Internet, Voice and Cloud Services Produce More Than 830 Million Tons of CO2 Annually

Happy New Year! In case you missed any of this IP-related news over the holidays, here’s what’s been making headlines:

• Researchers from the Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications and Bell Labs have determined that the information communications and technology (ICT) industry produces about 2% of global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions – the same amount of CO₂ as the aviation industry. This number is expected to double by 2020. According to an article on SpaceDaily.com, the researchers suggest “that more efficient power usage of facilities, more efficient use of energy-efficient equipment and renewable energy sources are three keys to reducing ICT emissions of CO2.”
• Get over “big data” … it’s so 2012. If you tire of buzzwords as quickly as I do, you’ll be pleased to know that TechCrunch has published an article that condemns “big data”, “cloud” and other technology buzzwords. The article states that the term “big data” is “outdated and consists of an overly general set of words that don’t reflect what is actually happening now with data. It’s no longer about big data, it’s about what you can do with the data. It’s about the apps that layer on top of data stored, and insights these apps can provide.”  
• Beware of VoIP security risks. An article on the Network World blog warns that “as businesses migrate away from traditional PSTN telephony toward more affordable and feature-rich IP telephony and unified communications, security concerns should rise to the top of the list. Once-private business conversations can now be carried over multiple service provider networks as well as public Internet backbones, where security can be nonexistent for voice and video traffic or inconsistent and disjointed end to end.” However, this is no reason to miss out on the cost savings and increased productivity that you can achieve through VoIP. The article offers advice on how to protect your network so you can implement VoIP throughout your organization.
• Does your organization need a big data ethics expert? An InformationWeek article stated that while the media are focusing on the lack of qualified big data technologists, there is little discussion about the ethics experts who are needed to decide when and how to share big data results. The article cites examples of how quickly and easily personal information can be made public through big data. It also states, “The looming issue in big data isn’t technology but the decisions associated with how, when and if results should be provided. Widespread access to public information, interfaces that make it easy to combine big data sources, and the ability to publish information to the Internet [are] going to yield some difficult decisions for the big data community.” According to the article, those decisions will only grow more intense.
• And finally … Facebook launches free VoIP app in Canada. According to the Digital Home blog, Facebook is updating its iPhone and Android Messenger app to allow Canadians to make free VoIP calls from their smartphones. The app also allows Facebook users to record voicemail messages that are up to one minute in length.

What is your take on today’s news? Feel free to share your opinions below.