There is a paradox associated with the cloud. When companies start to grow, moving workloads into the cloud makes sense. It is flexible and allows the company to grow fast without huge investments. The cost of using the cloud is easily recouped through the associated speed and flexibility of growth.
However, once companies reach scale, the cost of being in the cloud is a very different matter. At scale, cloud costs start to materially impact cost of production/customer service. It is, therefore, unsurprising that repatriating workloads from the cloud has started to gain traction.
Now is a good time to look at how data centres have been modernising their operations, encouraged by practices shared by data centre associations. Here is our round-up of some of the more active associations.
Regional associations
The European Data Centre Association (EUDCA), Brussels, Belgium. EUDCA works across Europe, operating both politically and commercially. It is a membership organisation. Its focus is the interests of its members, and helping them to keep pace with changes in the sector.
The Africa Data Centres Association (ADCA), Abidjan, Ivory Coast. ADCA is the trade organisation for data centres across Africa. Its focus is economic growth, and raising awareness of data centres with governments, media and the general public. It promotes African data centres around the world, and acts as a catalyst for digital development in Africa.
Data Centre Alliance (DCA). The DCA is based in the UK, but operates across Europe. It is a not-for-profit trade association across the data centre infrastructure sector. Its focus is improving the effectiveness of data centres, and raising awareness of the role of data centres.
The Green Grid, Oregon, USA, is a non-profit organisation based in the US, but operating around the world. It focuses on energy efficiency within the data centre sector, and brings together policy-makers, data centre operators, end-users, utility companies and others.
National Associations
Dutch Data Center Association (DDA), Amsterdam, Netherlands. DDA is the trade association for data centres in the Netherlands. It has three main areas of focus. These are energy and sustainability, education and employment, and the digital economy in the Netherlands.
The Danish Data Center Industry (DDI), Viborg, Denmark. DDI is a not-for-profit industry body for the Danish data centre ecosystem. It promotes sustainability, skills and education in the sector, as well as cross-sector collaboration, including cooperation between public and private sector organisations.
The Finnish Data Center Forum (FDCF), Finland. The FDCF is an independent, non-profit membership organisation that supports data centre professionals in Finland. It provides networking and cooperation events, and training courses. It also supports ISO standardisation work in the data centre sector.
France Datacenter, Paris, France. France Datacenter is the professional association for the data centre sector in France. Its work includes encouraging employment and innovation in the sector, improving infrastructure performance, and speeding up energy transition. It also acts as a voice for the sector through lobbying. Membership is open to anyone who designs, builds, operates or uses data centres.
German Datacenter Association, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The German Datacenter Association promotes the interests of data centre operators to government, the media and the general public. It represents the sector on committees, and raises awareness of the sector more generally. It also supports networking among its members, and encourages information-sharing, as well as developing standards and carrying out research.
Host in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland. Host In Ireland aims to raise awareness of the benefits of hosting digital assets in Ireland, and supports Irish companies designing, building and operating data centres anywhere in the world. It is currently promoting Ireland as the data hosting centre of Europe.
Host in Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland. Host in Scotland is an umbrella association for the Scottish data centre industry. It is funded jointly by the Scottish Futures Trust and the Scottish Government. It aims to promote the interests of the data centre sector in Scotland, and encourage new investment in the sector.
Polish Data Centre Association, Poland. The Polish Data Centre Association brings together companies involved in data processing in Poland. It encourages the use of IT outsourcing via data centres and raises awareness about the sector and its benefits. It also promotes and protects the interests of the data centre industry in Poland.