Wednesday 31 October 2012

Our Reach and Associations

So, why would you want to use us over another company?
Well, for starters we're really nice and helpful, provide independent advice and are all round good eggs.
But even if this doesn't sway your thinking lets look at our reach and associations.
We're on the British Computer Society's Green IT and Data Centre Specialist Groups and actually on the committee's so we shape policy and organise events and we get access to a lot of reports prior to release (try getting that from our competitors)
We recently provided some information and had meetings with the GHG Protocol ICT sector guidance groups through our associations with the BCS and we've seen the guide prior to its publication to the SAG (Stakeholder Advisory Group) but guess what? We're on that as well!
I'm also on the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres best practice working group and this means we see all the proposed changes to the code, discuss this with our fellow members and eventually pass judgement on whether they get into the code or not. I do other stuff with the EU as well.
I also conduct CEEDA assessments on behalf of the BCS and DCD and have help shape how CEEDA will look like in the future.
I'm also a judge on various data centre groups.
I also sit on the SME Smart Cities working group for Birmingham, this is where smart grids, info sources and intelligent cities link together to create the Intelligent City of the future, so some interesting stuff passes across my desk or via the PC.
We also work with some of the leading companies in this sector, the Very PC Group, Concurrent Thinking, and Event Zero to name a few. 

So, there you have it, we're well represented on the groups that are shaping Green IT and Data Centre energy efficiency concepts, we've judged projects, we assess projects, we sit on groups that shape the future of our cities and we're good guys.
We can also supply everything you need to make your ICT infrastructure as green and as "Carbon3IT" as it is possible to be.
Come and use us for your project, you know it makes sense.

G-Cloud

We very pleased to announce that we've been selected to appear on the G-Cloud http://gcloud.civilservice.gov.uk/ providing services under Lot 3, SaaS with our PC Power Monitoring & Management Software suite and Data Centre Infrastructure Management products and under Lot 4 Specialist Cloud Services with our Pre-EUCoC, BCS Pre-CEEDA and Web Useability Services delivered with our partners SANfire IA, their website can be found here SANFire IA.
We are particularly pleased that our EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres pre-assessment service is available on the G-Cloud as we are seeking to assist the HMG Green Delivery Unit under the "Greening Government ICT Strategy to help them achieve their target to have all central government, local government and other public sector organisations to be participants to the code by April 2014 and by appearing on the G-Cloud this process can be streamlined and made very easy for organisations to engage with us.
We can also go one step further with the BCS CEEDA programme, which is also available on the G-Cloud.
Previous blog posts detail the difference between the EUCOC and BCS CEEDA and you can trawl through the blog to find them, however in essence the EUCoC is a commitment to implement the 110 best practices within 3 years whilst a BCS CEEDA is an actual external assessment to 43 of the best practices. Our service is to provide guidance and assistance to organisations to achieve the highest BCS CEEDA award possible and we do this by checking the physical infrastructure practices and to provide the documentary evidence that the BCS CEEDA assessor will be looking for as a part of his remit.

In other news, we've been invited to speak at the ICT4 Sustainability event at the QE2 Conference centre in London on the 13th November on the EUCoC and CEEDA programme, more info here ICT4 Sustainability
We'll also be at the DCD London event at the Excel Centre in the London Docklands on the 14th & 15th speaking about CEEDA and appearing on a panel discussion, more info here http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/conferences/2012/london-2012

We also have, later today a webinar to discuss our (BCS DCSG) proposed amendments to the GHG Protocol ICT Sector guidance on the Cloud and Data Centre chapters.

We'll post something soon about our thoughts on Hurricane Sandy and the impact its had on the NE USA and in particular their Data Centres, but we'll wait until the air has cleared as it were.

We'll also be doing 3 JISC/Concurrent Thinking/Defra EUCoC events in London, Birmingham and Leeds during the week commencing 19th November, so all in all a very busy month.

We also have a CEEDA assessment before Christmas for a major global co-location provider which hopefully will cascade around to all their other sites, they obviously recognise the value of an external energy efficiency assessment when they see one.

That's it for now, as usual we'll keep everybody updated via our social media feeds @carbon3it and @greenit_carbon3it, our facebook and linked in pages.

Saturday 13 October 2012

Self Praise is no praise...

I'm loving the fact that many data centre operators extoll the greeness of their facilities and cite the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres or a whole number of other self assessed criteria as the basis for their "greenness".
Well, in the absence of any certified data centre energy efficiency award this would be at least sensible as a differentiator and points the potential buyer to the environmental credentials of said data centre.

But, there is not an absence of a certified data centre energy efficiency award, we have the global CEEDA award programme from the BCS.

So, wheras the EUCoC is a voluntary programme where participants apply for the "badge" stating that they intend to commit or indeed have already committed to the implementation of the 110 best practices and then provide their environmental data (power consumption, temp and humidity) to the JRC, the CEEDA programme is an external assessment by a trained certified assessor to 43 of those 110 EUCoC best practices, covering the absolute virtually mandatory minimums a sensible energy efficient data centre would adopt.
So, I call the EUCoC talking the talk, whilst anyone brave enough to allow a CEEDA assessor in to their facility to poke around and ask pertinent questions in the hope of receiving a Bronze, Silver or Gold award, dependent on how many of the practices are being followed is definitely "walking the walk".

Remember, as well, that after the assessor has visited site and prepared his report and recommendation, everything is passed to the Auditor for another independent review, so the assessment will have been looked at by two independents

So, if you're a data centre marketeer looking for a USP to get customers in to your facility, look no further than a CEEDA.

I'm going to come clean now, I am a CEEDA assessor so I do have a vested interest here, but if I were a DC owner looking to enhance my offering I would have to consider CEEDA, its a badge well worth getting.
So, congratulations to Sanger Institute, Co-Operative Group and ARM who have already received their awards, more information here www.ceeda-award.org and to the 4 other organisations who have been assessed and are awaiting their awards to be confirmed.

If you want to find out more about the CEEDA award, visit the website, speak to David Carter, CEEDA programme manager at DCD on DDL +44 (0) 20 7099 5315 or DDL +44 (0) 20 7871 9935 or email him at david.carter@datacenterdynamics.com or if you're attending the DCD London conference at Excel on the 14th & 15th November look out for us, we'll be there!

If you want any assistance in preparing your site for either EUCoC or CEEDA prior to an assessment or application, contact us on +44 192 684 3389, info@carbon3it.com or tweet to @Carbon3IT

Sunday 7 October 2012

The new website is up...

and running, so please give it a view and let us know what you think.
You may notice that we're planning to offer some cloud services in the future and some of you may remember that we're pretty much anti cloud, but this is from a green perspective and not due to its diverse, scalable architecture and its ease of use.
In fact, our cloud services will be green, very green actually.
Our new website is hosted on "Very PC" servers, located in a Sheffield Data Centre that is powered by renewable energy from Good Energy and owned/operated by a co-operative WebArchitects.
Anyway, its late on Sunday I've good lots of things to do tomorrow so I'm off to bed, well hopefully.
Until next time.

Thursday 4 October 2012

The Australia Trip

Through my involvement with the BCS/DCD CEEDA programme I was invited to undertake a short trip to Sydney between the Olympic & Paralympic games.
So, I left London on the 16th August and arrived in Sydney late in the evening of the 18th.
I had the weekend to myself so did just a little exploration of Sydney, started off by doing the usual tourist stuff, down to the Rocks and the Harbour Bridge and then visited the shopping area.
I did notice that most Australians were wearing coats and scarfs, this in 68degrees and sunny, I found out later that 68 degrees is cold to them, after all it was winter (a bit like our summer to be honest!)
On the Sunday I trotted down to Darling Harbour to check out where I was going to meet a linked in contact. I then recalled a friend telling me that a good trip is to jump on a ferry and take lunch in one of the outlying areas, so multi-trip all day ticket duly purchased I jumped on the first ferry and off I went, and ended up at Circular Quay, which for those of you who don't know Sydney, is the main ferry terminal.
So, my attempt to get to an outlying area and take lunch was being seriously thwarted.
No worries, I then took the next rivercat to Parramatta, the absolute furthest place I could find on the map and a route that goes past the Olympic Stadium. I reckon I must have been the only person to be at both places in a 3 week period.
At Parramatta there seemed to be a lot of people waiting for the ferry and I was worried about getting back so I just turned around and came straight back home, lunch was McDonalds.
The next day I arose bright and early to meet the client and to conduct the first of three CEEDA assessments.
As these assessments are in the audit stage I am not allowed to tell you all who they are but all will be revealed in a later post.
I visited two data centres, one was owned and operated by the client and the other was a colo facility that had my main client has their anchor tenant, so 3 CEEDA assessments, one Owner Occupier, one CoLo, and one CoLo Tenant.
I was very impressed with the both facilities and this is reflected in their recommended awards, although they still need to get through the audit stage.
I was also taken out to dinner by the client, we went to Cafe Sydney, which overlooks Circular Quay with the Harbour Bridge on the left hand side and the Opera House and the Right, Sydney set fair.
On the Tuesday evening I met my linked in friend down at Darling Harbour and was promptly whisked off in the boat over to the Zoo.
One of my most enduring memories of Australia and Sydney, will be the view from the boat looking back towards the CBD and the Harbour Bridge with the sun setting on a background of purples, oranges, golds and crimsons of a Sydney sunset, breathtaking!
On Wednesday I gave a talk at the Australian Computer Society on the topic of "Is the Cloud Green?" and outlined the EUCoC and CEEDA programme to the attendees.
I also met up with a few old friends the following morning to discuss some possible business ventures prior to a quick trip to Parramatta to meet with Nick Parfitt from DCD and my flight back to the UK.
All in all, a very successful trip and one I look forward to taking again sooner rather than later and possibly for a lot longer.
Until next time, keep up to date with our new website which should be live this weekend (7th October) for news and events Carbon3IT Ltd will be attending, speaking at or generally just mooching about at.