Zahl Limbuwala, chairman, data centre specialist group and chair of the judging panel, said, “As awareness of the Datacentre Leaders Awards has built up, so they’ve grown in stature and popularity. This year’s entries once again demonstrate thought leadership and innovation from an industry which continuously strives exceed the day-to-day challenge of ensuring the most reliable IT services at the lowest cost and carbon footprint.”
The Awards were closed for nominations just over one month ago, since when the Judging panel has been hard at work evaluating over 150 entries against the rigorous criteria for the 15 prestigious accolades. The shortlist is comprised as follows:
The Future Thinking & Design Concepts Award is sponsored by Schneider Electric and recognizes the innovation and thinking that is shaping the next generation of cutting edge data centre solutions. Finalists:
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• Equinix
• 2bm
• Excool
The Data Center Blueprints Award, sponsored by Citadel 100, is designed to reward those conceptual, design and management skills required to translate corporate IT service and capacity requirements into a new data centre. Finalists:
• Tissat
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• Infinity
• Cobalt
The Innovation in the Micro-Data centre Award is sponsored by JCA Group and recognises best response to the challenges of space, power, and cooling utilisation in facilities up to 250kW. Finalists:
• Ziggo
• MPTE
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• Ford
The Innovation in the Medium-Data centre Award, sponsored by MPL Sales, recognises efficient design and operation in facilities sized between 250kW and 2.5MW. Finalists:
• Megatron
• Petroleum Development
• Cooperative
• Six Degrees
The Innovation in the Mega-Data centre Award is sponsored by Hitachi and recognises the flagship facilities which demonstrate best practice and leadership as well as future directions in the sector. Finalists:
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• Linx
• DataSpace
• Emirates Group
The Leadership in the Public Sector Award is sponsored by Rittal and recognises achievement in Government and public sector IT-focussed initiatives. Finalists:
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•
•
• YHMAN
The Innovations in Outsourcing Award is sponsored by Norland Managed Services to underline the contribution that outsourced services, from collocation to cloud offerings make in ensuring that end customer expectations are met reliably and economically. Finalists:
• Fujitsu
• Adapt
• Computacenter
• Scolocate
The Green Data Centre Award is sponsored by Siemens and celebrates the success of those who have managed to balance the need for a resilient and responsive facility with the consideration of wider corporate, sustainability, and environmental responsibility. Finalists:
• Oostkamp
• Frankfurt Institute
•
• Colt-Verne
The Improved Data Centre Energy Efficiency Award is appropriately sponsored by the Green Grid and recognises individual organisations that have brought existing facilities up to scratch through a process of measurement, benchmarking, analysis, recommendation, and implementation. Finalists:
• NBAD
• Experian
• Six Degrees
• Capgemini
The Innovation in IT Optimisation Award is sponsored by Colt and will reward true innovation that has enabled organisations to successfully re-define the role that the data centre performs within their corporate and IT strategy. Finalists:
• Vestas
• NWC
• F5
• Thomson Snell Passmore
The Most Extreme Data Centre Deployment Award is sponsored by Virtus and will be given to that data centre which best symbolizes the flexibility and mobility of today’s modular solutions. The award winner has been decided by popular vote cast by members of the data centre community.
• Colt-Verne
• Bahnhof
• IO
• PDI
The Young Mission Critical Engineer of the Year Award is sponsored by Red Engineering. The finalists are:
• Kevin Miller, Watermans
• Zak Potts, Sudlows
• Mazen Jamal, Norman Disney Young
• Charles Lyons, Connet U Ltd.
• Scott McLauchlan, Keysource
The Data Centre 'Special Assignment' Team of the Year Award is sponsored by CBRE and will recognise team achievement where that team has been convened for a special purpose or task above and beyond the call of duty. Finalists:
• Microsoft
• Saudi Airlines
• VISA
• Fujitsu
The Data Centre Business Leader of the Year Award is sponsored by Mercury Engineering and will go to the person who, in the view of the Judges, has done the most to build the business case for the data center to key stakeholder groups. Winner to be announced on the night.
The Outstanding Contribution to the Industry Award is sponsored by hurleypalmerflatt and has no shortlist, the winner of this award will be announced on the night.
The Datacentre Leaders’ Awards will be presented on the evening of Thursday 15th December 2011 at the Lancaster London Hotel, Hyde Park,
