On Earth Day and the weeks surrounding it, more than 1 billion people worldwide join forces to raise awareness about climate change and global warming. As the world continues to grapple with the impact of a global pandemic, this year’s Earth Day promises to be very different from those of years past.
Lockdowns for much of the world’s population have given us a glimpse into an unintentional reality of environmental conservation on a global scale. Great examples include the drastic reduction in air pollution throughout regions of India that making the Himalayas mountain range visible for the first time in 30 years; both NASA and the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-5P reported that the decrease in road traffic pollutants was so apparent from major metropolitan areas that it was distinctly noticeable from space; and wildlife began to reappear where it had long been absent. Dolphins were seen in the canals of Venice, Italy, as were pumas in the streets of Santiago, Chile, and jackals in the parks of Tel Aviv, Israel.
The environmental impact of a global pandemic and lockdowns around the world will be studied for years to come. But there is a sense of hope now that the earth can heal if given the right amount of care. That’s why it’s important for us to look at this year’s Earth Day differently.
Yes, we are all eager to get back to some sense of normalcy, but let’s not forget some key learnings that can help us be more resilient in the future and protect the environment. One of these is the power of remote workforces, which have proved to be essential to keeping many businesses and organizations operating during the pandemic. Enabling these workers are cloud services and solutions. “The cloud is the backbone of remote work,” according to this Forbes article. Taking that notion one step further, remote workforces can drive a more sustainable future.
Here at Citrix, we’re proud to say that we’ve long been recognized as an industry leader in powering remote work through secure, anywhere access to business resources. Our digital workspace solutions make it safe and easy to work from any type of device — personal, corporate, mobile, and even low-power thin clients — from any location. We’ve offered digital workspace solutions as cloud services for years, empowering customers to align with their public cloud vendors of choice. These cloud-based digital workspace solutions have unique characteristics that support sustainability efforts, such as:
- On-premises datacenters are typically designed for peak usage. This leaves a lot of equipment underutilized and renders part of the environment inefficient. Leveraging cloud infrastructure and digital workspace cloud services to host business resources maximizes user density and intelligently load balances a large amount of demand across various organizations. The result is increased efficiency.
- Remote or flexible workstyles, powered by secure digital workspace solutions, enable employees and contractors to reduce the amount of time spent commuting to and from the office. These work models empower organizations to attract top talent outside their immediate regions and enable employees to take back time during the day. Additionally, everyone benefits from decreased emissions resulting from alleviating the daily commute.
- Traditional datacenters need extensive cooling systems and uninterruptible power supplies and sources, all of which require a great deal of electricity that is sometimes transmitted across great distances. Additionally, performing maintenance and upgrades to those systems is extremely cumbersome and time-consuming. This causes additional energy inefficiencies. Transitioning from traditional on-premises deployments to digital workspace cloud services unlocks the benefits of cloud computing. Public clouds need cooling and power but are located closer to their power sources, and there is a more efficient transfer of power. (Some public-cloud providers have their own renewable power sources). Given the robust nature of public-cloud design and the economies of scale that result, public-cloud providers can seamlessly update systems and infrastructure to optimize efficiency.
- Digital workspaces have fewer performance and security dependencies tied to the physical laptop or mobile device from which they are accessed. This enables IT to extend the life of an existing device, to leverage low-energy endpoints as the access points for digital workspaces, and to allow devices to be used for both personal and business activities.
Organizations everywhere and of all sizes are increasingly leveraging cloud services and public cloud infrastructure to deliver environmental benefits. All Citrix digital workspace solutions are offered as cloud services, and we are working directly with customers to support their transitions from on-premises deployments to cloud services.
As technology providers, vendors, and consumers, we have a role to play too. We must come together to find efficient ways to drive sustainability. Cloud-based solutions are a powerful tool in this quest. Together, we can all do our part to make the planet a better place for future generations.
Learn more about Citrix’s sustainability efforts.
