Tuesday 31 January 2012

The pre- EUCoC/CEEDA assessment

Data Centres are defined in the EU Code of Conduct as any room/floor or building that is used to house compute/telecommunications equipment, that means even the humblest of server rooms can be considered to be a data centre under the code of conduct.
The EU CoC provides a series of best practices to adopt, to make your data centre more efficient, however participation is voluntary and the only thing you need to do is to send your environmental data to the EU every year. This data is then used to compile a report about data centre energy use throughout the EU.
In order to comply, organisations are requested to visit this page for further information:
http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/energyefficiency/html/standby_initiative_data_centers.htm
However, participation in the scheme does not mean that you are in fact an energy efficient data centre provider, all it means is that you have committed to implementing the best practices as contained within the code in a 3 year time period.
The BCS CEEDA award on the other hand, is comprised of elements of the EU CoC, the Green Grid's maturity model and the Data Centre Energy Efficiency Framework (DCEEF) and is only awarded to those organisations that have been assessed by an independent assessor to a strict set of guidelines. The assessment provides proof and evidence that a best practice has been and is continually reviewed by the operator, it is in essence a rubber stamp that you, as an organisation have actually implemented what you have said you would. The assessor seeks visual and documentary evidence and prepares a report that itself is sent to an independent auditor, who reviews the assessment.
Only after both the auditor and assessor agree as to the level (if any) of the award is it passed to the BCS who issue the award itself.

With the exception of enterprise data centres (over 20 racks) built over the last two years the majority of data centres will not comply with the EUCoC at present.
It is possible that the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres (Energy Efficiency) will become a directive from the EU which will require legislation to be passed in the HP.

Carbon3IT Ltd are represented on the BCS Green IT and Data Centres special groups, endorse the EU Code of Conduct as consultants, are members on the "Best Practices" committee and are approved to conduct CEEDA assessments.

We offer a pre EU CoC/CEEDA assessment, a service that assists in getting your Data Centre ready for seeking participant status and to ensure that you will get a level of CEEDA award.
Please contact us directly for more information

Greenprints

Greenprint's are our method of providing organisations with a action plan or roadmap to energy efficient Green IT within their buildings.
Effectively, we visit your site(s), speak to your IT and energy people and come up with an assessment of where you are now and the products, services and concepts you can use to get greener.
The initial assessment is free, yes, that's right free and will comprise a site visit and a report.
Our report will give you an idea of what you have now and where you could be.
The products are services we offer will form part of the report, if you need them.
Our mission is to reduce energy consumption from IT in your organisation. simples
Contact us for more information or to make an appointment for us to visit or for a draft report to be sent directly.

Monday 23 January 2012

This week

I'll be on a webinar for the GHG protocol ICT sector guidance on Wednesday.
We're off to the Digital Birmingham conference on Thursday morning with our friends from SANFIRE IA.
In the afternnon we're off to London for a F2F meet with a major investment bank on Friday AM to discuss a CEEDA assessment.
We're pleased with the interest about the CEEDA award, as many of you will know the CEEDA assessement and award is very closely linked with the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres (Energy Efficiency). (EUCoC)
Whilst the EU CoC is very much a voluntary code of conduct, the CEEDA award assesses how far organisations have actually implemented the various best practices in the EUCoC and therefore is a snapshot of how they are actually doing and not what they say they are going to do (The EUCoC has a three year window in which to implement as many of the best practices as you can).
We recently completed a CEEDA award for a major high street retailer and more are scheduled to be conducted over the coming months.
We cannot stress how useful the assessment and award will be to Data Centre owners and operators, an award will really show how committed an organisation is to energy efficiency and how this can be used as a marketing tool.
Further information can be found on our website and if you're considering requesting a CEEDA award please contact us first as we are able to conduct a PRE-CEEDA assessment that will give you a better idea of what you need to do and how you can attain a higher level of award.
Have a good week