As the weather grew chillier, cooling was the hottest topic for readers of Data Center Frontier in November, featuring in three of the top 5 stories. Two of those stories featured cooling innovations at Meta, which is preparing for denser computing environments.
Last month's news also highlighted the continued growth of data center megaprojects, including massive expansions for Microsoft, STACK infrastructure, Iron Mountain and the Prince William Digital Gateway.
Here are the 10 most popular stories on Data Center Frontier in November 2022, in order of article views:
- Microsoft Plans $1 Billion Campus in North Carolina Cloud Cluster : Microsoft will invest more than $1 billion to build data center campuses at three sites in Catawba County in North Carolina, joining Google, Apple and Facebook in a cloud cluster.
- Meta Plans Shift to Liquid Cooling for its Data Center Infrastructure: The massive Meta data centers to support the metaverse will feature lots of liquid cooling. At the Open Compute Summit, Meta outlined a roadmap for a gradual shift to a water-cooled infrastructure, using cold plates to provide direct-to-chip cooling for AI workloads. .
- Intel: The Time is Now for Immersion Cooling: Intel says it expects to see greater adoption of liquid cooling, and is working with the Open Compute Project and cooling vendors to put forward standards to make the technology more accessible. .
- Iron Mountain Acquires Data Center Properties in Phoenix, Madrid: Iron Mountain Data Centers has continued its global expansion, buying land to expand its campus in Phoenix and acquiring the Xdata facility in Madrid.
- Meta Running Server Rooms at 90 Degrees to Slash Water Impact: As it seeks to become a water-positive company, Meta is slashing the water use of its data centers by running its servers in warmer and drier environments, saving millions of gallons of water. .
- STACK Infrastructure Plans Massive New Data Center Campus in Downtown Phoenix STACK Infrastructure will build a 230-megawatt campus featuring 1.78 million square feet of data centers in Downtown Phoenix, continuing a global expansion for the developer. .
- Partners Group Acquires EdgeCore, Plans to Invest $1.2 Billion in Data Center Growth: The acquisition of EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure by Partners Group continues the wave of M&A action in the data center industry, with Partners investing $1.2 billion to buy and expand the EdgeCore data center platform.
- Tower Operators Step Up the Pace of Their Edge Deployments : Telecom tower specialists American Tower and SBA Communications are stepping up the pace of their edge computing deployments as they lay the groundwork for a much larger business opportunity in the future.
- PW Digital Gateway Advances as Prince William Supervisors Back Massive Project: The Prince William Digital Gateway is poised to become the country's largest data center development after a key vote that clears the way for up to 27 million square feet of digital infrastructure in Northern Virginia.
- AWS Plans to Slash Water Use in its Cloud Data Centers: Amazon Web Services intends to be water-positive by 2030, returning more water to communities than it uses in its direct operations. The announcement highlights how water scarcity is now a priority for data center and cloud operators.
Education is part of our mission at Data Center Frontier. In our Voices of the Industry feature, we share the experience of data center executives on the front lines of innovation. Here’s a look at the most popular Voices columns for DCF readers last month:
- Evaluating a Data Center? A Highly Interconnected Ecosystem is Key (Cologix): Peg Hallberg, Head of Product and Software Engineering for Cologix, explains why a strong interconnection ecosystem is key when evaluating a data center to support your IT infrastructure.
- Power Use in the Data Center: Who Can Make the “Green” Claim? (DataBank): Jenny Gerson, DataBank’s senior director of sustainability, examines the topic of renewable power in the data center, specifically, where it comes from and how (or whether) data center customers can report on their use of that renewable energy.
- Why Modular Data Centers are Good for the Environment (ZincFive) While the approach to conventional data center deployments can be rigid, modular data centers offer flexibility, customization, and a number of sustainability benefits. Tod Higinbotham, COO of ZincFive, outlines some of the key ways that modular data center systems can help you achieve your sustainability goals.
- Facing the Challenges of Today’s Modern Data Center: Know Your Site – From Hyperscale to Edge (AFL): AFL’s Manja Thessin, Enterprise Market Manager, and Seán Adam, Vice President of Market Strategy and Innovation, explore how data center infrastructure is impacted by rising data rates and fiber consumption.
Be sure to check out all of our Voices columns, including insights from Flexential, Schneider Electric, Applied Energy, Service Express, Vertiv, Host In Ireland, EdgeConneX, Siemon, and Iron Mountain.
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