The Green Grid has announced availability of an Academy Course for its Data Center Maturity Model (DCMM). An interactive learning module, the Academy Course guides data center and facility managers through the steps of the DCMM, helping them better understand and apply benchmarking tools and best practices laid out in the Model. The Academy Course is available now to both members and non-members on The Green Grid's website.

The Academy Course was designed to help users across the world understand the maturity levels of their data centers and highlight areas to improve the efficiency of their IT operations. The Course breaks down the DCMM's individual sections and content areas, helping users explore key initiatives and metrics for the different aspects of their facilities. The Course walks users through the process of assessing their facilities using the DCMM Assessment Tool, provides a personalized equalizer to help an organization make steps toward continuous efficiency improvement and ultimately makes the DCMM even easier to apply within an organization.

"Without well-defined, consistent and universally accepted goals and direction, the global data center market cannot effectively enhance energy efficiency and sustainability in the data center," said Mark Aggar, Microsoft representative and Board member, The Green Grid. "The Green Grid, with the help of the industry, developed the DCMM to serve as a comprehensive model, providing clear goals and direction that show what can and should be done over time to improve overall efficiency and sustainability throughout the data center. The DCMM Academy Course is another tool to help data center owners and operators better understand the Model and more effectively adopt it within their individual facilities and data center portfolios."

Launched in 2011, The Green Grid's DCMM integrates every aspect of the data center, including power, cooling, compute, storage and network. The Model was developed to outline the different areas for users to benchmark performance, determine levels of maturity, and identify ongoing steps and innovations necessary to achieve greater energy efficiency and sustainability. In March, The Green Grid introduced the DCMM Assessment Tool, an extension of the DCMM that allows leaders to assess their data center and IT portfolios against the DCMM, helping them benchmark progress against peers.

For more information on the Academy Course or to download it, please visit: http://www.thegreengrid.org/academy.aspx.