DCD Zero Downtime: The Bi-Weekly Data Center Show

There is plenty of talk about power and land availability, but another hurdle to data center growth and development is capital. In this episode, we talk to Julie Brewer, EdgeCore's EVP of finance, about the different ways data center developers and operators can secure funding - be it through equity or debt. In addition, we discuss how Brewer's experience of secure funding has varied between her roles, from the retail colocation space, to hyperscaler properties. 

The price of Bitcoin might be higher than ever, but that isn't stopping companies from pivoting to hosting AI and HPC infrastructure as well as cryptomining rigs.In this episode of DCD>Zero Downtime, Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot talks about the company's pivot away from mining cryptocurrencies to become a data center provider for both the crypto and AI sectors, and how to create a base facility design that can tailor to both worlds.He also talks about the American Bitcoin venture the company has formed with Eric and Donald Trump Junior, and what the sons of the US president are like to work with.

DCD sits down with Alex Goodall, CEO of Xela Energy, to discuss the company's rebrand from Clean Energy Capital, and how it aims to deliver behind-the-meter renewable power to the UK's data center market.

In this episode, DCD catches up with Bill Long, CPO at Zayo Group, to discuss the company's long-haul fiber build across the US to support the growing demands of AI workloads. Long also discusses Zayo's acquisition of Crown Castle's fiber assets and why the Macro Edge provides a worthwhile opportunity. 

Earlier this year, Zendo Energy emerged from stealth and launched an "Energy OS" to enhance energy procurement for the data center industry.DCD speaks to Drew Barrett, COO at Zendo, about the launch and the broader energy market.

In this episode, DCD chats with Jason Eichenholz, CEO of Relativity Networks, about hollow core fiber (HCF). Eichenholz details the latest developments of the technology, plus its potential to support the AI data center boom, and whether HCF can have an impact on the telecoms sector. 

In this episode, we chat to Ben King, associate director with Rhodium Group's Energy & Climate practice, who provides an in-depth look into the US geothermal sector. We explore the exciting world of enhanced geothermal power and how, if scaled, it could provide enough energy to meet skyrocketing data center demand across the US.

AI is changing how data centers operate, and particularly in the case of retrofit facilities, it is more important than ever that operators have all the data they need to ensure uptime. We talk to Jad Jebara, CEO and president of Hyperview - an AI-powered DCIM provider - about some of the pitfalls data center operators are falling into as they handle more demanding workloads, and how a surprising number of operators are still actually using Excel for capacity planning.

What does it take to run a cloud provider in 2025? We chat to David Driggers about Cirrascale, a company older than the neoclouds, but without the deep pockets of the hyperscalers, about how the company is carving its own path in an increasingly crowded market.Plus, we hear about the current AI inference market, and where growth opportunities lie.

In this podcast episode, we speak to Harry Keeling, head of business development - new markets at Rolls Royce. Listen in to hear more about the rise of small modular reactors, Rolls Royce SMR's business model, and the potential of SMRs in powering the data center sector.

With global political uncertainty, data sovereignty has become a key conversation for governments, enterprises, and cloud providers alike. In this episode, we talk to Civo's Mark Boost about the importance of data sovereignty - as well as establishing a definition - and how this links to the ongoing issue of increasing competition in the cloud market beyond the US hyperscalers. We also touch on how the UK's CMA investigation, and whether such anticompetitive investigations really go far enough.  

In this episode, we talk to Core Scientific COO Matt Brown about the company's pivot away from housing cryptomining rigs to hosting GPUs for the likes of AI cloud firm CoreWeave.We talk about the wider crypto market and why the move to AI hosting is becoming so common, the rise of the neoclouds and why they're willing to work with companies that might not be used to working to Tier III-quality uptime requirements, and Matt's own experience coming to the crypto space from world of traditional colo.

In this episode, we talk to Sainesh Vallabh, group chief commercial officer, Helios Towers, about the company's strategic focus to drive tenants to its mobile tower infrastructure. Sainesh explains the company's plans for the year, opportunities to look at new markets, and the challenges that Africa and the Middle East present for Helios. 

In this episode, we are staying in the editorial team's home county - the UK. Pulsant is a regional Edge provider focusing on the UK market, and has recently launched a new Sovereign Cloud offering. We talk with Pulsant's CTO Mike Hoy about the data center industry in the UK in the context of the Labour government, how enterprise strategies are changing in relation to cloud deployments, and discuss the ongoing CMA investigation into the cloud services market. 

DCD's EiC Sebastian Moss talks to SDxCentral executive editor Dan Meyer about what it means for the two publications to work together, and what we can learn about the current tech cycle from previous booms and busts.

With the cloud market in a constant war for market share, alternative providers to the “big three” have emerged. With 32 regions globally, Vultr has a huge worldwide reach, and claims to be able to offer core cloud services (and GPUs) at a significantly lower cost than the hyperscalers. In this episode, Kevin Cochrane joins us to discuss the cloud computing market, how Vultr is able to offer its services for less, and the company's push into AI. 

Could changing just 30 lines of code in Linux help cut data center energy use?In this episode, we speak to Professor Martin Karsten, professor of computer science at the University of Waterloo, and Joe Domato, distinguished engineer at Fastly, about their work optimizing the Linux kernel, which could have big implications if applied by digital infrastructure operators

In a compute world dominated by Nvidia, hyperscalers are looking to build out their own semiconductor infrastructure capable of training and inference workloads at scale.We chat to AWS product manager Gadi Hutt about his company's approach, based on its 2016 Annapurna Labs acquisition. We talk about Trainium and Inferentia, how the company balances against its GPU fleet, and what it's cooking with Anthropic and Rainier.

In this episode, we talk to Cathy Kunkel, energy consultant at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, about a recent report she authored on the increased buildout of gas power plants and pipelines in the Southeast US, driven by the projected growth of data center load.

The start campus data center project has big dreams, aiming to build a 1.2GW data center campus in Sines, Portugal. While things have progressed on the campus, its entanglement in the corruption probe that saw the Prime Minister resign and led to the arrest of several of Start's executives including then CEO Afonso Salema caused some hiccups. With the charges now dropped (and a new CEO in place) and the first data center on the campus live, Start is back on the grind to see the project through to fruition. Omer Wilson, chief marketing officer at Start Campus, talks to DCD about the project, and addresses the issue of starting again, after such a disruption.

In this episode, we talk to Julian Hennessy, projects director at Telehouse Europe, about the company's most recent project in the London Docklands area. The Telehouse South facility was entirely retrofitted with a mission to strive for better sustainability. Julian explains the challenges and the benefits of retrofitting in the London data center landscape.

Carrie Goetz is the definition of an industry veteran. With decades of experience, she now works as a “fractional CTO” via her StrategITcom company, but over the years she has done a lot of outreach work to bring in new faces to the sector, not to mention the several books she has written. Tune in to hear about Goetz' career so far, and her perspective on how we can bring in a new generation of data center obsessives 

US scientific research institutions are under attack. DOGE-led cuts to National Science Foundation funding, caps on indirect research costs, firings at the National Institutes of Health, layoffs at the Department of Energy, and more will profoundly weaken the US' scientific standing.But what does this mean for the country, for companies, and for the data center sector? We speak to the 'father of the Internet' Vint Cerf, co-developer of the TCP/IP protocol, about why the Internet had to come out of government-backed research, what he learned from his time at the National Science Board, and how we can win back our future.

From visionary bets in Yahoo, Alibaba, and Arm, to disastrous gambles on WeWork and Vision Funds, SoftBank's Masayoshi Son has defied both logic and expectations. Self-styled as a modern Genghis Khan, the once richest man in the world has rolled the dice yet again, plowing money into OpenAI and Stargate. What can we learn from his past? We talk to Lionel Barber, author of Gambling Man: The Wild Ride of Japan's Masayoshi Son.

This episode with Steve Roberts from Exa Infrastructure discusses the resilience, security, and redundancy of today's subsea cables, particularly in the face of adversities such as wars and natural disasters. Join us to discuss who should be investing, how the cable landscape is set to change in the coming years, and all things subsea. 

Australia is seeing its data center market grow rapidly.  In this episode, we talk to Vertiv's Ben Crowe about the trends they are seeing across the country, the impact that AI is having on the data center sector, and the role that the government can play in supporting the industry. 

Rounding out our Bali event bonus content, we chat to Damon Lim, regional director for Asia Pacific at datacenterHawk

At our Bali event, we spoke to Sumit Mukhija, at the time the CEO of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres India

At our Bali event, we spoke to Darren Webb, co-founder and CEO of SE Asian market-focused Evolution Data Centers

At our Bali 2024 event, we sit down with James Murphy, managing director, APAC, at DC Byte

At our Bali event, we chat to Paul Dwyer, Head of Data Centres at LOGOS Group

Computational Fluid Dynamics has a very important role to play in data centers, but how does it work? In this episode, we break down CFD with Subzero Engineering's Gordon Johnson - the factors that need to be considered, its role in the data center, and the science behind it.

While silicon is still the semiconductor king, alternative chip materials are increasingly being sought in order to find their successor and address some of the biggest challenges facing the chips of today. In today's episode of Zero Downtime, CEO and founder of Diamond Quanta, Adam Khan, discusses the benefits of diamond semiconductor technology, its applications, and the work Diamond Quanta is undertaking.

Earlier this year, Synopsys' R&D team developed a new model that allows design teams to create and test circuits at cryogenic temperatures. In this episode, Jamil Kawa and William Ruby from Synopsys talk about the cryogenic CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors) research project and how it could support the development of low-power chips to help solve the worsening AI energy crisis.

Iron Mountain was originally founded by a mushroom farmer in the 1950s. However, in the pivot of the century, the company launched a paper records storage service using the very mine that once housed mushroomsAs the world around them digitized, Iron Mountain had to adapt to change and eventually became the data center company we know today. However, they have still kept some of its underground mines. In this episode of Zero Downtime, we talk to Mark Kidd about Iron Mountain's evolution, and the lessons that can be learned by the data center industry.

India's data center industry is rapidly growing, and companies are taking notice.  Singapore-based CapitaLand Investment is currently developing major data centers throughout the country in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. While these developments are running smoothly, building large data center campuses in any location is never simple.  We talk with managing director Surajit Chatterjee about the challenges and opportunities presented by India, its choices of location, development process, goals for sustainability and the investment company's future plans.

When Gil Santaliz first founded NJFX, he saw an opportunity to create an environment where data centers and cable landing stations could co-exist on the same campus. But even he could not predict how the emergence of AI and Edge technology has changed and developed conventional cable landing stations for the better. We talk to NJFX about the history of NJFX, the importance of colocation cable landing stations, and the future of AI and subsea infrastructure. 

Iceotope's David Craig returns to DCD Zero Downtime as he prepares to hand in his badge and gun. We talk what's next for Craig, and how he has seen the industry change and mature during his lengthy run.

We are all acutely aware that the data center industry has an aging, and thus thinning, workforce. But what can we do about it? In this episode, we talk to Nabeel Mahmood, managing director of Nomad Futurist - a non-profit dedicated to increasing awareness about the world of digital infrastructure - about how we can bring more people into the industry, especially those positioned at a disadvantage, be it because of a lack of resource, their location, or even society expectations.

Data center operators are getting serious about waste heat and, more specifically, what to do with it.While the solution for many is to pump it back into nearby district heating systems, other companies are getting more creative and using warmth from servers to heat aquafarms and greenhouses. European operator Data4 has joined a project which aims to demonstrate that waste heat from its data center can help to grow algae, which could in turn be used as biofuel. Linda Lescuyer, Data4's innovation manager, joins us to explain how the project is taking shape. 

Data center markets vary wildly by location, and in this episode we head "down under" to the wonderful land of Australia. With the AI boom in full across the globe, Australia is no different and experiencing increased demand.   We talk to David Hirst, who heads up Australia's Macquarie Data Centers, about the trends he is seeing in the country, how Macquarie is approaching AI, and the company's recent news, including its forthcoming IC3 Super West data center.

During a natural disaster, networks often go down. This can massively impact rescue missions in some cases. The importance of network operators and the role they play in responding to unpredictable moments is something that should be highlighted. We spoke to Verizon to see how it prepares its response to hurricanes and tornados, and find out the level of training required to support its efforts.

With the cloud market already over-saturated, it is hard to imagine how a new company can make its mark. NexGen Cloud is seeking to do just that, with plans to build a sustainable cloud specializing in HPC and GPU infrastructure called "super cloud." We talk about how NexGen is going to achieve this, the steps taken thus far and why the company thinks it is a solid competitor for some of the bigger players. 

Sourcing adequate amounts of power to run new facilities is a problem that keeps even the most seasoned data center operators awake at night.  Many are looking at new technologies such as battery storage to help meet their power demands, but ensuring these assets operate efficiently can be a challenge. Dublin-based GridBeyond thinks it can help by providing grid-connected battery technologies and management software to data centers and other clients across a range of industries. In this episode, Michael Phelan, founder and CEO of GridBeyond, talks about the challenges and opportunities presented by the clean energy transition, and the future of Ireland's overstretched power grid.

With AI dramatically driving up density, data center cooling is getting much more interesting.  Iceotope is one of the companies exploring the most efficient and sustainable way to cool down data centers - and their solution is precision cooling. On the face of it, precision cooling resembles immersion cooling - viscous liquid? Check. Bathtub-like container? Check. But as CEO David Craig explains, it is actually a far more efficient solution. Beyond the world of liquid cooling, we talk about political optimism and how the next generation will hopefully help us all towards a greener world. 

Mushrooms can be used to build more than just toad-stools. In this episode, Joanne Rodriguez, CEO at Mycocycle, talks about using mycelium to break down data center construction waste and make new construction materials. Listen in to this fung-guide to the future of waste management.

Nuclear power may have its detractors, but amid a growing capacity crunch data center operators are becoming increasingly interested in whether atoms can provide the electrons needed to power tomorrow's high-density facilities. In this episode, Chris Lohse of the Idaho National Laboratory, talks about the recent innovations around nuclear power, the highs and lows of recent years, and what the future might hold for nuclear-powered data centers.

Sustainability needs to be applied at all levels of the data center industry, and we are not doing enough, says John Booth of Carbon3IT.  In this episode of Zero Downtime, we sit down with sustainability consultant John Booth to talk about how he got where he is in his career, and the fundamental sustainability issues that he is seeing in the data center industry.  We also talk about a past trip to Belarus that proved more exciting than expected. Tune in now for the latest episode.

Bringing the L to FLAP-D, the UK has a prominent data center market. But like all other tier-one markets, London is struggling with space and power capacity. Because of this, the UK's data center industry will have to diversify, all while meeting increasingly regimented regulations. In this episode, we talk to trade association TechUK's Luisa Cardani about what the UK's data center industry is currently experiencing, from upcoming rules and regulations to emerging new markets, to the association's role in influencing policy. 

Oxide Computer has been rebuilding the rack. In this podcast, CTO Bryan Cantrill tells us why.  The data center industry has been building its own infrastructure for years, with the wrong components. Servers weren't designed to be operated in data centers, and the 1U rack unit is the wrong size, because of simple science. Part of the success of the cloud is that it takes that integration away, and gives users an easily consumed set of virtual servers and elastic infrastructure. But it costs, and it has pushed users to renting something they would be better off owning. That's why we heard of the "cloud diaspora" - organizations people bringing their IT back from the cloud. But what people need, Cantrill says, is an elastic infrastructure for the on-premise facility. In this podcast, you can hear him explaining why his team found they had to rebuild almost everything to deliver it.

Think hard drives have hit their storage limits, and should be replaced by solid-state units? You could be wrong.  Hard drives have been holding our data for nearly 70 years since IBM created the 350, which stored something like 4 Mbyte on dozens of spinning disks in a unit the size of a washing machine. Today's devices are orders of magnitude better on every axis including price, capacity, size, and performance. But solid-state providers say it's time they moved over to make way for modern storage. Hard drives have been in a slump, but a new technique promises to double their capacity.  Seagate is the first to bring heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) to the market, so we invited chief commercial officer B S Teh to tell us why it is such a big deal, why it's taken so long - and how it could change what you do in your data center.