BORD GÁIS ENERGY: Bord Gáis Energy has just won a €2.3 million contract to supply electricity, via state-of-the-art green technology, to IT company Data Electronics
LEADING IRISH IT outsourcing and managed services solutions provider Data Electronics has chosen Bord Gáis Energy as its electricity supplier for the coming year following an open tender process last December. The contract is worth €2.3 million, with all electricity supplied sourced from green energy.
Data Electronics is one of Ireland’s longest established high-tech firms. It has offered clients a range of IT outsourcing solutions – including managed services, data backup, co-location and field services – since 1976. Clients include leading Irish and international organisations from the airline, financial, government, internet, manufacturing, media, pharmaceutical, telecomms and online gaming sectors.
The company operates two data centres in Dublin, one at Kilcarbery Park in Clondalkin and the other a new €25 million, 100,000 sq ft, state-of-the-art green facility in Northwest Business Park which is set to create an additional 100 jobs over the next three to five years.
The new facility opened in 2009 and has been designed to be as energy-efficient as possible. “Part of the design brief for the Northwest Business Park data centre was to see how energy-efficient and green we could make it by using the latest design techniques, technologies and so on,” says Data Electronics chief executive Maurice Mortell.
Among the technologies employed were “free cooling”, which, instead of using air conditioning, uses air from outside to cool the interior; passive infra-red lighting systems which ensure lights are only on when someone is in the area to be lit; solar energy for water heating; low loss transformers to reduce energy loss in electrical systems; the latest low energy fluorescent lighting; a front-to-front and back-to-back layout for the centre which maximises internal energy efficiencies; an advanced building energy management system and high efficiency uninterruptible power supply units.
A key element of the drive for efficiency was the choice of electricity supplier, and the company decided to put this out to tender last November.
“This was our first time to go out to tender for electricity supply and it came about as a result of the deregulation in the market,” Mortell notes. “We wanted to partner with a company with the right green credentials which could deliver at the right price and Bord Gáis Energy emerged as the winner.”
While price was key, other factors were also important, says Mortell.
“Electricity is a commodity after all and the best price is going to be the ultimate driver. However, Bord Gáis Energy’s level of engagement was very professional and they worked hard at understanding our business and our needs. For example, unlike [in] other industries our load is quite static: day and night, winter and summer we have a fairly constant usage and we pass on our energy charges to our customers. We work very hard at getting our power usage levels as [efficient] as possible and having an electricity supply at a good price is very important as well.”
The green energy aspect was also important. “A lot of our business comes from overseas and we have quite a few US companies among our clients. The whole green agenda is very important to them. They want to deal with companies with good environmental policies. Being able to show what we have done and what we are planning to do as a company in relation to the environment is now a very significant factor in our business,” he says.
But of course the price had to be right. “The price was very good and Bord Gáis Energy offer a lot of flexibility in that. You can fix the price for three, six or 12 months and you can even fix the price of part of your usage and have a variable price on the rest. If you’re into hedging energy costs as a company this can be very useful. We’re not into that: we need more certainty and they were able to offer that as well.”
For Data Electronics itself, business has returned to growth following a reappraisal of strategy. “Business is good at the moment”, says Mortell. “We are fortunate in that a lot of our business comes from overseas with 65 per cent of our revenue coming from US and European clients.
“There is a dual economy at the moment: a lot of our existing overseas clients are doing very well, while our Irish clients are finding things very difficult. About 18 months ago we looked at our strategy and our routes to market and decided to refocus the business on winning more overseas clients. The Enterprise Ireland Going Global programme was very helpful.”
This programme saw revenues climb by 14 per cent to €15.6 million in 2010, up from €14 million in 2009.
The company’s most recent win was with peer-to-peer currency exchange service CurrencyFair. A multi-year contract, valued at over €200,000, will see Data Electronics provide managed services for its online business. The scope of the agreement includes fully managed backup and restoration of data, coupled with Data Electronics’ proven storage area network (SAN) storage-on-demand service. This service provides CurrencyFair with an enterprise-class SAN capability without the need for upfront capital investment.
“We were delighted to join forces with a vibrant, pioneering company such as CurrencyFair,” says Mortell. “The future of Ireland is dependent on revolutionary Irish businesses like CurrencyFair and their success reinforces Ireland’s ability to be the hub for innovation and entrepreneurship worldwide.”
