Code of Conduct

Over the past four years we have worked tirelessly together on building the DCA with the best interests of the industry at its core. Simon was a massive part of this success, his passion, vision and enthusiasm was infectious with all who met him and has ensured that the Industry Association is stronger today than it has ever been which is a legacy he should be very proud of.

 The support and offers of help we have received has been quite overwhelming which is testament to just how strong the bond is within the DCA between all its members and just how highly regarded Simon was by both close colleagues and the data centre industry as a whole, he will be sadly missed by all that knew him.

This month’s DCA Journal theme was especially close to Simon’s heart. As I write delegates will be returning from the 2015 annual update meeting for the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres (Energy Efficiency) which this year took place in Milan on the 6^th October. Many of you are aware of the DCA’s long term support as Endorsers of the code, however what you may not be aware of is, as an Industry Association Endorser we are also required to take on additional Endorser responsibilities which we take very seriously in our support of both the code and Paolo Bertoldi European (Commission - DG JRC) and his team that run the code on behalf of the EU Commission to help in a wider adoption of this scheme.

“Extract from Code of Conduct on Data Centres – Endorser Best practice commitments for industry associations / Standards bodies; Guidelines -- Version 2.0.1, January 2013”:

1. Develop and support industry specific literature including: a. Technical training b. Manuals c. Case studies

2. Integrate Energy Efficiency into existing guidelines e.g. ITSMF7 library

3. Promote the Code of Conduct best practices

4. Help develop independent metrics, standards, gather data etc.

5. Once a year, report activities towards achieving their commitments, directly to the Code of Conduct secretariat

In response to these commitments; the DCA has firstly tried to make it as easy as possible for organisations wishing to find out more to locate the information needed. Existing DCA members when asked commented that it was not always easy to find the relevant information so the DCA created a dedicated URL: www.EUCodeofConduct.EU which takes you to an information page on the DCA website providing helpful information and direct links to the related EU Commission JRC pages needed to either become a participant or endorser in their own right.

The DCA continues to fulfil ALL its annual commitments as an industry association in fact this months DCA journal edition is dedicated solely to the EU Code of Conduct with articles from existing DCA members who are also enthusiastic supporters of the Code and who are seeing the benefits of adopting the Code as both Participants and or fellow Endorsers.

The DCA will continuing to work with existing Members to ensure their EU code of Conduct status is fully featured and recognised on DCA website and we will continue to encourage all members who have already adopted the EU Code of Conduct to report directly back annually to the commission to maintain their status.

Any case studies which highlight the “before and after” energy saving effects of adopting the EU Code of Conduct are always welcomed as this helps to both demonstrate your own ongoing commitment to the code and also helps to encourage others to adopt the scheme at the same time.

I would like to thank all the members who submitted articles in this month’s DCA Journal and also thank everyone for the kind words of condolence and offers of support we have received.