IS SUSTAINABILITY AN INNOVATION DIFFUSION FACTOR?

Daphne SimmondsRosann Webb Collins

SIGGreen Pre-ICIS Workshop Dec. 2010

OUTLINE• Our Argument: Relative Sustainability of an IS

Innovation should be/is a Factor in the Diffusion of that Innovation

• Diffusion Case: Cloud Computing as an example of an IS Innovation

• Demonstration: 4 Cases of data centers used to illustrate sustainability

• Conclusion: Economic Value of IS Innovation is the Expression of the Innovation’s Sustainability

“Change doesn’t happen unless there is an economic value. And that’s why cloud computing will make such a huge impact” --- Jim Stikeleather, CTO, Dell Perot Systems

Sustainability Goals for IS’s• 3 Sustainability Goals for IS’s are proposed:• References:

– Chen, A. J., Boudreau, MC., Watson, R. T. 2010. Information Systems and Environmentally Sustainable Development: Energy

Informatics and New Directions For The Is Community, MIS Quarterly (34:1), pp. xxiii-xxxviii.– McDonough, W., Braungart, M. 2002. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, New York: North Point Press.

The Case of Cloud Computing• Transformational Change in Computing • It is an Opportunity for Realizing Sustainability

Goals:• 4 Cases are used to illustrate this potential:• By definition, the first 2 are more eco-efficient,

the last 2 eco-effective, and all eco-equitable:1. Cloud migration: adoption of data centres;2. Improvement in data centre designs over time;3. New innovations in data centre design;4. Environmentally-oriented innovations using the

massive computing power available in data centres.

Case 1: Cloud Adoption: Migration of IT Services to Fewer Data Centers

Example: Northrup Grumman:• By 2013, >100 data centers and server rooms

into 3 data centers; reducing server environment by 80%

• Saves 26 million pounds of CO2 emissions • Cuts power consumption by 46%

Case 2: Improvement of Existing Data Centers

• Citigroup relocated network switches to server cabinet using Cisco Nexus products

• Result: 50% reduction in power consumption, and copper wiring from 72 to 12

fiber runs per cabinet

Case 3: New Innovations in Data Center Designs

A Solution:2MW Database Server Center under the Uspenski

Cathedral in Helsinki Finland

Water Cooling Cycle:•Cool water from the Baltic Sea is used to cool the servers•Water warmed by cooling the servers provides heat for 500 homes•Cool water is then recycled back to cool the servers again

Saves the company Academica $561K per year

The Cooling Problem:• Data centers already use around 1 percent of the world's energy• Data center demand for power is rising fast with the trend to cloud computing• Significant electricity goes into cooling servers

Case 4: Innovating for Sustainability using Cloud Computing Power

• Harvard Solar Cell Project using the World Community Grid

• >413K members in 200 countries donate computer cycles to a massive cloud-based computer of >1 million cores

2010 Mimecast survey of 565 companies in U.S. and Canada

Conclusions

• Cloud Computing is an Example of an IS Innovation that Realizes Eco-Goals

• Economic Value of the IS Innovation is the Expression of the Innovation’s Sustainability

• However, 2010 Survey Indicates Already Some Separate Attention to Sustainability

Conclusions• While we believe that sustainability will continue to

be expressed in terms of economic value, it is already becoming a separate factor in adoption

• We also believe that sustainability will become more important as environmental regulations become stricter, and, for at least some companies, they want to present themselves as green

• Therefore we posit that relative sustainability of an IS innovation should be added to diffusion theory, in order to increase its explanatory power.

• This of course awaits an empirical test!

Proposed Innovation Factors