Unisys, HP, Microsoft get green citations

MANILA, Philippines - One by one, leading high-tech companies are getting the green thumb of approval from watchdogs and strategy firms that have lauded the way they are progressively turning their products and practices consistent with environment protection campaigns sweeping across the globe.

Unisys, a global IT consulting services and solutions company, becomes the latest awardee of the Green Recycling and Asset Disposal for the Enterprise (G.R.A.D.E) certification from market intelligence firm IDC.

HP and Microsoft, on the other hand, both topped the latest Climate Count Scorecard for the electronics and software sectors, respectively.

Unisys’ G.R.A.D.E.

Unisys is the 10th vendor to receive this unique distinction of excellence in managing enterprise-class IT hardware asset decommissioning. The certification is valid for 2010.

As a hardware manufacturer and a leading IT services firm, Unisys has long been involved in asset recovery to handle its own hardware decommissioning needs and those of its customers.

IDC’s G.R.A.D.E. was developed for the purpose of assisting enterprises in identifying best available options for the retirement of their IT assets. After extensive research and interviews of both the demand and supply sides, IDC analysts selected a series of attributes that constitute a standard IT asset disposal practice, based on current offerings. Note that as in any industry, these practices are expected to evolve, thus G.R.A.D.E. will also evolve over time, noted IDC.

IDC said they found out that Unisys provides certified, environmentally safe disposal of assets in compliance with federal, state and local government requirements, while providing certifiable data destruction and customer identification protection.

In addition, Unisys was found to perform fast, flexible, nationwide pickup arrangements manned by experienced and dedicated service providers capable of complete solutions.

Furthermore, IDC noted that Unisys’ skills, resources, and methods of selecting partners are sound and IDC’s due diligence on the company’s front-end processes and backend operations found a strong platform for a solid IT asset disposal business.

“We have determined that Unisys’ IT asset disposal practices meet IDC’s standards related to the full suite of decommissioning services that are on par with the leading certified vendors,” David Daoud, research manager for personal computing of IDC’s PC Tracker and Green IT programs, said in a statement.

Aside from Unisys, other IT vendors that earlier had received the G.R.A.D.E certifications that are still valid until 2010 include IBM, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Intechra, Redemtech, Insight Enterprises, Techrum, and GE Capital. Converge, a Massachusetts-based technology supply chain company, also received a G.R.A.D.E certification for 2009 only.

IDC’s G.R.A.D.E. certification process is based on 34 IT Asset Disposal (ITAD)-related functions and tasks and uses a multi-dimensional weighting system that incorporates the broad offerings of remote applications, on-site services, logistics, in-plant processing, and post treatment.

The IDC G.R.A.D.E. certification is currently focused on the US market with a view on compliance, sustainability, environmental stewardship, business continuity, and ROI.

Climate Count

Climate Count recently released a scorecard that shows which IT companies are currently leading and lagging when it comes to greening back the earth.

Climate Count applied a zero to 100-point scale and 22 criteria to determine if companies have measured their climate footprint, reduced their impact on global warming, supported (or suggested intent to block) progressive climate legislation, and publicly disclosed their climate actions clearly and comprehensively.

GreenOrder, a leading sustainability strategy firm, provided strategic guidance on the Climate Count program, assisted in the development of the scoring system, and verified the scoring results for accuracy. The higher the score, the greater is the company’s commitment to fighting global warming.

For the electronics sector, HP topped the scorecard with 79 points followed by IBM with 76 points, and Canon and Toshiba with 71 points each. HP has been aggressive and vocal about its environmental goals.

Last year, HP became the first IT company to be approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency to use the SmartWay Logo. In 2007, HP was able to recycle one billion pounds of IT products.

The company’s so-called Ecosolutions touch all aspects of its operations and products from desktop PCs and notebook PCs to monitors and printers. Today, HP printers are Energy Star qualified and shipped with Instant-on Technology so they can further reduce energy use by up to 50 percent.

Instant-on Technology uses cutting-edge fuser technology to produce the first page faster when a printer is coming out of low power mode so the print job is done sooner.

HP’s Imaging and Printing Group also implemented convenient cartridge and hardware recycling in over 50 countries.

For the Internet/software sector, Microsoft’s 61 score beats eBay’s 53, Google’s 52, Yahoo’s 46, and Amazon.com’s 14.

GreenOrder believes the Internet and software sector employs an ever-growing number of people and with their astounding influence on the marketplace and the way people work and live, these companies have also had an impact on climate change far greater than what might be commonly guessed.

GreenOrder asserts that what Internet and software companies do about climate change may be among their most important ideas yet.