Data Center Richness

Loudoun County in Northern Virginia has long been the center of gravity for the data center industry. It is the home of Data Center Alley, a section of Ashburn where all the major networks meet, making it the world's primary destination for Internet traffic.

As a result, Loudoun County has been on the front lines of just about every major trend in the data center sector. That includes the data center boom, and more recently the controversies involving data centers and community pushback.  There have been plenty of headlines about resistance to the data center industry, most n...

Liquid cooling has become one of the most important technologies in the rise of AI. Powerful new AI server hardware throws off a lot of heat, pushing past the limits of most traditional air cooling. This has driven a surge of acquisitions in the cooling sector, and none bigger than Ecolab's $4.75 billion deal to acquire liquid cooling specialist CoolIT Systems.

In this episode of Data Center Richness, host Rich Miller sits down with Jason Walker, Director of Product Marketing for Data Centers at Ecolab, to break down the CoolIT acquisition.

Walker discusses how Ecolab is...

Building hyperscale data centers at the speed of AI comes with a massive challenge: taking care of the thousands of tradespeople on the front lines of construction sites. As project schedules compress and job sites push into remote locations, how do industry leaders build a culture that keeps workers safe, healthy, and genuinely supported?

In this episode of Data Center Richness podcast, we sit down with Trey Dean, Senior Vice President of Global EHS at Vantage Data Centers. Trey shares how Vantage is priotiizing site welfare, tracking workforce mental health with actionable data, and using AI and  r...

There's a big question at the heart of today's tech headlines: Is there an AI bubble? I sat down with someone who's been building data centers since 1997, and I found his answer really insightful. 

That's Ron Vokoun. He's had 37 years in construction, most of it in digital infrastructure - fiber networks in the '90s, the first Qwest data centers, a stretch dedicated to prefab and modular builds, and now cooling as the Senior VIce President of Data Center Cooling at SVL Inc. 

Ron has also become one of the most trusted voices curating data ce...

Demand for data center space is hitting all-time records. That is creating a major boom in data center construction, including more projects and larger campuses.

How does the industry keep track of all this construction? For more than 1,000 data center projects, the answer is OpenSpace, a technology company that provides visual intelligence on construction job sites. Its platform uses 360-degree cameras, smartphones and drones to create a digital record of the project that can be updated in real time.

OpenSpace packages this "reality capture" visual data in apps that offer a remote overview of the...

Inside the Future of Data Center Construction

Demand for data center capacity has never been higher. But building a data center is a complex undertaking, involving global supply chains and local contractors. As the industry seeks to build super-sized data center campuses, there are reports that a growing number of projects are falling behind schedule. 

So what's the state of data center construction? To find out, we speak with Doug Mouton, who for many years worked with construction teams building data centers for Microsoft and Meta. Doug and host Rich Miller discuss the complexities of b...

The transformer is a key component of power delivery, but its core design dates to the 19th century. A number of startups are working to build a better transformer using software-defined power electronics that are ready for the AI era.

One of those companies is DG Matrix. It focuses on solid-state transformers, which are emerging as  as a critical piece of the infrastructure for next-generation AI data center. DG Matrix CEO and cofounder Haroon Inam joins us to discuss solid-state transformers, and how a multi-port design can provide new options for savings and efficiency in the data c...

Can electric vehicles, solar panels and smart thermostats in homes help free up more grid power for data centers? This concept that has been turning in recent months as the data center power crunch has become more challenging.

The concept known as a virtual power plant or VPP. It's a collection of small energy sources that are brought together to create a large energy asset, which can be managed to help support the power grid in moments of high usage. The owners of homes and vehicles get paid for the energy they share back to the grid. 

What's it like to work on the front lines of data center innovation? Google has been a pioneer in the digital economy, and developed many of the innovations that define hyperscale data centers. 

Today on Data Center Richness, we discuss what it's like to be building at the leading edge of a massive technology transformation. Our guest is Joe Kava, who led the Google data center team through an amazing phase of growth, both for the company and the data center industry. 

Joe retired from Google in 2025, and at the Data Center World 2026 conference, he wa...

Few people know liquid cooling as well as Rich Whitmore. He is the CEO of Motivair by Schneider Electric, which has cooled the world's most powerful supercomputers.

After years of working with the HPC and data center communities, Motivair was acquired last year by global equipment giant Schneider Electric to prepare for surging adoption of liquid cooling for AI workloads.     

The rise of AI and extreme rack density was a key focus at the recent Schneider Electirc Innovation Summit in Buffalo, N.Y., where I sat down with Rich for a discussion of where liquid coo...

There's big change coming to power distribution in data centers. Today on Data Center Center Richness, we look at the planned transition to 800 volt DC power distribution, and a new technology - Solid-State Transformers - could play a key role in these upgrades to AI infrastructure.

Our guest is Dafna Granot, the Senior Manager for Strategy & Innovation at SolarEdge, which specializes in DC power technology to support solar energy in both consumer and utility settings. The company is expanding into the data center market, with a vision for how Solid-State Transformers can bring extreme efficiency to the 800...

We've all seen the headlines about AI data centers using up grid capacity and raising power prices. What you may not know is that AI can also find more power and help lower consumer bills.

In this video we profile a startup called GridCARE, which is using AI tools and software to unlock more existing electricity for utilities and power grids. CEO Amit Narayan shares how this technology located 400 megawatts of capacity in one of the nation's busiest data center markets, enabling enough power for 5 new data center projects.    

What's even better is that if a...

These are boom times for conferences about data centers and AI. In a time of Big, Fast, Change, industry events provide essential education and networking for the many folks who are new to the data center sector.

One of the largest events on the conference schedule is Data Center World, which gets underway next week in Washington, D.C. We sat down with Bill Kleyman, the Executive Chairman of Data Center World, to talk about the growth of conferences, and their important role in the industry. 

Bill has LOTS to share about the scope and a...

Let's talk about solar-powered data centers. A lot of the recent discussion of data center power has focused on strategies supported by natural gas, or perhaps small modular nuclear reactors. 

But what about renewable energy?    

Today my guest is Nic Bustamante, who has held data center leadership positions at several hyperscale players. Nic is the Chief Data Center Officer at Exowatt, a renewable energy company with an innovative approach to delivering clean power around the clock for data center campuses. It combines several existing technologies - thermal solar, Fresnel concentrating lenses, and the Stirling engine - t...

One of the biggest growth stories of 2026 is the rise of on-site powers for data centers. The AI boom is driving huge growth in demand for electricity to support AI factories, as well as traditional cloud workloads. 

But many major markets have limited availability of utility power, as electric grids are struggling to keep pace with the growth of digital infrastructure. 

Today on Data Center Richness, we are talking on-site power for data centers. Our guest is Scott Yappen, a business development specialist with Wartsila, a Finnish company that has been a major player in th...

Solving the Speed to Power Problem

Speed to power is the hot topic these days, as data center operators race to deploy new capacity for AI services. Many of the leading players in the AI sector say they are capacity constrained - meaning they can't get new compute fast enough. 

Meanwhile, many utilities are also constrained, and have limited power availabel for new data center builds. Bridging this power gap is one of the most critical issues for the AI ecosystem. 

That's our topic today on Data Center Richness, and our guest is...

There's been a big focus on hyperscale facilities for generative AI. Where does the enterprise customer fit in the current data center landscape?

One of the providers focused on the enterprise market is Flexential, a company with a history providing network-focused colocation and wholesale space in second-tier markets.

Flexential CEO Ryan Mallory joins us today on Data Center Richness to share his take on the state of the enterprise data center market, how enterprises are adopting AI, and the road ahead for Flexential.

Here's an overview of our conversation:

00:00 - The...

The AI boom is creating a massive business opportunity at the intersection of the data center and energy sectors. But these are both complex industries with lots of specialized knowledge. How can these two crucial industries work together effectively to build the future?

We explore this questions today with the help of Arushi Sharma Frank, who is an expert in energy market economics, regulation, and technology. Her work spans the intersection of policy, markets, and infrastructure, shaping how complex energy systems evolve under structural change. With industry background at Constellation Energy and Tesla, she is now a...

Why the Future of Data Might Be Off Earth

Data centers in space are a hot topic. Hyperscale data center builders like Google and Crusoe are planning space-based facilities, and tech veterans like Eric Schmidt, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk also have ambitions for deploying data centers in space.

All these headlines have folks wondering - are data centers in space a pipe dream, or the next phase in digital infrastructure?

To find out, I sought out someone who has actually deployed data storage on the moon. Chris Stott is the executive chairman...

The data center landscape is changing fast, as AI drives innovation in both energy and cooling. In a industry dominated by big companies and big requirements,  it's a tricky time for data center startups.  

Yuval Bachar is the founder of ECL, a startup that set out to pioneer hydrogen-powered data centers. With the arrival of ChatGPT and the AI data center boom, ECL has changed along with the industry. 

Today on the Data Center Richness podcast, Yuval is here to share how ECL has moved to the cutting-edge of AI, deploying the very latest NVIDIA hig...

AI is changing the way we design and build data centers. Meanwhile, cloud computing and enterprise companies continue to need lots of IT capacity.

This creates a challenge for the teams that design data centers, who must navigate rapid change amid tensions between workloads and technologies. AI or cloud? Air-cooled or liquid-cooled?

This is Sara Martin's world. Sara is an Associate Principal at HED, an integrated design end engineering firm that works with many data center clients. On today's podcast Sara provides an inside look at how the rise of AI is creating new challenges...

The Internet is a network of networks. And it's the connections between these networks that can transform a local business into a global enterprise. From the early days of the Internet, Equinix has been one of the primary places where these connections happen.

Equinix has made nearly half a million interconnections between the 10,000 companies using its 270 data centers around the world, making it a key player in the growth of colocation services and cloud computing.

How is Equinix positioned for the AI boom? To find out, we sat down with DD Dasgupta, the Vice President...

One of the big data center stories of 2025 is the big shift of capacity from crypto to AI computing. In recent months, companies that got their start in crypto infrastructure have signed deals with the largest players in hyperscale AI, winning contracts worth billions of dollars.

One of those is Applied Digital, which has been one of the busiest players in 2025, singing deals for 600 megawatts of capacity on its data center campus in North Dakota. 

Our guest today is Wes Cummins, the founder and CEO of Applied Digital, who provides an insider's view on the j...

There's been Gigawatts of on-site power procured for data centers this year. And there's likely much more to come as the rise of AI boosts demand for data center capacity.

Today on Data Center Richness our topic is on-site power and the new energy landscape. Our guest is KC Mares of Megawatt Consulting, who has worked with many of the most consequential companies and projects in the history of the data center industry.

At a time when site selection and power availability are evolving rapidly, KC is helping data center operators adapt to this new...

Data centers are economic engines of the new economy. Every data center starts as an idea, with a location attached. It takes a lot of funding, planning and execution to create these complex facilities.

Today on Data Center Richness, we share a behind-the-scenes look at how investors and developers work together to bring a data center project from concept to reality. Our guests are Sabey Data Centers President Tim Mirick and Jeff Kanne, the President and CEO of National Real Estate Advisors. The two companies have been working together since 2010, with National Real Estate providing the capital...

What Data Center Innovation Looks Like in the Age of AI

Data center development is moving fast, and so is the computing technology that lives inside them. The AI boom is accelerating just about everything, placing a premium on innovation. So what does data center innovation look like in 2025 and beyond?

To explore this question, we turned to Phill Lawson-Shanks, the Chief Innovation Officer at Aligned Data Centers. Phill has been involved in transformative work in the sector for years, from the edge of the network to the center of the data hall.

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Energy is the lifeblood of every data center. As the AI boom has gained velocity, the focus on energy has intensified as power demand has effectively maxed out existing grid capacity in major data center markets. Understanding the finer points of power has never been more important.

Dan Crosby has helped explain the complexities of the energy market for the data center sector. Dan is the founder and CEO of Legend Energy Advisors, where he and his team helped deploy clients deploy multiple gigawatts of data center projects in 2024.

On this edition of the Data...

When a data center project comes to town, a question often asked by residents and local officials is "what's in it for us?" What if there was a guide that could help local officials understand the upside of how digital services can transform their work and their community?

Today we continue our series on data centers and community controversies. Our guest is Ilissa Miller, the CEO of iMiller Public Relations, who has deep experience communicating the benefits of digital infrastructure. Iliisa has also held local office in her community, a role that informs her current work with...

We've seen a lot of headlines about data centers lately, especially controversies in communities considering large new data center campuses to support AI.

Community resistance to data centers is not new, but has escalated rapidly in recent months, with a number of projects being canceled or delayed amid community outcry, including some that represented billions of dollars in local investment.

Adam Waitkunas of Milldam Public Relations publishes a newsletter tracking data center controversies and how local communities are shaping the future of data center growth. Adam and host Rich Miller discuss why we're seeing more...

Building big campuses in power-rich locations. That's the approach at EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure, which is developing data center campuses in six sites across the US, including a $17 billion campus in Louisa County, Virginia.

EdgeCore's strategy is guided by CEO Lee Kestler, who has deep experience in both the data center and energy sectors. Kestler has held leadership positions at data center operators Exodus, DuPont Fabros and Vantage Data Centers, as well as stints in the energy industry at NextEra Energy and Oak Ridge Labs.

Host Rich Miller talks with Kestler about building AI infrastructure in...

It's been a big year for Bloom Energy, a fuel cell manufacturer which has been winning large deals to provide power for data centers.

Our guest on Data Center Richness is Jeff Barber, the Vice President of Data Center Sales for Bloom Energy. Jeff discusses why Bloom is providing on-site power for large data centers AND their utility providers, and how fuel cells can address some of the community concerns about noise and emissions from data center projects.

Here's a guide to our discussion:

00:00 - Intro: A Big Year for Bloom Energy

Cooling is a hot topic in the data center industry. Few companies have been more focused on cooling than Aligned Data Centers, which builds hyperscale facilities for some of the world's leading players in cloud computing and AI.

Our guest today is Michael Welch, the Chef Technology Officer at Aligned, who discusses how Aligned is updating its products and designs for the rising densities in AI workloads, and why an advanced cooling lab is an important part of the company's strategy.

Data Center Richness host Rich Miller and Michael Welch discuss the following topics:

Large global investors have played a major role in the AI boom, providing funding for the construction of data centers and network infrastructure.

Today we look at data centers through the perspective of investors, How do large private investors think about data centers as an asset class? What trends do they consider in their investment strategies? Which markets are the most attractive? And how do they think about opportunity and risk in a fast-moving market? 

Rich Miller's guest today is Michael Hochanadel, the Managing Director and Head of Digital Assets at Harrison Street. Michael has b...

Chris Crosby has deep insights on essential the role of data centers in an AI-powered future. Crosby is the CEO of Compass Datacenters, which builds some of the world's largest data center campuses.

 In this week's Data Center Richness episode, host Rich Miller talks with Crosby about how Compass has embraced new approaches to power and the supply chain, as well as sustainable construction and backup power. Crosby also shares about Compass' adoption of HVO (hydrogenated vegetable oil), a lower-emissions diesel fuel, and the company's current project to convert the former Sears Headquarters near Chicago into a m...

Verrus is a new data center company that is seeking to build the data center of the future. It is rethinking key aspects of how data centers are built, and how they interact with the power grid.

On this episode of Data Center Richness, host Rich Miller speaks with the leadership team at Verrus, an all-star team of data center pioneers who are rethinking the data center for 2025 and beyond. That includes new approaches to some of the huge challenges the industry faces around power and design.

Verrus is a company to watch in the...

AI will be a paradigm shift for tech - and how that may change our work and our daily lives. What will that look like?

To explore this important topic, Data Center Richness host Rich Miller speaks with Bill Kleyman, CEO of AI technology firm Apolo. They discuss the speed of the AI transition, what comes next, what it means for the tech sector, how we handle this type of big, disruptive change as society.

Rich and Bill examine AI adoption in the context of cloud computing, and how initial skepticism and trust issues led...

What will the data center of 2030 look like? How will design and technology change as AI moves to the next level?

Those are the questions that Vlad Galabov and his research team addressed at the Omdia Analyst Summit at the recent Data Center World conference. Vlad is the Senior Research Director for Enterprise Infrastructure at Omdia, one of the market intelligence services at Informa TechTarget.

At DCW we got a chance to talk with Vlad about how AI is changing the way data centers are designed and built, and how Omdia believes the market will...

Are regional power grids actually constrained? Or could dozens of gigawatts of power be unlocked by new approaches to grid management and data center power contracts? That's the intriguing question posed by new research from an energy analyst, and it could have large implications for the data center industry.

Data Center Richness host RIch Miller talks with Tyler Norris, whose recent research paper titled "Rethinking Load Growth" has made waves in the energy sector, advancing new strategies for managing growth on America's power grid. Research by Norris found that close to 100 gigawatts of additional headroom could be c...

The geography of data center real estate has been changing rapidly since ChatGPT arrived in 2022, kicking off huge demand for IT infrastructure for AI hardware. This AI boom has transformed how data centers are designed, and where they are located and powered. 

To understand these changes, DCR host Rich Miller spoke with David Liggitt, the founder and CEO of datacenterHawk, which provides research and analysis on data center real estate. David is one of the sector's sharpest analysts, and has been tracking  data center markets for nearly 20 years. With the in-depth market data compiled by datacenterHawk, he ha...

Could data centers help reshape the power grid? The boom in AI infrastructure is creating challenges for data centers, utility providers and power grids. To help us understand the state of play between data and energy, we turned to Elisa Wood, the founder of Energy Changemakers, which focuses on the future of distributed energy. Elisa has been covering the energy sector for years, and many of you may know her work at Microgrid Knowledge.

We discuss the intersection of energy and data, the potential for innovation and new business models., and the prospect for more data centers...