A Dublin-based fire and security specialist has invested a six-figure sum in its systems and is the first to attain globally-recognised cyber security and anti-bribery certification to ensure it remains best placed to provide peace of mind to Ireland’s expanding data centre sector.
Already charged with preserving the resilience and effectiveness of major data centre facilities within the country, the Sharp Group has further honed its practises and personnel to exceed peer and industry standards for protecting the infrastructures that have become pivotal to daily life in the Information Age.
To date, investors have ploughed more than €6.2 billion into the development of data centres in Ireland and the high value placed on these buildings’ services – which are relied on by millions of people and prominent, international businesses – means all types of physical threats to operations must be mitigated.
“As we know, these are not your average industrial facilities. Classified as part of our critical national infrastructure, this valuable sector must rightly demand the highest levels of security to protect them,” explained Sharp Group’s Finance Director Jason Shields.
“They require defence in depth – be it through control and advanced surveillance systems to eliminate any unauthorised access, safeguarding against disruption to power or utilities from environmental events or fire, or guarding against a more extreme, hostile attack.”
Despite the Sharp Group’s proven pedigree, Shields added that the firm had recently committed significant amounts of time, effort and money to advancing its offering in the digital domain to eliminate human error and mitigate risk, including advances such as thermal imaging, innovative alarm techniques and CCTV analytics – all of which are continuing to evolve.
But it is the need for integrity that is driving the need for these advancements. Sharp Group’s latest €400,000 investment has boosted the firm’s technology capability for customers and its own systems and processes. Ongoing adaptation and investment in security software is critical and the reassuring awards of ISOs [International Organization for Standardization] 27001 and 37001 further demonstrate its integrity in terms of people and services.
“Working closely with our data centre clients, we have upgraded our internal security operations software tools to provide a customer portal that allows them to monitor our guards during scheduled patrols of sites,” he continued.
“Our enhancements have been made as a consequence of seeing first-hand the rigorous requirements of our existing clients in the sector.
“Up until 2025 it is anticipated there will be a further €1.13 billion a year invested in data centre projects in Ireland and we are ready to give these facilities complete peace of mind that all systems and operations – from perimeter to rack – will be well looked after.”