The Uptime Institute has announced winners of the 2011 Green Enterprise IT (GEIT) Awards, which recognize outstanding projects for improved energy and resource productivity in IT and data center operations. This is the fourth year the group has recognized data center innovation, and winners will present their case studies at the Uptime Institute Symposium 2011 May 9-12 in Santa Clara, CA.

Participation from companies accepting awards at the Symposium event is just one of many reasons to attend this year. Presenters from Facebook, Google, HP, Vantage and i/o will discuss their innovations in data center design. A May 9th event is scheduled for atour of Vantage Data Center’s new 18 acre campus in Santa Clara.

“We received a record number of entries for the 2011 GEIT Awards from companies across the globe doing remarkable things to lead the charge in making the data center industry more efficient,” said Andy Lawrence, Program Director of the Uptime Institute Symposium and Research Director for Eco-Efficient IT, The 451 Group. “Uptime Institute’s GEIT Awards program educates the data center and IT industries on new initiatives to effectively reduce energy consumption by highlighting the cutting-edge achievements of large enterprises, as well as smaller organizations.”

GEIT award categories and winners were:

• Audacious idea: Harris Corporation and Lee Technologies
• Beyond the data center: Tieto
• Data center design: Capgemini UK and Red Engineering Design
• Facilities innovation: Kaiser Permanente
• Innovation in a Smaller Data Center <1,000 sq ft: University of Hertfordshire
• Innovation in a Smaller Data Center >1,000 sq ft: CEMEX
• IT Innovation: AOL
• Outstanding facilities product in a user deployment: Opengate Data Systems and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
• Outstanding IT product in a user deployment: Viridity Software