June 10, 2008 -- The Green Grid, the global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems, recently announced the formation of two new Japan work groups, as well as a formalized relationship with The Green IT Promotion Council. In response to strong industry and government demand, the consortium says the moves are designed to expand its presence to Asia, with initial operations in Japan.
The Japan work groups are expected to enable the consortium to establish a unique set of best practices, metrics and technologies tailored for locally-based organizations. "The Green Grid is responding to a long and strong history in Japan to improve data center energy efficiency," says John Tuccillo, director of The Green Grid. "The launch of these new work groups will position The Green Grid to make strategic, tailored recommendations to Japanese businesses and organizations, with the goal to promote a sustained increase in energy efficiency."
Reporting to The Green Grid's technical committee, the Japan Data Collection and Analysis work group will be chartered with collecting and analyzing data from the consortium's Japanese member companies, and with ensuring that consortium recommendations are tailored appropriately for Japan-based organizations.
Additionally, the Japan Communications work group will: promote the key findings of the technical committee to Japanese IT professionals, including data center managers; serve as a point of engagement for Japanese organizations interested in collaborating with The Green Grid; and support local marketing and IT energy efficiency events.
The Green Grid has also formalized a working relationship with Japan's Green IT Promotion Council (GIPC) by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will enable The Green Grid and GIPC to work together to outline the information that they will exchange, and the joint activities they will conduct to improve overall IT energy efficiency. The collaboration will allow both groups to convey relevant information to their respective member organizations.
GIPC president Tsutomu Handa comments, "The Green IT Promotion Council recognizes global warming as a crucial challenge that must be taken on immediately, and we believe that epoch-making technological innovations will be necessary in order to harmonize our economic and social activities with the global environment. Recent government initiatives, a strengthening of partnerships among industry, government and the academy, as well as this collaboration with The Green Grid, typify the enhancement of relations with organizations overseas. And we have high hopes that through these efforts we will be able to make the concepts of 'energy conservation for IT' and 'energy conservation by IT' a reality."
"The Green Grid is pleased to expand our ecosystem of industry partners by working with GIPC to promote energy efficient IT policies and educate users on steps they can take to improve IT energy efficiency," adds Jon Haas, a representative of The Green Grid. "This collaboration will allow The Green Grid to learn from and integrate established policies with best practices and metrics tailored for the Japanese IT community."
To facilitate worldwide communications, The Green Grid has created a Japanese language Web site designed to aid the promotion of the consortium's best practices, metrics and technologies to Japanese businesses and organizations. Interested parties can learn more about The Green Grid, including how to participate in the new Japan Work Groups, by visiting www.thegreengrid.org/japanese/.
The Green Grid's Japanese member companies include GMO Hosting, Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu FIP Corporation, Hitachi, Ltd., Internet Initiative Japan Inc., ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation, NEC Corporation, Nomura Research Institute, NTT COMWARE Corporation, NTT DATA CORPORATION, NTT Facilities, SOFTBANK IDC Corp and TEPCO.
