Data Center Maturity: Training to Make Your Data Center More Efficient

Winston Saunders has worked at Intel for nearly two decades in both manufacturing and product roles. He has worked in his current role leading server and data center efficiency initiatives since 2006. You can find him online at “Winston on Energy” on Twitter.

WSaunders

The Green Grid-developed Data Center Maturity Model is gaining industry acceptance as a broad-based tool for the assessment of data center system health as well as providing a systematic approach to evaluating roadmap options. This “expert in a box” significantly lowers the barrier for the planning and adoption of options for improving efficiency.

And if you’re heading to the upcoming 7X24 Exchange conference in Phoenix, you’ll have a chance on Sunday to hear about the model, get trained in its use, and even get a real time opportunity to do a quick assessment of your data center. To the surprise of most, you now can run the model on your PC, iPad or even iPhone and get a reasonable first assessment in about 15 minutes.

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The Data Center Maturity Model. Graphic courtesy of The Green Grid.

What’s In The Maturity Model?

The model, first published by the Green Grid in February 2011 outlines capability descriptors by area so that users can benchmark their current performance, determine their levels of maturity, and identify the ongoing steps and innovations necessary to achieve greater energy efficiency and sustainability, both today and into the future. The maturity model touches upon every aspect of the data center including power, cooling, compute, storage and network. The levels of the model outline current best practices and a 5-year roadmap for the industry. An excellent whitepaper accompanies the tool to explain its nuances.

The model ranks maturity on a scale relative to industry best practice and a five-year vision for the future per the image below. Industry best practice varies of course whether you are talking about cooling, power, or management, but in each case the ideas have been thoroughly vetted by Green Grid content experts.

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The Data Center Maturity Model. Graphic courtesy of The Green Grid.

And this highlights one of the best elements of the Green Grid. In some cases Industry Best Practice or five-year vision has not yet been developed. So membership in the Green Grid represents the opportunity to shape one of the most exciting and dynamic industries. Significant work is still needed.

So if you’re planning to attend the upcoming 7X24 Exchange conference in Phoenix, please plan to attend the education session on November 11 and find out what all the excitement surrounding the Green Grid Maturity model is about. You’ll get a hands on introduction to the model and have the opportunity to walk away with an assessment on your data center. Who knows? You just might have the next great idea to make the model even better.

Industry Perspectives is a content channel at Data Center Knowledge highlighting thought leadership in the data center arena. See our guidelines and submission process for information on participating. View previously published Industry Perspectives in our Knowledge Library.