Is History Repeating Itself? (Revisited)

In Peter Judge’s piece 'should data centre operators look outside?' he speculates that a distrust of codes and rules exists, with ‘specific reasons to take a cool view on the EU code of conduct’.

This attitude is further endorsed by the Spectrum report, 'EU Code of Conduct failing to engage data centre industry', which concludes that IT considers other projects have higher priorities for resources.

The sentiments expressed are not unexpected and there are many recent examples of similar approaches by IT to issues that can have an important impact on costs and productivity.

For years businesses ignored important issues such as business continuity and even basic disaster recovery. Only when a formalised standard existed, and in some cases governance enshrined in law, did organisations take note of the available best practices.

Although many smart organisations will recognise the benefits of implementing best practice, the majority will wait to be coerced, by which time they will have lost many years of receiving key benefits, including reduced costs and carbon emissions. This approach seems to lack professionalism and is also self-defeating.

With the EU's Code of Conduct on Data Centres Energy Efficiency, history is repeating itself.

Governments and governing bodies are moving to adopt the principles of the Code of Conduct and place stronger importance on energy management. With the EU, USA, Japan and other nations aligning themselves with this issue, it is unlikely that the Code of Conduct is going to quietly disappear.

Not surprisingly, the current biggest take up of the Code of Conduct is by vendor organisations who recognise the potential marketing benefits that exist from its adoption. Vendor organisations are also developing new technologies that align with the Code of Conduct’s guiding principles; however the Code of Conduct’s real value is in the long term benefits it can deliver to organisations that must pay the energy bill through regular assessment.

Unfortunately there are still very few organisations that have progressed with the Code of Conduct, perhaps assuming that it’s voluntary status means that they do not need to give it any attention. As the demand for technology grows it is unrealistic to consider that any one vendor can solve your data centre energy issues or that a virtualisation project or migration to a cloud technology will keep your Carbon Reduction or Sustainability Officer satisfied.

In its current form, the Code of Conduct is a highly competent and authoritative set of best practices and although it still has some way to go, it is a credible start for any organisation looking to establish energy management as a discipline within the data centre.

Dimension 85 specialises in Data Centre Energy Efficiency Management.  and carbon reduction training in the data centre; You can contact Dimension 85 on the Dimension 85 website.