Codefounders

Rebranding of Web Services

The Admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:12:18 GMT

Codefounders is pleased to announce that it has rebranded all of its web-related activities and services. From now on, all web design, development, search engine optimisation and hosting services will be offered under the Green Dog Design brand name.

Web Site Development

The Admin — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:47:46 GMT

Bespoke Software Development

The Admin — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 21:13:09 GMT

Web Hosting

The Admin — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 21:10:00 GMT

e-Commerce Systems

The Admin — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 21:09:00 GMT

Our Products

The Admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:32:44 GMT

Powerdown Energy Saving Software

Powerdown reduces the amount of energy used by the computers in your company by ensuring that they are all turned off when they are not being used. Not only does this achieve cost savings of up to 70%, it also reduces your company's carbon emissions, so it's good for the environment too.

more details

Cognitio Search

Cognitio Search is a funding tool for Higher Education institutions which automatically gathers together research funding call information from the major funders of UK research and makes this accessible to all researchers in one easy-to-use location.

more details

Demonstration and Evaluation Versions

The Admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:19:59 GMT

Try Before You Buy

We believe that our customers should be able to try out and fully evaluate our products before committing to buy. We want you to make sure that our products meet your needs and work correctly in your technical infrastructure. To help you in this process we offer a number of ways in which you can evaluate Cognitio Search.

Cognitio Search Online Demonstration System

A fully functional version of Cognitio Search is made available for evaluators to access over the Web. Using this online demonstration you can try out the different features of Cognitio Search which are made available in each of the supported user roles.

If you wish to evaluate Cognitio Search using the online demonstration system please contact us and we will be happy to supply your institution with a range of user accounts which allow you to access Cognitio Search in a range of different user roles. Feel free to pass these credentials on to other members of your institution who are interested in evaluating the product.

Download a free, fully functional no-obligation trial

If you wish to evaluate Cognitio Search on your own computer systems you can download a free, fully functional trial version of the latest release from our downloads page. This provides a trial site licence so that the application can be used and evaluated by any number of users for up to 30 days.

Note: Before installing the trial version of Cognitio Search please ensure that you read the Cognitio Search Installation Guide and follow the instructions detailed in the Before Installing This Product section of Chapter 2.

Cognitio Search Pricing

The Admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:17:37 GMT

A site licence for Cognitio Search retails for £2000. This entitles you to install Cognitio Search on any number of production and test servers on your campus, and for an unlimited number of clients to access these servers.

Annual Maintenance Subscription

Codefounders believe in offering customers value for money. We believe that it is better to provide our customers with a fixed-price annual maintenance contract with a guaranteed level of support than to charge large amounts of money for product updates at sporadic intervals. Not only does this make your budgeting easier it provides a guaranteed level of support through the accompanying Service Level Agreement and entitles the customer to regular product updates and peer support through our user support community.

An annual maintenance subscription for Cognitio Search currently costs £1000. Because we believe that this offers the most cost-effective solution for customers, it is not possible to purchase Cognitio Search without a maintenance subscription.

Additional Services

Cognitio Search has been designed to allow the look and feel to be easily customised to fit with your corporate identity. Although this can be easily performed by a competent Web developer with appropriate experience, Codefounders can provide this service for an additional charge.

Product Roadmap

The Admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:16:41 GMT

Past versions

Version 1.0

Initial release

Version 1.1

New, radically improved user interface
Better handling of recommendations
Improved handling and combined view of news items and alerts
Compatibility with a wider range of Web browsers, including Internet Explorer 7

Current version

Version 1.2

Simplified user login process allows users to access the system using standard Windows username (no domain qualifiers required)
AJAX-based, Web 2.0 user interface provides greater interactivity for a smoother user experience
Improved data validation and integrity checking
Better error handling and error logging

Future versions

Version 2.0

Automatic indexing of more research funding providers, including Medical Research Council and European Union
Support for research groups, including interdisciplinary groups
Targetting of news items and recommendations to specific research groups
Improved reporting, including support for generating reports for individual research groups
Immediate notification of news recommendations and alerts via email or instant messaging
Grouping and filtering of funding opportunities by funding body
Video help tutorials

Version 3.0

Automatic generation of recommendations based on user profiles
Management reports and charts viewable directly in the Web browser

System Requirements

The Admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:15:00 GMT

Server Requirements

Processor	600-megahertz (MHz) Pentium III-compatible or faster processor; 1-gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor recommended
Operating System	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, Standard Edition, or Datacenter Edition with SP 1 or later
Memory	512 megabytes (MB) of RAM or more; 1 gigabyte (GB) or more recommended
Hard Disk	Approximately 500 MB of available hard-disk space for the recommended installation
Drive	CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
Display	VGA (800x600) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor
Other Devices	Mouse or compatible pointing device
Other Requirements	Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 or later, and ASP.NET 2.0 or later Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard or Enterprise edition
Active Directory	The server used to host Cognitio Search must be a member of a Windows Active Directory domain User accounts used to access Cognitio Search must be authenticated against Active Directory

Client Requirements

Hardware	Standard desktop or notebook computer
Operating System	Standard desktop operating system
Web Browser	Internet Explorer 6.0 or Mozilla Firefox 1.5 recommended, though any standard Web browser may be used
Other Software	Microsoft Web Services Enhancement 3.0 Runtime (supplied on installation CD) Macromedia Flash plug-in for Web browser required to access the built-in help tutorials. If this is not installed on the client machine, the user will be given the option of downloading and installing it the first time a help page is accessed. Microsoft Excel or a similar spreadsheet capable of loading comma separated (CSV) files is required to view the reports generated by Cognitio Search
Display	VGA (800x600) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor

Features

The Admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:14:27 GMT

Automatic retrieval and dissemination of funding information

Cognitio Search automatically retrieves latest funding opportunities from the major funders of UK research, including research councils and research trusts, freeing research administrators from the need to engage in mundane monitoring and circulation of research funding calls.

Manual entry and dissemination of internal research news and funding opportunities for which no automatic retrieval exists is supported, including institution-specific sources of funding. Manually entered information is treated exactly the same way as automatically retrieved data and can be bookmarked, recommended and reported on.

Optional sharing of manually entered funding information across the institutions that use Cognitio Search allows truly collaborative access to the most important sources of funding sources for UK researchers.

Detailed funding call information

Cognitio Search provides an abstract for each funding call. A single mouse-click takes users from the abstract straight to the full details of the funding call as originally published by the funding body.

Bookmarks and recommendations

Details of funding calls can be saved for easy access at a later date. In future versions this will also allow automatic recommendation of funding calls to users.

Users can also recommend funding calls to colleagues who may also find them interesting. When these colleagues login to the system they will receive an alert notifying them of new recommendations and can view all recommendations made to them.

Detailed reporting of research funding activity

The built-in reporting capabilities allow research administrators to really understand the research activities of their institution and provide detailed analysis of how users are making use of the funding calls available. Reports can be generated for the institution as a whole or for individual departments and provide information over time including which funding calls have been viewed and what proportion of users regularly use the system. This information, which can be exported to Excel for analysis, allows research planners to identify those sources of funding which are most relevant to researchers within their institution and where opportunities exist for interdisciplinary collaboration.

Seamless integration with campus infrastructure

Cognitio Search integrates directly with Windows Active Directory and other LDAP-based authentication systems allowing direct integration with existing computing infrastructure. This allows users to log straight into Cognitio Search using their campus username and password and no additional management of user accounts is required.

Role based security

Access to the system is easily managed via role-based security. Basic users can view funding calls while priviliged users such as Heads of Departments and research administrators can add additional funding calls, manage users and view a range of reports.

Cognitio Search

The Admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:12:00 GMT

Too much data - not enough information?

80% of research funding for UK universities comes from a small set of major funding bodies. Cognitio Search automatically discovers and distributes this funding information, freeing research administrators from the need to engage in mundane monitoring and circulation of research funding calls.

Aimed primarily at the Higher Education sector, Cognitio Search gathers together research funding call information from the major funders of UK research and makes this accessible in one central location. Unlike competing solutions, Cognitio Search only provides information that is directly relevant to UK researchers, making it quicker and easier for them to find the funding they need. Cognitio Search can also be configured to provide funding information and research news that is relevant only to your institution.

Key Features

Key features of Cognitio Search include

automatic recommendation of new funding opportunities which match a researcher’s specific research interests
peer-peer recommendations allow researchers to recommend funding opportunities to interested colleagues
comprehensive reporting facilities provide detailed analysis of how users are making use of research funding opportunities
support for institution-specific funding opportunities and research information
seamless integration with existing campus Microsoft® Windows® infrastructure

How it works

Cognitio Search is a web-based software application which runs on a server located on your campus. Using state-of-the-art search engine technologies Cognitio Search automatically gathers information on latest funding opportunities and makes this available to researchers through a standard web browser. Researchers can access the full details of research funding calls and can store these within the system for future reference. Funding calls can also be recommended directly to other users. Research administrators and Heads of Department can view detailed reports on the funding calls which are of most interest to staff across the institution allowing them to develop more effective research strategies and to target their activities to foster successful, high-quality research in your institution.

As well as automatically gathering information from a range of funding bodies, Cognitio Search also allows research administrators to enter and disseminate information from other funding sources, including those internal to your institution. If desired, this information can also be shared across all institutions which use Cognitio Search providing truly collaborative access to the most important funding sources available to UK researchers.

Future Versions

Version 2.0 of Cognitio Search is currently in development and it will offer many new features including

immediate email notification of new funding recommendations
improved filtering and matching of funding calls to users interests
support for multi-disciplinary research groups with recommendation and reporting at research group level
dual-server deployment to enable integration with an existing database server to improve performance and minimise total cost of ownership

The Cognitio Suite

Cognitio Search is the first product in a suite of software tools designed to simplify the management of research in Higher Education institutions. Be sure to check back regularly to find out about the other products in this suite.

Our Customers

The Admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:19:00 GMT

We have developed a varied portfolio of business systems for a range of clients, from one-man SME's to large organisations. Some of our recent customers include

About Codefounders

The Admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:14:00 GMT

Our History

Codefounders was established in 2004 by two leading UK academics and a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, all experts in their particular fields of computing and software development. We work almost exclusively with Microsoft platforms and all our staff are fully trained in the latest tools and technologies.

Our Products

Codefounders creates off-the-shelf applications for a range of markets. We are committed to supporting our customers through continued evolution of our existing products and the introduction of new products.

Our Services

In addition to the products available through this site, Codefounders also develops bespoke software solutions and offers software development consultancy services. We are always more than willing to talk to potential clients. If you have a particular software development or consultancy need, please contact us.

We also offer bespoke developer training courses at customer premises of up to one week in duration. Our staff are experts in Windows, Web and SharePoint development using .NET and the Microsoft Server platforms and have undertaken training for a range of clients. Please contact us if you have a training need that we may be able to help with.

Links and Resources

The Admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:39:00 GMT

Bloggers

Rob Miles on the Web. And why not?
Our friend Rob has a wide ranging and eclectic blog which is always worthy of a read. Home to the famous potato wedges puzzle.

http://www.robmiles.com/

Business Directories

The North Yorkshire Business Directory
The first dedicated North Yorkshire business directory, now with news and weather

http://www.inorthyorkshire.co.uk/

Energy Management Consultants

	Energy Management Consulting Abraxas Energy Consulting provides energy analysis, consulting services, software, and training for schools, government agencies, and private companies. http://www.abraxasenergy.com/
	Power management news, reviews and downloads on CNET Come to CNET for the latest news stories and articles, trusted editor and user reviews, and software downloads related to power management. Come to CNET for the latest news stories and articles, trusted editor and user reviews, and software downloads related to power management. http://www.cnet.com/
	Sustainable Facility Sustainable Facility http://www.energyandpowermanagement.com/

Energy Saving

	Energy Saving Centre - Promoting energy saving in the UK Helping UK energy consumers to combat climate change and make savings on their energy bills http://www.energysaving.co.uk/
	Energy Saving Expert Ltd - Energy Saving Expert Energy Saving Expert Ltd - Energy Saving Expert http://www.energy-saving-expert.co.uk/
	ENERGY STAR ENERGY STAR qualified products and practices help you save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the U.S. EPA and U.S. DOE. The ENERGY STAR label also designates superior energy performance in homes and buildings Codefounders believes businesses benefit financially by continually improving their management of energy resources, and the environment benefits from reduced levels of related pollution. We are proud to offer services and products that may assist businesses who have committed to the goals of ENERGY STAR. http://www.energystar.gov/
	How to reduce your energy bills without switching? Advice on basic steps that will have a big impact on your bills. http://www.energychoices.co.uk/
	Save Energy - Carbon Trust Helping you to save money by cutting energy use - including free energy surveys and interest free loans. http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/
	Save Energy, Cut Carbon, Save Cash! - Big Green Switch Save Energy, Cut Carbon, Save Cash! - Big Green Switch http://www.biggreenswitch.co.uk/

Energy Strategies

Centre for Alternative Technology
CAT aims to 'inspire, inform, and enable' people to live more sustainably. A solutions driven organisation, offering practical solutions to environmental problems, our key areas of work are renewable energy, environmental building, energy efficiency, organic growing and alternative sewage systems. We have been in existence for 27 years. CAT services include a visitor centre open 7 days a week, practical and informative publications, a mailorder service of 'green' books and products, educational services for schools, consultancy for individuals and businesses, residential courses, membership and a free information service.

http://www.cat.org.uk/

Transition Culture
An evolving exploration into the head, heart and hands of energy descent

http://transitionculture.org/

Green Business

	Business Green News, advice reviews and blogs to help UK companies to reduce their carbon footprints http://www.businessgreen.com/
	Techworld.com - Techworld Green IT News, reviews, articles and discussions about Green IT http://www.techworld.com/

Green Resources

	Green Building Press Website Information and publications to help you create healthy and ecological homes and buildings. http://www.greenbuildingpress.co.uk/
	GreenSites.com Your starting point on the World Wide Web - with free email, greeting cards, shopping, search, chat, news, Internet business tips and services http://www.greensites.com/

Miscellaneous

	GoodCleanTech: More Computing GoodCleanTech is the independent guide to ecotechnology. http://www.goodcleantech.com/
	Joel Makower: Two Steps Forward Joel Makower: Two Steps Forward http://makower.typepad.com/
	Saving Energy This section of Energy Quest is about Saving Energy. http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/
	William Brent’s Search for Cleantech William Brent’s Search for Cleantech http://www.mrcleantech.com/

Publicity

	Free Press Releases Free Press Releases offers press release distribution. Submit press release and news for free. Offer press releases writing and blog services. Get latest press releases. http://www.freepressreleases.co.uk/
	PR.com Promote everything about your business on PR.com http://www.pr.com/
	SanePR Search and News Enhanced Press Release Distribution http://www.sanepr.com/

Software

	Energy Saving Trust - energy efficiency & conservation Information and advice on how you can be more energy efficient in your home. From Insulation to energy saving appliances and other household goods, find out how you can do your bit for the environment and save money on your energy bills. http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/
	Software Support SoftwareCEO - Portal for software professionals looking for best practices in software marketing, software sales, software pricing and licensing, and software business operations. Find industry news, research, expert advice, seminars, sample files, more. http://www.softwareceo.com/
	Welcome to DssW - Mac energy saving software Want to save your organisation serious energy? Our products save you and your organisation energy. If your organisation is moving towards energy reduction or becoming carbon neutral, our software will help. http://www.dssw.co.uk/

Directories and Download Sites

	4 Software Downloads Free Software Downloads, Shareware Software, Demo Software, Trial Software - search or browse for software at 4-software-downloads.com http://www.4-software-downloads.com/
	Allen's WinAppList Shareware, Freeware and Commercial Software http://www.winappslist.com/
	Free Software Downloads Free Software Downloads - Find and download thousands of shareware and freeware software programs from software publishers worldwide. http://www.ksourcerer.org/
	Free Software Downloads New Free Downloads - free software and game downloads http://www.newfreedownloads.com/
	SoftHolm.com - freeware and shareware softholm.com http://www.softholm.com/

Energy Auditing

	BizEE Software Ltd - Business Energy Efficiency Software Software to improve the energy-efficiency of businesses and other organizations. http://www.bizeesoftware.com/
	Energy Audit Software Energy Audit Software for auditing business energy-efficiency. Calculate figures and generate reports relating to energy consumption, energy costs, and carbon dioxide emissions. http://www.energyauditsoftware.com/

Energy Management

Energy Lens - Energy Management Software
Energy management software to help businesses save energy. Free trial download.

http://www.energylens.com/

Sustainability

Permaculture

	Permaculture Association Home of the UK Permaculture Association http://www.permaculture.org.uk/
	Permaculture Magazine Solutions for sustainable living http://www.permaculture-magazine.co.uk/

Powerdown is now FREE!

The Admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:19:00 GMT

Some time ago we introduced the Powerdown energy saving software for the Windows platform. Although the software works well and we have had some success with it, we have faced stiff competition from a number of other well-known products. In light of that, and the current economic climate, Codefounders has decided to focus more on the software services side of its business for the foreseeable future. This means that we will not longer be actively developing or supporting the Powerdown.

That's the bad news. The good news is that we think Powerdown is such a valuable application for anyone to have we're going to give it away completely free. We have been offering free personal and educational versions since we launched the product but now we will be offering it for free to all customers.

The free version is not yet ready to download from our website, but watch this space, it will be available real soon.

System requirements

The Admin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:22:00 GMT

Processor	600-megahertz (MHz) Pentium III-compatible or faster processor; 1-gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor recommended
Operating System	Microsoft Windows XP, 32 or 64 bit Microsoft Windows Vista, 32 or 64 bit Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 32 or 64 bit
Memory	256 megabytes (MB) of RAM or more; 512 megabytes (MB) or more recommended
Hard Disk	Approximately 25 MB of available hard-disk space for the recommended installation
Display	VGA (800x600) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor
Other Devices	Mouse or compatible pointing device
Other Requirements	Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, or later. Downloadable from Microsoft download site

FAQ

The Admin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:12:00 GMT

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Powerdown work?
Windows already has power saving features. Why do I need Powerdown?
Do I need a server to use Powerdown?
Is it necessary to have a Windows domain to make use of Powerdown?
Does it work on standalone computers?
Can Powerdown be managed through Group Policy?
Why does Powerdown allow users to postpone a shutdown?
Powerdown is installed on my computer. Can I still turn my computer off manually?
What happens if a user manually reconfigures the operating system power schemes?
Does Powerdown work with standalone computers and laptops?
Why is Powerdown particularly suitable for large networks?
How does Powerdown differ from other remote reboot/shutdown schedulers?
How much does it cost?
How much money will it save?
What energy savings can I expect to make? What is the payback period?
What are the future plans for the Powerdown product?

How does Powerdown work?

Powerdown is a energy management tool that allows computers to be turned on and off according to a schedule supplied by the system administrator. Each Powerdown client regularly retrieves and stores the latest schedule from the network, allowing Powerdown to carry on providing energy savings even when the computer is disconnected from the network (e.g. laptops). Different groups of computers can be configured to use different schedules.

Windows already has power saving features. Why do I need Powerdown?

Windows does indeed have a range of built-in power saving features but users rarely enable them and the Windows management tools currently provide no way for system administrators to enforce power saving settings on every machine. Powerdown optimises the operating system's own power settings and allows you to ensure that they are enforced consistently on all of your computers.

The Windows power saving features all work on the basis of detecting user inactivity and turning off the computer, or some of its constituent components, after the user has been inactive for a certain period of time. The out-of-the-box settings are not particularly aggressive and Windows can wait a significant amount of time to turn off a computer (30 minutes or more) after it has last been used. Although the power settings can be tuned to reduce this delay the user still does need to leave the computer running but inactive for some period of time before Windows responds to this.

In terms of energy use, energy cost and carbon emissions, the delay that the Windows power saving features require may not seem significant when you consider a single machine and a single day's use. But when you consider a large network with hundreds or thousands of computers which are running every day, these individual delays suddenly start to add up and make a significant contribution to carbon emissions and energy costs. Powerdown overcomes this by ensuring that computers enter a low power state when they have been idle for a maximum of 10 minutes.

Powerdown was created to produce more aggressive power and emissions savings and was born out of the realisation that, in many organisations, the majority of computer users have regularly daily work schedules. If we know that users finish their day's work at a particular time (e.g. the marketing team all finish at 17:30) or that certain groups of computers are not used after a certain time (e.g. the college computer labs close at 19:00), why not just schedule computers to turn off at these times? This is exactly what Powerdown does.

Do I need a server to use Powerdown?

No, it is not strictly necessary to have a server to use Powerdown but it does help make deployment and operation easier if you have a server available. Competing solutions often trigger changes to the power state of each computer from a scheduler running on one or more servers.

Powerdown is a client-only solution and does not make use of a server in this manner. Instead Powerdown is driven by policy files which the system administrator defines and these policies are made available to all Powerdown clients by publishing them in known locations, on your network such as on network shares, network drives or web servers. Obviously a server is required to support these publishing options but it is also possible for Powerdown to be configured to retrieve policies from a known location on the client and not from the network (see Does it work on standalone computers?
). If you choose to operate Powerdown in this manner then you will not need a server.

Is it necessary to have a Windows domain to make use of Powerdown?

No, Powerdown is designed to operate in the widest range of computing environments including single standalone computers, small Windows workgroup networks and fully managed Windows domains. Powerdown becomes slightly easier to deploy and manage if you do have a Windows domain but it is not a fundamental requirement.

Does it work on standalone computers?

Absolutely! One of the unique features of Powerdown is that it does not require computers to be connected to the network for energy savings to be realised and for automatic shutdowns and restarts to be performed. Powerdown achieves this operation by caching a local copy of the policy defined by the system administrator and using this to drive its operations if it becomes disconnected from the network. Because Powerdown always installs a default policy on every computer this feature also allows Powerdown to be used on standalone machines that have never been connected to the network. All that is required is for the system administrator to modify the local copy of the policy to optimise the energy usage of the machine.

Can Powerdown be managed through Group Policy?

Yes. Powerdown is designed to operate in large, fully managed Windows domain environments and is supplied with administrative templates which can be installed on your domain controller to allow client configuration to be controlled through Group Policy. By deploying and configuring Powerdown through Group Policy it is possible to achieve and automated deployment of Powerdown.

Not every aspect of Powerdown can be configured through Group Policy. For instance, configuring scheduled shutdowns and restarts is not currently supported through Group Policy. If this feature of Powerdown is required in your environment then you will still need to create policies and publish them in known locations on your network using the Powerdown Policy Editor tool.

Why does Powerdown allow users to postpone a shutdown?

Although many users have regular work habits and computer usage patterns, there are still times when there is a need to deviate from the normal behaviours. For example, if an employee has been given a particularly important and urgent task they may work later than normal one day to complete that task. It would be inconvenient and frustrating for a user in that scenario to have the computer forcibly turned off at a specific time when they were still trying to use it. For this reason Powerdown allows a user to postpone the shutdown operation for a short period of time. The user can continually postpone the shutdown; each time they postpone the delay between subsequent shutdown prompts increases so that the user does not experience excessive interruptions of their work. However Powerdown will continue to prompt the user at regular intervals until they either shutdown the computer or leave the computer unattended, at which point Powerdown will shut it down automatically.

Powerdown is installed on my computer - can I still turn my computer off manually?

Yes. Powerdown does not replace the standard shutdown mechanism provided by the operating system, it simply automates the process. You can always turn off or suspend your machine manually in the normal way without any adverse effect on the operation of Powerdown. If you manually place a computer in low-power state Powerdown will still restart it automatically when required. Turning your computer off when you have finished using it is the best way of of reducing your energy consumption.

What happens if a user manually reconfigures the operating system power schemes?

Powerdown configures power settings on each computer by creating a custom power scheme. Under Windows users have rights to change the power settings of their computer. Powerdown forcibly applies the settings specified by the system administrator every time a user logs in and every time that the policy is refreshed. Even if a user changes the computer power settings Powerdown will change them back to the system-wide setting shortly afterwards, although the reduction in energy consumption may be sub-optimal for a short time.

Does Powerdown work with standalone computers and laptops?

Yes. Powerdown has been specifically designed to work with mobile computing devices such as laptops and Tablet PC's. Because the Powerdown application runs on the client computer it can still be used to shutdown computers when they are not connected to the network.

Powerdown has also been optimised to take account of the unique features of portable computers. For instance, there have been a number of widely publicised cases of laptops overheating or causing fires due to problems with batteries or turning themselves on whilst being carried in a bag. As a safety feature Powerdown will prevent automatic restarting of any portable computer which is running on battery power.

Why is Powerdown particularly suitable for large networks?

Powerdown is more than just a mechanism for turning on and off groups of computers and it has been designed specifically for easy deployment and management in large business networks. The features of Powerdown which make it particularly suitable for such environments are

Designed primarily for automated no-touch deployment via Active Directory
Support for different policies for different groups of computers, allowing energy savings to be optimised for specific needs
Easy schedule publishing and automated schedule updating simplifies management and configuration of large numbers of client computers
Awareness of electrical and network loading issues involved in automatically starting many computers simultaneously. Even if the schedule tries to restart all the computers on the network at exactly the same time, Powerdown adjusts the time at which each individual computer will restart to ensure that electrical networks are not overloaded by current surges and that networks and servers are not innundated with network traffic.
Simple configuration of managed clients via Group Policy

How does Powerdown differ from other remote reboot/shutdown schedulers?

There are a number of remote shutdown/remote restart utilities available which allow a network administrator to trigger a remote computer to shutdown or reboot via the network. Some of these utilities allow the scheduling of shutdowns/restarts for individual computers but this is generally controlled by a central server and client computers must be connected to the network for shutdowns/restarts to occur.

Powerdown also allows shutdowns and restarts to be scheduled but it adopts a more powerful and more flexible approach

Powerdown operates entirely on the client computers meaning that no central server process is required and that computers can be shutdown and restarted even when they are disconnected from the network. This is a particularly important consideration for mobile computers, such as laptops and Tablet PC's, and standalone computers.
Remote shutdown/restart utilities often do not give any users logged in to the client computer the option of preventing the shutdown/restart from taking place. Powerdown acknowledges the fact that sometimes it might be inconvenient to the user to have the computer shutdown and it always gives the user the option to indefinitely postpone a scheduled shutdown.
Many remote restart utilities only allow an immediate restart to be performed. Powerdown can schedule a restart for any future time.
Other restart utilities often rely on the Wake-On-LAN capabilities of PC hardware. Our tests have shown that this can be unreliable in large Windows networks and can result in numerous 'false positives' where computers are reactivated unnecessarily, thus reducing the energy saving potential. Powerdown does not use Wake-On-LAN for restarting, so PC's are only reactivated when they actually need to be.
Powerdown works with the operating systems own power saving features and optimises these to achieve maximum energy savings

Powerdown does more than simply schedule shutdowns and restarts; it also optimises system power savings to quickly turn off idle computers so that maximum energy savings are achieved.

How much does it cost?

Powerdown is offered in several distinct licence bundles.

£FREE! Home Network Licence for up to 10 computers
£FREE! Educational Licence for unlimited computers in the institution and for personal use by staff and students
£249 Small Business Licence for up to 50 computers
£449 Medium Business Licence for up to 250 computers
£749 Enterprise Licence for up to 1000 computers
£999 Site Licence Licence for unlimited computers

How much money will it save?

Our analysis shows that cost savings of up to 40% can be achieved in an environment where computers are traditionally left running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At current prices this results in a saving of around £30 for each computer every year. The actual cost savings that you will achieve depend on a number of factors including the hardware configuration of the computers you have, how long they are used for and how long they were left running for before Powerdown was installed.

What energy savings can I expect to make?

The actual savings you will make depend on a number of factors, including how many hours a day your computers are used and how many hours a day they were used before you deployed Powerdown. An organisation that had many computers running all the time can typically expect to achieve savings of up to 40% in the energy required to run their computers. Our calculations show that a typical business could save up to 6% on its total annual energy bill by deploying Powerdown on its computer systems.

What is the payback period?

The payback period depends on the actual cost savings
and energy savings that you make in your your particular environment and this is affected by a number of factors, as described above. The most important influence on payback time is the amount of energy you were using before you deployed Powerdown. Our calculations suggest that a typical business will make sufficient energy savings to recover the cost of their investment in Powerdown within 5 to 10 weeks.

What are the future plans for the Powerdown product?

Future versions and new editions of the product are planned, each of which will introduce new features and capabilities into the Powerdown product family.

a powerful way to save energy

The Admin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:11:00 GMT

How much will Powerdown save me?

The hidden costs

The average desktop computer uses 120W of power even when it is doing nothing. Leaving a single computer running 24 hours a day will cost £75 (~US$152, ~€98) over the course of a year and will be responsible for the release of ¾ tonne of CO₂ into the atmosphere. In many businesses computers are left running permanently even though they are used for only 8 to 10 hours per day.

Typical savings

Powerdown users can typically expect to reduce their IT energy bills by up to 40%. With current business electricity tariffs this equates to a saving of around £30 (~US$60, ~€40) per PC, per year and reduces CO₂ emissions by around 300kg.

The graph below shows the cumulative power consumption (Watt/Hrs) measured on a real user's system over a 3 hour period. Power consumption is significantly reduced when Powerdown is used (green line).

See our article on Measuring the effect of Powerdown on PC power consumption for more information on the reduction in power consumption and details of how we conducted these tests.

Actual savings

The amount you will save will vary depending upon your particular hardware configuration, the length of time for which your computers are actually used, the price your energy supplier charges for your energy tariff and the energy saving settings applied to the operating system.

Our calculations suggest that a typical business will make sufficient energy savings to recover the cost of their investment within 5 to 10 weeks

how much does powerdown cost?

The Admin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:09:00 GMT

How much does Powerdown cost?

Powerdown is currently offered in five different licence bundles.

Home Network - £FREE!

Ideally suited to small office or home networks, this allows Powerdown to be installed on up to 10 computers. If you have fewer than 10 computers you can claim your free copy now through our Special Offers page.

Small Business - £249

The Small Business bundle is suitable for small to medium sized business and supports installation on up to 50 computers.

Medium Business - £449

The Medium Business bundle is suitable for small to medium sized business and supports installation on up to 250 computers.

Enterprise - £749

The Enterprise bundle is suitable for medium to large business with up to 1000 computers.

Site Licence - £999

Large enterprises will benefit from the Site Licence bundle which allows Powerdown to be installed on an unlimited number of computers.

Educational Licence - £FREE!

For schools, colleges and universities, this licence allows unrestricted use of Powerdown on unlimited computers in the institution and for personal use by staff and students at home. Educational establishments wishing to acquire a Powerdown licence should contact our Education Team in the first instance.

All prices quoted are exclusive of VAT/sales tax.

Powerdown energy management software

The Admin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:23:00 GMT

Power saving that works with the operating system

In an ideal world all computer users would turn off their computers when they finish using them. Unfortunately many people do leave computers running when they are not being used.

Powerdown complements the operating system’s own power saving features to allow administrators to impose power saving settings on every computer, something that is not currently supported by Windows even in fully managed environments. It optimises the system power settings to be more aggressive than those provided by Windows and causes idle computers to be placed in a low-power state after only a few minutes of inactivity.

Automated shutdown and restart

Network administrators can create policies which define a schedule for computers to automatically shut themselves down, ensuring that computers are turned off or placed into a low power state when not needed. Computers in a low-power state can be automatically restarted, either for automated system management activities (e.g. nightly backups) or simply to ensure that they are ready for use when required.

Administrators can create as many policies as needed allowing the energy saving settings of individual computers or groups of computers to be controlled according to their specific needs.

Works with standalone computers

Competing power management software solutions require computers to be permanently connected to the network in order to benefit from energy savings, scheduled shutdowns and automatic restarts. Powerdown is a client-only solution and does not require a server or additional network hardware to control shutdowns and restarts. This unique design allows Powerdown to operate fully on computers that are not connected to the network.

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Simple configuration of client computers

Policies are made available from a central location such as a network drive or web server. Each computer regularly updates itself from these policies and this allows Powerdown to achieve power savings even if the computer becomes disconnected from the network. It also allows administrators to change the behaviour and configuration of Powerdown clients simply by modifying the policy file(s) on the network. The Powerdown Policy Editor, supplied with the software, makes it easy for administrators to modify existing policies and create new ones.

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Advance warning of system shutdown

Powerdown displays a highly visible warning to notify users that the computer is about to shutdown or enter a low power state giving users sufficient time to save any open files. Powerdown automatically postpones the shutdown for a short time if it detects that a user is actively using the computer at the time.

No-touch automated deployment

Powerdown is easy to install and has been designed specifically for rapid deployment through Active Directory, allowing no-touch automated installation and configuration on client computers. Powerdown is also easy to install in Windows workgroup environments and on standalone machines.

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Integration with existing Windows management features

When used in a managed Windows domain, Powerdown can be configured through Group Policy using standard Windows management tools.

Powerdown energy saving software

The Admin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:46:00 GMT

Why use Powerdown and save energy?

Using Powerdown will save you money and help the environment. You could save up to £30 a year for every computer you own.

The problem

Many computer users leave their computers on permanently even though they only use them for a few hours each day. Powerdown minimises energy use and maximises cost savings by controlling the power state of individual computers. Idle computers are turned off or placed in a low power state and can be restarted automatically. This means that they are always ready when users want to work with them or when maintenance operations are required.

The solution

Using Powerdown energy saving software could

reduce your IT energy costs by up to 40%
reduce air conditioning requirements and costs
lower carbon emissions and reduce your carbon footprint

Powerdown provides central control of energy use with a low total cost of ownership. It is suitable for all systems and is the ideal software for standalone computers, home networks and businesses of all sizes. Unlike competing solutions, Powerdown does not require that computers be connected to the network to operate. It is also the only software designed with electrical safety and the needs of laptop users in mind.

Powerdown can also encourage greater awareness of the environmental impact of computer usage. It has a key role to play in supporting corporate social responsibility strategies. It also has a positive environmental benefit and can eliminate up to 300kg of carbon emissions per PC per year.

It's great value too

A typical business with 50 computers will make sufficient energy savings to recover the cost of Powerdown within 5 to 10 weeks.

University of Hull adopts Powerdown

The Admin — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:05:00 GMT

The University of Hull is deploying Powerdown to help reduce carbon emissions produced by staff computer usage.

Codefounders Announces Partnership with ENERGY STAR®

The Admin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:29:00 GMT

Codefounders producers of Powerdown energy saving software today announced a fundamental commitment to protect the environment by becoming an ENERGY STAR Partner. Codefounders’ voluntary partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR means that we will be working toward improved energy efficiency and performance; we believe that an organization-wide energy management approach will help us enhance our financial health and aid in preserving the environment for future generations.

In partnership with ENERGY STAR Codefounders will:
• Help companies and organizations with whom we work to implement appropriate energy efficiency measures
• Improve the energy efficiency of our buildings in support of the ENERGY STAR Challenge
• Encourage our staff and community to learn about the benefits of energy efficiency

About Energy Star

ENERGY STAR is a voluntary partnership between businesses government and others united to protect our environment for future generations by changing to energy-efficient practices today. ENERGY STAR works with more than 9 000 partners to improve the energy efficiency of products homes buildings and businesses. Businesses can use ENERGY STAR to improve efficiency enhance profits and create a competitive advantage. In 2006 alone ENERGY STAR helped businesses and consumers save more than $14 billion in energy costs while reducing global warming emissions equivalent to those from 25 million vehicles.

For more information about ENERGY STAR visit http://www.energystar.gov

About Codefounders

Based in York U.K. Codefounders is a software development and consultancy company which has a primary focus on creating sustainable IT solutions. Founded in 2004 by acknowledged .NET experts Codefounders specialises in producing solutions for Microsoft platforms.

To learn more about the Powerdown energy management application please see our website or contact our marketing team.

Measuring the Effect of Powerdown on PC Power Consumption

The Admin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:25:00 GMT

In this article we describe some measurements which were taken to illustrate the effect that Powerdown can have on reducing PC power consumption. We describe the method by which these measurements were taken and highlight some conclusions about the results.

The Measurement Scenario

These measurements were performed on a machine belonging to one of our customers. The user was an office administrator who had regular work patterns. As it is not possible to monitor power consumption with and without Powerdown at the same time we performed our tests on two consecutive days when the user was engaged in very similar work activities.

The tests were performed over a three hour period. During the tests the user spent several short periods of time in the office reading emails and the rest of the time attending meetings elsewhere. In both tests the user did not turn off her computer on leaving the office.

How We Took the Measurements

The only accurate way to determine the amount of power consumed by an electrical device such as a computer is to measure it using a power meter. Our tests were performed by measuring the power consumption of the user’s computer and monitor every second using a sensitive data logging digital power meter.

We used a Watts Up? PRO ES meter for our tests. If you need to accurately measure the power consumption of any electrical device over a period of time a meter such as the Watts Up is invaluable. It connects between the mains outlet and the equipment under test and can monitor a range of electrical characteristics over many days.

The system used during the tests was a Dell Dimension 3100 PC with 3 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor and 1 GB RAM. We measured the power consumption of the PC and the 15” LCD monitor attached to it throughout the test period.

Instantaneous Power Consumption

Figure 1 shows the measured power consumption when Powerdown was not installed on the test computer. There are two periods throughout the duration of the test when the power consumption was above 100W each lasting for about 25 minutes. These are the times when the user was actively using the computer to read her emails.

At most other times the power consumption remains around 80W. This is the average power consumption of this PC and monitor when the PC is idle and the monitor has placed itself into its power saving standby state. Occasional small spikes in power consumption can be observed and these are caused by background activities occurring on the computer under test.

Figure 1 : Power consumption without Powerdown

Figure 2 shows the measured power consumption after Powerdown was installed on the test computer. In this case there are four periods throughout test when the power consumption was above 100W and these again correspond to the times when the user was actively using the computer to read her emails. Powerdown places the computer into a low-power sleep state when it detects that the computer is not being used. Figure 2 clearly shows that the power consumption drops to around 10W when the user is not actively using her computer.

Figure 2 : Power consumption with Powerdown enabled

Cumulative Power Consumption

The graph in Figure 3 shows the total amount of power consumed throughout the test period. As this is a cumulative measurement the values should continue to rise as time progresses.

Figure 3 : Cumulative power consumption

The red line shows the cumulative power consumption when Powerdown was not installed on the test computer. This is almost a straight line which indicates that the total amount of power consumed by the system under test is directly proportional to the duration of the test. Because the system was left running throughout the entire test period we would expect the total amount of power consumed to the test duration and to increase smoothly during this time.

The green line in Figure 3 shows the cumulative power consumption after Powerdown was installed on the test computer. It is immediately apparent that this continues to increase over time but the curve is much shallower and has several pronounced steps in it. The curve is shallower because Powerdown has placed the system into a low power state for much of the test duration. Although power continues to be consumed throughout the test

Conclusions

The graphs above clearly show that Powerdown has a marked effect on the amount of power consumed by the user’s computer. In this particular test scenario Powerdown reduced the cumulative power consumption from 261 WattHours to 88 WattHours a saving of over 60%.

Although this is a great reduction in power consumption it must be remembered that saving applies only to this measured test scenario and the work habits of the user concerned. The actual saving you will make by using Powerdown will depend upon the length of time for which you leave your computer running and the proportion of that time for which you actively use the computer. If you leave your computer running for long periods and use it infrequently then you will see power savings similar to those observed here. If you actively use your computer throughout the time it is turned on and turn it off as soon as you have finished with it then you will obtain significantly lower savings because you are already controlling the power consumption of your PC effectively through the way that you use it.

New version of IT energy management software produces greater energy and financial savings

The Admin — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:22:00 GMT

Energy management software heralds greater savings

Following the successful launch of its Powerdown energy management software earlier this year York-based software company Codefounders introduced an updated version which offers greater reductions in energy use and carbon emissions for even greater financial savings.

The energy management solution for all Windows® environments

Powerdown minimises energy use and maximises cost savings by controlling the power state of individual computers. Idle computers are turned off or placed in a low power state and can be automatically restarted for maintenance or operational purposes.

Unlike competing solutions Powerdown does not rely on computers being connected to the network to achieve energy savings and it is also the only solution specifically designed with electrical safety and the needs of laptop users in mind.

Simple to adopt easy to manage

Powerdown offers centralised management of computer power consumption with simple fully automated deployment.

Suitable for all

Powerdown is suited to all managed and unmanaged computing environments. It is the ideal solution for standalone computers home networks

Substantial savings result in low total cost of ownership

Powerdown can reduce IT energy consumption by up to 40% resulting in savings of up to £30 per PC per year and a typical payback period of less than 3 months.

With the introduction of this release Powerdown is now being made freely available to educational institutions and users with less than 10 computers.

Good for the environment

In addition to cost savings Powerdown can also encourage greater staff awareness of the environmental impact of computer usage and has a key role to play in supporting corporate social responsibility strategies. Powerdown has a positive environmental benefit and can eliminate up to 300kg of carbon emissions per PC per year.

About Codefounders

To learn more about the Powerdown energy management application please see our website or contact our marketing team.

Powerdown 1.1. released

The Admin — Sun, 11 May 2008 22:19:00 GMT

We are pleased to announce that Powerdown Standard Edition 1.1 has been released and is now available for purchase through our web store. This new release contains major improvements and new features including

Greater energy savings
OS power saving optimisation
Active Directory integration
Policy editing tool

All existing Powerdown 1.0 customers can upgrade to version 1.1. free of charge.

With this release we are also pleased to announce two new initiatives aimed at home and educational users.

The Home Network edition of Powerdown is now free for users with less than 10 computers
Schools, colleges and universities can now obtain an Educational licence for Powerdown free of charge. This licence entitles the institution to use Powerdown on an unlimited number of computers and to give Powerdown to their staff and students for use on personal computers at home.

Powerdown free to home users

The Admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:17:00 GMT

Codefounders is dedicated to doing whatever it can to reduce the environmental impact of computing so we are excited to announce that starting with the release of version 1.1 some Powerdown configurations will now be entirely free.

Any user will be entitled to download Powerdown and use it on up to 10 computers and this make Powerdown the ideal energy saving solution for home networks and very small businesses.

Powerdown 1.1 beta

The Admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:15:00 GMT

The first public beta of Version 1.1 of the Powerdown energy saving application has been released and may be downloaded from the Downloads section of the website.

This release contains significant improvements over version 1.0 including:

System wide enforcement of operating system power saving features via Group Policy or Powerdown policy files for all Windows operating systems
Optimisation of operating system power saving features for maximum energy and cost savings
Automatically postpones scheduled shutdowns detects if the computer is still being used
Policy File Editor utility to simplify the creation of Powerdown policy files (not included in beta release)
Redesigned user interface
Integrated management via Group Policy allows centralised management and enforcement of power saving policies across the organisation through Active Directory
Now works on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008
Reliability and performance enhancements

Powerdown 1.1 will be released on Monday 12 May 2008. All existing customers will be eligible for a free upgrade

Powerdown 1.0 released

The Admin — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:12:00 GMT

We are pleased to announce that Powerdown Standard Edition 1.0 has now been released