Design

The latest developments in data center design, providing updates on the innovations and best practices for creating energy efficient and sustainable data centers. Our stories provide insights into the role of modular and pre-fabricated data center designs, the impact of the Open Compute Project and open hardware movement, and new approaches to creating data center racks and servers.

Aerial view of Compass Datacenters' campus in Red Oak, Texas. Photo: Compass Datacenters

How U.S. Manufacturing Is Rising To Meet Booming Data Center Industry Demand

Matt Vincent

Nov. 17, 2023

As exemplified by Schneider Electric's new $3 billion multi-year technology agreement with Compass Datacenters, infrastructure specialists locating key U.S. manufacturing facilities...

Voices of the Industry

Data Center Development in an AI World

Voices of the Industry

Dec. 8, 2023

AI has gone mainstream, and the impact is reverberating everywhere. Mike Licitra, Vice President of Solutions Architecture at Stream Data Centers, has been watching the trend ...

Microsoft's custom-built rack for the Maia 100 AI Accelerator and its "sidekick".

Microsoft Unveils Custom-Designed Data Center AI Chips, Racks and Liquid Cooling

Matt Vincent

Nov. 16, 2023

At Microsoft Ignite, the company unveiled two custom-designed AI chips and associated integrated systems including racks and liquid cooling.

Rental car's eye view of entry into the Flexential Dallas-Plano Data Center at 3500 East Plano Parkway in Plano, Texas.

DCF Tours: Flexential Dallas-Plano Data Center, 18 MW Colocation Facility

Matt Vincent

Nov. 15, 2023

As told by our tour guide, Flexential Regional Vice President Tom Myers, the Dallas-Plano data center's customer base is highly diversified across the industrial, retail, manufacturing...

JLL, Lumen, Schneider Electric Team To Speed Modular Data Center Delivery Across U.S.

Matt Vincent

Nov. 1, 2023

JLL will quickly identify and secure suitable sites for modular data centers, including approximately 5,000 along Lumen’s fiber broadband network. Schneider Electric will head...

EdgeCore Data Center Campus, Mesa, Arizona

EdgeCore Retools for Gigawatt-Sized Data Center Opportunities

Rich Miller

Oct. 19, 2023

With a new leadership team and design, EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure says it will invest $600 million to expand its data center footprint into new regions in 2024.

4 Ways AWS Is Advancing the Global Drive for Lower-Carbon Data Center Building Materials

Matt Vincent

Oct. 19, 2023

In a statement, Amazon Web Services (AWS) emphasized ways the company is presently working across its supply chain to build data centers with lower-carbon concrete and steel "...

Benchmarking the Reliability of Static UPS Systems

Oct. 3, 2023

MCIM conducted a review of more than 3,500 static UPS systems in its global portfolio to help executives benchmark their performance against equipment in data centers across the...

Concrete mixes being piloted at Microsoft's Quincy, WA hyperscale campus include one with biogenic limestone, one with fly ash and slag that's activated with alkaline soda ash, and a third with both the alkali-activated cement and biogenic limestone.

Leading the Charge for Green Concrete In Sustainable Data Center Construction

Matt Vincent

Oct. 2, 2023

Furthering the push for sustainable building materials in the data center construction industry, Microsoft reports it is testing mix designs that can lower embodied carbon in ...