BLUEFISH PLC ZERO CARBON COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY

UK-based Vodafone Group has acquired European IT and communications consultancy Bluefish Communications for £3.14m ($4.94m). The consultancy will form part of Vodafone’s Global Enterprise division, which manages communications technologies for its largest multinational customers.

The firm said that Bluefish will form the nucleus of a new unified communications and collaboration practice within Vodafone Global Enterprise, which will focus on advising multinational companies on how to get the most from their mobile, fixed line and IT services. It will also offer guidance to clients on the adoption of cloud services.

The company is also hoping that through the newly acquired consultancy, it will be able to convince its large corporate customers on how new collaboration services, such as video conferencing, can boost their business’s performance.

Through the acquisition, Vodafone will also offer services to its multinational customers, such as an audit of existing infrastructure and future communication needs, advice on moving to a communications strategy that spans mobile, fixed line and IT, and management of system integrators and vendors to ensure unified communications networks are closely aligned to business strategy.

“Having the right information at the right time, in the right place, has never been more important to business success and this acquisition will enhance our ability to advise multinationals on how to maximise value from their communications,” commented Nick Jeffery, CEO of Vodafone Global Enterprise.

UK-headquartered Bluefish has been named as one of the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 “Fastest growing UK technology companies” for three consecutive years in 2007, 2008, 2009, as well as being named in Deloitte top 500 fastest growing technology companies in EMEA in 2010. The acquisition will expand Bluefish’s geographical reach as it becomes part of Vodafone Global Enterprise’s global network.

Wind power projects are based around the erection of wind turbines in strategically “windy” locations to create clean, green, energy.

There are several such projects that Bluefish support throughout India, including the TASMA Project which is a “bundled project” – it is based around the construction of 812 wind turbines in different areas within the Tamil Nadu region of India. Specifically, the turbines are installed in different passes (Aralvaimozhi, Senkottah and Palghat passes), where wind speed is constant.

In total the turbines generate 460.18 MW of wind energy. This generated power is supplied to the southern regional grid of India, which is dominated by the fossil fuel based power plants, thereby generating carbon credits.

This small-scale wind farm displaces the fossil fuel generated energy from India’s National Grid through producing clean, green energy. The installation of the turbines has led to an improvement in road connectivity in these areas which previously has no proper road infrastructure. There is also an increase in the business opportunities for the local people in establishing small shops and allied activities.

Bluefish help develop small scale projects with direct social, health and environmental benefits to families in Africa, Brazil, India, Thailand and Vietnam.

To view more information about the other projects Bluefish are involved with to reduce the impact of carbon emissions, click on the links below:

Europe

UK

Newbury +44 (0) 1189 099 660
Bluefish Communications Ltd

Floor 1, Baird House

The Connection

Newbury, RG14 2FN

Cardiff

Bluefish Communications Ltd

The Counting House

Celtic Gateway

Cardiff, CF11 0SN

Germany

Düsseldorf

Bluefish Communications GmbH

Ferdinand-Braun-Platz 1

40549

Düsseldorf

North America

USA

New York

Bluefish Communications Inc

2 Park Avenue – 3rd floor

New York

USA
10016

Asia Pacific

Australia

Sydney +61 1300 794 075

Bluefish Australia Pty Ltd

Level 26

44 Market Street

Sydney, NSW 2000

Melbourne

Bluefish Australia Pty Ltd

Level 27

101 Collins Street

Melbourne, VIC 3000

Singapore

Singapore + 65 6829 0101

Bluefish APAC Communications Pte Ltd

Straits Trading Building

9 Battery Road

#08-01

Singapore, 049910

BLUEFISH ZCC: HOW MUCH FASTER THAN THE WIND CAN A TURBINE BOAT GO? - Bluefish plc has no connection with the ZCC boat show above. The only things in common are the name and the zero carbon objectives of both companies. We are though looking for a European partner for the forthcoming Horizon 2020 call - which is 100% funded by the EU.

The above diagram illustrates a 3 x 10kW turbines = 30kW installation on the standard ZCC platform. The limiting factor for sail craft is the sum of the aerodynamic and interface lift to drag ratios. However, in the case of a turbine boat, the powering surfaces are moving along different paths to the entire boat so this is no longer an issue. In fact if there would be zero resistance, zero drag, zero losses of any kind, the turbine system would accelerate indefinitely, straight into the wind, with an acceleration a function of the initial real windspeed. In the real world a very efficient system might go twice the windspeed into the wind.

Going downwind is more challenging. Traveling in the direction of the wind, the apparent wind drops until you reach windspeed by which point apparent wind is zero, and the boat slows to (as it were) let the wind "catch up again." Basically this is the turbine boat's slowest point of sail and it cannot outrun the wind, unless it deviates from dead downwind. Consider though, that as the cruising speed of the Bluefish ZCC is around 10 knots, if the wind is blowing at anything over 6 m/s the vessel will benefit. The only way to find out is to give it a whirl.