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ABM Solutions ’ US team visits UK to learn more about technical data centre cleaning
A team of senior managers from the hi-tech division of ABM Solutions in the US has visited the company ’ s newly acquired data centre cleaning specialist in the UK to discover more about the technical cleaning services the business now provides .
ABM UK acquired 8 Solutions in October 2016 , forming a new company , ABM Critical Solutions , to deliver technical cleaning and M & E services designed specifically for its data centre portfolio .
In the US , ABM ’ s clients operate over 30 million square feet of data centre space , and the visit was intended to help the senior managers better understand the capabilities of the Group ’ s technical cleaning teams , as well as how to advise clients on ways of mitigating and reducing the threat and risk of contamination .
David Hogg , managing director of ABM Critical Solutions , said inadequately cleaned data centres can create major operational outages . ‘ Such an eventuality would have drastic consequences for the many thousands of businesses that use ABM serviced data centres in the US .
‘ The demand for data centre facilities is ever increasing , and to cope with this demand operators are growing the density of IT equipment at their sites ,’ he said . ‘ The denser equipment is more susceptible to contamination which is why we clean down to a contamination particle level size of 0.5 microns , one hundredth the width of a human hair . Therefore , technical cleaning undertaken to a specific criteria becomes a critical element of a data centre ’ s everyday operation .’
The four senior managers spent three days with ABM Critical Solutions , spending two days on site at the firm ’ s purpose built ‘ mock ’ data centre training area ; and the final day visiting one of ABM Critical Solution ’ s high profile FTSE100 clients to see the cleaning practices in action .
Schneider Electric has won the ‘ Datacentre Solution of The Year ’ category at the European IT & Software Excellence Awards , 2017 . The award , for an upgrade project delivered in conjunction with APC by Schneider Electric Elite Partner Comtec Power , was facilitated to meet the differing needs of Cardiff University ’ s High Performance Computing ( HPC ), Advanced research ( ARCCA ) facility .
Six Degrees Group ( 6DG ) has announced its participation in the Microsoft Cloud Solutions Provider Program ( CSP ). By joining the Microsoft CSP , 6DG now owns the complete customer lifecycle , allowing it to easily sell Office 365 and Microsoft Azure subscriptions . This helps customers drive new business value through the cloud by owning the entire billing process and directly managing support .
LzLabs has announced that it has appointed former Gartner research vice president Dale Vecchio as its chief marketing officer . Dale joins LzLabs to sharpen and develop the go-tomarket strategy of its keynote solution , the LzLabs Software Defined Mainframe . Prior to his appointment at LzLabs , Dale spent 18 years as research vice president at Gartner , where he specialised in strategies for modernising application portfolios .
Rackspace has announced that it was named the 2017 Red Hat Innovation Awards winner in the Cloud Infrastructure category by Red Hat . The company was recognised for its Rackspace Private Cloud powered by Red Hat offering , which delivers OpenStack private clouds-asa-service using the Red Hat OpenStack Platform .
Professor Robert Bowman of Queen ’ s University Belfast has been appointed as a new research chair in Advanced Materials for Data Storage , starting a five-year project to research and develop new materials for use in the next generation of hard drives .
CBRE has announced the hire of Alex Sharp who joins CBRE Data Centre Solutions as head of project management consulting for the EMEA region . Alex is a qualified electrical and electronic engineer and has built a significant number of complex data centres for some of the world ’ s leading companies , including Barclays , Santander , the London Stock Exchange and the Sanger Institute .
Quantexa has opened a new office in Brussels , with further offices in Sydney and New York due to open within the next 12 months . The Brussels office , with an initial staff of four , will put the company in closer proximity to its clients and forms part of its plans for international growth .
London based IT infrastructure specialist Excel IT has joined Big Switch Networks ’ Big Partner Program . The partnership further strengthens Excel ’ s ability to deliver next generation network solutions . By combining Big Switch Networks ’ innovative software with bare metal and open hardware , Excel delivers SDN solutions which drive high levels of business agility , scalability and total cost of ownership .
Datacentreplus has taken on Stephen Hobson as part of its expansion plans in 2017 . Joining the company as a key figure in business development , Stephen will play a critical role in helping grow and expand the business by servicing new and existing clients .
10 | May 2017