IT Vortex: The Effort to Achieve Net Zero Carbon Emissions is Far More Than a Business Goal

“As the father of four children, my thoughts naturally gravitate beyond my own lifetime. My family and I love the outdoors and it’s important to me that my kids and subsequent generations have the same opportunities to appreciate its beauty and the rich experiences it offers. But that depends on our ability and commitment to take care of it properly.”
— Lou Corriero, Vice President of Cloud Technologies at IT Vortex

Lou Corriero, Vice President of Cloud Technologies at IT Vortex, notes that the organization frees its customers to focus on their businesses, not the IT required to run them. Offering a diverse array of cloud solutions, IT Vortex’s customers include enterprises in industries from manufacturing and mining to fashion and real estate.

We recently connected with Corriero to learn about IT Vortex’s commitment to the Zero Carbon Committed Initiative, what motivated the company to radically lower its carbon footprint, and why environmentally-friendly IT solutions are crucial. We also took the opportunity to learn about specific steps the company, based in New Jersey, is taking to shrink its carbon footprint.

“The pandemic caused profound shifts in technology and made the ability to support remote workforces and achieve IT interoperability crucial,” says Corriero. “That in itself was a significant step that demonstrated IT’s ability to reduce carbon emissions associated with everything from daily commutes to business travel. It also presented many organizations with challenges including wasteful and redundant IT spending, unexpected losses due to security breaches, and outages because of aging infrastructure. At IT Vortex we pride ourselves on our ability to help our customers avoid issues by delivering reliable, high-performance IT, big savings, and zero disruption – all with solutions that help them achieve their sustainability goals.”

VMware Cloud Verified, IT Vortex boasts numerous offerings based on VMware technologies. These include Infrastructure-as-Service, Desktop-as-a-Service, Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service, Security-as-a-Service, and Backup-as-a-Service.

“Our offerings are heavily bundled and integrated with security to ensure that no client is ever left in the dark, subjected to unexpected costs, or experiences a break in business continuity,” adds Corriero. “We bundle virtual firewalls, layered antivirus, Security Operations Center-as-a-Service, 24/7/365 alerts and monitoring, and more to ensure that our clients are protected in the cloud from day one.”

This also includes safeguarding prospective customers from unexpected costs: the company’s Cloud Pricing Calculator gives enterprises a detailed quote for cloud services, whether it’s for the multi-tenant or dedicated private IT Vortex Cloud or VMware integrations with public clouds including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. Notably, IT Vortex envisions most enterprises ultimately taking a hybrid approach and offers a flexible platform with that in mind.

“We’re very much focused on our customers’ needs now and in the future,” says Corriero. “And we view sustainability in much the same way. The time to act for the future of the planet is now. We are a business that feels obligated to leave our children and subsequent generations with a world that is as good, or better, than the one we inherited. It’s more than a business goal. It’s a humanitarian goal.”

In addition to committing to being carbon neutral by 2030 or earlier as its data centers use even more renewable energy sources, Corriero notes that the company is taking a number of additional steps. These include the use of water-cooled magnetic levitation chillers, ambient air for data center cooling, LED lighting, and the retrofitting of variable frequency drives on major motor-driven equipment. All steps are being taken at IT Vortex’s data centers in Arizona, California, Colorado, and New Jersey.

The company also shifted to smart temperature controls and eliminated paper-based collateral, including marketing materials and business cards, at its offices.

“We don’t believe that sustainability comes down to one step in particular, but instead is made genuine and real by many smaller, conscious decisions,” he says. “As a company, we feel we need to educate and implore our clients, vendors, and distributors to follow suit for the sake of the planet.” 

Corriero adds that IT Vortex currently sees the most interest in sustainable IT solutions in two industries – manufacturing and mining. These industries have received significant attention on environmental issues, often in a negative light, and are eager to change perceptions.

“The cloud computing market is poised for massive growth that will require more energy, but if the largest source is consumed in green datacenters rather than in on-premises environments, it will make a large impact,” he says. “As the father of four children, my thoughts naturally gravitate beyond my own lifetime. My family and I love the outdoors and it’s important to me that my kids and subsequent generations have the same opportunities to appreciate its beauty and the rich experiences it offers. But that depends on our ability and commitment to take care of it properly.”

Learn more about IT Vortex and its partnership with VMware here.
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