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Developing standards of excellence: The importance of industry bodies
Matt Lovell, CTO at Pulsant discusses the role of the industry body and why it is invaluable for fostering interaction and dialogue thus providing a centralised forum of advice and guidance supported by academic research.
THE DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY is a highly competitive landscape, characterised by a vast set of suppliers of all sizes, specifications and propositions. This sense of competition bodes well for the customer, and drives continual improvement and innovation across suppliers to provide better, more secure and efficient solutions. There is, however, the growing sense that while we are operating alongside other providers in a dynamic market, data centre enterprises face the same challenges and could gain even more from community knowledge sharing.
This is where industry bodies, such as the DCA, play an invaluable role. As data centre enterprises we have similar goals – delivering high quality, available, secure and efficient solutions to our customers, reducing costs and expanding market share. It stands to reason then, that providers of all types, specialisations, and sizes typically face the same or similar challenges in terms of the industry itself, customers and the products delivered.
For data centre providers especially, there are a set of issues that are always top of mind. These include security – of both data and physical security of data centre sites – environmental footprint, power requirements, and performance. An industry body acts as a link between these organisations and as a facilitator to foster interaction and dialogue with one another, which wouldn’t normally occur. Pulsant has been a DCA member for three years and in this time we’ve found the role of the organisation to be an invaluable one. With an in-depth understanding of the data centre industry, the DCA has effectively united key data centre providers with the ultimate view of bettering the industry supported by wider industry research and analytical data.
The DCA provides us with a centralised forum of advice, guidance and excellence that is strongly supported by academic research. The body is particularly vigilant in keeping up to date with issues that
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continue to affect the entire industry, such as carbon reduction commitment (CRC), operational efficiencies and power pricing. As a member we are able to share knowledge with other provider members, discuss issues and identify challenges that need to be addressed. While we may be competitors, this co-operation is done in a collaborative spirit. In this way we can work together to develop a set of best practices that can be used by other data centre providers, again with a view to improving the industry at large.
As the DCA incorporates members from the European Union and not just the UK, there is a broader level of expertise to be capitalised on and a bigger range of issues that can be raised in terms of serving a wider range of clients. We make use of the monthly webinars, conference discussions, blogs and social media channels to interact with the DCA, as well as other members, whether it is providing comment, seeking the answer
to a question, joining a debate or posing a challenge or support training initiatives. The benefits of being a DCA member are also forwarded on to our customers.
By essentially having access to a wider knowledge base and interacting with other providers who encounter similar issues and challenges, we are able to ensure that our customers are, in fact, receiving the best, most appropriate solutions to meet their requirements. This is particularly true when it comes to key issues, such as the big cost drivers of environmental impact and power supply. Going forward, we envision that more providers will see the benefit of belonging to such an important body.
Their inclusion will bring greater depth to the DCA in terms of knowledge sharing and opportunities to resolve challenges, better customer experiences, and ultimately assist in elevating the data centre industry’s profile in Europe and those of its members.
Kelly Edmond of the DCA reports on Data Centres Ireland
NEWS that Data Centres Ireland had grown significantly against the previous year was received prior to leaving for Dublin and that really was apparent upon arrival. With a 39%
increase in delegate footfall from last year, in excess of 750 attendees visited the exhibition over the two days which was both encouraging and productive. The show programme ran extremely smoothly with talks taking place throughout the course of the exhibition on a variety of subjects over the two days. Delegates were treated to food and refreshments throughout the day keeping everyone energised and happy and the exhibition floor was alive with the buzz of sponsors, visitors and programme talks.
The DCA were kept busy with many visitors to the stand showing a great deal of interest in the PEDCA Project and developments and initiatives since last year’s show. With the DCA being the main sponsors for the Networking Drinks Reception I had the opportunity to meet a few of our members, namely Dataracks, EcoCooling, Future Facilities, Uptime Institute, Rittal, JS Humidifiers and Emerson. Having been in contact with many of them since starting with the DCA, it was a pleasure to finally put some names to faces and discuss some of the future plans and projects the DCA is working on. I think a big thank you is in order to all the team at Data Centres Ireland for organising and producing such a successful event. I for one am very much looking forward to returning next year and I look forward to seeing you there.
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