The Quality Management System ISO 9001 Accreditation was achieved by Sentrum for all of its data centres, which means that the company is now the first owner and operator in the data centre space to achieve the world’s most recognised quality framework award. Sentrum was required to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements, using the framework to monitor and improve performance to enhance customer satisfaction. The accreditation is very much regarded as a significant achievement for Sentrum’s specialist data centre facilities management team, and certainly sets the standard in the sector for others to now also reach.

In line with its ongoing commitment to improvement, Sentrum has also become a member of the Data Centre Alliance (DCA), a not-for-profit international industry association representing the data centre industry to business and government. This decision further reinforces Sentrum’s drive to deliver industry best practice design and operational management as well as affirming its determination to share knowledge and expertise with other data centre operators. By joining the Data Centre Alliance, Sentrum will now be responsible for helping to support and drive key objectives which are paramount to the future development and health of the data centre industry.

“The company has had a strong start to 2012, yet the plans for the rest of the year remain just as focused and ambitious,” said Franek Sodzawiczny, Chief Development Officer and Co-Founder at Sentrum. He believes that demand for increasingly flexible, cost effective data storage requires Sentrum to continually innovate in the design, build and maintenance of its data centres. “Securing the ISO 9001 accreditation is a further proof point that Sentrum is committed to continuous improvement which is highly regarded by customers and prospects alike. Equally, our decision to join the DCA shows a willingness to share experiences and best practice as we kick off further expansion.”

There have been significant fluctuations in the proportion of companies that outsource at least part of their data centre requirements – 43 % in 2008, 85% in 2009, 67% in 2010 and 75% in 2011 – but the data centre market is now regarded as a mature sector. In fact, 18% of companies have now cited that they plan to outsource in the future, rather than spending more on infrastructure and real estate.

“Data centre operators are responding to this increased demand by guaranteeing improved levels of service and providing added value through consultancy,” said Franek Sodzawiczny, CDO and Co-Founder at Sentrum. “According to our recent research, 54% of senior directors now expect dedicated, specialist, teams to oversee the day-to-day management of their data centre facilities, which shows that knowledge is now significantly improved.”

Past energy efficiency statistics, and attitudes towards them, also make for interesting reading. The government’s mandatory Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme resulted in 62% of companies starting to proactively measure the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of their data centre projects and, in 2011, 72% of companies had finally set targets for power usage, and associated power cost reductions.

According to Sentrum, over specification and under utilisation may now be the biggest problem in the data centre sector. In 2009, whilst 23% of companies cited that their data centres were over specified, in 2011 this figure had jumped to 85%.

Sodzawiczny believes that this dramatic increase is as a result of two fundamental issues: the need to accommodate any fluctuations in demand for data storage and the struggle to accurately predict future requirements. This was also further endorsed by the latest Sentrum research report, entitled Data Centre Deliberations, which showed that 17% of data centre specifications were out of date within 12 months or less, whilst the average plan remained current for just 2 years and 11 months.

“As long as businesses remain under pressure to meet strict compliance guidelines, the data centre operator will continue to have to work harder to give the right advice about how to store the data whilst using less space and guaranteeing reliability and power in the most cost effective manner.”

About the Research
Sentrum has commissioned Dynamic Markets to carry out independent research into the Data Centre Industry since 2008. The most recent report – entitled ‘Data Centre Deliberations’ – was published in September 2011 and was the fifth in the series.

The reports detail quantitative research with IT professionals in large organisations across the UK. A total of 100 interviews have been collected for each report with senior IT professionals across a wide variety of industry sectors, working in large organisations with 250 or more employees.

Wall brings over 16 years experience of the data centre industry to Sentrum. His extensive knowledge of the techniques that are leading the construction of new generation, flexible, highly sustainable, large scale data centres is excellent and exhaustive.

In the last 12 years alone, Wall has worked with some of the most respected names in the industry, including Global Switch and Digital Realty Trust. He was also one of the founding partners of Quark Technological Solutions, an international consultancy specialising in the engineering and project management of mission critical facilities located in Europe and Asia.

It was during his time in this role that he led the team which achieved the first commercial Tier IV certification in Spain, for Tissat, winning the award for Innovation in the Medium Data Centre at the Data Center Leaders Award 2010.

“His breadth of industry knowledge, combined with his talent for building strong international relationships, makes Michael a fantastic addition to the Sentrum family,” said Franek Sodzawiczny, Chief Development Officer and Co-Founder at Sentrum. “His experience complements the strengths of the existing team and, as Sentrum enters a new phase of growth with some substantial targets to hit, I am confident that Michael will work effectively within the organisation to help achieve these. The Sentrum team is very much looking forward to 2012 as it continues to expand its international data centre portfolio.”

Highly regarded by his peers in the data centre industry, Taylor joins Sentrum from CBRE’s Data Centre Team. Part of CBRE’s Global Corporate Services team in EMEA, he was involved in strategic marketing, acquisitions, technical real estate and occupational real estate strategy. He was also heavily involved in the AT&T AGN Global Rollout and the creation of the Data Centre Group’s Landlord team, which was designed to focus solely on the interests of investors, developers and operators of data centres.

“We are delighted that Stephen has chosen to join the team at Sentrum,” said Franek Sodzawiczny, Chief Development Officer and Co-Founder at Sentrum. “Sentrum is experiencing strong growth and our plans to expand out in to new geographical locations – both in the UK and further afield – means that Stephen will play a full and dynamic role within the organisation. We are more than confident that he will deliver exceptional results.”

Taylor’s appointment further confirms Sentrum’s continued and focused determination to provide greater reach, support and specialist services to its existing client base and onwards to new customers.

“I am delighted to be joining Sentrum, with whom I have had a long standing involvement, at a time when they are growing their portfolio and product offering,” commented Taylor. “The role gives me the opportunity to build on the experience I gained at CBRE, and I look forward to taking an active role in Sentrum’s growth. I am particularly excited about the expansion of the product offering, which will offer clients a more flexible, scalable solution, as I believe this will appeal to an ever-widening customer base.”

The research – entitled ‘Data Centre Deliberations’ – also found that, in parallel to the need for improved planning, over-specification for current business needs was also an area of concern. Collectively, 85% of companies confessed that their current data centres are over-specified, with 14% going as far as saying that this was to a “considerable level.”

Amongst the companies with over-specified data centres, 59% admitted that the situation costs them money – with the average figure cited being a staggering £205,948 per annum, per company. In fact this could also be considerably higher, as a significant 26% of the respondents were not sure how much this situation added to the annual IT spend for their company.

“Ensuring a scalable solution and adding long term value should be high on the data centre operator’s business agenda but being able to apply specialist knowledge to that, in order to advise and guide businesses to develop a robust data centre plan, is what really separates the market leaders from the rest,” said Franek Sodzawiczny, CDO and Co-Founder at Sentrum. “I have no doubt that businesses will continue to closely monitor IT spend in 2012 and I expect to see a continued pressure on IT managers to reduce operating costs. The data centre strategy will of course be a part of the business that is focused on. I’m not shocked to learn that there are a number of highly over-specified data centres out there, but I believe that hearing about the associated costs will send a shiver down some spines.”

The report, the fifth in the Sentrum research series, also highlighted that 94% of respondents admitted that they tend to over purchase space, taking more than is needed due to concerns about availability in the future. In fact, 29% of the companies questioned always take this approach to buying data centre space whilst 65% feel that this ‘sometimes’ applies to them.

“It is still surprisingly common to hear of panic buying in the data centre market as a lot of operators actively encourage clients to lease extra space to allow for rapid growth rather than working with them closely to understand what their business need realistically is in the short-to-mid term,” concluded Sodzawiczny.

About the Research:

This report was commissioned by Sentrum and details quantitative research with IT professionals in large organisations across the UK. It is the fifth report in a series dating back to 2008. For this survey, a total of 100 interviews were collected with senior IT professionals across a wide variety of industry sectors and in large organisations with 250 or more employees.

All respondents confirmed prior to interview that they were an IT professional with responsibility for the company’s data centres from an operational and / or strategic perspective. They also confirmed their level of seniority: 24% are at CIO / director level and 76% are at senior manager level.

Responses, where relevant, have been compared with research results collated in 2008 and 2009 and 2010.

The agreement will mean that Sentrum’s power needs will now be met through a variety of accredited renewable technologies including, wind, solar, tidal, wave or biomass.

“As our latest research into the UK data centre market shows, companies are increasingly turning to data centre operators to help them reduce their carbon footprints,” said Scott Goodwin, Group Energy Officer at Sentrum. “This decision, to review the methods by which our energy is supplied, is an important step forward and makes good business sense for everyone.”

The research also found that whilst 75% of companies have received advice on PUE not all have followed it completely, if at all – in fact just 25% cited that they had followed the advice given to the letter. “We hope that the fact that this renewable sourced electricity, which also allows us to manage our Climate Change Levy (CCL) obligations, will in turn positively impact the PUE efficiency targets that Sentrum is set to achieve for itself and its customers,” Goodwin concluded.

Six months in to the CRC scheme’s first full compliance year, 62% of the companies surveyed said that they are now proactively measuring the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of their data centre projects. Perhaps more importantly, 72% of companies cited that they have set targets for power usage and associated power cost reductions. This figure is higher still for those who outsource their data centre space requirements (79%), compared to those that do not (55%).

It is worth noting however that in spite of these positive intentions, the average power cost reduction achieved over the last 12 months was just 29%. Whilst IT Managers in retail, wholesale and distribution and the services sectors say that they have managed to reduce power usage by a large amount (31% and 32% respectively), IT Managers from the manufacturing, utilities and telecoms markets only secured a 17% reduction in power usage. A disappointing 13% of companies did not see any reduction in costs against their targets over the same time period.

“Data centre operators are obviously well placed to offer specialist advice about how to maximise energy efficiencies,” said Franek Sodzawiczny, CDO and Co-Founder at Sentrum. “However it appears that whilst such providers work to share information and guidance, which in turn is also considered to be increasingly important by companies, the advice is not always acted upon which surprises me.”

The research – entitled ‘Data Centre Deliberations’ – also found that whilst 95% of companies that currently outsource their data centre feel that their provider should be more proactive about offering advice in this area; with 36% of companies going so far as to stipulate that specialist knowledge is an essential in a data centre provider; an amazing 75% of those companies don’t follow the advice given completely, if at all.

“Data centre operators need to focus on reassuring companies that the advice they are giving is in fact impartial, reliable and will help to deliver the efficiency savings being demanded. This is exactly why Sentrum appointed a Group Energy Officer who is dedicated to keeping on top of this very complex subject,” continued Sodzawiczny. “In my opinion, the rigours of the CRC scheme require expert knowledge that not all companies will have access to in-house.  It makes sense that identifying and developing a business partnership with an organisation that can offer such key expertise will be essential going forward.  Particularly if companies are keen to work within, or better still reduce, their emission allowances.”

“The research shows promising signs that the majority of enterprise-scale businesses are now addressing the area of carbon performance, which is increasingly recognised as one of the key criteria for success,” added Hugh Jones, Managing Director, Carbon Trust Advisory. “To ensure they are operating at maximum carbon and energy efficiency; we’d encourage businesses to align their initiatives with industry-wide agreed methods for measuring the footprints of data centres, such as the GHG Protocol ICT sector initiative and the Green Grid working group.”

About the Research:
This report was commissioned by Sentrum and details quantitative research with IT professionals in large organisations across the UK. It is the fifth report in a series dating back to 2008.  For this survey, a total of 100 interviews were collected with senior IT professionals across a wide variety of industry sectors and in large organisations with 250 or more employees.

All respondents confirmed prior to interview that they were an IT professional with responsibility for the company’s data centres from an operational and / or strategic perspective. They also confirmed their level of seniority: 24% are at CIO / director level and 76% are at senior manager level.

Responses, where relevant, have been compared with research results collated in 2008 and 2009 and 2010.

46% of IT managers in large UK-based companies, when questioned, thought it essential that a data centre operator should have the ability to add value in the long term, and 54% of the senior directors that took part in the survey agreed.  When it came to the issue of who maintains and manages the data centre infrastructure and facilities however, a substantial 57% of respondents felt that a data centre operator’s in-house team should be directly responsible for the day-to-day management.

The debate doesn’t end there as, in addition, 44% went as far as saying they would not choose an operator who outsourced the facilities management to a third-party company whilst 47% of IT managers in these large companies added that they think it is essential that the data centre operator also demonstrates specialist expertise in data centre design and build alongside managing the ongoing operations.

“It is always interesting to see how any industry develops and evolves in response to customer demands and this increased focus on Facilities Management will shift the data centre sector once again to become more accountable in this area,” said Franek Sodzawiczny, CDO and Co-Founder at Sentrum.  “Effectively overseeing the ongoing day-to-day management of the data centre is just as important as getting the design and build right at the very beginning of the project.  It baffles me that some organisations still rely on a third party to manage this on their behalf. This is where the long term customer relationship opportunity lies.  It doesn’t make sense to outsource the operational aspect.”

The research – entitled ‘Data Centre Deliberations’ – also showed that only 17% of the IT Managers that responded said that they did not mind whether the data centre partner is directly involved in the facilities management or whether it is outsourced.  Even though the percentage here is already very low, Sodzawiczny expects it “to drop further as awareness around the importance of good facilities management builds.”

The survey also addressed attitudes in the market and gathered feedback on what capabilities a good operator should demonstrate.  Ensuring a scalable solution and adding long term value was high up the business agenda, but specialist knowledge on maximising energy efficiencies in the data centre environment (38%) was also now said to be increasingly important.

About the Research:
This report was commissioned by Sentrum and details quantitative research with IT professionals in large organisations across the UK. It is the fifth report in a series dating back to 2008.  For this survey, a total of 100 interviews were collected with senior IT professionals across a wide variety of industry sectors and in large organisations with 250 or more employees.

All respondents confirmed prior to interview that they were an IT professional with responsibility for the company’s data centres from an operational and / or strategic perspective. They also confirmed their level of seniority: 24% are at CIO / director level and 76% are at senior manager level.

Responses, where relevant, have been compared with research results collated in 2008 and 2009 and 2010.

Nick Yu
Vice President Data Centre Infrastructure
Dresdner Kleinwort

Michael Fahy
Global Head of Infrastructure
Nomura