Opus Interactive, a women-owned provider of hybrid and multi-cloud hosting services, has launched “climate-friendly” cloud hosting services. By offsetting emissions proportional to the energy usage of its OpusCloud product and footprint in Oregon, Northern Virginia, and Dallas data centers, the Portland-based firm goes beyond carbon neutrality to offer an environmental benefit.
Opus balances emissions from data centers and cloud computing with 100 percent renewables and carbon offsets to accomplish its climate-positive operations. Data center partners are picked based on strict site selection criteria, such as using 100 percent renewable energy in facilities or, in the case of STACK Infrastructure’s OnePurpose project, committing to do so by the end of the year.
In addition to operating in carbon-neutral facilities, Opus purchases carbon offsets equal to more than 100% of emissions from the OpusCloud and its data center sites’ energy usage.
Winston Creek Forest Carbon Project
Opus Interactive purchased offsets from the Winston Creek Forest Carbon Project in Lewis County, Washington, in collaboration with 3Degrees, a prominent worldwide provider of climate solutions. The initiative for better forest management was chosen because of its social and environmental benefits.
The Winston Creek Forest Carbon Project, which exemplifies responsible forestry, would harvest less than 1.5 percent of the area each year, exceeding industry averages, and establishes long-term sustainable forest management, adding nearly two decades of carbon sequestration and better air quality to the region.
The initiative for better forest management also supports STEM-related education activities in addition to rigorous environmental requirements controlling habitat and water quality. The project’s forestry education has been completed by over 80,000 4th graders.
“As stewards of our customers’ mission critical IT ecosystems, Opus Interactive is committed to delivering sustainable IT – from supply chain to architecture design,” said Shannon Hulbert, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Opus Interactive. “With data center energy use consuming nearly 1% of global electricity demand, the industry is in a position to lead sustainability forward. We work closely with customers and partners to help drive positive change. Are we the world’s most sustainable cloud? I don’t know, but we will continue to do our best to ensure our customers have end-to-end sustainability throughout their IT ecosystem.”
The Portland Business Journal nominated Opus Interactive to its list of Oregon’s Most Green Places to Work in 2020. In addition to carbon-neutral and climate-positive initiatives, Opus Interactive’s sustainable IT initiatives include:
- ENERGY STAR hardware – Using efficient hardware saves energy and has a lower environmental impact
- Right-sized solutions – The number of machines in each client’s IT environment is reduced using tailored hybrid and multi-cloud solutions that are scaled to their workload requirements
- Efficient cage design – The cage’s energy efficiency is maximized by combining hot and cold aisle confinement with effective cable management
- Continuous optimization – Opus Interactive blends observability with an AI/ML component that adds predictive analytics into the IT environment, monitoring anything from sensors to satellites
Founded in 1996, Opus Interactive is a woman and minority-owned enterprise with a commitment to accelerating the adoption of sustainable IT. The company delivers tailored hybrid and multi-cloud solutions, IaaS and OpusCloud, colocation, backup and disaster recovery, object storage, and VDI; compliant with PCI-DSS, HIPAA, FedRAMP Moderate Ready, and SSAE 18 SOC 2 while backed by SLAs.
“As a long-time data center partner, we’re excited to see Opus’ commitment to sustainable IT continue to evolve.” said Matthew VanderZanden, Chief Strategy Officer at STACK. “Efforts from cloud providers and data center operators are driving energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption across the globe. And we’re excited to help accelerate the industry’s march toward more sustainable data center development and operation.”
