No I am not talking about lights or metaphorically when you’re in a meeting and the presenter is at slide No. 54……

I’m talking networks, products and services – not new ones, but old ones.

If you thought telecommunications companies were just about building new networks and creating new products, and switching on new technologies, then think again.

At Telstra, we are also turning off equipment when it no longer helps our business or serves our customers needs.

It’s called “asset decommissioning” and we can do this once we have migrated customers from legacy products and networks, services and products to new and better solutions with greater functionality. One example of this is the old Dial IP network.  You can watch as one of our Telstra Techs switches off the first Dial IP PoP.

You might remember the sound of a Dial IP modem connecting to the internet. It’s not as common as it used to be as customers embrace faster, more reliable technologies like ADSL2+ and cable. And that means we don’t need as much of the old Dial IP equipment as we used to so can begin to decommission it.

Not only is this type of legacy asset decommissioning good for our business and our customers, it’s also an important strategy for assisting us to meet our emissions reduction target.

So don’t be put off by legacy asset turn offs. They are good for keeping our business running efficiently and they can be good for the environment.

Other Carbon Reduction Initiatives Telstra:

There are other things that our company is doing to reduce energy consumption to help us meet our target such as:

• Investing in energy efficient projects and accommodation
• Undertaking specific energy saving projects in existing facilities
• Reducing the energy intensity of purchased products and services
• Implementing staff training to reduce office and vehicle fleet emissions – see our commitments; and
• Adopting low carbon information and communications technologies (ICT) solutions such as video conferencing and teleworking

Want to Take Some Direct Action Yourself?

• Join the 1millionwomen campaign; and don’t forget to mention you heard about it through Telstra when you register

• Start using web conferencing and audio conferencing solutions to reduce the amount of travel you do

Got any ideas on how Telstra can meet our carbon reduction targets? Let me know your thoughts in the response box of this blog. I’ll ensure you get a response back.

Did You Know?

• Telstra released a green phone  last year

• Telstra reduced its office paper use by 14% over the previous year and paper consumption for Telstra’s printing requirements (for collateral) by 2,675 tonnes, which is a 39 per cent reduction over the previous year.

• One of Telstra’s own businesses saved a $1 M from use of video conferencing.

• Telstra kept one of it major customers connected via video conferencing during the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland and check out my recent blog describing other examples of how we have reduced travel costs and time through use of web conferencing.