Virtual Helpdesk Co. ITelagen Stakes Claim to Green Tech Movement

Staking a claim to the increasingly crowded bandwagon known as “green technologies,” a Jersey City, New Jersey-based virtual IT services provider is reporting today that it’s helping save planet Earth by supporting more than 2,000 desktop computers at SMBs.

 

Officials from ITelagen say a major part of their sales pitch is that they don’t have to pass along to customers any rising energy costs, such as those that plague working Americans who must drive to the office. Naturally, by staying out of cars and off the road, the company also is doing its part not to increase the carbon footprint.

 

According to John O’Keefe, chief executive officer of ITelagen, the company helps lower fuel consumption and carbon emissions while increasing productivity. O’Keefe called the 2,000-desktop mark “a proud achievement.”

 

“It shows that this company truly understands the needs of small- and medium-sized businesses and the increasing impact that soaring fuel costs are taking on them,” O’Keefe said. “Our staff is in the business of solving technical problems and helping our clients to better understand technology, all at a flat monthly rate from our remote site, so we can help those companies reduce their energy costs without sacrificing productivity.”

 

In this presidential election year, amid horrifyingly high fuel costs and as the nation teeters on the brink of what many economists call a looming recession, environmental issues are taking center stage.

 

So-called “green” technologies come in a number of forms – and as TMC President and Group Editor-in-Chief Rich Tehrani writes, some companies do a better job than others at achieving the “lofty goals” of the environmentally conscious.

 

“Case in point is Mitel (News - Alert),” Tehrani wrote in one recent blog entry. “I recently had a discussion with Doug Michaelides, the company’s vice president of marketing, where we discussed the Mitel’s alliance with SUN to deliver (unified communications) solutions. He pointed out in our meeting that of course UC is a green technology to begin with as it reduces commuting costs.”

 

According to Tehrani’s conversation with Michaelides, a Sun/Mitel UC solution reduces power consumption per person from 90 watts to nine.

 

“So if you are looking to go UC and do it as environmentally responsibly as possible, you may want to check out the Mitel/Sun combo live and in person,” Tehrani writes. “On second thought, stay at home and do it over the Web.”

 

Which is exactly what ITelagen does – and it’s a business strategy that’s popular among the environmentally minded.

 

Take the case of Michael Shell, founder and chief executive officer of www.gogreentube.com. Based in its design on the popular YouTube (News - Alert) site – with videos from comedians such as George Carlin and Will Ferrell, as well as news spots about the environment, TV ads, cartoons, user-generated content, movie clips, videos of presentations and more – the Internet destination is shaping up to become an online hub for conservationists.

 

Since its launch in June, the site has seen as many as 30,000 unique visitors in a month, and Shell says he expects the tally to double in August.

 

Backed by Shell and four others – including a programmer, marketing consultant, Web master and Shell’s own uncle, a Texas-based president of the company – the site is designed to reach a global audience, its creator says.

 

“I was trying to figure out the most effective way to reach a global audience, to help everything go green and educate people on how to be more environmentally friendly, so I put two and two together and realized that consumers drive the movement,” Shell told TMCNet during a recent interview. “As more companies go green, there are more green products available, and that’s because consumers become more educated, create more demand for those products.”