Strategic Directions has become the first Australian company to join the Data Centre Institute think tank.
The institute, formed by AFCOM founders Jill and Leonard Eckhaus, counts ten members on its board with Strategic Directors set to become the 11th and first based outside of the US.
"We've received the invitation and we're very keen to accept," Strategic Directions Technical Director Mike Andrea told Computerworld Australia.
"We have a way now to actually influence some of the statements around what's impacting data centre design and operations, but also put an Asia-Pac influence into the responses the DCI is formulating to cloud computing, security and cyber-terrorism," he said.
"The ability for Australia to now have a voice in the Data Centre Institute rather than a purely American perspective on everything is really the critical part of that."
The Data Centre Institute describes itself as a group of data centre experts that track data centre operations and performance.
AFCOM itself counts over 100 Australian members and has established chapters in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Strategic Directions is looking to sponsor a fourth in Canberra over coming weeks and is attempting to draw interest from professionals.
Andrea said Australia's geographical isolation meant that data centre strategy and methodology differed from other countries. The ability to participate in the Data Centre Institute think tank meant the company could provide a different perspective on aspects like environmental and power management.
He said one key area of interest to the company was around 400V construction, which is currently being considered by data centre suppliers in the US. Since Australia already uses a 415V three-phase power construction method, Strategic Directions would be able to provide some insight into how US data centres could improve efficiency based on this.
"It's a good opportunity for us to start to teach some of the Australian ways of doing things," he said.
Andrea spoke at the Data Centre Institute's most recent gathering in March, at which the institute also formulated a report on cloud computing and data centres. The report is due for release to AFCOM members this month.
In September last year, Computerworld revealed Melbourne, Sydney and Wollongong could play host to new world-class data centres as part of investment plans by a joint venture group that includes Strategic Directions.
The move to build the tier 3+ facilities, which could potentially cost over $100 million per data centre, could create up to 600 jobs in each location.