02 December 2016
On 29th and 30th November the first Data Center World Paris took place and was a great success. Located at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles (south of Paris), this large conference center is currently being renovated to be the center of an innovative ecosystem gathering new services and highly connected people. With almost a village-like layout of different venues and facilities, the future design of the conference grounds already coming alive in its current settings. A lively vibe which also translated to the Data Center World conference itself which was attended by many professionals looking to interact and discuss the latest within the world of Data Centers.
EURECA was pleased to participate as Institutional Partner, together with the Data Center Alliance as Event Partner, for this occasion as first DCW conference in Paris , We had the opportunity to showcase a variety of different aspects to the EURECA platform.
The event brought together a qualified audience, ranging from policy makers, to ICT professionals and public sector representatives interested in products and services to meet their needs for innovation, energy efficiency and the latest technical and expertise developments being showcased and provided.
EURECA contributed to the event with a total of 8 different workshops or engagement opportunities, both in English and French. From a more extensive session to learn more about the EU DC Code of Conduct, to a demonstration of EURECA’s assessment features, a case study from Northern Ireland Government and a workshop on the locally relevant legislation and policy integration within the tool and training modules.
Our aim was to bring together public sector leaders and experts to share knowledge, experiences and discuss various aspects relating to consolidation and sustainability of data centre environments.
For more discussions and engagements we had a dedicated area in the VIP Lounge at our disposal which was specifically catered to facilitate networking activities. This allowed us the opportunity to speak with interested parties more in depth.
The role of Public Procurement for sustainable data centres
Recurring topics across the conference was the increasing shift to software-defined data center environments, the adoption of DCIM and monitoring software and the attention to data security. What is interesting to mention is that we have spoken with people from many different sectors and with different roles; and a shared feedback aspect was the aim for more sustainable operations across the board. During our stay in Paris, we’ve seen interest from both public and private organisations on the topic of green data center environments, either through the increase of energy efficiency or from the perspective of decreasing their carbon footprint.
We have made initial contacts with several organisations who have expressed their interest to follow up on possible collaborations, for example to discuss the potential of initiating an upcoming procurement tender with an environmentally sound approach using the EURECA platform. Which has the potential to positively impact the overall procurement strategy of any organisation. This growing trend is noticeable in many European countries, especially the key DC’s markets such as The Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom and Germany. As a first venue of the DCW in Paris, France is among these growing markets as it’s the 4th most equipped country in Data Centers and 3rd ICT market in Europe. This opportunity to reach out to professionals in France, being able to showcase the EURECA tool and exchange ideas was welcomed by both ourselves and the people we talked with.
An online tool to identify improvement opportunities for you and your DC
Data Center, ICT and procurement professionals interested in trying out our online EURECA platform themselves can freely register. This unique online tool is also an opportunity to review your knowledge and learn more. You will have access to several online training modules or you can perform a self-assessment to identify where the strengths and improvement opportunities are of your own DC environment. Are you looking for some additional support from the EURECA project team, feel free to contact us.
Check out the EURECA Presentations at Data Centre World at: https://www.dceureca.eu/?page_id=1906 .
The EURECA platform for is freely available and accessible via https://tool.dceureca.eu. The platform is currently running in beta during the EURECA project and is regularly updated and will be continued after the project. Trying out the different features and feedback is welcomed by the project team.