Data Centre Incentive Program puts dollars into customers’ pockets

With Toronto Hydro and PowerStream backing the Data Centre Incentive Program (DCIP) initiative, Hitachi Data Systems and one of its Canadian business partners are telling customers “there’s no better time than today” to take advantage of the financial incentive program.

Mike Pardal, conservation demand management (CDM) program consultant at Toronto Hydro, said the DCIP was first offered to customers last March. It incents businesses to reduce their peak energy demand by paying out $800 per kilowatt (last year, this used to be $300 per kilowatt) to a maximum of up to 50 per cent of the total project cost in the data centre, Pardal said.

By establishing partnerships with companies such as Hitachi Data Systems and Softchoice, Pardal said awareness about the program is spreading and the word is getting out to customers.

Since the launch of DCIP, the program has seen more than 30 projects and counting underway, with new business opportunities coming in on a daily basis, he added.

In a previous interview, Stephen Walker, director of IT infrastructure at Toronto Hydro, said DCIP was designed and created to help customers offset the costs associated with obtaining more energy efficient equipment and designs.

“DCIP is designed to offset the cost of energy efficient equipment and design, helping data centres cut electricity use and to benefit from ongoing savings,” Walker explained. “If you can be more efficient in the data centre, this will contribute to your overall green strategy and improved energy utilization in the data centre, while also reducing equipment footprint.”

On average, customers benefiting from the DCIP are only receiving about a 20 per cent reimbursement towards the total cost of their data centre project.

“To take advantage of the maximum 50 per cent reimbursement, customers really need to take on a holistic approach in the data centre,” Pardal said. “Customers need to realize that they can’t tackle all of this at once and it will take some time.”

Marcel Escorcio, regional district manager at Hitachi Data Systems Canada, said the company is working together with Mississauga, Ont.-based CommerX, one of their Premier Partners and a value-added reseller, to help promote the DCIP.

“This is about helping to put money back into our customers’ pockets,” Escorcio said. “From a technology perspective, Hitachi offers solutions that help partners differentiate themselves in the market and helps customers to consolidate and improve the utilization of existing storage.”

Ian Vaudry, president of CommerX, said in addition to promoting the DCIP and using Hitachi solutions, his company also offers an ongoing environmental management tool for use in the data centre.

“Our ongoing environmental management tool is for constant monitoring in the data centre,” Vaudry explained. “We believe there’s anywhere between 20 to 40 per cent of power savings that can be realized through constant monitoring, and that’s year over year.”

From a partner perspective, Vaudry said partners can ask their customers questions such as, “What business issues are you having and how can we satisfy these issues through IT?” It’s also to the partner’s benefit to take a consultative approach toward their customers to help them take a more holistic view in order to realize greater savings.

“When it comes to best practices, you have to think about the environment critically and ask if there’s a better way of doing things with new tools and technologies to get an ROI (return on investment) and to be green at the same time,” Vaudry said.

Escorcio’s message to Hitachi’s global channel and customer community is that “there’s no better time than today” to take advantage of DCIP and green and efficient data centre efforts.

“When it comes to saving dollars through things like consolidation, it doesn’t mean you have to replace the storage that you already have, but it’s about consolidation to utilize what you have better,” he advised. “DCIP helps partners have conversations with their customers and it also opens up more sales and revenue opportunities for them.”

Pardal said the first thing all customers should do if they want to utilize the DCIP is to get an assessment completed. Through the program, customers can be reimbursed up to $4,000 towards their assessment, he said.

Customers who want to participate in the program are asked to visit the Toronto Hydro Web site. Walker said once the program application is received, Toronto Hydro and PowerStream will complete a site assessment to verify the existing equipment and to start measurements and verification. Once the application is approved and when the project is completed, a post-site assessment is conducted to determine what the final kilowatt savings and financial incentive reimbursement is.

The DCIP is available through until the end of this year and customers will have one full year to complete the project, Pardal said. With Ontario’s new Green Energy Act now in effect, Pardal said Toronto Hydro and PowerStream are working to put together an updated framework for the DCIP.

Follow Maxine Cheung on Twitter: @MaxineCheungCDN.

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Maxine Cheung
Maxine Cheung
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