Organised in Bucharest, 11^th of May 2017, DataCenter Forum was the first national professional and one of the best international event full dedicated to data centers technologies and solutions. Organiser Tema Energy brings together more than 300 participants, IT infrastructure professionals and engineering experts and 14 of most important players from  Data Center equipment industry.

The DataCenter Forum was structured as a comprehensive conference & exhibition event, offering to participants a very interesting Agenda with keynotes, debates, company presentations and workshops and a +550 sqm exhibition area for indoor and outdoor equipment. Between the Data Center equipment providers which come in Bucharest with top level international representants were APC by Schneider, Carrier, Caterpillar, Hoppecke, Leoch, Mitsubishi Electric, Nexans, Pyralis, Riello UPS, Rittal, Toshiba, Uniflair, Uniline, and Vertiv.

Very interesting was the beginning discussions panel bringing on the Forum podium representative exponents from international data center (DC) institution, local CIO community, and organiser manager: Scott Roots – Business Development Manager at Uptime Institute, Yugo Neumorni – President CIO Council Romania, and Mihai Manole – Managing Partner Tema Energy. ”DataCenter Forum is addressing all organisations interested in new technologies and reevaluation of their legacy infrastructure, offering the possibility to direct contact with the most important worldwide DC providers at and to see how are working the state-of-the-art DC equipment and industrial solutions,” said Mihai Manole in his opening keynote.

One of the most interesting presences in Datacenter Forum event was Uptime Institute, worldwide recognised authority for the creation and administration of the Tier Standards & Certifications for DC design, construction, and operational sustainability. For the first time in Romania, Scott  Roots – Business Development Director Uptime Institute EMEA sustained a conference dedicated to “Digitization & the changing shape of data center”, and a workshop named “Data Center Management & Operations Best Practice“.

In the first presentation, Scott discussed brief results offered by a very interesting Data Center Industry Survey, conducted by Uptime Institute with 1500 world wide DC executive. Here are some considerations derived from the main results of the study: ITC infrastructure is becoming the largest distribution platform for providing public and private services to million of people in rural and poor areas. The mobile platform is emerging as the single most powerful way to extend economic opportunities and key services to million of whatever their background. With 10% increase in high-speed Internet connections, economic growth increases by 1.3%. Domestic DC in the regions is a vital component of the region’s economic infrastructure.

“Romania is in a strategic position as it provides a gateway to markets of the CIS and Balkans for many countries. Romania is a market with excellent potential and an increasingly solid business climate. With well-developed infrastructures, its diversified economy, and well-educated workforce represent a good base for further economic growth,” said Scott Roots, commenting specific results of the DV study.

The main digitisation effects in DC industry are truly related to a global scale. Fast assimilation of last technology trends like mobile allows broader participation of the market to DC resources. This is conducting to a most accelerated information flows in both sectors, Government and private sector pursuing their digital agendas accordingly the increased need for digital skills. Data Centers was permanent in the heart of the action in this transformation process, coming with new efficiency requests and offering a more competitive landscape for knowledge diffusion, specialisation, and human capital development. DC is becoming a strategic asset that supports higher productivity, increased innovation and contribution to growth.

According to Uptime Institute’s study, DC industry is undergoing a wide consolidation: 60% of enterprise IT server footprints are flat or shrinking. Which are the main reasons for this? There are a lot of factors, but the most important are:

• the dynamic transformation process is driven by increasing the performances at processor level;
• increased adoption of server virtualization;
• fast Cloud computing adoption.

According to research participants, the Hybrid deployment models hold steady. The main enterprise IT assets being currently deployed:

• 65% enterprise owned DC;
• 22% colocation and multi-tenant DC providers;
• 13% Cloud Computing.

But most people agree the digital transformation is producing big movements in DC field. More 67% from owned DC will migrate to the Cloud, and largest organisations are more 10% likely to deploy to the Cloud than the smallest IT groups. And regardless of the type of Cloud model used: public, private or hybrid, it all runs in a DC somewhere…

DataCenter Forum workshops agenda covered solutions presentation for the whole operational spectrum, available for both DC services providers, and for the organisations able to administrate their own infrastructure. Participants had the possibility to evaluate and to discuss directly with specialists in DC management software, uninterruptible power sources, cooling systems, physical security solutions, alternative energy, and fire prevention,  in the special exhibition area from indoor and outdoor.

Data centers are dynamic in nature, making it difficult to manage and maintain an overview of them. Economic pressures drive the need for optimisation of existing capacities.  Solution StruxureWare – Data Center Infrastructure Management presented by Marcis Randa – Software Sales Manager Data Center Software Solutions from Schneider Electric is an integrated suite of DC management software applications that enable businesses to prosper by managing their data centers across multiple domains, providing actionable intelligence for an ideal balance of high availability and peak efficiency throughout the entire data center life cycle.

Power sources, UPS Batteries and backup solutions are a vital component for DC non-stop availability.  Eneria, a subsidiary of the Monnoyeur Group, is a specialist in power generation and engine systems. As Caterpillar‘s exclusive dealer in Romania, Eneria CAT developed a consistent portfolio of complex projects based on Caterpillar generator sets and engines. In his Bucharest Forum presentation, Mathias Ranson – General Manager Eneria CAT reffered to Caterpillar’s specific power solutions to secure data.

HOPPECKE Batteries is the largest producer of industry battery systems in European ownership. In his DataCenter Forum presentation  Thomas Selzer, Hoppecke Sales Manager BU Reserve Power / Central Europe showed to assistance how to “Be always on the safe side – a practical guide for the correct selection of batteries”.

Riello UPS is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of uninterruptible power supplies and standby power systems. As ing. Nicola Caglia presented in the Bucharest DC Forum, Riello UPS is constantly developing next energy solutions that are aimed at increasing power quality, reducing power consumption, increasing efficiency, actively participating in the promotion of sustainability.  Riello UPS invests also in environmentally friendly projects involving the development of new technologies for harvesting clean and renewable energy sources.

LEOCH have gained international recognition since its establishment in 1999, by ensuring uninterrupted and reliable operations in a wide range of critical applications for a broad spectrum of industries, including Telecommunications, Renewable Energy, Material Handling and Logistics, Leisure & Mobility, Transportation, IT, UPS Systems, Power and Distribution. In his keynote named “Optimising backup Times through the correct battery selection”, Stathis Babalis – General Manager EMEA at Leoch Europe presented important consideration related to the most efficient backup optimization for DC services providers.

Released as an independent business in 2016 after Platinum Equity has purchased Emerson Network Power, the new brand Vertiv designs, builds and services mission critical technologies that enable vital applications for data centers, communication networks, and commercial and industrial environments. Liviu Ploesteanu – Vertiv Sales Manager Thermal Management Romania & Moldova presented “High precision cooling systems for DC”.

Toshiba offers a wide range of centralised network control solutions for a diverse range of building environmental management needs, such as remote network control, energy monitoring, report generation, advanced scheduling and others.  In his DC Forum’s speech, Adrian Cucereanu – Prescription Engineer, presented the new families of Toshiba climatization equipment for modern data centers needs.

Nexans supplies a complete range of cables and accessories for telecom and IT infrastructures. In his DataCenter Forum presentation, Silviu Ardeleanu – Business Developing Manager Balkan Area at Nexans recommended some “Smart Choices for Data Centers” based on the digital solution for enterprise DC like LANmark, LANsense, and LANactive.

Company Rittal bundled his innovative products from the areas of enclosures, power distribution, climate control and IT infrastructure into one system platform able to be easily customised. In his speech at DC Forum conference, Marius Totolici- Project Manager IT referred to Rittal solutions for Physical protection of data rooms equipment.

The high value and sensitivity of the electronic equipment found in modern DC, combined with the consequences of system interruption, makes fire protection a critical component of any data centre risk assessment. Mihai Sintie – Business Development Manager at Pyralis Services Romania presented in DC Forum a last-hour technology dedicated to DC operators which are combining the efficiency of the fire suppression based on cleaning agents with the exploitation parameters specific to for fire suppression with inert gases…

Finishing a real one-day marathon of new DC solutions and specific technologies, the Uptime Institute presentation dedicated to “Data Center Management & Operations Best Practice” was a brief introduction in UI standard Tier Classification System as a means to effectively evaluate data center infrastructure in terms of a business’ requirements for system availability. The Tier Classification System provides the data center industry with a consistent method to compare typically unique, customised facilities based on expected site infrastructure performance, or uptime. Furthermore, Tiers enables companies to align their data center infrastructure investment with business goals specific to growth and technology strategies.

To better understand the unique positioning of Uptime Institute’s role in DC management & operations frame, Scott Roots presented the company’s service portfolio including guiding investments, managing risk, prioritising resources, and education services. The main benefits offered by UI Tier Certification are related to risk mitigation and is covering the protection against eventual loss and wackness in infrastructure, ensuring consistent solutions, eliminating the compromises, informing the contractors and the value of money for DC investments. Tier certification is representing also an accomplishment recognition, and a for achievement recognised by data center industry related to competitive differentiation reduced needs for due diligences and improving the intrinsic value of data assets.

Concluding, Data Center Forum is a real value event with a unique position on the Romanian DC market. The value of the event not only consists of the unitary components, which have been selected on the principle of complementarity but by the presence of one of the world’s leading players on the market, providers of technologies and equipment for DC. Congratulations to Tema Energy for the professional organisation of the event.  We look forward to the next edition of the DataCenter Forum 2018!

About Tema Energy

Founded in 2002, Tema Energy is one of the most experienced Data Center and Power Supply system integrators aimed at industrial and critical consumers. Tema Energy’s range of Equipment consists of Generators, UPSs, batteries, VRLA, Rectifiers, as well as other systems integrated into our solutions: Professional climate control, Fire detection and extinguishing, IT Containers, DCIM, etc. During DataCenter Forum 2017, Tema Energy presented valuable solution for Mobile Data Centers, alternative solutions for industrial increased needs for distributed computing resources.

 

Constantly attached to our main goal, to better promote new technologies and their benefits in the context of the digital transformation process, cloud☁mania participated at the DataCenter Forum 2017 as a media partner.

Images credit: DataCenter Forum and  cloud☁mania