By Justin Lee, theWHIR.com
June 3, 2008 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Web hosting provider SoftLayer (softlayer.com) announced on Tuesday it has received its first delivery of servers under a new server packaging program that cuts packing materials by 80 percent.
The program was created through several months of close collaboration between SoftLayer and its server manufacturer, Supermicro (supermicro.com). It also marks one of the many initiatives SoftLayer has made towards running an environmentally friendly operations, which includes the company joining The Green Grid program last June.
“From the shipment of our first server in 2006, SoftLayer has actively recycled all its data center materials. But with our rate of growth, it was essential we do even more,” says Joshua Rushe, VP of operations at SoftLayer. “We looked for a way to go beyond recycling and reduce the production of unnecessary material. We hope this program sets a new industry standard that will help reduce the total environmental impact of data centers worldwide.”
The reduced packaging program offers many environmental advantages, such as eliminating more than 8 pounds of packing material per server, as well as the shipment of user manuals and unnecessary components.
This significantly reduces the amount of materials produced or recycled, not to mention cuts on the total shipping ?footprint,? enabling the same sized shipping containers to carry more units while lowering the amount of fuel consumed and carbon emissions produced when shipping.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that recycling one ton of cardboard and paper products leads to saving 17 trees, 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space, 360 gallons of water, 100 gallons of gasoline, 60 pounds of air pollutants and 10,401KW of electricity.
The reduced packaging program will enable SoftLayer to eliminate the initial production of the cardboard, saving over 750 trees per year.
Last month, web hosting provider Sharkspace moved its entire server fleet to new energy efficient Dell servers, as well as reduced its energy use by converting its paper files to electronic versions through document imaging technology. Sharkespace’s data centers use the SoftLayer Network in Dallas, Texas and Seattle, Washington.
