Can the EU Code of Conduct make data centres better?

WHEN I TALK to members the answer to that question seems to be the overwhelming YES. According to the World Energy Council, for energy efficiency to succeed, it’s essential to gain commitment by all involved and awareness of results.

This is firmly built into the Codes best practices, but can the data centre sector improve on its commitments to the Code?

Consider the enhanced reputation of the industry, our message to customers and the related business opportunities, if we were able to widen participation and uptake of the Code? We are aware of some of the problems members have in dealing with the administrative aspects of the Code, therefore we are implementing a number of measures to assist and help.

This includes new profile field data relating to Member’s EU Code status, reminders of commitments an auto emailing reporting form for Endorsers, case study repository page at www.eucodeofconduct.eu and much more.

Kelly Edmond will be contacting all DCA members about this over the next weeks and months, and we look forward to your mutually beneficial cooperation and collaboration in strengthening the Code.

‘Industry trends and standards’

Andrew Roughan, commercial director at Infinity SDC addresses migration to public cloud and the threat to the UK economy.

Outsource trends
THERE HAVE BEEN CALLS to increase social and political awareness of the role of the data centre industry with regards to underpinning technology and its criticality to the UK economy.

Despite the growing dependence of the UK economy on computers interacting and exchanging digital information in data centres, they remain unrecognised as a critical driver of life today. In my opinion, this means government policy is often created without reference to data centres, resulting in incorrect legislation. Therefore, it can be argued that this is harming the competitiveness of a sector which should be flourishing and benefitting the UK.

The public cloud
The issue of the data centre supporting the UK economy is going to become even more acute. In addition, there is a new threat – the public cloud. In order to understand this risk, it is important to consider the digital revolution, migration to the public cloud
and where the real value in the data chain lies.

The digital revolution
The first consideration is the digital revolution, also known as the third industrial revolution, defined as the change from analogue, mechanical and electronic technology to digital technology. This change to the adoption and proliferation of digital computers and record keeping continues to the present day. It is about to accelerate significantly due to the development of new materials such as graphene, spawning a new level of technical innovation that will bring more miniaturisation, mobility and greater power efficiency.

The digital revolution has already opened up new markets, increased the pace of innovation and helped organisations dramatically reduce costs through automation. This is good news for data centre operators and it can be argued that data centres are the factories of the digital revolution.
During the last Industrial Revolution, factories were located next to points of access at good transport hubs, and were also close to the source of labour and essential raw materials. Cities and their local economies benefited from their locations, with places like Glasgow becoming the third richest city in Europe. Glasgow turned to a range of heavy industries including shipbuilding and engineering which thrived on the abundant supplies of iron and coal to fuel the ironworks.

There is an obvious parallel with today and the location of data centres and their relevance to the digital revolution. To understand the true value data centres bring to the UK economy, it is therefore important to see where the real value in the data
chain is.

Value in the data chain
According to a recent paper by the European Commission, value can be identified across the digital economy’s chain of generation, transport, knowledge and outputs. Similarly to other sectors, the digital economy has followed an innovation-commoditisation cycle. This means as commoditisation makes a profit, margins begin to shrink and as value derives from innovation, the source of value has evolved over time.

In the UK the three main areas where we positively contribute value to the digital revolution are human capital, data, tools and infrastructure.

Data centre infrastructure vs data and analytics
The investment in IT and infrastructure alone amounts to approximately $4 billion globally with a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 5.3 per cent. Does this mean higher value creation will come from obtaining insights from data rather than storing it? Therefore, does the data centre infrastructure really need to be in the UK?

A key consideration regarding infrastructure prices is UK energy prices. In an ever commoditising data centre market, these costs become a differentiator and if they are not competitive, the market will act to drive demand away.

The UK’s energy prices
Looking at the current top ranked countries for data centre market size which includes the US, Japan, the UK and Germany, the UK doesn’t fare too badly on energy prices, with only the US offering lower prices. However, when looking at emerging economies and some of the countries offering electricity 25 per cent less than the UK, including China, the threat is evident.
Several factors including the UK skills shortage and future energy prices could impact on the UK’s data centre industry. If the UK lost its current position as the third largest data centre market in the world, there would be losses to the UK economy. Therefore, the stakes are already high for the data centre industry and could potentially impact on the wider economic prospects of the UK.

The IT journey
In my opinion, the digital economy has influenced the changing landscape of demand for data centres. There has been a shift in customer priorities with an increasing number of customers focused on what they want to achieve by purchasing data centre space and considering the wider picture, including private and public cloud services.
Companies are on an IT journey and the way they use IT is evidently changing. For example, this journey transports companies from having on premise legacy IT through to a Software Defined Data Centre where everything is managed and automated from a centralised control point.
The public cloud and the UK trade balance
There has been a continued migration of applications from the enterprise data centre towards the public cloud. The market for self-build and traditional colocation services is seeing a drop in demand, compared to overall levels of data growth.

On a more positive note, the public cloud still requires a home. However, that home can be located anywhere in the world.

The warnings are there
Infinity is keen to see that the UK retains its leading role in the global digital economy. However, the UK now faces the prospect of increasingly becoming a net importer of cloud services, as opposed to a net exporter. This would have dire consequences as the UK risks the direct revenues the data centre industry generates.
There is also the threat of off-shore cloud hosting weakening the UK’s economic position as a powerhouse for the digital revolution. This could add to the UK’s existing skills shortage and weaken our ability to lead in other technological areas. It is important to recognise what makes the UK successful today and ask if all of those same factors will survive if the digital factories end up elsewhere in the world.

A better digital future
Fortunately, all of the above is fixable. The future can still be bright, but the government and industry needs to act in unison. A wider appreciation of the role of the data centre in driving the digital economy can emerge, and the right incentives can be applied to make sure the UK’s position as a world leader in data centres and a global digital powerhouse is assured.

PEDCA consults with data centre sector in Poland

by Joanna Jarmoc, Operations Manager, Sysco Polska and Simon Campbell-Whyte Executive Director, DCA.

THINKING ABOUT DATA CENTER LOCATIONS one would instantly consider Frankfurt, London or Amsterdam as a place to be. However the growth rate of data in the “newer” markets is faster than in the “mature” regions. This was an aspect that the PAN-European DCA or PEDCA project noted during its “regional analysis phase which showed that during 2012 Eastern Europe, the Nordics, Belgium and Switzerland were the top four fastest growing regions in Europe by a considerable margin. Therefore, it was decided to hold a “Focus Panel” in Warsaw to gain the views and insights from the Polish data centre industry sectors on both the research done to date and also the future “Action Plan”.

The discussion certainly demonstrated that global business needs constantly change, so that a strong focus only on established venues could lead to missing out on new opportunities and markets. While western economies have entered the period of relative economic slowdown businesses, more than ever, have to constantly reconsider their strategies, which these days means the data center location.

So taking a closer look at the Central Eastern European market and chances it generates is important not only for members of organisations like the Data Centre Alliance but also for all organisations.
Within countries of the region, Poland is a country that particularly stands out as a potential investment area. Ranked number one across CEE countries according to the 2013 Bloomberg ‘Best countries for business’ ranking, it offers economic and political stability, highly qualified and competent work force as well as big internal market.

In the times of an economic downturn it has remained a safe haven thanks to its economic resilience and predictable policy framework. The considerable market potential is being appreciated by constantly growing number of foreign investors that have decided to develop their business in Poland.

What are the main factors that play important role for the growth of data center industry in Poland? There are significant business drivers both on the part of costs as well as quality. On one hand, Poland can offer one of the lowest electricity prices, access to favourable price floor space and power infrastructure on the other hand, number of high quality data centers with professional infrastructure as well as high security standards is gradually increasing.

Furthermore the market offers highly qualified workforce as well as high amount of ICT graduates (over 12 000 graduates each year). The PEDCA project’s aims would also seem to perfectly match the need to make these graduates more able to embark in a career in the data centre sector.

It was certainly beneficial for the PEDCA project to gain feedback and insight into the proposed PEDCA Joint Action Plan, after the London Focus Panel which concentrated on the projects identification of the requirements and developing the priorities, it was pleasing to get positive feedback on the proposed six “Joint Actions” which are focused around:
A Strategy for data centre R&D
 Developing co-ordinated industry
representation
 Fostering innovation
 Defining the industry’s skills needs
 Developing training and Education

Deploying Quality and Assurance, through “Certification” of data centres
Poland has been relatively free of EU climate change legislation and target commitments to date which was demonstrated by the relative low priority given to participating in schemes like the EU Code of Conduct amongst the data centre operators at the workshop, however this is bound to change soon and represents a great opportunity for DCA members in helping the fast growing sector become equally compliant with the “green” policies adopted by data centre competitors in Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London, and thus more attractive to foreign investors.

The data center industry is still a relatively new one and therefore promises unprecedented growth rates, assessed for 15-20% per annum and it is considered to be one of the most promising segments in the whole ICT market in Poland. The growth is stimulated by the increasing customer awareness of the possible technological solutions as well as data security provision.

Moreover there seem to be appearing more alluring financing opportunities due to VC capital interest in this business sector as well as European Union financial means dedicated both for development of innovative business infrastructure as well as human capital development. Last but not least many investors tend to appreciate geographical proximity from the main data center areas like Warsaw or Cracow to hubs in Western Europe and the Middle East.

What lies ahead: Exploring the future of data centre ecosystems

By Ian Bitterlin, Chief Technology Officer at Emerson Network Power, EMEA.

‘WHAT WILL THE DATA CENTRES of the future look like?’ ‘What can we expect from the data centre industry by 2025?’ These questions form the foundations of the recent Emerson Network Power survey ‘Data Center 2025: Exploring the Possibilities’. The survey, that includes contributions from over 800 industry professionals from around the world, such as InterXion and IBM, addresses upcoming changes that may occur over the next ten years within the industry and explores the future possibilities.
The results range across a number of capabilities within the industry, but one message is resoundingly clear - most industry experts believe that the data centre as we know it today will undergo some substantial changes over the next decade.

Power is one of the areas that is predicted to change significantly. Experts believe that by 2025, data centres will move away from fossil fuels and adopt renewable energy solutions, particularly, solar. In today’s market, solar power makes up just one percent of the power generated in the US, however, it is possible that, by 2025, this figure could rise to 20 percent. To cope with this explosive level of predicted growth, solar technology will need to make some considerable advancements in the next decade. For instance, a square-meter solar panel can currently generate about 600 kWh per year in Western Europe. This means that supporting power densities of a 6 kW/rack (an average rack power demand) would require ninety square meters of solar panel for each data centre rack without even factoring in cooling. Even with only two percent of power coming from solar, the size of the solar array would be almost double that of the data centre itself. But it is also likely that other non-renewable sources will play a vital role. Research from Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services suggests that data centre engineers have also started exploring the possibility of powering a data centre entirely by fuel cells built into the server racks – resulting in the power plant being brought inside the data centre and minimising power distribution losses.

As cloud computing becomes more advanced, the industry is also likely to see a higher adoption of the cloud in data centres, with around 60 percent of computing expected to be cloud-based by 2025. As a result of this, the majority of experts are predicting that the data centre could shrink to half its current size over the next ten years. This substantial change in proportions could provide greater flexibility in terms of data centre location, making it much more cost-effective to locate facilities within denser environment with higher property costs.
Over the next decade, data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) is also predicted to play a prominent role.

DCIM vendors expect data centre management systems to deliver the control required for self-optimisation and for the industry to move all the way to self-healing, providing a level of automation and control that will enable a data centre to function without human intervention in the event of sub-system failure. Fully automated data centres by 2025 are also a real possibility – this is already happening within monolithic single application facilities, such as search engines but this will take some time within larger facilities.

These trends are likely to continue to be important for some time, but looking further forward into the future, according to the survey results the vision for data centres in ten years’ time fall into three broad camps.
The ‘Conservative’ vision expects to see a data centre ecosystem similar to the one that exists today, but larger with moderate resource effectiveness. The ‘Moderate’ vision sees enterprise data centres that will leverage standard technologies and modular designs to minimise operational costs and provide much greater flexibility than exists today. The final vision, the ‘Progressive’ vision, foresees smaller distributed data centres that are much more resource effective than those of today, overlaid
with super-effective low energy
hyper-scale collocation and social networking facilities.

It is likely that all three may co-exist to some degree. The data centre of 2025 could be compared to transport; just like the variations between family cars and sports cars, buses and trucks, data centres will have varying characteristics and reliability depending upon load and speed. What is certain though is that future computing and storage will likely be more resource effective, more powerful and denser than those of today.

Avoiding the skills apocalypse

By DCProfessional Development.

THE DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY is suffering from a global skills shortage for multiple reasons, the increased propensity for multi-skilling, depth of knowledge of data centre professionals and the ageing workforce is causing a massive gap in the industry, which we need to address by attracting the younger generation to the industry.

Over 60% of data center operators are concerned about an industry-wide skills shortage. This is the latest figure from a DCD Census and paints a worrying picture about the future of the global data center industry. Especially when you consider the hugely important contribution it makes to the global economy. Aside from the fact that the data center industry is growing very rapidly – there are over half a million people employed in the industry today - there are a variety of reasons why the industry is experiencing an ever-growing skills gap.

Depth of expertise
Given the manner in which data centers have developed over recent years – from providing simple data storage and colocation through to hosting, providing managed services, Infrastructure as a Service and further cloud-based services – the skills required of data center professionals are becoming more and more complex and need to cover many disciplines. The depth of expertise and professionalism of the people who work within a data center can have a dramatic effect on what is a crucial piece of every company’s infrastructure. Lack of IT talent is a global problem facing businesses, academia and governments alike. When recruiter Hays Group recently compiled a list of top 10 skills that are lacking in today’s economy, IT was pinpointed as one of the top hard skills in demand around the world.

The DCD Census showed local skills shortages in both of the largest mature markets – North America and Europe – and the fastest growing emerging markets of South East Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

Multi-skilling
Multi- skilling as a response to skills shortage has increased since 2011 based on a number of factors:
 The increasing urgency of the skills issue
and its links with efficiency and
performance are understood and
acknowledged
 There is a stronger focus on managing the
data center as a business unit rather than
a set of technologies
 An improving capability of collecting and
analysing information on staff activity
within the data center and;
 Increased availability of the educational
and informational means to deliver
multi-skilling.

In 2013 research showed 30% of staff are dedicated to just one area of the data center’s operations (IT and applications or facility or operations etc.) This is 7% lower than 2011, showing that the propensity for multi-skilling is increasing. 60% have responsibilities across multiple areas of the data center including; facility, engineering, IT&apps, networks, operations, sales and finance. There are increasing requirements for all elements of the data center to operate according to strategic requirements, demonstrating transparency and accountability. Thus, the move towards multi-skilling in the data center is inevitable. The transition appears to be much faster in larger organizations based in established markets with substantial data center portfolios.

Age profile
There’s no doubt that the IT skills gap appears a more difficult problem for the data center industry to solve than for other sectors of IT. Consider the age profile of data center staff in the industry today. It is a sector characterised by a large body of older, very experienced professionals. These ‘silverbacks’ of the industry are rapidly approaching retirement age and are not being replaced by younger staff. Michael Fluegeman, distinguished consultant and instructor suggests that the number of younger staff isn’t the only issue. “For those early in their data center career it can take years to accumulate the required experience in practice. Unless one regularly changes jobs or work assignments, they can end up with a small amount of experience repeated many times, without learning much of anything new.”

Attracting engineers
Recent outsourcing trends have meant that demand for junior staff has declined, while those who possess the necessary skills can demand higher salaries. There is also a reported mismatch in remuneration and benefits between permanent and contract staff, with recruiters proposing that contract staff will often earn more than their permanent counterparts. Perhaps more importantly, the data center industry simply isn’t seen as particularly sexy or exciting. Engineering graduates may be swayed by a seemingly more glamorous career path such as within software houses and internet businesses.

The industry is growing fast and the skills gap is very real. We need to work harder to market the data center profession to engineering graduates and help them with their career progression through professional development and on-the-job training. DCProfessional Development’s mission is to improve performance and productivity across the industry, by helping data centre professionals increase their skills, reducing
the amount of downtime caused by human error.

Are we really asking for experience from those who want experience?

By Lucy Gingell and Adelle Desouza at Colt Technology.

WITH SKILLS SHORTAGE soon to be a reality due to a generational gap they hope to bring the core issues to the forefront for discussion, debate and decisions with the support of the DCA community to protect the industry’s future with the leaders of today and tomorrow.

The DC industry, fast-paced and ever evolving in nature, is in need of bright individuals, fresh from academic life to fill the increasing number of new roles available. This news is not new but sadly still not widely acted upon. Whilst awareness and interest in the industry represent key issues of the shortfall, does the recruitment process also require closer scrutiny?

All Employers search for talented individuals who are willing to step out of their comfort zone to prove themselves in the work place. We have seen other industries introduce school leaver schemes, apprenticeships and graduate programmes - something we are keen advocates of in the data centre industry; but they have done this as phase two after awareness - and that’s important to remember. The demand for some sectors such as accountancy, gaming and app development has now resulted in the need for a thorough and stringent recruitment process. It is common knowledge that school leavers applying to schemes in top companies face challenging and intensive scrutiny in order to succeed in gaining that rare spot. The application process – which for graduates is usually completed whilst a student is undertaking finals at university – not only asks for proof of academia and hard work in a potential employee, but also presents applicants with a series of questions judging whether the candidate’s integrity, commitment and past experiences match the company profile.

The fact that so many enthusiastic, determined and interesting students fall short of a place on that sought-after scheme is a question that we will be sure to follow up in another piece. Understanding who decides where the line should be drawn under how many summer camps a candidate has volunteered at, or which grade-eight trumpeter should be eliminated from the process is also a topic to be thoroughly reviewed. What is becoming more apparent is that we in the data centre industry have seemingly jumped the “awareness” step that should precede this whole process, by simply running down the path of you need experience to get experience. We have not introduced opportunities for students at all levels, yet we are asking for their specific industry experience whilst questioning their real passion behind wanting to join the DC industry. Are we asking the little demand we
have to jump through hoops for jumping sake?

Asking candidates in our industry to demonstrate the echelons of experience as expected for the schemes that receive tens of thousands of applicants, is a huge deterrent. This also includes being submissive of degree subjects that by title alone do not sound complimentary (again, another article for another day).

Of course, with any role, applicants need to fit the selection criteria as seen fit by individual companies; the request here is for us in the DC industry to really recognise the demand vs supply environment unique to us. Recognising truly transferable skills from an array of experiences – not just DC related – to ensure capable individuals asking for a chance are welcomed to our seemingly secret world of data centres.

Lucy Gingell is the Marketing Assistant for the Data centre services team within Colt Technology Services. She joined the industry 3 months ago as a languages graduate from The University of Bristol.

Adelle Desouza is the Content Marketing specialist for the Data centre services team within Colt Technology. She joined the industry three years ago as a business graduate from The University of York .

Data centres have become cooler. No really

By Ian Perryment, Ark Data Centres.

DATA CENTRES ARE EXPENSIVE. Whether you have one in-house or have chosen to outsource, there is a fighting chance that it carries a big price tag. While energy companies have been criticised for their role in pushing up household bills, the financial impact on businesses has been something companies of all sizes have had to tackle.
It is also a cost that has been traditionally difficult to predict. Thankfully, the world has moved on. There has been an emergence of smarter, more efficient data centres that mitigate the traditional risks faced by the CFO.

PUE – What it is and why it matters
PUE (power usage effectiveness) is a measure of how efficiently a data centre uses energy. In other words, how many kilowatts of power it takes to support an equivalent kilowatt of technology. PUE can be your new best friend because it provides visibility on how well the data centre is running, which translates to how much it costs you. It can also be your enemy if you don’t understand how the figures are calculated and what is included in the figures you are being ‘sold’ – are your Teams and/or suppliers calculating the real efficiency of the data centre? Do they know how to?

To give some perspective and real numbers, we find most companies tend to run at a PUE of 2.5 or higher. If you could attain a PUE of 1.2, there is potential to achieve savings of around £1.2 million, per megawatt, per year. From an environmental perspective, that’s 6,000 tonnes of carbon that you could potentially be taxed on.

Operating an efficient data centre is better for business. We know that we can’t control energy prices but you can control how much you use and how it’s measured. It can be compared to running a car – you can’t control the price of petrol, but you can choose whether you buy a car which does 50 miles to the gallon or one that does just 15.

Efficiency needs a modern footprint to deliver. That is the role of today’s data centre.
When I speak with my CFO peers, the issue of predictability is a recurring theme. If you underperform as a company you have some serious questions to answer. Over perform and it looks like you’re not in control. If the role of the data centre is critical to the business, then ensuring your PUE is fixed will provide you with a better method to measure and predict your operating cost. By ‘fixing’, the data centre company is taking the risk of an unexpected efficiency reduction rather than passing on the associated cost.

Not everyone is a data centre expert
Once upon a time, the data centre itself was once viewed as a decision owned by the IT department but technology budgets are on the rise and unfortunately contain the sort of variables that have the potential to spiral out of control.

But as technology has become one of many considerations for a CFO, property, running costs, maintenance and resourcing all now play a large part in their understanding of all the costs involved in data centre IT. Taking into account the risk components and having a clear view on the capital and operational expenditure are all important factors in your decision making.

But not everyone is a data centre specialist. Why would you be? You have business to run. So, to provide some guidance, here are the top five questions to ask if you have already outsourced or are considering it as an option:
 How are your providers coping with rising
energy prices and what are their strategies
to safeguarding any long-term investment
that you’re considering?
 What is their stability?
 How financially secure is the data centre
itself and what kind of investment do they
personally have?
 Do they own the land themselves or are
they leasing it? This affects both stability
and cost.

Lastly and perhaps most poignantly, what happens once you sign on the dotted line?

Does their support and interest end there?
The real value will come down to the type of people that you engage with. Will they work with you to solve your problems? Will they proactively help you to tackle issues like rising energy costs and provide a commitment to continuous improvement?
I certainly hope so.

Data centre efficiency has changed beyond measure and it will continue to evolve. It used to be that predictable wasn’t cool…
Well, times have changed.