By cutting the number of data centers from 10 to 3, Verizon Wireless has saved $20 million, according to a Business Week interview with John Hinshaw, chief information officer at Verizon Wireless.
Verizon is also using virtualization. “But we’re being cautious with diving too deep into that because the technology itself is not perfected. If you lose one box today, you might lose one application. I don’t want to lose all of my applications,” Hinshaw said. In addition, using thin client computers has reduced energy consumption by about 30 percent.
Verizon uses NightWatchman, software that lets network managers turn computers on and off remotely, allowing employees to turn computers off when they leave for the day and managers to turn them back on if they need to, for example, install a patch.
The company will roll out Sun Ray technology, or a similar energy-efficient desktop-less environment, in all of its call centers. “If you look across all of our call centers, that translates to over $1 million per year in power savings,” Hinshaw said.