Data centres are at the heart of pretty much all business around the globe. Major changes are going through the data centre industry due to new technologies and business drivers such as Big Data, IoT, and of course the Cloud. All these forces put a tremendous pressure on businesses to make sure that their current IT and data centre infrastructure is designed and operated at the most optimum level to ensure that it is aligned with the business objectives of the organisation today whilst at the same time preparing the organization for the reality of tomorrow. This is where EPI comes in with its broad portfolio of data centre training, consulting and audit & certification services.
‘The fact is that IT spending is pretty much flat, at best, for 2016 compared to 2015’ according to Edward van Leent, Chairman & CEO for the EPI Group of Companies. We are hovering at about 3.5 trillion USD where as the global economy is expected to grow at about 3.5% to approx. 73-75 trillion. The bad news is that IT spending has been pretty flat for a number of years and at the same time there has been a dramatic growth in IT spending in the consumer market. This means that whilst companies don’t spend much money on (IT) innovation, the consumers are innovating, and expect innovation, at an increasing faster pace. It is not surprising that there is a tremendous amount of change and pressure for those working in the IT and data centry industry”, added Mr van Leent.
EPI Data Centre Services To The Rescue
EPI has developed a very focused portfolio of data centre services to assist and enable data centres to ensure that they operate at the best possible levels required by the business whilst at the same time ensuring that they are operated and maintained in an effective and efficient manner.
Release of the worlds first Data Centre Operations Standard
Operations are at the heart of any data centre. The issue is that there was simply no reference point available which organisations could use for benchmarking their own data centre operations and maintenance. EPI took up the task to write the worlds first and only complete data centre operations standard called DCOS®. It was developed using the ISO/ANSI procedures for standard development which included the review by well over 50 data centre operator/owners operating commercial, enterprise and government data centres. The success is evident as the number of downloads are growing at a rapid pace including the number of data centres using it as their reference guide. There has also been a large uptake by organisations to have their data centre audited for conformity to the DCOS® .
IT Management and Data Centre Training
EPI is the oldest and by far the largest data centre training provider in the world and is best known for bringing real life experiences into their training programs. EPI offers a wide range of globally-accredited certified training programs in its well-renowed data centre course framework. They address data centre facilties design and built, operations and maintenance, governance and risk, data centre migration, ANSI/TIA-942 compliance as well as IT Management courses which are fully aligned with the e-CF which is gaining international attention. The courses are delivered in more than 50 countries and over 120 cities. All EPI courses have an impartial accreditation and examination from EXIN which has delivered well over 2 million certifications globally.
Data Centre Design and Facilities Audit & Certification
EPI also provides data centre audits based on a true standard (ANSI/TIA-942) issued by a not-for-profit standards developing organization. While other organizations often use technical engineers as auditors, EPI has qualified and professional auditors who have both technical skills and are certified based on ISO principles. EPI is incorporated as a Certification Body in contrast to others who are merely commercial organizations printing their own certificates without any oversight from a governing body.
The Success Enabler Behind EPI
It is without doubt that Edward Van Leent, Chairman & CEO of the EPI Group of Companies was instrumental to the success of EPI. The company originally started in 1987 in the UK as a data centre design and build company. Edward joined EPI in 1999 as its Chairman & CEO. Having experienced and reviewed the data centre business indepth for two years since he joined he decided to make a huge strategic shift for EPI in 2001 with the start of delivering data centre training, consultancy and data centre audit and certification to the market. This, together with his relentless work and travel schedule and the formidable team he has managed to built, has led to EPI becoming the market leader in this field.
It is no surprise that Edward managed to turnaround EPI into this highly successful organisation giving his track record in previous multinational companies where he held a variety of senior management positions where strategic management leadership and operational excellence were proven to be his key strengths.
Edward has been appreciated and admired by many in the organizations he served leading to his numerous awards of which the ‘Chairman Achievement Award’ at Mentor Graphics, ‘Excellence Award’ and ‘World Wide Field Operations Excellence Award’ at Sequent are three of the most precious awards he has received. Recently he has been awarded the ‘CEO of the Month Award.’ by CIOReview.