The lack of attention and resource allocation to data center operations has been a looming issue since the founding of Uptime Institute. A highly resilient data center design is not enough because every design can be defeated by human error.

As market conditions and IT economics drive new data centers and consolidation, a robust facilities management program is even more essential.

Take the Crisis of Facilities Management Pop Quiz
• Are you confident in your Facilities team’s ability to manage a technologically advanced and highly efficient design to your 24×7 availability requirements?
• Can you easily replace any member of that team?
• Are you protected against poor operations practices migrating from older sites to higher-criticality data centers?
• Do you have sites that operate in isolation without adhering to global corporate standards? Do you even have corporate global standards?
• If you outsource any aspect of your data center operations, how do you avoid losing responsibility and accountability? Do you manage a contract or direct an expert team?

Attend Uptime Institute Symposium 2013 and gain the insight you need to make informed decisions for your organization. The Symposium program features dozens of sessions focusing on the challenges of the data center operations professional, including this sample:

• Knowing Data Center Operational Cost IS Your Job
• The Why and How of Third-Party Data Center Due Diligence
• Superstorm Sandy Lessons Learned
• Building a Data Center Facilities Team
• High Energy Efficiency! Low workforce productivity?

We will also host a pre-conference tutorial, drawing conclusions form working with Uptime Institute clients and members to provide guidance and real-world experience on the core elements of a successful data center facilities management program.

Uptime Institute technical staff will discuss: How to better manage staff skills and qualification; the importance of thorough commissioning; and advice for developing technical documentation and maintenance policies.

Register here. We look forward to seeing you in May.

Featured Session of Uptime Institute Symposium 2013: Hurricane Sandy recently stressed, if not compromised, a number of data centers located in the Northeast U.S. A few of the heroic efforts needed to keep some data centers operational, such as carrying buckets of fuel to the roof, have been characterized in the industry press. However, the size of this weather event and the number of data centers in the region warrant a more holistic and comprehensive review of the actual consequences. Uptime Institute has collaborated with data center owners and operators to collect and analyze actual impacts and publish lessons learned.

Events like this challenge some of the data center industry’s longstanding assumptions on data center operations and design. Company names and sensitive site details will not be revealed, but Uptime Institute Professional Services Vice President Vince Renaud will analyze the responses to Sandy, and provide insightful lessons learned from the event.

Read more about the speakers, sessions and tracks for Uptime Institute Symposium 2013: The Global Digital Infrastructure Evolution.

Kenneth G. Brill is the Founder of the Uptime Institute and the Site Uptime Network. Many data center industry innovations over the past 25 years can be traced back to his original concepts, including dual power, the industry’s Tier system for evaluating and classifying data center facility performance, and IT/facility energy efficiency and productivity measurement. Mr. Brill’s research into the Economic Meltdown of Moore’s Law, Data Center Productivity and Energy Efficiency, and IT’s declining economics form core knowledge to be taken into account by corporate leaders charged with business performance, profitability, and sustainability.

In 2008 through 2010, Brill was an IT columnist for Forbes.com. His essays for senior executives combine uncommon common-sense ideas with real-life illustrations to set practical IT management priorities. We’ve compiled a selection of his best columns on a range of topics, including data center energy use; effective cross-department communication; and the changing nature and future of the IT industry.

You can download a PDF of Ken Brill’s advice for data center and IT professionals by clicking here.

Fortune Data Centers CEO John Sheputis discusses his company’s experience as an early adopter of Uptime Institute’s Management and Operations (M&O) Stamp of Approval, a third party validation of data center operational excellence.

Human error is the leading cause of data center downtime. Poor operations practices can defeat the most resilient data center design. Uptime Institute addressed this issue by forming a coalition of leading data center owners and operators. The M&O Coalition ratified a set of industry-wide operational practices that became the M&O Stamp of approval.

For more information: Uptime Institute M&O Stamp.

Colt recently earned Uptime Institute’s Tier III Certification of Design Documents for two halls inside its London 3 facility. The Tier III Design Certification is an independent assessment of the capability of the design to continue to sustain computer room operations during any maintenance activity.

Earlier this year Colt became the first data center operator in Europe to be accredited with Uptime Institute’s Management & Operations (M&O) Stamp of Approval which it was awarded for its London 3 site.

“This is great news not only for us, but for our customers as well,” wrote Victor Smith, Director of Product Development, Colt Data Centre Services. “Certification is an independent assessment of our data centres’ resilience and as such ensures that our customers can be assured they are getting the highest quality design available.”