European Commission funds data centre research

The European Commission has provided a grant of €1.7 million (£1.1 million) for the data centre industry to get a long term research programme on the roll.

It's the first time a European government body has provided backing for research in the field, which will be led by the Data Centre Alliance (DCA) and the University of East London (UEL).

Named the Pan-European DCA (PEDCA) project, it will run over the next 18 months with the aim of setting up a pan-European academy and devising a joint action plan for the industry. The DCA hopes that this will provide the momentum to pull in more government grants and money from the industry to fund research in the longer term.

Simon Campbell-Whyte, Executive Director of the DCA, said: "The Pan-European DCA project is truly is a foundation stone for the industry, and an opportunity for data centre issues to feature strongly in future research funding calls. It is strategically important for the future sustainability and health of the industry."

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Setting priorities

The priorities for PEDCA are to identify what research is needed for the industry, set up a platform on which it can be organised and to get more people from European data centres involved. The industry is currently concentrated in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany, but it is expanding in Eastern Europe.

The DCA is supporting the project by making its members' portal open to interested parties free of charge.

In recent months it has launched a certification programme for data centres meeting best practice requirements and led research on proper cleaning standards in the industry.