Data Center Links: Colt, IBM, Schneider

Here’s our review of some of this week’s noteworthy links for the data center industry:

Colt awarded Tier III Design Certification.  Colt announced that it has been awarded the Uptime Institutes's Tier III Certification of Design Documents for two halls inside its London 3 facility. The award certifies that the design meets all of the requirements set out by the Institute's global benchmarking system for Concurrent Maintainability and therby minimizes the risk of a service disruption by ensuring 99.98 percent uptime capability.  "Colt's flagship facility in London is renowned for its operational excellence, state-of-the-art technology, resilience and security," said Guy Ruddock, VP Design and Delivery at Colt. "As the international language of accountability and certification for the data centre industry, this award distinguishes Colt from self-certified data centre providers, whose Tier III claims for the concurrent maintainability are often dubious."

IBM opens data center in Mexico.  IBM announced the opening of its Smarter Data Center, located at the IBM Technology Campus in Guadalajara city, Mexico. This first-of-its-kind site in the country will support the business transformation of enterprise and government clients and help them improve operations in today's global economic environment. The approximately $30 million investment is a part of $70 million that IBM is investing in Mexico in 2012 for technology initiatives. The IBM Smarter Data Center will become part of IBM's global network of more than 400 data centers providing clients with access to IT tools and resources, knowledge transfer, best practices and global standards. "Supported by long term experience in data centers, we are proud to be able to offer to Mexican companies new opportunities to innovate and achieve greater competitive advantage. We aim to support Mexico's and our clients' development and capabilities, seeking to provide high transformational value and contribute to our Smarter Planet agenda," said Hugo Santana, President and General Manager of IBM Mexico.

Schneider UPS achieves ENERGY STAR qualification.  Schneider Electric announced that select Back-UPS and Smart-UPS models have become the first-ever UPSs to earn the ENERGY STAR qualification under the federal program’s new UPS category. To achieve the qualification UPS products must have an operational efficiency in the top 25 percent of the market and be subject to the EPA's ENERGY STAR test procedure. The Schneider products that earned the ENERGY STAR designation don't currently include larger data center UPS systems. “We are pleased to extend the ENERGY STAR certification to energy efficient UPS products as part of our effort to promote efficiency in data centers,” said Robert Meyers, Data Center Product Manager, ENERGY STAR. “As data center equipment becomes more environmentally friendly, we’re thrilled to include this new product category, as well as further promote the ability of companies across industries to make informed, transparent decisions around purchasing energy-conscious equipment.” Schneider also plans to pursue ENERGY STAR certification for additional UPS products over the next year.