Antibes/London – 12 September 2023 – At the first Celebration of Peers held last week in Antibes, companies and individuals were recognized for their achievements in the datacenter and digital infrastructure sector.

An independent Council of Peers who reviewed the nominations published a manifesto at launch underlining the rules of independence guiding their decisions and transparency of the process which distinguishes the Celebration of Peers. The accolades aim to be globally relevant and to elevate levels of recognition to the most innovative companies and people in the sector.

Honouring achievements for innovation in the highly competitive colocation segment, the Data Center Colocation Innovator 2023 accolade was won by EMC Home of Data GmbH [Germany] for their initiatives in renewable power and community support through sustainable initiatives, and Green Mountain Data Center [Norway] was awarded the Regional Data Center Innovator 2023 for sustainability as a regional operator.

Ekkosense has been recognized as theEnergy Innovator of the Year 2023, for their development of an innovative AI driven solution that enables operations teams to thermally optimise their datacenter performance whilst delivering quantifiable sustainability results.

A singular honour was achieved by Google for the Subsea Cable Services Innovator 2023.  New cable build currently taking place from Europe to Africa will support completely new ecosystems and economies. 

For professional services to the industry, Eversheds Sutherland won the Law Firm of the Year accolade recognising their influence in some significant global deals, and JLL the Real Estate Firm of the Year for their dedicated data centre team and their encouragement of young talent into the industry.

International carrier-neutral datacenter operator CyrusOne were recognized as ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Innovator 2023 for their sustainability policies and innovation in design to mitigate against impact on climate change.

For individual achievements, Ms Inga Auhagen of Northern Data is recognized as Young Talent of the Year, and there were two Personality of the Year accolades given to Andrew Stevens, CEO, CNet, a global leader in technical education for the industry, and to Narendra Sen, serial entrepreneur and the founder and owner of RackBank Datacenters Pvt Ltd.

“The level of nominations received for a year one edition attests not only to the quality processes the Council has put in place to assure transparency and independence, but also that the Celebration of Peers is now established as a prestigious but limited number of accolades celebrating people and companies in a global multi-billion dollar industry,” commented Alex Rabbetts, chair of the Council of Peers. 

The Celebration of Peers ceremony took place at Platform Global, the annual content and high-end networking meeting for Investors, Operators and Large-scale Users which takes place in Antibes, on the Côte D’Azur. 

The Council of Peers includes highly experienced executives from across the industry including (in alphabetical order) Mark Acton, Head of Technical Due Diligence, Future-tech, Géraldine    Camara Managing Director, France Datacenter, Kjetil Ertnaes, Senior Advisor, DLE Consulting A/S, Monika Grass, Senior Consultant, Grass Consulting, Susanna Kass, Carbon Neutral Data Center Advisor, UNSDG Program, Isabelle Kemlin, Business & Innovation    Rise Research Institute of Sweden and Vice Chairman, Swedish Data Center Industry Association, Stephanie     Liston, Chair, UK Digital Connectivity Forum, Deborah, McGargle, CEO, FAR Technologies Ltd and chair, Alex Rabbetts, Managing Director, Corozon.

Nominations will open on 1 December 2023 for the 2024 accolades and a shortlist will be announced in advance of the 3rd Platform Global which takes place 10-12 September 2024.