (Reuters) – Telenor’s (TEL.OL) India unit expanded mobile services to five more telecoms zones in the country, giving it a footprint in some of the most lucrative regions in the world’s fastest-growing mobile market.

Telecommuncations Services

The company, which operates under Uninor brand name, said in a statement on Tuesday it launched mobile services in the Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa, Gujarat, Kolkata and West Bengal zones.

With the expansion, Uninor is now present in 13 of India’s 22 telecoms zones and holds licences for the remainder.

The company, which started India services in December, had about 5 million mobile subscribers as of end-April. (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)

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What You Don’t Know about Your Online Reputation Can Hurt You

June 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Social networking, and the broader concept of online privacy, have been under some rather intense scrutiny over the past couple of weeks. The issues at Google–voracious indexer of all things Internet, and Facebook–the largest social network and number one most visited site (according to Google) have made many users more acutely aware of what information is available about them on the Internet. However, your online reputation is being used in ways you may not be aware of, and could cost you.

Users don’t necessarily need to be concerned, but should at least be aware of who they are connected with online, and what they say. No, Big Brother isn’t watching, but potential employers and lenders are.

Increasingly, your online reputation is becoming a deciding factor in whether you get that job, or get approved for that car loan. Businesses have online footprints as well, and the online reputation of the business could impact partner or vendor agreements, or affect the creditworthiness of the business.

Companies and lenders are turning to services like those offered by Rapleaf, a San Francisco-based company focused on social media monitoring. Rapleaf scours the Web to compile your status updates, Twitter “tweets”, the online organizations you join, the sites you link to, and the comments you post and convert it all into a consumer profile called a social graph.

The social graph reveals behavior patterns related to what you like, what you don’t like, what you want, what you don’t want, etc.. Rapleaf presents the service as a marketing tool–enabling companies to target marketing efforts more intelligently, and with more precision than base demographics like age, gender, or location.

At face value that seems like a reasonable use of your online footprint–at least to me. However, some employers or lenders are using information from services like Rapleaf for more invasive purposes. Using the Rapleaf social graph, or any other aggregate of an individual’s online presence, companies can dive deeper into your social networks and see who you’re connected to.

A bank considering you for a credit card can scan your social network and identify other users connected to you that are already customers of the bank. The bank can analyze the payment history and credit stability of those customers, and make assumptions about you based on them. The presumption is that birds of a feather flock together, so if you’re social network is filled with credit rejects, you are also probably a bad credit risk.

Who you know online, and what you don’t know about your online reputation may prevent you from getting a job or credit card. Even worse, sloppy online sleuthing or mistaken identity could lead to your rejection, and you may never even know why.

A friend–we’ll call him Greg–was hired by a company and moved his family across the country to accept the job. The company had conducted a background check on Greg prior to hiring him, but subsequently launched a more exhaustive background check about a month after Greg had started working for them.

One day, Greg was called in to see his manager and was told that his services would no longer be needed. He was asked to clear his desk and escorted from the building with no further explanation. His family hadn’t even finished unpacking from the cross-country move, and Greg was faced with the shock of unemployment.

Thankfully, after some pushing Greg was able to learn that the company had fired him because the subsequent background check had uncovered a criminal background and outstanding warrants the company was unaware of. Of course, Greg was also unaware of the criminal background and outstanding warrants because the company had uncovered information on the wrong “Greg”.

The company put the burden of proof on Greg to produce evidence that it was the wrong Greg, which Greg did and eventually got his job back. Others might not be so lucky, though.

When you don’t get the job, get turned down for a loan, or get rejected for a credit card, you may never really know if you were rebuffed on your own merits, or as a function of the crowd you choose to associate with online, or due to completely mistaken identity.

Rapleaf offers a service to discover your online footprint and get a view of what others might see on your social graph. Google offers a similar tool–the Google Privacy Dashboard–which presents an overview of the accounts and information you are connected with through Google.

Take advantage of tools like these to monitor your own online reputation and keep your online persona clean. What you don’t know can hurt you.

You can follow Tony on his Facebook page , or contact him by email at tony_bradley@pcworld.com . He also tweets as @Tony_BradleyPCW .

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Experts say UK water use ”worsening global crisis”

April 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr.19 (ANI): The report, focusing on the UK, says two-thirds of the water used to make UK imports is used outside its borders.

The BBC quotes the Engineering the Future alliance of professional engineering bodies, as saying this is unsustainable, given population growth and climate change.

It says countries such as the UK must help poorer nations curb water use.

“We must take account of how our water footprint is impacting on the rest of the world,” said Professor Roger Falconer, director of the Hydro-Environmental Research Centre at Cardiff University and a member of the report”s steering committee.

Professor Peter Guthrie, head of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Cambridge University, said: “If we are to prevent the ”perfect storm”, urgent action is necessary.”

Forecasts suggest that when the world”s population soars beyond eight billion in 20 years time, the global demand for food and energy will jump by 50 percent, with the need for fresh water rising by 30 percent.

But developing countries are already using significant proportions of their water to grow food and produce goods for consumption in the West, the report says. (ANI)

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Experts say UK water use ”worsening global crisis”

April 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr.19 (ANI): The report, focusing on the UK, says two-thirds of the water used to make UK imports is used outside its borders.

The BBC quotes the Engineering the Future alliance of professional engineering bodies, as saying this is unsustainable, given population growth and climate change.

It says countries such as the UK must help poorer nations curb water use.

“We must take account of how our water footprint is impacting on the rest of the world,” said Professor Roger Falconer, director of the Hydro-Environmental Research Centre at Cardiff University and a member of the report”s steering committee.

Professor Peter Guthrie, head of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Cambridge University, said: “If we are to prevent the ”perfect storm”, urgent action is necessary.”

Forecasts suggest that when the world”s population soars beyond eight billion in 20 years time, the global demand for food and energy will jump by 50 percent, with the need for fresh water rising by 30 percent.

But developing countries are already using significant proportions of their water to grow food and produce goods for consumption in the West, the report says. (ANI)

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Paper products go carbon neutral

March 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A Shoalhaven-based paper company says it has made one-third of all its specialised products carbon neutral.

Australian Paper, which owns a mill near Nowra, says the products are independently certified to comply with international standards.

Its sustainable development general manager, Paul Allen, says it has made the change due to public demand.

“Manufacturing but also full life cycle, all the emissions from the cradle to the grave of the paper’s life have been counted, reduced and off-set. It won’t be the whole mill yet, although we hope to get there,” he said.

Mr Allen says there are extra costs involved but the outlay is worth it.

“Being a manufacturer in Australia is not a sexy thing to be,” he said.

“It’s tough, but our belief is that because corporate and government entities are wanting more improvements in their own sustainable footprint, ideally we are going to grow demand for this type of paper and protect our local manufacturing industry.”

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Opening of communication lines with PoK will boost cross-border trade: Omar Abdullah

March 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Jammu March 19 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that telephone lines with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have been opened to boost cross border trade and address any security concern.

” Let us understand the requirement for these five lines. We started trade with the other side of Kashmir, but we were carrying our trade in the circumstances in which there was neither communication nor banking relation, which made conduct of trade almost impossible. In order to a streamline this process and also remove some loopholes, these lines for communication are now being opened, so this process of trading will get a boost,” Abdullah said this after his speech in the assembly during the ongoing budget session.

When asked about possible security threats after the opening up of these telephone lines, he said, ” The fact that we are starting with the limited number of five lines is exactly to address any security concern and also to see how it works. As we see the progress of it, we will see at it again”.

When asked to comment about the threat of Jamet-ul -Mujahideen to Mufti Bashir-ud-din (Mufte-e-Azam of Kashmir), he said, ” We all receive threats from time to time and it is the nature of what we do, the fact of the matter is anytime we express statements like this, somebody or the other is going to be upset. But just because somebody is upset, doesn”t mean that we should stop talking.”

He further said a total of 35,000 troops have been withdrawn from the state since he took over on January 5 last year.

“About 35,000 soldiers were relocated along with their camps and we did not make any tall claims about it; neither did it affect the situation nor there was any rise in the militancy,” he added.

He said that as and when the security situation improves, the army footprint will be decreased.

“We have removed several bunkers in Srinagar and did not allow construction anymore,” he said and added that the state police was being brought at the forefront for security duty. (ANI)

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SunTec wins two strategic customers in Middle East

September 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Trivandrum/United Arab Emirates, Sept 16 (ANI/Business Wire India): SunTec, the leading provider of Relationship-based Pricing and Centralized Billing solutions, has announced two strategic wins in the Middle East region, one of which has helped the company to gain a foothold in Port Operations Billing – its fifth operating domain.

One of the largest banks in UAE has invested in SunTec’s Relationship-based and Centralized Billing solution, while a leading Port Operator of the region has signed up to SunTec to automate and centralize the pricing and billing operations for their vessels as well as cargo operations, helping them to offer a convergent bill to customers and effectively manage multiple contracts.

The solution will be implemented in multiple phases at the leading bank, and by the end of phase-I in December 2009 their ‘Customer Benefits Program’ will go live for retail banking.

The bank will thus be among the first few in UAE offering comprehensive customer benefits programs. SunTec’s solution being the pivot, the bank will be able to scale up their benefits programs to customer with ease.

Furthermore, in future, the bank will leverage SunTec’s solution for streamlining and automating their pricing and billing functions across enterprise.

The solution offers pertinent pricing innovations for the leading port operator also.

The complex multi-national operations of modern-day ports call for streamlined Relationship-based Pricing. New models like cost-based billing have become more relevant, as containerised trade is gaining prominence across the globe.

The situation demands differential pricing to be offered to customers based on the value they bring in.

“With these wins, SunTec has not only gained considerable footprint in the Middle East region, but also established its multi-industry compatibility,” said Nanda Kumar, CEO of SunTec.

“We conceptualized and created our core pricing and billing platform, horizontal in nature and flexible enough to address the pricing and billing requirements of any transaction-based vertical, all the while, helping our customers to imbibe best practices from multiple industries,” added Kumar. (ANI)

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Beefed-up diets of Asia’s middle class may lead to chronic food shortages

August 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, August 30 (ANI): Scientists have said that the beefed-up diets of Asia’s expanding middle class could lead to chronic food shortages for the water-stressed region.

According to a report in National Geographic News, the threat was highlighted in a study by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which estimate that Asian demand for food and livestock fodder will double in 40 years.
Asia’s growing economy and appetite for meat will require a radical overhaul of farmland irrigation to feed a population expected to swell to 1.4 billion by 2050, scientists warned at Stockholm’s World Water Week recently.
At current crop yields, East Asia would need 47 percent more irrigated farmland and to find 70 percent more water, the study found.
South Asia would have to expand its irrigated crop areas by 30 percent and increase water use by 57 percent.
Given existing agriculture pressure on water resources and territory, that’s an impossible scenario, according to the study authors.

Scientists urge modernization of existing large-scale irrigation systems, most of which were installed in the 1970s and 1980s.
It’s estimated that India, the world’s largest consumer of underground water, has 19 million unregulated groundwater pumps.
Groundwater in northern India is receding by as much as a foot (0.3 meter) a year due to rampant water extraction, most of it for crop irrigation, according to a study.
More than 109 cubic kilometres of groundwater were drained from the region between 2002 and 2008, according to the satellite image-based study led by scientists with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
“Governments’ inability to regulate this practice is giving rise to scary scenarios of groundwater over-exploitation, which could lead to regional food crises and widespread social unrest,” said Tushaar Shah of IWMI.

As for China, the country’s per capita “water footprint” for food production has almost doubled since 1985, according to Junguo Liu of the Beijing Forestry University.
“A switch from traditional rice and noodles to a meatier diet is behind the change,” Liu said. “Changes in food consumption are the major cause of worsening water scarcity in China,” he added.
Total water requirements for food production in China are predicted to rise by 40 to 50 percent in the next 30 years, he further added.
“Where do you get such a big amount of water? It is a really big question and a big challenge,” he said.
“If other developing countries follow China toward a Western diet, the global water shortage becomes even more serious,” he added. (ANI)

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Becks, Zidane have their feet cast in concrete in L.A.

July 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Los Angeles (US), July 13 (ANI): England football star David Beckham has got his feet cast in concrete.

Becks, 34, and former French football captain Zinedine Zidane had their respective feet shaped on plaques to kick off a local soccer scheme in Los Angeles.

The Footprint Fields Community Programme aims to build football pitches in urban locations and needy places across America.

Afterwards, the two superstars had a kickabout with kids before LA Galaxy ace Becks led a group of local youngsters in a training session. (ANI)

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Mint launches Chennai edition

July 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, July 13 (ANI/Business Wire India): Mint, HT Media Ltd’s business daily in an exclusive content partnership with The Wall Street Journal, is now national.

With the launch of the Chennai edition on July 13, Mint now has a national footprint that includes New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Pune.

With an introductory price of Rs 3.50, Mint will now provide discerning readers in Chennai the same Clarity that the rest of the country has so overwhelmingly embraced.

Available six days a week, the daily brings with it an exhaustive suite of offerings – markets watch, campaign and the weekend magazine, lounge.

With its accent on clarity in reporting, stand-out design and printing, and the exclusive WSJ section, Mint is the choice of senior decision makers across industry and government.

There is no better proof of this than the fact that four out of five Mint readers do not read another business paper.

The launch excitement will culminate on August 12 with a high-profile clarity through debate event that will focus on the key issue of financial inclusion.

With panelists that include policy makers and business leaders from both the public and private sectors, the event will underscore Mint’s commitment to bringing clarity in business to issues that matter.

Mint was created to address the growing reader demand for Clarity in Business. ajiv Verma, CEO, HTML, said, “Mint’s spectacular readership numbers have validated our belief that there is a market for unbiased, jargon-free reporting and analysis in the business news domain, across format”.

In just over two years, Mint now has a readership of 200,000 every day. With a readership of 175,000 in the Delhi and Mumbai editions (IRS 09), and a circulation of 25,000 plus in the other cities, Mint is a strong and growing No. 2 player in the category.

Livemint.com makes available Mint content to audiences globally, apart from hosting rich content and platforms for its 1 million-plus Web audience.

The one-third share of readers in the cities that matter makes Mint a critical choice of advertisers for reaching decision makers.

Its clean design and printing quality, contextual content environment, an array of innovative advertising options and events, and an unduplicated, high-profile reader base make Mint the choice of premium advertisers.

The addition of Chennai gives advertisers yet another reason to partner Mint. (ANI)

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Tata to launch GSM operations under brand name Tata-DoCoMo

June 11, 2009 By 1 Comment

NTT DoCoMO a Japanese telecom company has entered India by acquiring 26% stake for $2.7 billion last year in Tata Teleservices. This was one of the biggest deals in Indian telecom space.

Tata and DoCoMo together has the license to operate in 19 telecom circles for their GSM operations. Spectrum was allocated in 18 of these circles. The circles Tata-DoCoMo which Tata-DoCo-Mo will not be operating in Assam, North East, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi.

Tata and DoCoMo will be launching their GSM operations this month starting in South India. The new brand name will be Tata-DoCoMo. Tata already has its own brand of Tata Indicom which is a CDMA operator. Tata-DoCoMo will be a GSM operator.

Tata-DoCoMo will be the second operator after Reliance to launch GSM services while having a footprint in CDMA services. In fact Tata and Reliance are the only 2 operators having both GSM and CDMA services

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1 litre of milk can generate 1 kg of CO2

May 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 29 (ANI): In a new research, scientists have determined that each litre of milk produced in New Zealand can generate nearly 1kg of greenhouse gases – about 85 percent of it on-farm.

According to a report in NZPA (New Zealand Press Association), each litre of milk produced causes the emission of greenhouse gases equivalent to 940g of carbon dioxide, meaning New Zealand’s leading diary Fonterra’s 15 billion litres of milk would produce nearly 15 million tonnes of carbon.

On the farm, 59 percent of those emissions are methane, 17 percent are carbon dioxide, and 24 percent are nitrous oxide.

Processing and manufacturing accounts for 10 percent of total emissions, and distribution accounts for 5 percent of total emissions.

Specific products that are concentrated, such as the iron-binding protein called lactoferrin which sells for 500,000 dollars a tonne, can require up to 14,000kg of milk to make a single kilo f lactoferrin and will have a huge carbon footprint. (ANI)

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