Education, Global:  American Power Conversion (APC), a global provider of end-to-end infrastructure availability solutions, has launched Data Centre University, an online educational institution for IT professionals, engineers and people involved in building or operating server rooms and data centres.

Data Centre University includes both classroom and Web-based courses. The initial launch offers 14 foundational courses and six advanced courses in the subject areas of data centre design, build and operations. All courses, which are vendor-neutral and do not promote APC products, focus on the critical technologies and best practices that are relevant to scaleable, modular data centre infrastructure.

“Our goal is to provide data centre professionals with training on real world issues, not just theory," says Carl Kleynhans, country general manager: Africa at APC. "We expect that through Data Centre University's continuing education courses, this institution can help address the critical shortage of qualified data centre professionals in the industry. Data Centre University will provide individuals with standardised training in the fundamental issues of data centre design, build and operations, as well as give them the knowledge and skills needed to effectively manage real world issues in today's sophisticated data centre. IT professionals now have access to high-quality data centre education through this vendor-neutral, one-stop, fast track educational institution."

Data Centre University gives IT professionals an opportunity to broaden knowledge on a wide variety of topics related to data centre design and management, including the latest high density applications that are creating challenging design issues for enterprises. Other popular courses include Fundamentals of Cooling, Fundamentals of Power, and Fundamentals of Physical Security. From now until March 31, 2006, Data Centre University will offer all online courses at no charge.

“Data Centre University addresses the great need for advanced education in the disciplines of planning network-critical physical infrastructure and designing data centres," adds Kleynhans. "As APC's core expertise has expanded into areas such as data centre cooling and rack systems for blade servers, Data Centre University is a natural fit."

Actual data centre executives with decades of combined experience participated in the development of the online, on-demand courses, most of which individuals can complete in less than one hour. Data Centre University is an educational partner of IEEE.

For more information please visit  www.datacenteruniversity.com