INDUSTRY INTELLIGENCE POWERED BY THE DCA
Due to the confusing landscape of data centre
certifications globally, the Data Centre Alliance has,
since 2015, provided an independent certification based
upon the EN50600 series, the EUCOC and recognised
best practices. John Booth, Chairman of the Data
Centre Alliance – Energy Efficiency steering committee,
explains the status of data centre certification.
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Why the need for certification?
The global data centre sector is critical to
the modern world. Virtually all our lives
are impacted by the use of Information
and Communications Technology (ICT).
We use it for banking, commerce,
health, navigation, news gathering and
consumption entertainment, travel
– almost every aspect of life is now
inextricably linked in some way with a
data centre and yet it is an almost hidden
part of the human ecosystem.
A data centre is a system of systems which
process, store and transmit data around
the world, supported by electro-mechanical
equipment that uses vast amounts of
energy, both during construction and final
use. They are complex to build and operate.
Every organisation will have a data centre
in some form – they are critical to our
modern lives.
It is surprising then, that given their
criticality to the modern world, there is
not a minimum legislation or regulation
(for both the facility and the personnel
who work within them) to ensure that the
facility can remain available for use 24
hours a day, seven days a week and 365
days a year.
www.intelligentdatacentres.com
The reasons for this are historical. Most
enterprise data centres (owned and
operated by the same organisation)
have total control of their own facilities
and it is within the remit of the senior
management team and board to shape the
service wrap around the data centre and
provide the funding to ensure that the data
centre continues to support the business.
The notion of becoming certified by an
external body is seen as something to be
feared. Data centre managers are scared
that the audit will highlight shortcomings
in their own management or skills, poor
onboarding processes or a lack of routine
maintenance etc.
The same applies to colocation facilities,
there is some level of arrogance within the
professional classes that their facility is
better managed than enterprises, because
they are ‘professional’ – it is their business
and they are good at it, and mostly they
are correct.
However, there is now a growing external
need for both types of organisations to
seek external accreditation to provide
comfort to customers that the facility
has been designed and is operated
to provide the extremely high service
levels the public demand for their ICT
Issue 07
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