Schneider accreditation aims to boost green datacentre skills

Datacentre giant Schneider Electric has introduced a free online training and certification programme to improve energy management skills across the profession. The Data Center Certified Associate (DCCA) scheme will be administered and delivered via the company’s vendor-neutral Energy University.

The DCCA programme includes 14 basic courses covering power, cooling, racks, cabling, fire protection, management and physical security, each of which takes less than an hour to complete. The courses culminate in the DCCA exam, which Schneider says has been designed to provide a standard way to gauge alumni’s knowledge of datacentre design, build and operations.

“Globally there is a high demand for skilled datacentre professionals and the challenges facing this industry in terms of growth, infrastructure and management underscore this certification’s value,” said Michelle Souza, programme manager for Energy University.

Green IT is an incredibly important issue to address and an area of growth in terms of demand for new skills

Adam Thilthorpe, BCS

DCCA has been so far been officially endorsed by 22 professional associations across the world, including IEEE, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) and the CPD Certification Service.

Schneider originally launched its Energy University in 2009. Since then more than 600,000 online courses have been taken. The DCCA scheme reflects the fact that those designing, building and operating datacentres are increasingly focusing on the need to reduce their use of power to become more energy and cost efficient. “Energy University was established in response to a need for more accessible, broad-based energy knowledge,” said Souza. She said that it now offers more than 300 courses in 13 different languages. “It has continued to be a hugely successful programme, allowing us to help professionals make smarter choices about the top issues impacting the industry today.”

In the UK, the BCS (the Chartered Institute for IT) also believes knowledge and skills in energy efficiency are becoming increasingly important for IT professionals. It runs its own Certificate in Green IT course for professionals, as well as the Certified Energy Efficient Datacentre Award (CEEDA) accreditation to recognise best practice in datacentre energy efficiency.

Adam Thilthorpe, the BCS’s director of professionalism, said: “Green IT is an incredibly important issue to address and an area of growth in terms of demand for new skills. It is naturally an area where we would expect to see further growth in the development of training.”