Open Data Center Alliance Demonstrates How Organizations Can Measure and Control Enterprise Cloud CO2 Emissions

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA), the global organization where members work together to advance enterprise cloud solutions and services that are interoperable, secure and free of vendor lock-in, today announced the release of a new PoC (proof of concept) paper designed to test and validate the concepts outlined in the ODCA Carbon Footprint and Energy Efficiency Usage Model. The PoC is based on a study conducted with ODCA members from BMW, Datapipe and Verne Global to demonstrate how organizations from across the cloud ecosystem can use ODCA's Carbon Footprint and Energy Usage Model today to compare, measure and ultimately optimize enterprise cloud CO2 emissions. ODCA will hold a public flash webinar at 10:00am US PT on Tuesday, December 17 to review findings outlined in the PoC. Anyone interested in attending the webinar may register on the ODCA BrightTALK Channel page.

The PoC details testing scenarios, results and benefits achieved by measuring the carbon footprint of cloud IT operations from the perspective of a data center operator (Verne Global), a cloud service provider (Datapipe), and a consumer of cloud services (BMW). In conjunction with the ODCA Carbon Footprint and Energy Efficiency Usage Model, the PoC provides companies with a comprehensive framework for comparing the CO2 emissions of products from cloud IT vendors and cloud solution providers in a consistent, equitable, and transparent manner. This makes it easier for any organization to specify and manage cloud services that are green and energy efficient.

"The ODCA Carbon and Energy Efficiency PoC released today is a valuable resource for any organization looking to measure and reduce CO2 emissions across the entire cloud ecosystem and an important document for helping enterprises meet government energy efficiency mandates and corporate sustainability goals," said Marvin Wheeler, executive director, Open Data Center Alliance. "We congratulate BMW, Datapipe and Verne Global for taking a leadership role in the development of the Carbon and Energy Efficiency PoC and for demonstrating how enterprises worldwide can leverage ODCA usage models and requirements to deploy greener and more energy efficient cloud services."

The Carbon Footprint and Energy Efficiency PoC has been developed within ODCA's Regulatory and Ecosystem workgroup, which is chaired by Pankaj Fichadia, Management Assurance (Enterprise Transformation), National Australia Bank. In addition to BMW, Datapipe and Verne Global, ODCA members participating in the development of the PoC include representatives from Atos, Intel, National Australia Bank and T-Systems. The paper references the Digital Service Efficiency (DSE) methodology developed by eBay, an ODCA adopter member, and references concepts and metrics developed by The Green Grid Association.  The paper is available for free download on the ODCA website.

Supporting quotes:

BMW – "From the standpoint of BMW, the proof-of-concept testing confirmed that equitable comparisons of an enterprise's carbon footprint can be successfully obtained at a cloud subscriber level," said Susanne Obermeier, global data center manager, BMW Group. "The documented techniques and approach in the ODCA carbon footprint PoC should provide a valuable framework for other organizations to track, measure, and report the carbon emissions linked to their data center activities."

Datapipe – "This PoC establishes a scalable standard of measurement for both the energy efficiency and carbon footprint of cloud computing infrastructure," said Michael Parks, CTO, Datapipe. "In conjunction with cost, performance, and geographic location, it is now possible for carbon footprints to take a more prominent role in the IT decision making process."

The Green Grid Association - "Through important content like the paper on Carbon Footprint and Energy Efficiency in data centers, I am pleased to see that ODCA supports the efficiency metrics created by The Green Grid Association. Such work supports our vision for deploying eco-effective IT and data center operations," said Roger Tipley, board member of The Green Grid.

Verne Global – "There is no doubt that information technology is stimulating business growth, and sustaining this growth requires more data centers and more power. With 80% of the world's energy still being produced by fossil fuels, and data centers approaching a consumption of 2% of the world's power sources, it is not only important for companies to improve their focus on energy efficiency, but also to implement strategies that lower their data center carbon footprint," said Tate Cantrell, CTO at Verne Global. "Being able to compare vendor solutions as it relates to implementing environmentally-sustainable initiatives is essential. The ODCA Carbon Footprint and Energy Efficiency usage model is an excellent resource for companies and we are pleased that Verne Global was able to provide a real-world proof of concept to demonstrate that sustainability can be a business reality."

ODCA was launched in 2010 and since then the organization has released over 25 usage models and requirements documents focused on enterprise cloud computing and big data and including Commercial Framework, Compute Infrastructure as a Service (CIaaS), Cloud Based Identity Governance and Auditing, Data Security, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Scale-out Storage and Software Defined Networking (SDN). These usage models have been instrumental in the development of new products from cloud vendors and solution providers and when specified using PEAT, ODCA's online Proposal Engine Assistant Tool, have proven to dramatically streamline enterprise cloud RFP (Request for Proposal) processes. ODCA members regularly develop PoCs to validate and test ODCA usage models in real world enterprise cloud deployment scenarios.

About The Open Data Center Alliance
The Open Data Center Alliance^SM is an independent IT consortium comprised of hundreds of global IT leaders who have come together to provide a unified customer vision for long-term data center requirements. The ODCA Board of Directors is made up of representatives from BMW, Capgemini, China Unicom, Infosys, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International, Inc., NAB, NTT Data, SAP, T-Systems, UBS, Verizon Terremark and The Walt Disney Company. Intel serves as technical advisor to the Alliance. ODCA hosts a Flash Webinar Series every other Tuesday at 8:00am US PT. These public events are one of the best ways to get to know ODCA usage models from the ODCA members who worked on creating the documents. View the calendar and register to attend the webinars on the ODCA Flash Webinar page. More information about ODCA publications, membership, including information about how to become a member, can be found at the organization's website: www.opendatacenteralliance.org, and on Facebook, LinkedIn, Slideshare, Twitter, and YouTube.

Contact:
Russ DeVeau
Open Data Center Alliance 
[email protected] 
908-251-1549 mobile/text

SOURCE Open Data Center Alliance

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