Sydney, 25 March 2009 – Macquarie Telecom today called on the Federal Government to
ensure its data centre strategy, planned in response to the Gershon data centre
recommendations, includes clear, environmental standards for individual data centres to
be measured against.
Speaking in response to Federal Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Lindsay Tanner’s
speech to the Australian Computer Society’s branch conference last week, Aidan
Tudehope, Managing Director, Hosting at Macquarie Telecom, welcomed plans for a focus
on energy use in the whole of government ICT sustainability plan being developed in
conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts,
however wanted to see the plans go far enough to ensure genuine energy savings.
“Only a clear and, most importantly, standardised approach to measuring data centre
green credentials will bring an end to the current spate of ‘green cloaking’ by certain
players in our industry,” said Tudehope.
“This is a worrying trend whereby vendors are dressing their solutions up as
environmentally friendly with claims such as being 50 per cent more energy efficient than
any other data centre, without credible evidence to substantiate these claims,” he said.
According to Tudehope, the Australian Government Information Management Office
(AGIMO) data centre strategy should consider an energy rating system similar to the star
rating system used in the consumer electronics industry to ensure government data
centres meet minimum criteria for energy efficiency. In addition, such systems should
mandate continual improvement to foster ongoing investment in the most energy efficient
equipment and operational practices.
“There are strict security standards and operational standards demanded by government
agencies such as ISO27001, that ensure vendor claims are matched by reality. Why
should energy efficiency standards be any different?” Tudehope said.
“With similar initiatives getting underway in Europe and the United States, Australia has
the opportunity to take another environmental leadership position with this strategy,” he
said.
Macquarie Telecom’s Experience:
Macquarie Telecom is a leading supplier of Information and Communications Technology
solutions including voice, mobile, data and hosting for the business and government
markets. Its dedicated managed hosting and security facility, the Intellicentre, is certified to
the highest levels including ISO 27001 and DSD Gateway security standards, and hosts a
number of critical key Commonwealth data services including services for Prime Minister
and Cabinet, the Department of Finance, the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage
and the Arts and the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.
NEWS 
