“Hot” topics raised in Leeds at Data Centre Transformation 2013

This year saw a wide and varied range of talks which transcended the full breadth and depth of subject matter the data centre industry offers. This year also gave a great picture of the research and development being carried globally; for example the USA NSF funded VTAS project presented by Alfonso Ortega of University of Villanova, showed new angles of thinking when looking the thermodynamics of data centres. Other research talks of note were presented by Frank Van Bokoven and Jarno Bloem of Energy Software Solutions from the Netherlands as well as the EU funded “CoolEMAll” project presented by Ariel Olesksiak from Poznan, Poland and the University of Leeds’ own Ismael Solis Mareno who covered characterizing workloads to derive resource utilization models.

The conference also looked at matters of legislation, metrics and standards issues both at home and abroad, Dr Mike Walker from DEFRA gave a great overview of how the data centre looks from a EU and UK Government perspective, with the opposite vantage point presented by Emma Fryer of Intellect.

Some extremely valuable jargon busting talks were given on Building Information Management (BIM) and Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) where provided by Paul Field of architects ARC:MC and Matt Pumfrey of Smart Carbon Control respectively.

The finale to the day was a fascinating panel session featuring Dr Adam Beaumont of AQL, Andy Davidson of IX Leeds, George Hannah of Airedale and Tom Reardon Chief Exec of Leeds City Council. The discussion covered the effect on the City and the local economy of the presence of an internet exchange in Leeds. Also discussed were the challenges of bringing it about, not only from a technological and commercial perspective, but also political and environmental ones too.

In all 28 talks where provided, far too many for me to mention here but I would like to give a special thanks to aql for hosting the event at their superb venue, Data Centre Solutions who organised the conference, Dr Jon Summers and Prof Ian Bitterlin for their excellent chairmanship and finally to all the sponsors who make the event possible and free to attend.

The conference dinner at the Royal Armouries featured over 80 guests and proved a great way to socialise and discuss the day’s event whilst enjoying superb food and wine.

Turning to DCA matters watch out for groundbreaking news releases on R&D, training initiatives, membership and data centres featuring in the media very soon.

New events, members and features By Louise Fairley

We have already had quite a full events calendar for this year to date and here’s a summary of the next few months for your diaries.

24th September 2013, London- Data Centre Optimisation
29th October, Frankfurt- Powering the Cloud

Full details of all events are available to view on www.data-central.org and keep an eye on the advertising banners and any emails from me for promotions, sponsorship opportunities and special discounts.

I’m pleased to report that membership has been growing significantly over the last few months. During April and to date our new members include DBK Partners LLP, Nextira one, Future Facilities, Critical Power Supplies, Smart Carbon Control, JS Humidifiers, Banyards Soutions, Altus Edwin Hill, ABB, AVK Power, City Lifeline, Fluke Networks and Colt Technology Services. All are welcome new DCA members - my thanks for their support of the DCA.
In terms of Data Central as a community I see that many of you are now actively using this to submit articles and news items which, is fantastic to see. I’m still keen to encourage more of our members to take advantage of reciprocal linking between company websites and the DCA. As a DCA member you have access, through Data Central, to the Media Pack and your membership logo and whether on a ‘partner page’ or from your homepage, can be linked back to the DCA.

We have made some improvements to the Member Directory recently which include adding an AtoZ facility allowing for much easier navigation through the listings. Having an increasing list of members is a great problem to have!

I will also shortly be offering opportunities for member promotion through our Websites which, I hope will be of major benefit to you. Watch this space for further details.