Pan-European Datacenter Research Project Commences
The European Commission has awarded 1.7 million Euros (US$2.26 million) to a datacenter-focused R&D initiative. The Pan-European Data Centre Academy, aka PEDCA, will be lead by the Data Centre Alliance (DCA) and the University of East London (UEL) with the support of thirteen partners drawn from academia, industry and government.
An international industry association based in Europe, the DCA works to foster collaboration between the 27 member states of the EU and promote datacenter best practices and operational standards. PEDCA seeks to leverage and extend this existing framework.
While Europe has been active in the green computing space, this marks the first time that a European governing body has provided funding for a datacenter research program. According to the DCA, the datacenter sector has not received the public investment that has benefitted other industries.
In the words of DCA executive director Simon Campbell-Whyte, "It seems incredible that a sector as important to the European economy as data centres – which every other sector now relies upon for its operations – has never had any independent government funded research into best practice, sustainability, energy reduction or training needs."
The partners have already identified several areas that are in need of attention. These are
- Insufficient Research and Development
- Lack of skills
- Lack of standards
- Lack of Network Investment
- Reducing cybercrime and increasing trust
- Lack of interoperability
In keeping with the goals communicated in Europe 2020, the project includes a strong green computing element. The partners will be looking for opportunities to reduce datacenter energy consumption and promote eco-friendly practices. One action item calls for the creation of independent networked research facilities to enable trusted datacenter energy monitoring.
The 18-month project launched on July 1st and is slated to run through December 31, 2014.
