Uptime Institute Sustainability Assessments May Assist MSPs, Channel Partners

A newly launched Uptime Institute Sustainability Assessment is designed to help customers determine the sustainability of their digital infrastructure. But take a closer look, and those sustainability assessments may be valuable to MSPs and channel partners that need to pinpoint Scope 3 carbon emissions across third-party data centers and public cloud services.

The sustainability assessment can include IT equipment, energy and water usage, carbon emissions and waste, and can span such business functions as IT Operations and Management, Facility Operations & Management, and more, the Uptime Institute said. Pricing for the services were not disclosed.

We don't know if Uptime Institute will launch a partner program for the sustainability assessment services -- but we're checking.

IT Sustainability: MSPs, Channel Partners Lack Data Center Visibility

The sustainability assessment services debut at a key time for channel partners, MSPs and their clientele. Indeed, customers and MSPs often lack visibility when trying to pinpoint sustainability data for third-party data centers and digital infrastructure. According to Uptime Institute research:

• Fewer than half of digital infrastructure operators compile and report water usage (41%);
• only 26% track IT waste or recycling; and
• only 23% compile and report all three Scopes (1,2, and 3) of carbon emissions.

A separate Canalys research report, issued in mid-2023, explains how channel partners are addressing sustainability at differing rates across Europe, North America and other regions.

Sustainability Assessment Services: Executive Perspectives

In a prepared statement about the assessment services, Ali Moinuddin, chief corporate development officer, Uptime Institute, said: "This assessment has been designed to help data center owner-operators and service provider communities build, deploy, benchmark and manage impactful and practical sustainability programs that deliver tangible results. The Sustainability Assessment will allow organizations to identify which sustainability initiatives can help reduce the environmental impact and operating expenses of their specific data center operating modality and deployment architecture without comprising the availability and resiliency of their mission-critical digital infrastructure.”

In addition to the sustainability assessment services, Uptime Institute offers:

• Sustainability Consulting Services; and
• Sustainability Strategy Gap Analysis.

Uptime Institute, founded in 1993, is based in New York. The company develops and maintains benchmarks for data center performance, resilience, sustainability, and efficiency.

Dominus Capital, a private equity firm, has owned Uptime Institute since 2022. Uptime, in turn, acquired Academia Group Ltd. and CNet Training in 2023.