ARMONK, N.Y. January 5, 2012 - The European Commission has awarded 27 IBM Data Centers for energy efficiency - the largest portfolio of data centers from a single company ever to receive such recognition.

The European Union Code of Conduct for Data Centers was  created in response to increasing energy consumption in data centers. It seeks to inform and encourage data center operators and owners to reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner without decreasing mission critical data center functions.

The assessment is made against a set of best practices to reduce energy losses which include the usage of energy efficient hardware, installing free cooling and cold aisle containment. Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is an indicator for how efficiently a computer data center uses its power.

The awarded 27 IBM Green Data Centers represent over 70 percent of IBM's strategic outsourcing data centers in 15 European countries. Many of the centers are designed to support cloud computing, in an effort to help clients around the world operate smarter.

The energy improvements implemented in these data centers helped IBM meet a goal set in 2007 to double the IT capacity of its data centers within three years without increasing the power consumption.  

"Data centers have always been a critical part of IBM's heritage and are a significant part of our energy use and costs," said Harry van Dorenmalen, IBM Chairman, Europe.

"The recognition of our commitment and leadership by the EU Code of Conduct is important to us since energy and climate related issues are part of IBM's long standing corporate commitment to environmental leadership."

IBM uses analytics to operate its data centers, implementing the company's Mobile Measurement Technology (MMT), which was developed by IBM Research. This technology instruments the data centers with thousands of sensors to record and analyze temperatures and air flow to detect hot and cold spots. By providing energy flow insight, MMT provides the intelligence to efficiently cool its data centers with a high measure of security and reliability and significant reduction in cost.

For more information about IBM's Site and Facilities Services, please visitwww.ibm.com/services/siteandfacilities

As new technologies emerge and become increasingly cost competitive, many companies are taking aggressive steps to improve their energy efficiency and find new, alternative forms of energy to power their business operations.

At GLOBE 2012,taking place March 14-16, 2012, Experts from government and the private sector - including Peter Williams, Distinguished Engineer & Chief Technology Officer, Big Green Innovations, IBM Corporation, will discuss Energy Efficiency and Alternative Power: Innovative Approaches for Business. Get More information on GLOBE 2012 here