With the DDC Challenge, organisations are invited to let Fujitsu Siemens Computers demonstrate how and where it can reduce the energy and operating costs by at least 40 percent, as well as shrinking the physical footprint of a data centre. Fujitsu Siemens Computers is so confident of being able to demonstrate that participating companies can achieve these savings that, where it fails to demonstrate this level of saving, it promises to donate 10,000 euro to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an non-governmental organisation (NGO) promoting socially- and environmentally-responsible forest management worldwide.

The Dynamic Data Center (DDC) is Fujitsu Siemens Computers' strategy of utilizing the latest virtualization and automation technologies to deliver an IT infrastructure that is responsive to changing business needs. Storage and computing resources are pooled and automatically assigned to applications according to business priorities. As a result, IT not only becomes more agile, more efficient and more reliable but is also well-prepared for integration into service-oriented architectures. Virtualization and automation allow for optimized resource utilization, and in reducing the carbon footprint of traditional production and consumption processes, the IT department plays a significant role in reducing an organization’s environmental footprint.

Dr. Joseph Reger, Chief Technology Officer at Fujitsu Siemens Computers, stated: "The carbon footprint of data centres worldwide today equals that of worldwide carbon emissions from passenger aircraft. In the data centre, energy costs will soon surpass hardware costs and this means that CIOs will have to think about effective ways to make more efficient utilization of their resources." Dr. Reger added: "However, we believe that many businesses simply don't know how to go about reducing their huge power consumption. We hope our DDC Challenge will take a step towards helping change this."

Marcelle Peuckert, Development Manager at the Forest Stewardship Council, stated: "It is a bold move from Fujitsu Siemens Computers in staking a 10,000 euro donation in cases where it is unable to demonstrate savings of at least 40 percent for data centre operators. Of course we also welcome donations towards our mission even in cases where Fujitsu Siemens Computers is able to achieve its commitment. We appreciate the efforts made to reduce the carbon footprint which will be of overall benefit to the environment and to people."