Attendees of the Forum have learned first-hand how these new tools and alliances are designed to address the global needs of data centre operators and foster greater collaboration among key stakeholders in industry and government. With the theme, "Get Connected: Drive Change with Global Strategies for Efficient IT", the Forum also featured a keynote address by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

"At this year's Technical Forum, the membership of The Green Grid is demonstrating its commitment to improving data centre energy efficiency through the hands-on development of tools, standards and global alliances that make it easier for end-users to drive practical improvements", stated Christian Belady, Microsoft representative and Treasurer of The Green Grid. "Leveraging Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s inspiring efforts, we welcome new voices to join the hundreds of volunteers in our unique organisation who are working to develop new programmes to assist data centre managers and end-users advance energy-efficiency."

The Green Grid, which creates a unique opportunity for worldwide industry collaboration, is actively working on dozens of both strategic and tactical projects to improve data centre energy efficiency. As a result of these efforts, the organisation launched new, free, on-line tools that extend the benefits of the widely-used free cooling tools introduced in 2009:

• Power Efficiency Estimator: The new Power Efficiency Estimator is designed to help data centre operators compare different scenarios of power topologies and technologies inside of their facility. It takes factors such as workload, availability, and space constraints into consideration and generates a report that is designed to improve decision-making in a facility. The Power Efficiency Estimator will be available by the end of the first quarter of 2010.
• PUE Calculator: The new PUE Calculator allows data centre operators to easily input their facility's specific data at regular intervals to determine their PUE. Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), a metric created by The Green Grid, determines the amount of energy used by the facility and the IT gear inside of it. The PUE Calculator will be available by the end of the first quarter of 2010.
• New White Paper: "Impact of Virtualization on Data Center Physical Infrastructure". This new paper provides guidance on how data centre professionals can maximize power and cooling equipment electricity savings in a data centre environment that is using virtualization to achieve its consolidation strategies. The paper is available to members and non-members in the "Library & Tools" section of The Green Grid's website.
• New On-line Course from The Green Grid Academy: The Green Grid Academy has launched its latest self-directed on-line course, "Data Center 101: Constrained Capacity", to help data centre managers and operators get familiar with industry lexicon and solutions to everyday data centre challenges.

In addition to these tools, The Green Grid also achieved significant progress with its previously-announced Data Center Design Guide. With an outline and draft chapters now posted for member comment, The Green Grid encourages all members to participate in this groundbreaking opportunity to define a new data centre architecture, specifically to define the capabilities to allow native optimization and policy management for maximum energy efficiency.

The Green Grid and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) have co-authored a book titled "Real Time Energy Consumption Measurements in Data Centers" that focuses on energy consumption measurements for the determination of energy efficiency, along with exposure of key IT/Facilities interfaces in the data centre. The book is free to member companies of The Green Grid and is available for purchase or download through the ASHRAE bookstore for $54.00.

In addition to introducing new tools for the industry, The Green Grid has signed an alliance agreement with Data Center Pulse, a global end user community of data centre owners and operators focused on influencing the industry through the eyes of the customer. The agreement is designed to ensure consistency in addressing the energy-specific needs of the IT community.

"The Green Grid's annual Technical Forum has become a unique information exchange for data centre managers and technology providers", stated Dean Nelson, Chairman and Founder, Data Center Pulse. "The data centre operators representing the Data Center Pulse Community are encouraged by the progress The Green Grid has made, and we're looking forward to working together to expand the reach of metrics such as PUE and DCiE."