Preview: Data Center Innovation Takes Center Stage at 7x24 Exchange Spring 2025

As the data center sector accelerates into a new era of AI-powered infrastructure and sustainability imperatives, one event stands out this season as a premier gathering for mission-critical professionals: the 7x24 Exchange Spring 2025 Conference, returning June 8–11 to the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes in Florida. With the theme “Innovate, Integrate, Operate,” this year’s sold-out event reflects the dynamic convergence of design, engineering, and operational mastery shaping the future of digital infrastructure.

From veteran engineers and facility managers to AI innovators and next-gen talent, the 7x24 Exchange Spring Conference convenes a broad cross-section of stakeholders focused on end-to-end reliability across mission critical environments. Through three days of curated keynotes, in-depth panels, and technical sessions, attendees will gain actionable insights into the evolving demands of AI workloads, energy innovation, workforce development, and integrated facility operations.

Sunday Spotlight: Bridging the Skills Gap

Kicking off on Sunday, June 8, “Data Center 101” anchors 7x24 Exchange’s enduring commitment to STEM engagement. This student-focused session—led by data center stalwarts including James Coe (Syska Hennessy Group), Dennis Cronin (Mission Critical Global Alliance), Rich Garrison (Alfa Tech), Martin Gollwitzer (Kirksey Architecture), and Keith Rosdahl (ArchKey Solutions)—provides a primer on power, cooling, sustainability, and the diverse career paths across digital infrastructure.

Monday Keynote: “Mr. Wonderful” Meets Mission Critical

Monday morning opens with remarks from 7x24 Exchange Chairman Bob Cassiliano, followed by a must-see keynote from Kevin O’Leary, the no-nonsense investor of Shark Tank fame. O’Leary’s session, “Lessons from a Shark,” brings a unique perspective to the economic forces shaping infrastructure investment—and includes exclusive outtakes from his TV career.

Following the keynote, attendees dive into critical themes for the AI era. The panel “Balancing AI Growth and Sustainability” examines lifecycle carbon reduction strategies and responsible growth, with insights from Megan Baker (Green Building Initiative), Phill Lawson-Shanks (Aligned Data Centers), and Rob LoBuono (Gensler).

WiMCO Leadership and Technical Deep Dives

Monday also features the WiMCO®  [Women in Mission Critical Operations] panel “Unleashing the AI Advantage”, where Angie Garza (Google) and Carrie Goetz (StrategITcom), moderated by Juli Ierulli (EAS), share real-world strategies to harness AI’s competitive edge.

In parallel, a standout technical panel moderated by Don Mitchell (Victaulic) addresses the gritty realities of “Liquid Cooling Commissioning,” with leaders from Burns McDonnell, Sabey Data Centers, Oracle, and State Street unpacking best practices for TCS pipe systems and fluid quality assurance.

As operators scale up deployments of liquid-cooled systems, the commissioning phase becomes a crucible for long-term performance. From ensuring clean loop integrity to validating flow rates and heat rejection capacity, early missteps can have cascading effects on system reliability and efficiency. With AI-ready environments demanding tighter thermal tolerances, getting the commissioning process right is no longer optional; nowadays, it’s more of a strategic imperative.

This year, DCF has been tracking how the transition from air to liquid cooling in data centers has evolved from experimental to essential. As AI and high-performance computing workloads intensify, traditional air-cooled systems are reaching their limits. Liquid cooling technologies, including immersion and direct-to-chip solutions, are now integral to managing increased heat densities.

This shift is not just about cooling efficiency but also about enabling higher computing densities and reducing energy consumption. For instance, we've reported recently on how immersion cooling can reduce cooling power consumption in data centers by up to 95% and server power consumption by 10–20%, if fully deployed.

Breakouts: New Voices and Critical Conversations

The Monday afternoon breakout tracks at the 7x24 Spring conference will highlight the industry’s next-gen momentum and technical challenges:

• “The Future Speaks”, hosted by Heather Hartman (Microsoft) and the DCYP, dives deep into workforce transformation, talent attraction, and leadership development, supported by Luke Canan (Barge Design Solutions) and Sarah Turner (Zavtek).
• “Power Quality Challenges”, presented by Qais Alsfasfeh and William Brown of Schneider Electric, navigates power anomalies and IEEE 3000-compliant mitigation strategies.
• In “Implementing SMRs on a Data Center Campus”, John Sasser (Sabey) and Jimmy Sneed (WB Engineers) offer a timely exploration of nuclear’s potential role in powering digital infrastructure.

Maintaining power quality of is of course critical for data center operations. It's important to understand how issues such as voltage sags, surges, and harmonic distortions can lead to equipment damage and downtime. Implementing advanced power quality monitoring and management systems helps in identifying inefficiencies and preventing potential failures. As data centers become more complex, ensuring consistent power quality is essential for operational resilience and sustainability.

Meanwhile, at DCF we've been tracking how Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are emerging as a viable solution to meet the growing energy demands of data centers. It's now widely known how the world's largest tech companies like Google and Amazon are investing in SMRs to ensure a stable and sustainable power supply for their facilities. These investments are not only about securing energy but also about achieving decarbonization goals. Meanwhile, the integration of SMRs with other renewable energy sources offers a scalable and efficient approach to power data centers while reducing carbon footprints.

The day closes with the WiMCO Networking Reception, fostering cross-industry mentorship and connection.

Tuesday Keynote: Agentic AI and the Infrastructure Horizon

Tuesday opens with a forward-looking keynote from Aligned Data Centers' Chief Innovation Officer Phill Lawson-Shanks, titled “Data Centers in the Age of Agentic AI.” As AI systems evolve toward autonomous goal-setting and execution, Phill will dissect what this transformation means for data center location, density, and GPU-based cloud infrastructure.

In a recent episode of Data Center Frontier podcast, Lawson-Shanks characterized the rise of agentic AI as a transformative shift that’s redefining data center design and operational priorities. He noted that agentic systems—AI models capable of making autonomous decisions to pursue goals—are intensifying the need for ultra-low-latency infrastructure and greater proximity to cloud resources.

During our podcast, Phill emphasized that this new wave of AI is not just computationally intense, but operationally dynamic, pushing operators to adapt real-time workflows, rethink edge deployment strategies, and build facilities that can accommodate unpredictable, self-directed workloads. “It’s not just about serving data anymore—it’s about enabling intelligence to act,” he said, framing agentic AI as a force reshaping both the technical architecture and geographic logic of digital infrastructure.

On Tuesday at the 7x24 Spring Conference, a highlight technical session follows with NOVVA Data Centers, Siemens, and Holbrook Service delivering a practical case study on automation and operational sustainability in a session titled, “Sustainable Power, Unstoppable Performance.”

Efficiency, Resiliency, and AI-Driven Design

Energy optimization takes center stage at 7x24 on Tuesday afternoon in “The Hidden Power Source”, where Jay Dietrich (Uptime Institute), Steven Earhart (Mastercard), and Rich Kenny (Interact) detail strategies to boost work-per-MWh across traditional and AI workloads.

In “Unleashing AI”, moderator Fred Miller (Gresham Smith) and panelists from AWS, Inductive Automation, Brasfield & Gorrie, and others will explore how AI is reshaping design cycles, construction velocity, and facility operations.

The rise of AI is indeed reshaping data center design and infrastructure. To support AI workloads, data centers are adopting new strategies, including the integration of medium voltage systems to handle increased power demands. Additionally, advancements in connectivity, such as Enfabrica's 3.2 Tbps ACF SuperNIC, are enabling faster data processing and reduced latency. Such innovations are crucial for building data centers capable of supporting the next generation of AI applications.

Late Tuesday afternoon breakouts at 7x24 will include:

• “New Approaches to Satisfy Higher Power Requirements”, with Moises Levy (DCD) examining microgrids, BESS, and renewables;
• “Data Centers and Insurance”, moderated by Dennis Cronin, exploring coverage gaps with top cyber and liability experts;
• “Infrastructure for Hyperscale and MTDCs”, where Joseph Ford (Bala) and Jared Goodman (Edged Energy) bring real-world deployment lessons to light.

Wednesday Keynote: A Global View on Data Center Construction

Closing out the conference, James Coe (Syska Hennessy) returns with an international perspective on data center construction in the session “Compare and Contrast US vs International Design.” As AI drives global capacity expansion, Coe will share what’s universal—and what varies dramatically—when building across geographies, codes, and climates.

The final morning also features “Fluid to Chip Cooling Systems—Can You Handle the Heat?”, a must-attend session for those navigating the thermal challenges of next-gen ITE.

Looking Ahead

As AI pushes the digital infrastructure envelope, the 7x24 Exchange Spring Conference stands as a beacon of collaboration, insight, and operational excellence. From the frontlines of commissioning to the horizon of small modular reactors, this event underscores what’s possible when our industry innovates, integrates, and operates with purpose.

Stay with Data Center Frontier for more 7X24 coverage and post-conference analysis from Orlando.

At Data Center Frontier, we talk the industry talk and walk the industry walk. In that spirit, DCF Staff members may occasionally use AI tools to assist with content. Elements of this article were created with help from OpenAI's GPT4.

Keep pace with the fast-moving world of data centers and cloud computing by connecting with Data Center Frontier on LinkedIn, following us on X/Twitter and Facebook, as well as on BlueSky, and signing up for our weekly newsletters using the form below.