OREANDA-NEWS. July 17, 2012. NTT Communications Corporation’s wholly owned subsidiary in Hong Kong and Macao – NTT Com Asia today announced that NTT Communications Hong Kong Data Centre has received the LEED® Silver certification for its green practices and improvements in operations, which is the only data centre project in Hong Kong that has achieved the LEED accreditation for Existing Buildings: Operation & Maintenance™ rating system. The LEED green building certification program is a globally recognized benchmark for the design, construction and operation of green buildings.

The certification underlines the company’s achievement and commitment to continuous improvement in environmental protection, and identifies the company’s data centre as the first project in Hong Kong to receive LEED in “Operations”. The facility has achieved a near 15% improvement in energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions significantly since its launch in 2009.

The LEED certification evaluates based on sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy consumption and atmospheric conditions, materials and resources usage as well as indoor environmental quality. Through utilizing the Water Cooler Chiller System and additional Indoor Plumbing Fixture and Fitting, NTT Communications Hong Kong Data Centre has significantly optimized the energy performance and achieved high water efficiency.

“NTT Communications is honoured to receive the LEED accreditation which recognizes our dedication for operational excellence and efforts in continuous improvement. New buildings are typically designed to meet the latest green construction standards; yet it is extremely challenging to meet the LEED’s stringent requirements in terms of ‘Operations’ as it involves dedicated supervision in every single detail as well as comprehensive staff training in long run,” said Mr. Taylor Man, Executive Vice President, New Business Division of NTT Com Asia. “The LEED certification is without a doubt a testament of our long term commitment on sustainability. Given the demand on our data centre services is ever increasing and it is extraordinary important for us to operate sustainably. It is gratifying that our customers share our values and join our efforts in minimizing the carbon footprint.

“The green building movement offers an unprecedented opportunity to respond to the most important challenges of our time, including global climate change, dependence on non-sustainable and expensive sources of energy and threats to human health,” said Mr. Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “The work of innovative building projects such as NTT Communications Hong Kong Data Centre is fundamental to achieving higher environmental standards in the data centre industry and serves as a prime example of how much we can accomplish.”

The LEED certification is an internationally recognized mark of environmental excellence in built environment developed by USGBC. It provides independent, third-party verification building owners and operations with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.

NTT Communications has adopted a sustainable Integrated Data Centre Management approach, with a mission to achieving energy efficiency through continuous monitoring and audit practices. This sustainable approach takes into all stages of data centre life cycle into consideration and optimizes performance for continuous improvement. NTT Communications Hong Kong Data Centre strives to be recognized as the leading data centre, championing quality services and best practices for the industry in the region.

NTT Communications Hong Kong Data Centre is a dedicated data centre designed as a Tier III+ fully-redundant infrastructure ensuring high availability and business continuity, with ISO-certified operations and security management. NTT Communications Hong Kong Data Centre is also referred to as “NTT Communications Hong Kong Tai Po Data Centre.” It is owned by NTT Worldwide Telecommunications and operated by NTT Com Asia, subsidiaries of NTT Communications.