PHILADELPHIA -- The University of Pennsylvania’s central computing organization, Information Systems and Computing, has received certification from the International Organization for Standardization for its data center, the first in the Ivy League to do so.

“The ability of our organization to obtain international certification provides tangible proof that ISC is focused on being the best it can be,” ISC Vice President Robin Beck said.

“We are proud to have earned recognition from ISO, an organization known for sharing technological advances and good management practices and for disseminating innovative ideas,” Data Center IT Senior Director Donna Manley said.

ISC started the certification initiative three years ago.

“We saw ISO certification as part of our on-going efforts of continuous improvement in services we provide to our clients at Penn,” said Ray Davis, executive director of ISC’s Systems Engineering Operations, to which the data center reports. “We knew the work required to achieve ISO certification would be a high bar to measure ourselves against. We also knew working through the process would provide more pronounced and interactive opportunities for employees to contribute directly to Penn’s success. This win-win scenario made the additional work well worth the effort.”

Increases in efficiency will result in cost reductions of more than $150,000 annually, Manley said.

ISO is the world’s largest developer and publisher of international standards. It has 157 member countries.