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It was lovely to receive an email from an old “friend of Web Directions” the other day, Donal O Duibhir. If you’ve been to our events you may remember Donal as that guy who was absolutely passionate about networks of all kinds, and in particular about the wifi network at the event, which he always managed with great professionalism, diligence and care. Sometimes in trying circumstances! Anyways, Donal has fled our shores for greener pastures, at least for now. And I mean greener pastures quite literally: in his new life he’s thrown himself into something else he’s always been passionate about, sustainability and permaculture.

The really exciting thing though is that he’s combining all his passions into his latest venture, Podomere, where he’s on a mission to bring permaculture to the world of I.T. I was lucky enough to get him to share a few thoughts with me.

Maxine: So tell me Donal, in 25 words or less :), what exactly is this latest venture, Podomere?

Donal: Podomere is synthesising permaculture’s design thinking and ethics within I.T. We build networks yet our focus is that of earth care, people care, and fair share.

Maxine: Podomere’s strapline is ‘scale the edge’ and ‘permaculture for I.T’. Do you want to explain what that might look like?

Donal: Scaling the edge is about ‘edge thinking’ and the ‘edge effect’ which maximises edges and interactions. The richer, more diverse, productive, and innovative environments are normally found at the connecting edges of two or more ecosystems. Today we find ourselves playing in multi-disciplinary environments where it’s not just about packets and web apps but everything above and below! It’s also about increasing the service edge from a technical perspective by allowing our clients and customers to scale their networks and web presence organically rather than requiring forklift upgrades or large punctuated jumps in CAPEX or OPEX. We have templated wired and wireless ‘cloud managed’ pod architectures and assembled service providers that can distribute content globally while staying as lean, green, and environmentally friendly as possible!

Maxine: Tell us more about the GreenQloud story – how did you connect up with them? And have you had to do some amazing site visits in their beautiful homeland? What was that like?

Donal: Personally I’ve been performing network architecture, data centre, and information security roles in large multinationals like Cisco, Ericsson, and ABN AMRO since 2000 where well run global networks and systems demand a very high level of security, instrumentation, and management yet continue to consume vast amounts of dirty power. When I started Podomere in mid-2013 after having completed a Permaculture Design Certificate under the tutelage of Geoff Lawton, I set about searching for a way to build our new assets and services on an infrastructure provider with deeply green fundamentals. We also sought a great privacy and data sovereignty stance, positioning for low latency access to EU and US markets, and predictable energy costs (which translate to consistent and lower pricing for compute and storage over time). During my search I found GreenQloud in Iceland and set about testing them out. Subsequently we have joined their Startup Program and are now part of their Ambassador program too! They’re growing quickly and we’ve been in frequent contact with all levels of their organisation. We do have an open invitation to visit them and tour their data centres. Albeit I’m currently in Europe, I’ve yet to lock in a date to visit the wonderful team in Reykjavík‎, but it’ll happen this year and I’ll report back on our blog For the moment we’re trying to generate more awareness and gather feedback about what a sustainable digital supply chain might look like here.

Maxine: What are you focussing on at the moment?

Donal: Albeit we integrate systems while doing micro-consulting, we’re focussing on how we can get better at telling our own story and finding our niche. We really want to reach social enterprises, SME’s, B-Corporations, and any other ‘greenfields’ socially conscious organisations to help empower them to go green from the ground up whilst being more secure. We’re working on a mixture of both free and paid digital recipes for organisations including D.I.Y. pod kits with accompanying designs so they can build our pods for themselves without relying on expensive system integrators. Finally we’d really like to see the philosophy and ethos of the FLOSS(Free/Libre/Open Source Software) movement take hold within network design and system integration communities of practice. We’ll be releasing free design patterns soon!

Maxine: And where do you see this going? Tell us your wildest dreams! :)

Donal: Perhaps as somewhat of a pragmatic optimist I see an ongoing journey for humanity as we build a complex synthetic ‘overlay’ network only to subsequently realise fully the extent of the existing and underlying natural network that binds and connects us all. My dream is for a new generation of kids who will in the future somehow be born with an aggregate and long term societal memory (akin to the Bene Gesserit reverend mothers in Frank Herbert’s Dune!). Within the confines of mortality I believe this future race will have a chance to establish peace utilising their new found empathy, oneness, and altruism.‎ Other than that I’d love to live on a houseboat like Alan Watts and produce all my own energy and food!