At a glance: The Intellect Data Centres Group brings together the IT industry and the UK's data centre operators to enable the sector to articulate a cohesive pan-industry voice, communicate concerns with greater clout, and represent the sector's interests to all stakeholders with greater effectiveness.
Interim Chair: Andrew Jay, CB Richard Ellis Ltd
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Purpose and Objectives•
Work programmes •
Meetings•
Publications•
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Purpose and ObjectivesThe overarching mission of Intellect's work is to showcase that data centres are central to economic growth and provide the foundations of the digital economy.
The group consists of over 80 different companies, including designers and operators of data centres, the major suppliers to the industry, consultancies, legal representatives and a wide range of innovative SME companies.
The group is headed by Intellect's Data Centres Council, an elected body from the group of approximately 15 senior figures representative of the group. The Council drives Intellect's work and is a voice for the sector.
Download the 2-page Executive Overview of our Data Centres Programme
Work Programmes
Our work has a central theme of being a voice for the data centres industry in the UK to government and wider industry. We aim to promote the industry and articulate its concerns and ensure they are on the policy agenda - with the aim of creating the best possible environment in the UK for the industry to flourish.
As part of this our work is divided into teh following strands:
1) Carbon Reduction
Visit our CRC page for full information on our extensive activity around the Carbon Reduction Commitment.
Intellect is also in discussions with the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) regarding the possibilities for a Climate Change Agreement (CCA) for the UK data centre sector.
Intellect also recently hosted a series of witness sessions with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) asking Intellect members what they needed from government to help them flourish in a low carbon economy. A review of these sessions can be found
here.
2) Driving Professionalism in the Industry
In spite of the increasing importance of data centres to the UK economy, it is surprising that those who work within the industry, or want to enter it, are faced with an uncertain career path.
One oft-mentioned problem is the lack of recognition of data centres which, in turn, has led to a lack of an appropriate specific qualification for data centre professionals recognising the varied skill set.
To explore ways of addressing this, Intellect is working with the Institute for Engineering and Technology looking at utilising existing professional qualifications for data centre professionals.
Find our more in our Executive Overview
3) G-Cloud - Find our more in our Executive Overview
Meetings
The group regularly holds speaker session for members looking at pertinent industry topics.
Recent meeting have covered:
• The new Green Grid Data Centre Maturity Model
• The CRC and possibilities surrounding Climate Change Agreements.
• The benefits of different types of data centre design (e.g. containerised, modular etc)
• The role of data centres in financial services
Full details, including slides, are available to members
here.
PublicationsThe Data Centres Group has produced a report aimed at the UK Government and regulators:
'Data centres: the backbone of the UK economy'.
The report outlines the vital role that data centers play in upholding both the public sector and private sector businesses, promotes the importance of data centres, and encourages the Government to consider the views of the industry more consistently when developing policy.
This document is an important step in formulating the UK data center industry's collective position, and will provide the basis for many stakeholders' understanding of the importance of the industry.
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