Google Announces Data Center Efficiency Summit

Google has announced plans for a European Data Centre Efficiency Summit, scheduled for May 24 in Zurich, Switzerland.  The event will bring together industry leaders and innovators to discuss energy efficiency best practices for data centers. Attendance is free, but space is limited, so interested parties should register online at their earliest opportunity.

During the Zurich event, Google and other industry leaders will present case studies that highlight cost-effective practices to enhance the energy performance of data centers. Google will share information about its data center operations, including an overview of its use of seawater to cool its facility in Finland, as well as a cost analysis of a computing and network room (CRN) retrofit.

The agenda also includes presentations and panel discussions featuring Amazon, DeepGreen, eBay, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Norman Disney & Young, PlusServer, Telecity Group, The Green Grid, UK's Chartered Institute for IT, UBS and others. Presenters will explore climate-specific implementations of free cooling as well as novel ways to use local resources in cooling.

This will be the second Google-sponsored Data Center Energy Efficiency Summit. The first was held in April 2009 at Google's campus in Mountain View, California.  At that event, Google unveiled its custom web server and a UPS design using on-board batteries, and released a video of its use of data center containers.