Green is the new rich.

It is the new buzzword and though nobody is conspicuous about it,

everybody is taking it seriously.
How are our IT and top outsourcers doing it? Well, there can be many ways, the
biggest thing IT companies can do is to green their data centers

Blackbookofoutsourcing has developed a methodology and a survey to determine the

greenness of outsourcing companies globally.

How is the ranking done?

Blackbook sends out invitations to participate in the green outsourcing vendors survey
annually and ranks them based on 6 parameters.

1. Sustainability metrics : Environmental protection, Social improvements and

economic growth.
2. UN Global Impact : Social and economic principles
3. UN Global Impact : Environmental principles
4. ISO
5. LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental design
6. Six Sigma (Find more about the methodology here)

Black Book’s 2008 Green Outsourcing survey stating that 62 percent of large American
corporations have established detailed green IT data center strategies including
outsourcing vendor expectations; 54 percent had set policies for non-IT services
delivered through ancillary outsourcing vendors; but 88 percent are not entirely sure
what constitutes achieving true sustainability.

Here is how the companies are ranked based on the above parameters. Xerox has topped
the list. Patni, HCL, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Infosys and TCS are the Indian
outsourcing companies which are investing in green in a big way and made it to the list.

Reliance Brands a subsidiary of Reliance Retail has entered into an alliance with
Timberland Footwear and Accessories of the US to license and distribute its products in
India. Timberland caters to the premium segment of the market with environmental
friendly and Green product as its selling Mantra. They also come with a unique nutrition
index.

This is Reliance Brands' third such deal after Diesel and Paul & Shark. Timberland's
products range between Rs 4,000—15,000, with strong presence in the European and
Asian markets. It has patented its waterproof leather shoes or iconic yellow boat shoes
which are a must for any outdoor activity.

Timberland is also known for lot of Green causes declaring the carbon emission, making
all its factories green thus reducing the greenhouse pollution by 27% and lastly products
coming out of the recycled material. Hopefully, Reliance and other Indian retailers will
take cues from this Green company.

India Reliance opens the door to green communications

The emission of CO2 is widely held to be the dominant cause of global warming and the
resulting environmental degradation. Moreover, the communications industry is guilty of
leaving one of the largest carbon footprints, a fact which has prompted supply chain
stakeholders to seek proactive ways to save energy and reduce the industry' s eco impact.
India is credited with leading the drive to promote a low carbon economy and its leading
mobile operator, Reliance, is stepping up its efforts to open the door to green
communications.

As the world' s second most populous country with approximately 1,13 billion
inhabitants, India has enjoyed prosperous economic growth and social development. Like
other developing countries, though, it is facing enormous environmental problems. Its
thermal power industry, for instance, is a huge generator of carbon. From 1992 to 2002,
the atmospheric concentrations of CO2 in India jumped from 280 ppm to 390 ppm due to
a CO2 emission increase of 57%. India is becoming warmer, and its temperature rises are
rapidly catalyzing soil degradation, water pollution, and flooding. Energy conservation
and emission reductions are urgently required to mitigate further environmental
destruction, and to guard against catastrophes such as the 2008 Bihar floods, which
displaced around 3 million people.

To fulfill its social responsibility and promote its eco-agenda, Reliance constructed its
green radio access network (RAN) using eco-friendly GSM solutions to provide
economically and environmentally sustainable services for 55 million mobile subscribers
across 20,000 towns and 450,000 villages.

CDMA/GSM co-location for emission reductions

India' s vast territory is experiencing the early phase of urbanization, and this is of course
accompanied by a surge in communications needs. A new mobile network requires a
large number of outdoor equipment rooms to ensure wide coverage. However, research
reveals that producing materials for equipment room construction such as cement and
tiles creates 65% of the total CO2 emissions in one site, as illustrated in Fig. 1. Although
no CO2 is generated when these materials are used, the large amount of energy required
forms a hidden source of energy consumption.

Cutting these invisible CO2 emissions effectively necessitates a reduction in the number
of new sites and equipment rooms, which can be achieved by reusing old equipment
rooms. However, traditional GSM equipment features low integration and occupies large
space. At Reliance' s existing CDMA sites, the available space in most equipment rooms
was insufficient to house traditional GSM equipment, which in turn requires new sites.
However, a project that involves tens of thousands of equipment rooms would have an
obvious and extremely detrimental impact on the environment.

Reliance' s eco-commitment led it to select Huawei' s new generation, highly integrated

green GSM BTS after comparison with other vendor' s solutions. Outshining the
competition with its remarkably low carbon emissions and construction costs, Huawei' s
future-oriented BTS facilitates an S4/4/4 site by using single cabinet that occupies less
than half a square meter. The lightness of the BTS negates the need for large mounting
facilities and reduces the number of construction personnel, and its compact dimensions
reserve space for future expansion that can support 18 GSM/UMTS carriers.

In large cities such as Bombay and Delhi, Reliance has significantly curtailed its
construction costs by co-positioning its GSM and CDMA networks to share auxiliary
devices such as antennas, feeders, and power supplies. Hardware expansion can be
realized through software without expanding the site, which further reduces invisible
CO2 emissions. As the basis for Reliance' s green RAN, the Huawei GSM BTS
effectively reduces energy consumption and emissions, saves space, and is highly
adaptable. These advantages have prompted Reliance to consider sharing its site
resources with other operators so as to not only minimize its own carbon footprint, but
also that of other operators.

Electricity management for energy conservation

India has faced power shortages and over-priced electricity for years, which is
exacerbated by rising gas and coal prices. Not only have electricity prices soared, but old
equipment reduces the efficiency of generating and using electricity, with the
transmission loss rate in New Delhi, for example, reaching 50%. Thus, power savings
through efficient BTSs not only reduce CO2 emissions, but also minimize the exorbitant
energy-based OPEX incurred by operators.

The green Huawei GSM BTS selected by Reliance features an intelligent electricity
manager, which employs Huawei' s power amplification (PA) technology to enhance
efficiency by 50% and cut BTS power consumption by over 60%, while giving the same
coverage. Its intelligent power control technology can either shut down idle carrier
modules or disable part of a given carrier' s time slots to reduce transmission energy
when traffic is low. In India, the average traffic volume from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. is
equal to just a tenth of daytime peak hour traffic. By using the above technologies, most
BTSs can cut power consumption by a third during non-peak times and still maintain
high QoS.

Smooth evolution to a green 3G network

Reliance' s 2G services have been enormously successful, and have imbued the company
with the confidence to develop 3G services. Reliance expects its 3G network to form an
energy-saving platform that integrates multiple data services, including multi-media
entertainment and remote medical care, monitoring, and education.
Huawei' s future-oriented GSM solution can smoothly upgrade Reliance' s GSM network
to UMTS. The space reserved by the Huawei GSM BTS can house Huawei' s 3G UMTS
RF module and baseband processing unit without changing the BTS, and without
necessitating large scale, complex upgrades. A simple upgrade can support UMTS
S2/2/2, and one cabinet can operate 2G and 3G networks in parallel.

The GSMA CEO, Rob Conway, pointed out that operators should benefit more people
while minimizing their own environmental impact. With the dedicated support of
Huawei, Reliance has constructed a high-quality green RAN, which helps Indian people
exchange information anytime and anywhere. It saves resources, reduces the
communications carbon footprint, and protects the environment. The door to green
communications is now open, and Reliance' s green RAN marks a milestone in the
development of mobile communications.

Fig. 1 Invisible CO2 emission for one site

Reliance Info Rolls Out Java Green,

Broadband Services
Mumbai: : Reliance Infocomm has launched its broadband and Java Green services at its
newly opened ’Reliance WebWorld’ outlets in Chennai and Bangalore. The launch of
these services coincides with the opening of three stores each in Bangalore and Chennai.

Reliance WebWorld is the retail end of the company’s mega convergence project.
According to Reliance Infocomm’s official spokesperson, the services launched in the
two metros have received an initial positive response.
“The rollout of the broadband and Java Green services in other cities will depend on how
the launch in Bangalore and Chennai turns out,” said the Reliance Infocomm
spokesperson. While the broadband services will include offerings like Internet surfing,
music downloads, video conferencing and gaming, the Java Green service will form a
part of the food and beverage (F&B) side of the business. It was earlier announced that
this would form the coffee retailing business at Reliance WebWorld.

According to the spokesperson, the company will eventually adopt the franchisee model
for WebWorld.

The current business model has the company owning and maintaining the retail
establishments.