Agape Blog

Agape Inc. has joined forces with Verismic to launch an expanded product line for the IT sector that enhances the working condition through reducing carbon emission and helps generate a positive impact internally and also for the external environment in the long run.

The product range is largely focused on the need based solutions for I.T. industry & systems management. Being cost efficient it serves the needs of the company and being eco-friendly it best serves the requests of the surrounding environment.

The products and their features are listed below.

Power Manager: - Power Manager is a fast and easy way to deliver a solution. With this tool you can monitor your power consumption, reduce carbon emissions i.e. reduce costs and prove that Green IT is a cost saver.

Password Reset: - It is a self service password reset tool empowering end users to control and reset personal passwords without calling the help desk. Password Reset delivers instant benefits to every part of the organization and consistently demonstrates the same security, reliability and ease of use across all environments.

Integration Launcher: - It is a tool that bridges the gap between Service Desk and Desktop Systems Management tools to create a single powerful solution. Integration of your tool set makes it possible for Help Desk professionals to remotely diagnose system issues and fix them, versus costly desktop visits.

Archive Analytics: - Archive Analytics detects and identifies those systems that have gone missing from your environment and helps determine if they have been retired or if they have disappeared. It records all changes and provides built-in analysis reports, analyzes Software Distribution Activities and also any change in inventory Analysis.

Sometimes too much attention can work against an idea, diluting it to such an extent that people grow apathetic towards the message and start taking it lightly. Thanks to an unending flow of news reports, articles, discussions and media hype around the “Go Green” movement, it is running a serious risk of meeting that fate and turning into a passing fade.

Green is the hottest color in the IT industry right now with vendors scrambling to outdo each other with proclamations that their equipment is greener and more eco-friendly. The business case for green IT revolves around savings that accrue from deploying equipment that consumes less power, takes up less space, is easier to recycle, and the manufacturing of which doesn’t release hazardous substances into the environment.

One aspect of Green IT that is sometimes overlooking is the matter of e-Waste. After all, the idea of Green IT is to be environment-friendly. This is particularly horrendous problem in our country where the volumes of e-Waste generated are staggering and most of it is disposed off to the unorganized sector.

Many IT companies are claiming themselves to be green, but fail to meet with the basic compliance. The trouble is that, even today, a majority of organizations seem more interested in talking about the energy saving possibilities than doing something concrete to transform themselves into more ecologically responsible businesses. A lot of them talk so as to play to the gallery and sound politically correct, because in today’s business climate, even putting on a green façade can yield some fringe benefits.

However, there are some exceptions who believe in practicing before preaching, and AGAPE INC, a pioneer in Cyber Forensic & Security Company is surely one of those rare exceptions. In general we believe ‘walking the walk’ and not just ‘talking the talk’.

Sherwin Azavedo
Manager: Cyber Crime Complaint

Concern
Many a times we do such things which not knowingly affect us indirectly. One of them is spreading waste. Here, I’m not talking about normal waste; it’s about e-Waste. The booming usage of electronic and electrical equipments has created a new but very dangerous stream of waste, called “electronic waste” or simply known as e-waste. We have found a growing e-waste trade problem in India. India in 2007 generated 380,000 tonnes of e-waste from discarded computers, televisions and mobile phones. About 25,000 workers are employed at scrap yards in Delhi alone, where 10-20000 tonnes of e-waste is handled each year, 25 percent of this being computers.

Some of these electronic waste ranges from personal computers, optical disc players, mobile phones and other portable devices which contain toxic chemicals such as lead, cadmium, mercury and brominated flame retardants which are being dumped on us by the developed world. According to the estimates made by the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (MAIT) the Indian PC industry is growing at a 25% compounded annual growth rate. The e-waste inventory based on this obsolescence rate and installed base in India for the year 2005 has been estimated to be 1,46,180 tonnes. This is expected to exceed 8,00,000 tonnes by 2012. If these are left untreated to lie around in landfills or dumps, they can cause irreparable loss to life of the soil, water and the atmosphere and its adverse impacts on human health and ecology.

E-waste recycling mainly involves parts of a computer and other IT assets. Computer recycling involves employing people to strip down the computers and extract parts that can be used again in machines. The rest is then burned or dumped, both of which are potentially highly hazardous to the environment. The authorized e-waste recycling facilities in India capture only 3% of total e-waste generated; the rest makes its way to informal recycling yards in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. This is because businesses sell their discarded IT and other equipment to informal recyclers for quick money without realizing the hazardous implications it causes to health and environment.

Our Process
The solution to the impending e-waste crisis lies in prevention rather than its management. Recycling of e-waste is beyond the means of a consumer or local government, given its toxic nature. Once an asset is deemed e-Scrap or non-saleable, it is transported to a shredder where the asset is completely crushed into its native elements. Plastics, metals, and leaded glass from the CRT’s are all separated and sent off to downstream handlers of each type of separated component element. Items such as batteries and LCD screens are sent to specialists in hazardous waste disposal. All of our downstream handlers maintain the proper permits and licenses required by both state, and local environmental authorities to process our downstream e-Waste.

Our process ensures that no components from the recycled e-Waste end up in landfills, providing a truly green solution for your company and our planet.

We at AGAPE are doing our part to help turn recycled electronics into re-usable products and keep them out of landfills.

Sherwin Azavedo
Manager: Cyber Crime Complaint

Carbon, like any other commodity, has begun to be traded on India’s Multi Commodity Exchange. MCX has become first exchange in Asia, and third in world to trade carbon credits. These carbon credits are with the large manufacturing companies who are adopting UNFCCC norms. Retail investors can come in the market and buy the contract if they think the market of carbon is going to firm up. Like any other asset they can buy these too. It is kept in the form of an electronic certificate.
Only those Indian companies that meet the UNFCCC norms and take up new technologies will be entitled to sell carbon credits. There are parameters set and detailed audit is done before you get the entitlement to sell the credit. In India, already 300 to 400 companies have carbon credits after meeting UNFCCC norms.

There are many benefits for a business to reduce their carbon footprint and become carbon neutral. Government regulation of carbon dioxide emissions and pollutants under The Clean Air Act will eventually mandate these actions. There are also obvious public relation and marketing benefits to becoming GREEN. The purchase of carbon credits and the use of carbon neutral products and services will provide a company a way to develop a competitive advantage by becoming environmentally GREEN.

When purchasing carbon credits
1. Check that the company is certified and reliable
Without certification, there is no guarantee that you will get what you paid for. The money that you thought was saving the world may just have been pocketed. Even if a company is certified, it must be remembered that not all certifications are equal. In particular, make sure that endorsement comes from a trusted third party source, such as carbon credits under the New South Wales Greenhouse
Abatement Certificates (NGAC).

2. Ensure there will be a transfer of legal ownership
Like any other product purchased, when you buy carbon credits, legal title of these should be passed to you. This transfer should not only be taken by agreement with the company but also confirmed by the formal transfer of NGACs within an online registry at www.ggas-registry.nsw.gov.au.

Adnan Patal
Executive: Fraud Management Services

What are carbon credits?

In accordance with the Kyoto protocol, consumers of fossil fuels are assigned CO2 emission levels. In many cases, achieving these emission levels require massive up gradation or revamping of facilities; incurring costs too huge to justify the investment. Such parties are allowed to pay others to store carbon for them in exchange for the right to release carbon in excess of their limits into the atmosphere. This forms the basis of carbon credits. Each carbon credit purchased represents one tonne of carbon dioxide that is removed from the atmosphere or saved from being emitted. It takes over five trees being planted to create one carbon credit over a 100-year period.

Each of us unavoidably has a carbon footprint. we can no longer claim ignorance on the issue of global warming and immediate action is required to avoid some of the negative consequences of our actions. We all need to find ways to reduce our energy consumption in the long term. But, the situation also requires immediate attention and buying carbon credits is the easiest way to negate the effects of greenhouse gases.

Each member state gets an annual emissions allocation that it divvies up among its worst emission-producing firms. Each company in turn is then obliged to produce no more emissions than its allocation allows.

If it comes in under target, it can sell its excess allowance as ‘carbon credits’ to other firms that have overshot their targets. Credits are measured in units of emissions reductions, each one being the equivalent to the reduction of one tonne of carbon dioxide. But if it comes in over target, it has to pay a penalty and then go to the market to buy credits to make up the difference.

Carbon has the potential to become the world’s biggest market. As more and more governments start to regulate their country’s emissions, and as more companies start to voluntarily limit their emissions, the demand for available carbon credits will skyrocket. And so will their price!

Carbon trading is one of the “fastest-growing specialties in financial services.” And companies are scrambling to get “a slice of a market now worth about $30 billion and that could grow to $1 trillion within a decade.” Units of emissions are centrally priced and can only be traded through regulated accounts. India is considered to claim about 31% of the total world carbon trade, which can give $25bn by 2010. The carbon credit market is growing at tremendous space, and there is a demand to reduce 1 billion ton of carbon emissions in the world, so that threats like global warming could be dealt with.

Next: How to invest in carbon trading

Adnan Patal
Executive: Fraud Management Services

I.T. Asset Disposal

Computer has now become a sensitive part of life, in fact a very important element in today’s working culture for every corporate. Computers often hold all kinds of private and financial information of an individual or company. If getting rid of your old computer, there are things to be kept in mind before you log off for the last time so your hard drive doesn’t become a 21st century fortune for identity thieves and information pirates.

The best thing to do before discarding the hard drive is to have a back up i.e. save important files on an external storage device – i.e. a USB drive, a CD-Rom, or an external hard drive – or transfer them to a new computer.

Once you have a “clean” computer, consider recycling, donating, or reselling it while keeping the environment in mind.

We at AGAPE INC. take the complete responsibility of disposing your hard drive and other I.T asset in the best possible way to keep the environment safe.
1) We take the ownership of your computer i.e. the equipment becomes our responsibility.
2) The hard drives are sanitized and destroyed. So you can be assured that any data that you may have forgotten to delete cannot be used anywhere else.
3) The asset tag that may point to the original owner of the computer is destroyed.
4) All the equipments that cannot be reused are disposed as per the Federal and State environmental laws.

E-waste is of immense concern mainly due to the toxicity and carcinogenicity of some of the substances like lead from monitors, mercury and cadmium to name a few. It was estimated that about 3.3 lakh tonnes of e-waste generated last year was dumped into the rivers, landfills and sewage drains. IT assets discarded, sold or re-used must be backed by well-organized disposal strategies to effectively tackle the problem of e-waste.

Hence the scale of the problem is highly immense and if not acted upon, soon could create serious problems for mankind in the near future…

If the information you require is not listed it doesn’t mean we can’t do it, other specialist services are available on request, please contact us for a FREE consultation on (INDIA) 1800-209-6789 or Mail us at info[at]agapeinc.in (replace [at] with @)

Sherwin Azavedo
Manager: Cyber Crime Complaint

“One’s waste may turn out to be another’s wealth” – Agape Green Disposal Services

e-waste poses a formidable problem for handling and protecting the environment to be safe to the present and future generations. South Asia especially India is gradually becoming a dumping ground for electronic waste (e-waste). Toxics Link, a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation, claims India annually generates $1.5 billion worth of e-waste.

A survey by IRG Systems, South Asia, reveals the total waste generated by obsolete or broken-down electronic and electrical equipment in India is around 1,46,180 tonnes per year based on select EEE tracer items. This figure does not include waste from electrical and electronic equipment imports
The IT sector in the country is the largest contributor to e-waste (over 30 per cent) with Bangalore alone generating an estimated 8,000 tonnes of e-waste annually but is sluggish in implementing a clear cut e-waste management policy. A proactive corporate environmental policy is now an essential part of any company’s overall business strategy.

Green Media Disposal Process typically focuses on proactive maintenance and monitoring strategies to improve equipment availability and reduce maintenance costs. Condition monitoring is often deployed to improve insight into asset health for better prediction and planning of maintenance.
According to data accessed by Teri, the average life span of a PC has come down from 4.5 years in 1992 to two years in 2006. In India, the figure is said to be about three years. Over 30 per cent of PCs become obsolete every year.

The volume of obsolete PCs, which is just a part of e-waste, can be gauged if one takes into consideration large organisations like TCS, Infosys Technologies and Wipro, which employ over 50,000 employees each.

How countries generally tackle e-waste:
• India, China and Pakistan is the dumping ground of about 80 per cent of e-waste generated by the US.
• Lack of technology, unorganised recycling and backyard scrap-trading forms close to 100 per cent of total e-waste processing activity. About 25,000 workers are employed at scrap-yards in Delhi alone where 10,000 to 20,000 tonnes of e-waste is handled every year. Computers account for 25 per cent of it. Other e-waste scrap-yards exist in Meerut, Ferozabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai.
• In the US, a bill that came into effect on July 1 2007 has made the manufacturer, and not the consumers or government, responsible for the costs of recycling e-waste.
• In Japan, manufacturers are responsible for collection and recycling of obsolete electronic equipment for which they charge a recycling fee from consumers while selling. In Taiwan, it’s manufacturers who pay for the collection and recycling of e-waste.

Our Green Media Disposal Process
The process uses to dispose of storage media at the end of its lifecycle has several benefits.
• Environmentally friendly – no materials in landfills
• Reusable components can be utilized for future data recovery services
• Removes risk of sensitive data falling into the wrong hands

Prior to disposal of storage media, technicians dismantle the device and remove parts that can be reused for future data recovery jobs. They will not dispose of any drives or devices that still contain data, so the re-use of hard drive parts poses no risk to the customer.

All other hard drive or storage device components, including metals, circuit boards, copper wiring, and other materials are then recycled in an environmentally safe manner. By recycling these components, we prevent any materials from reaching landfills, reduce the need to take resources from the Earth, and also reduce the consumption of energy

Dr.Sachin Pandey
CEO & President
Agape Inc

Why is it IMPORTANT

Appropriate IT asset elimination protects the environment

It is of great concern when companies sort out new technology into their organizations. They are faced with the real trouble of what to do with their old and obsolete IT assets. It is no longer suitable for companies to chuck out old technology or simply pass them along to a third party. With businesses moving toward greener technologies taking up new pieces of e-waste legislation, corporations need to create a plan on how to make sure both local and federal compliance pertaining to IT asset disposal.

Something many companies find surprising is that transferring title of your old IT assets does not allow the liability attached to those assets to transfer as well. The liability problem that companies face is twofold; first, they must work to comply with the standards set forth by the federal and state government regarding environmental regulations and data security standards, and secondly, they must realize the responsibility they have to protect the environment from a potential catastrophe in regards to dangerous substances contained in their old IT assets, commonly referred to as e-waste.

If a company were to simply toss its unwanted IT assets into a dumpster or landfill, it would show a higher tolerance of risk considering those assets could ultimately contaminate water supplies, not to mention the possibility that the offenders would face stiff fines and perhaps jail time. From a security point of view, unwanted or superfluous IT assets have hard drives that store proprietary & KEY information on businesses tactics, partner info and consumer data. Corporations that place business or consumer data at risk, is the ultimate act of irresponsibility.

Enterprise companies need to protect themselves from liability and the environment from destruction. Just as they owe it to their customers to ensure all data has been properly protected, they owe it to the environment to ensure that potential toxic materials are disposed of properly too. Ignoring the dangers contained in e-waste will expose them and their company to possible liability.

A Rapidly Growing Problem
The electronics market in India will be the fastest rising electronics market in the world for the next several years, expected to reach approx. Rs. 20,000 Crores by 2010, driven mainly by the computer and I.T. component sectors.
Given the proper statistics, about 3.3 lakh tonnes of e-waste was generated in India in 2007 which is expected to reach approx. 4.7 lakh tonnes by 2011. With such an astonishing rate of increase in e-waste it becomes a foremost responsibility to have an eco friendly solution for its correct disposal. This is an issue demanding attention and if not taken into consideration can harm the environment as well as the company’s image big time.

Current Scenario
• Informal, high-risk and unregulated
• Inefficiencies result in loss of resources that could be reclaimed/ recycled
• Not environmentally or occupationally sound, creates many hazards to labor force and environment
• Negatively impacts the vulnerable; women, children and immigrant labor

AGAPE’s e-Waste Vision
The goal of Agape Inc is to provide a back to back solution that encompasses the entire process from initial entry into the waste stream through parts harvesting to final disposition of it.
A zero-landfill, 100% reuse and recycle approach will limit the environmental contamination and negative health effects that currently result from a lack of compliance to regulatory requirements or standards.

For more information call our Toll Free No: 1800 209 6789

Sherwin Azavedo
Manager: Cyber Crime Complaint