Executive Insights: Tim Mirick of Sabey Data Centers

TIM MIRICK, Sabey Data Centers

Tim Mirick is responsible for Sabey’s national go-to-market strategy. His organization drives leasing of Sabey’s expanding data center portfolio of over 300 MW across five campuses – including Ashburn, VA, Seattle, WA, New York, NY and Central WA. Tim joined Sabey in 2012 and his ability to build an organization capable of communicating the most efficient possible solutions to customers’ capacity requirements has fueled Sabey’s growth.

Here’s the full text of Tim Mirick’s insights from our Executive Roundtable:

Data Center Frontier: What is the one trend you believe will be the most significant in shaping the data center industry in 2020, and why?

Tim Mirick: We have been watching the steady migration of enterprises out of owned data centers and believe that will accelerate in 2020. This has been a trend for some time, but big moves take significant planning, and in some cases disposition of real estate assets and new staffing plans. Based on demand, and with the number of sale/leasebacks that we have seen over the last several years (which provides time for transition planning), I believe we will see increased activity. This will create incremental demand in the cloud and colocation market as they architect optimized hybrid deployments, leveraging the best of what they do with colocation and cloud capabilities.

Data Center Frontier: After several years of robust growth, leasing in the hyperscale data center market moderated in 2019. What do you foresee for the hyperscale market in 2020?

Tim Mirick: We will see an uptick in leasing from the hyperscale players in the second half of 2020. In 2019 the major players were absorbing newly-leased capacity into their networks and, despite their best efforts to get out ahead of the demand, their businesses continue to accelerate and drive additional requirements. This is going to create additional leasing in the major markets as the hyperscalers work to anticipate demand for existing and new business.

A row of backup generators inside the Sabey Data Centers Intergate.Ashburn campus in Ashburn, VIrginia. (Photo: Rich Miller)

Data Center Frontier: Is the data center industry making progress on its staffing challenges? What are the most important steps to ensure a vibrant future workforce?

Tim Mirick: The industry has made progress, but it takes all of us to do our part in championing the new and existing programs. For example, in Central Washington we are proud to work with Big Bend Community College and support its data center technician program. They have now graduated two classes and many of the men and women have been employed by the data center cluster in Quincy and East Wenatchee, including two by Sabey.

To support the program, we work closely with the school to assist with curriculum development, job shadowing opportunities, and student mentorship. Most recently we participated in a job fair at the college and our General Manager spoke to the class on the industry. We have been investing in Central Washington for over a decade, and through sustained effort we are meeting industry needs and creating meaningful employment opportunities.

Data Center Frontier: There’s been intense interest in edge computing, a trend which spans multiple technologies, scenarios and use cases. How would you assess the current state of edge computing, and what developments lie ahead in 2020?

Tim Mirick: I believe most of the edge growth in the next year will be focused in traditional urban data centers as applications, such as streaming gaming, work to improve the customer experience and get closer to consumers. The big changes that will affect how we think about the form factor of the edge facility will come with the roll out of 5G at scale and the opportunities it will create for developers with its enhanced bandwidth. However, the rollout of physical infrastructure takes time and we will just be getting started in the next year.