Category: Environment

In our last newsletter (the Green Edition) we focussed on the greener future that we’re all starting to think about more seriously. In line with that, Sun Microsystems undertook a survey of their customers during the middle of this year to get an idea of how green the Sun community really is. Here are some interesting statistics [...]

There is currently a lot of talk about what should be done or what can be done in order to reduce greenhouse and carbon emissions. We aren’t saying that we know exactly how the government is going to act in relation to this issue, however we have some knowledge of what companies are currently doing [...]

Here’s an extract from IBM’s website giving some insight to IBM’s green direction: Energy supply, consumption, and environmental impact are now part of the IT decision process As energy costs rise and concerns for the environment make the front page, IT managers have a new responsibility in addressing energy efficiency concerns in the IT infrastructure. [...]

It’s currently the talk of the town. It seems our PM, Mr Rudd, has been on the news every second night speaking about their plans for the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and the projected kick-off in 2010. His counterpart, the right honourable leader of the opposition, Mr Nelson (and now, Mr Turnbull), has been counter [...]

While Computer Merchants has been recycling and reusing equipment for its entire history, what about our suppliers? Here’s some information from one of our suppliers on its commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its products and services throughout their lifecycle. In 1992, HP launched its “Design for Environment” (DfE) program Its aim was to reduce [...]

With the technology advances such as server consolidation and higher processor power, within smaller footprints comes a side effect – heat! There is a lot of cost involved with adding additional air conditioners and building/remodelling data centres to accommodate for this additional heat - not to mention the effects that this can have on the environment. [...]

Sun is committed to providing its end users with energy efficient hardware, eco friendly programs and systems which will help businesses reduce power consumption and environmental impact. With their innovation and black box data centre, Sun hardware can assist a business in lowering their greenhouse emissions while increasing computing and storage growth. This has been [...]

Dear Margaret, Talking about Green, my dear Nigel had a Green experience awhile ago. He had a bad shellfish at our favourite seafood restaurant and he hasn’t been able to look our goldfish in the eye since. I didn’t realise that someone could actually turn that particular shade of puce. And more recently when our [...]

Actively Manage your Energy with IBM’s Active Energy Manager Active Energy Manager (formally IBM Director PowerExecutive) measures, monitors, and manages the energy components built into IBM systems enabling a cross-platform management solution. Active Energy Manager is an extension of IBM Director that supports BladeCenter, POWER Systems and System x servers. It also provides a source [...]

It’s not just about servers and racks. What about printers and consumables? Many organisations with personal devices like printers have cupboards full of ink and toners. We tend to order them in bulk for convenience rather than a need to save on cost. When the printers etc are replaced or removed, these consumables are left sitting on [...]

The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 was passed in September 2007 establishing a mandatory corporate reporting system for greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and production. The legislation is important for governments, business, and the Australian community by: Providing robust data to underpin the environmental and financial integrity of Australia’s national emissions trading scheme [...]

Here at Computer Merchants we, like IBM, have noticed the growth over time in the Blades and BladeCenter market. Many of you have heard about blades, in fact, many of you are probably running blades. However for those of you wanting to know more about this new technology, please read on! What is a BladeCenter Blade [...]

Not only does the POWER6 processor provide a greatly increased processing rating, but has also gained recognition in proving that it is far more efficient in the way it uses power to run. The POWER6 processor has several new features, including: power trending, power saver mode, and thermal reporting. So what do these features do [...]

The Federal Government commitment to Kyoto is a milestone on the road to achieving climate change. Prior to this, most states had already responded decisively to the threat of climate change. South Australia It is anticipated that: Additional mandatory reporting will be introduced (as soon as 2010) for major business operating in the state; In [...]

… make sure you send us the hardware configuration We often receive calls from our customers asking us to make an offer to purchase a server they have finished with. In order for us to correctly value your server and find every item of value in the server, we need to get the server’s configuration. [...]

With over 40 years of history, it is no wonder that the Mainframe continues to set the standard for computing technology with even IBM competitors using the mainframe as their benchmark: “Fujitsu debuts powerful next generation of entry level servers with Mainframe-like performance and reliability” “Sun‘s high-end servers and storage systems combine the power of [...]

Have you seen our website lately? Because Computer Merchants has been Green since 1979! Yes we refurbish used computers, recycle parts and turn the lights off at night. But we go further than that ladies and gentlemen. We are focused on being ‘Green’, continually taking steps in the right direction as we strive to use [...]

Here at Computer Merchants, we’re serious about minimising our impact on the environment. We’ve previously stated that: We will calculate and publish our carbon and water useage per person so that we can publicly work towards improving this and share our progress.  We meant it. Our Water Usage Calculated as the number of litres of water [...]

We take pride in becoming more sensitive to the environment, now only using biodegradable cleaning products in our warehouse. A few weeks ago though we met a challenge: the disposal of approximately 1,000 redundant CDs. After talking to a number of organisations, we found that their methods have the same end result as just throwing the [...]

IBM’s POWER6 processor, combined with enhanced virtualization, energy efficiency and near-continuous availability features, offer exceptional price and performance for entry-level, Small and Medium Businesses wishing to run UNIX or Linux environments. IBM energy management and browser-based virtualization software makes it easier to achieve increased server utilization and energy efficiency by using EnergyScale capabilities and optional [...]

Dear Margaret,I’ve just got to share! I visited a zoo today – haven’t they changed! Lovely glass windows to look through to beautiful rooms, no more of the harsh bars and ugly concrete enclosures. And very high tech you know! They can control the temperature so the animals don’t get too hot – or too [...]

IBM has announced their new “PROJECT BIG GREEN“. IBM will be redirecting $1 billion per year across its businesses, mobilising the company’s resources to dramatically increase the level of energy efficiency in IT. This was established after IBM observed that businesses are beginning to face real challenges with regard to energy consumption and costs. A [...]

The IBM BladeCenter S is a new, completely integrated server infrastructure platform with a high degree of flexibility, scalability and manageability. It’s ideal for small and medium sized businesses, or for branch offices of bigger companies.It offers a powerful, yet simple IT infrastructure. You simply plug the BladeCenter S into the standard office outlet, and [...]

Since 1979 and throughout its history, Computer Merchants has been helping the environment by recycling used equipment, making it available for reuse by our customers. In a recent deal a large Australian, environmentally friendly corporation went one step better. When they accepted our offer to purchase some no longer required tape equipment, they asked that we [...]

Success Story  Recently one of our customers was looking for a Sun E420R. He had a tight budget, so to try to meet his financial constraints, I asked my co-workers to look for a machine locally. By purchasing a machine in Australia we’re able to save on the cost of freight. Our Customer Record Management system [...]

Where do you go when your old parts fail? Sit back and have a think of what would happen if a server or tape library, or just a piece of older hardware fails. Success Story Recently a customer contacted Computer Merchants because they had a failed power supply on one of their machines. Within one [...]

Computer Merchants are always thinking of, and discovering, new and better ways to package and ship our products The way we pack our products is vital to us, to make certain that your equipment arrives to you in the best condition. We understand that lost or broken equipment can lead to costly downtime for you. [...]

Restriction Of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) is the restriction of hazardous substance materials found inelectrical and electronic products. The EU wants to restrict the use of six substances and the restriction will come into the market from 1st July 2006. The 6 hazardous substances: Lead (Pb) Hexavalent chromium (Cr +6) Mercury (Hg) PolyBrominated Biphenyl (PBB) Cadmium (Cd) [...]