Roundtable Recap: Probing AI Data Center Designs; Edge and Modular Focus; Liquid Cooling Poll; Creative Supply Chain Strategies
Our Data Center Executive Roundtable for the First Quarter of 2024 asked for our four industry leaders' considerations on topics including:
- Ideas about the most significant ways whereby the unprecedented growth in digital infrastructure for AI and the cloud, and attendant core concerns surrounding cooling, power and sustainability, are giving rise to new paradigms for data center design.
- Finding out whether the data center industry is approaching a similar inflection point for the expansion of edge and prefab modular facilities to meet hyperscale capacity and compute demands, as it did last year with the expansion of data center rack power densities in response to the wave of heightened expectations for generative AI and liquid cooling uptake.
- Asking whether data center developers’ short-term investment is keeping pace with the level of hype versus the actual deployment of a range of data center liquid cooling technologies. And if not, when the industry can expect to see these vectors comprehensively converge.
- Probing the junction between complex challenges in North American data center supply chains and delivery timelines in 2024, and the how the formation of creative industry alliances and acquisitions can facilitate solutions.
Here is the full question and answer session, organized by topic:
- How New Data Center Designs Will Meet Shifting Industry Paradigms
- Charting the Edge and Prefab Modular Inflection Point
- Gauging the Level of Data Center Liquid Cooling Expectations
- Where North American Data Center Supply Chain Challenges Meet Creative Industry Alliances
Here are links to the individual Q&A summaries for each of our distinguished panel members:
- Data Center Insights: Sean Farney of JLL
- Data Center Insights: Ian Golter, Kohler Co.
- Data Center Insights: Brandon Peterson, CoolIT Systems
- Data Center Insights: Stuart Lawrence, Stream Data Centers
- Data Center Insights: Eric Schwartz, CyrusOne
The conversation is moderated by Data Center Frontier Editor in Chief Matt Vincent.
Thanks to all of our executive participants for sharing their time and insights!
About the Author
Matt Vincent
Matt Vincent is Editor in Chief of Data Center Frontier, where he leads editorial strategy and coverage focused on the infrastructure powering cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the digital economy. A veteran B2B technology journalist with more than two decades of experience, Vincent specializes in the intersection of data centers, power, cooling, and emerging AI-era infrastructure. Since assuming the EIC role in 2023, he has helped guide Data Center Frontier’s coverage of the industry’s transition into the gigawatt-scale AI era, with a focus on hyperscale development, behind-the-meter power strategies, liquid cooling architectures, and the evolving energy demands of high-density compute, while working closely with the Digital Infrastructure Group at Endeavor Business Media to expand the brand’s analytical and multimedia footprint. Vincent also hosts The Data Center Frontier Show podcast, where he interviews industry leaders across hyperscale, colocation, utilities, and the data center supply chain to examine the technologies and business models reshaping digital infrastructure. Since its inception he serves as Head of Content for the Data Center Frontier Trends Summit. Before becoming Editor in Chief, he served in multiple senior editorial roles across Endeavor Business Media’s digital infrastructure portfolio, with coverage spanning data centers and hyperscale infrastructure, structured cabling and networking, telecom and datacom, IP physical security, and wireless and Pro AV markets. He began his career in 2005 within PennWell’s Advanced Technology Division and later held senior editorial positions supporting brands such as Cabling Installation & Maintenance, Lightwave Online, Broadband Technology Report, and Smart Buildings Technology. Vincent is a frequent moderator, interviewer, and keynote speaker at industry events including the HPC Forum, where he delivers forward-looking analysis on how AI and high-performance computing are reshaping digital infrastructure. He graduated with honors from Indiana University Bloomington with a B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing and lives in southern New Hampshire with his family, remaining an active musician in his spare time.
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