Award Categories

Nominations will not be accepted for this category.  This is a special, non-voting award and will be chosen by a specialist judging panel. Individuals who have a long history of involvement in the EMEA data centre industry and who have demonstrated an industry-leading commitment to both technology development and innovation, as well as in addressing key industry challenges, such as sustainability and skills development will be eligible for consideration.

Open to any individual recognised to have made a significant contribution to the Data Centre industry in EMEA - they could be working within a data centre environment or for a supplier of data centre services such as a hosting/colocation supplier, a managed services provider, a channel organisation, a datacentre facilities or ICT vendor.

Open for individuals to nominate OR organisations nominating individual employees of merit. This is NOT an age bound award. One submission per applicant. The individual must have been working in the data centre industry for less than 6 years.

This is a non-voting award and will be judged independently by members of the Rising Stars initiative, the Data Centre Alliance and other leading members from the industry..

Entry Criteria for Rising Star of the Year award:

• Please describe your career path so far and key achievements to date? Feel free to include academic pursuits if you wish.
• How you are supporting the employer brand of the DC industry? IE Social posts, volunteering, careers fairs, videos, podcasts, events.
• What does success look like to you?

Acknowledging the colocation provider that excels in customer-centric services, offering unparalleled support, responsiveness, and tailored solutions, ensuring utmost satisfaction and exceeding client expectations consistently

Open to any commercial organisation manufacturing, selling and/or supporting DC Facilities solutions in the EMEA market.

Open to any commercial organisation manufacturing, selling and/or supporting DC ICT system solutions in the EMEA market.

Open to any commercial organisation selling and/or supporting DC Cloud products and/or services in the EMEA market.

Open to any IT vendor or reseller/business partner delivering end-user customer service in the UK or EMEA data centre markets.  Entries must be accompanied by a minimum of THREE customer testimonials (in English) attesting to the high level of customer service delivered that sets the entrant apart from their competition. 

Open to any data centre-focused organisation which has delivered some or all of the following: true workplace inclusivity, equality and diversity, social responsibility.

Open to any data centre-focused organisation which has delivered some or all of the following: innovative recruitment initiatives (at whatever career stage(s)) ongoing skills development programmes and a more general commitment to educating the workforce of tomorrow.

Open to any IT vendor or business partner who has delivered through innovation or integration a measurable and/or tangible solution that delivers improved sustainability or efficiency in the data centre environment.&nbsp

Open to any innovative analytics and/or observability service, product or technology.

Open to any innovative data centre automation/ orchestration service, product or technology.

Open to any networking and/or communications platform, appliance or system that provide local, wide area or remote access data centre connectivity.

Open to any security products, hardware and/or software based, that deliver specific datacentre focussed security solutions to organisations.

Open to any datacentre or cloud-based IT storage hardware and/or software productsthat deliver specific datacentre focussed storage solutions to end-users.

Open to any products that are designed to deliver efficient and cost-effective data centre and or infrastructure cooling solutions to end users and/or data centre operators.

Open to any products that are designed to deliver comprehensive automation (IOT, AI etc.) or Data Centre Management (DCIM) solutions (i.e. the building and its total contents) to end users and/or data centre operators.

Open to any products that deliver effective cabling infrastructure and management in the data centre environment including cabinets and racking solutions for end users and/or data centre operators.

Open to any PDU products that are designed to deliver efficient and cost-effective power solutions to end users and/or data centre operators

Open to any products that are designed to deliver efficient and cost-effective power solutions to end users and/or datacentre operators.

Open to any Physical Security and/or Fire/Safety solutions in the datacentre environment for end users and/or data centre operators.

Open to any product that results in significant benefits to an end-user organisation's energy efficiency or sustainability of all or part of their data centre environment.

Open to any IT systems-level management solution aimed at effective management of heterogeneous data centre IT environments including those based around AI.

Open to any specific distributed computing innovation that brings computation and data storage closer to the sources of the data improving response times and saving bandwidth for operators services providers and/or end users.

Open to any organisation's implementation of a set of set of private, public or hybrid cloud services to their internal or external customers that results in a significant business benefit.

Open to any project involving the consolidation of several data centres or a notable refresh/upgrade project resulting in significant benefits to the end-user organisation concerned.

Open to any data centre project that resulted in significant benefits to the end-user organisation with regard to the energy efficiency and sustainability of the facilities concerned.

Open to any specific distributed computing project that brigs computation and data storage closer to the sources of the data improving response times and saving bandwidth implemented in any organisation of any size in EMEA.

Open to any project involving the design and build of a new data centre anywhere in EMEA - specifically involving the construction of a new data centre building/campus.

Acknowledging the colocation provider that pioneers&rsquo innovative solutions, technologies, or practices fostering sustainability within the data centre ecosystem, contributing to energy efficiency, renewable adoption, and environmental responsibility.

Highlighting the colocation facility that demonstrates a commendable commitment to sustainability through remarkable initiatives, practices, or projects, significantly reducing environmental impact and fostering eco-friendly operations.

Recognizing the colocation provider that showcases outstanding strategies and seamless implementation in upgrading existing infrastructure, optimizing performance, and meeting evolving industry and client demands effectively.

Open to any organisation delivering data centre hosting and colocation services to end users or datacentre operators in the EMEA region.

Open to any products that enhance the provision of hosted and/or colocation services offered to an operator's clients or business partners.

Open to any organisation's project to migrate to a managed services model or colo-based set of services for the delivery of one or set of key applications in support of their core business.