Equinix, Inc. has announced it has received an award from the European Commission Joint Research Center that oversees the EU Code of Conduct (CoC) on Data Center Energy Efficiency for the company’s new International Business Exchange™ (IBX^®) data center in Amsterdam (AM3). Presented today at a ceremony at Datacentres Europe 2013, Equinix received the Participant category award for innovative technologies adopted to improve data center energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption.

“Our mission in building AM3 – as with every new facility – was to break new ground in infrastructure performance, design innovation and sustainable operation,” said Equinix EMEA CMO Dick Theunissen. “This award is a welcome proof that we have done our job well, and we will continue to deploy the latest technologies to improve energy efficiency for our customers and the environment in ways that can be replicated, not just across Platform Equinix worldwide, but across the industry as a whole.”

Opened in October 2012, Equinix’s third IBX data center in Amsterdam (AM3) provides 188,000 sq ft of gross space in Amsterdam Science Park, one of Europe’s most network-dense locations, with a 50 millisecond reach to 80% of Europe.

Built to LEED® Gold certificate standards, the data center deploys Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) in the ground instead of mechanical cooling and combines this with hybrid-cooling towers. This allows full use of free-cooling and generates hot water for the neighboring Amsterdam University throughout the year. These and other sustainable technologies generate significant energy savings, allowing customers to reduce their CO₂ footprint significantly at the same time as enjoying world-class application performance.

Equinix has played a key consultative role in defining a number of the best practices endorsed by the European Commission and is one of a small number of data center providers whose standard practices across its European footprint meet CoC standards, leading to full corporate status. Conforming to independently-certified standards set by international organisations such as the EU, ISO 50001 and ISO 14001 is a key element in Equinix’s integrated energy management framework for customers.

The design process and technologies that were developed for AM3 are now being applied as standard in Equinix expansions worldwide.

The CoC was created by the European Commission in response to increasing energy consumption in data centers and the need to reduce the related environmental, economic, and energy supply security impacts.