FocusNet: Being a Cloud Provider Inherently Requires a Commitment to Sustainability

“It is our obligation to ensure that the next generation enjoys a natural environment that is protected, treasured, and celebrated. Our children should not inherit a planet that is irrevocably scarred by the unsustainable practices of the generations that came before them. Nor should they have to live with the consequences of climate change.”
— Ryszard Szklany, CEO at FocusNet

With headquarters in Berlin and three data centers throughout Germany, FocusNet’s rapid growth serving medium-sized businesses reflects the company’s keen focus on making clients’ cloud journeys as easy and comfortable as possible. It’s a fact that also hasn’t been lost on the global enterprises—including stalwarts such as Marriott, Ingram Micro, and Holiday Inn—that rely on the company’s services.

Those services include Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service, Desktop-as-a-Service, Backup-as-a-Service, and Containers-as-a-Service. FocusNet also offers extensive IT consulting and packages that include the full operation and administration of private, public and multi-cloud environments, as well as security.

We recently checked in with Ryszard Szklany, CEO at FocusNet, to learn more about the ideals behind the company’s motivation to achieve the VMware Zero Carbon Committed distinction and why he believes those offering cloud services are uniquely qualified to start and encourage conversations around sustainability. We also discussed Ryszard’s belief that, ultimately, efforts to combat climate change need to be personal.

“Being a cloud provider inherently means you are already engaged in an effort to do business in a more energy-efficient manner and, by extension, one that is more sustainable,” says Ryszard. “That’s one of the reasons it’s so fitting that VMware created the Zero Carbon Committed program. As technologies, virtualization and the cloud are by their very nature green in that they dramatically reduce the amount of energy that would be required if businesses where to complete the same processes themselves. And, of course, they dramatically reduce the amount of hardware required. Customers gain the flexibility of scaling their virtual infrastructure up and down without redundant investments in their own systems on-premises. That pedigree makes it even more important that cloud providers take the next step and work to achieve zero-carbon emissions in their own operations.”

Ryszard notes that FocusNet has placed considerable value on sustainability since 2016, and the company’s goal is to design its infrastructure to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Two of the company’s three data centers already operate with 100% completely renewable energy, and FocusNet plans to convert all of its facilities to renewable energy by the end of the year.

“In addition to operating our data centers using renewable energy, we are also running only the necessary services and we closely monitor power usage,” he adds. “We are constantly looking for options to reduce unnecessary power consumption and have protocols in place to automatically shut down unused physical compute resources.”

FocusNet also makes a concerted effort to manage the full life cycle of its hardware. This includes repairing rather than replacing assets when possible to conserve raw materials. The company also makes a conscious effort to encourage its suppliers to act sustainably.

“It’s important that we do our part to create an ecosystem with our suppliers that reflects our commitment to decrease our carbon footprint,” says Ryszard. “All of us at FocusNet are committed not only to achieve zero-carbon emissions by 2030 as a member of the VMware Zero Carbon Committed initiative, but also to do our part to encourage others to join the effort to combat climate change.”

This of course includes customers.

“The interest in sustainability is increasing, but even for those customers that do not ask us about it, we try to inform them and generate interest in the issue of climate change,” he says. “We want them to know how sustainable our processes and infrastructure are.”

Ryszard stresses that he believes sustainability efforts and ideals need to be personal. At FocusNet, this manifests itself in many ways, including providing employees with grants for bicycles and encouraging remote work.

“It is our obligation to ensure that the next generation enjoys a natural environment that is protected, treasured, and celebrated,” he says. “Our children should not inherit a planet that is irrevocably scarred by the unsustainable practices of the generations that came before them. Nor should they have to live with the consequences of climate change.”

Learn more about FocusNet and its partnership with VMware here.