Data Center Frontier Trends Summit 2025: AI, Power Constraints, and Moonshots Take the Stage in Reston
Aug. 28, RESTON, Va. -- It’s the last day of the second-annual Data Center Frontier Trends Summit, marking the conclusion of a gathering of significant players in the data center world and their customers, all of whom are looking to get a better handle on the data center industry as it grapples with AI-fueled power demands, grid constraints, and an urgent need for infrastructure innovation.
Taking place in the heart of Northern Virginia’s Data Center Alley, acknowledged as the world’s premier data center hotspot, the conference in Reston, VA saw a significant increase in attendance in its second year, going from just over 300 attendees in its inaugural year to close to five hundred attendees this year. Not unexpected, many of the attendees were newcomers to the event, attracted by the strong list of speakers focused on critical topics to the industry, with an emphasis on power and artificial intelligence. Many conversation with the attendees had them identifying specific topics that were primary motivators to attend, while one attendee simply told us “after reading the presentation descriptions and the speakers list, how could we not attend?”
From the opening keynote “Playbook Interrupted” presented by Chris Downie, CEO of Flexential, the tone and message of the conference was made clear. Touching on topics such as AI’s insatiable resource appetite, tightening energy policies, and power scarcity, Chris made it clear that todays’ data centers are breaking old frameworks and demanding new strategies for growth and resilience. The message was clear; times have changed and industry executives needed to be ready to change with them. Staying ahead of the curve was going to be more difficult, but just as important. It was tyime to develop a new playbook for your business operations.
Getting to the Core of It
With the demand for AI centric data centers continuing to increase attendees had a lot of concerns and questions about the impact of AI on data center infrastructure and operations. The panel titled “Building for AI Workloads and using AI for smarter data centers cut right to the core concerns. Led by Steve CArllini, Chief Advocate for Data Centers and AI Schneider Electric, the panel highlighted the NVIDIA reference designs created by Schneider that focused on energy, density, and cooling. Other panel members addressed theikr company soltions to liquid cooling as the advantages of using AI tools to improve OPEX, which, in the case of Compass Data Centers, were reported in the 40% range.
Ultimately the panel addressed how AI centric and related changes in the data center were going to result in improved energy usage and overall sustainability.
From the specific concerns of AI in the data center, the conference moved on to the key enabling technology, power. Power constraints may well be the most significant inhibitor of data center development. Power availability and delivery are becing the guides by where new data centers can be established. With advice from the panel members who are from the data center and energy generation industries, attendees got an idea of strategies that can be applied in their own data center development needs. The focus on streamlining the energy supply chain gave numerous ways to minimize potential development issues.
This panel also led the attendees into the next discussion with two specific strategies for getting sites with appropriate power, adaptive reuse and power-rich site selection. The panel members addressed not just technology solutions, highlighting how standards were changing to meet AI power demands but also how companies were rethinking power sourcing, capacity planning and sustainability. Actionable solutions were also discussed on how to go about finding currently unrecognized sites that can obtain power on the scale required.
Sticking with the theme of energy acquisition, the next panel brought a focus on natural gas. After years of being an also ran in backup power and on-site energy, natural gas is emerging as a potentially significant driver of growth in data center power. While recent industry announcements have highlighted the potential for natural gas power delivered at scale, this panel addressed the practicalities of developing new natural gas power generation facilities to accompany your data centers.
At a time when it seems like a data center may turn up anywhere, the final panel on day one addressed the proliferation of edge data centers, with new data centers being developed not simply for the previous reasons edge development was focused, serving customers and communities on the fringes, but als the importance of localized data infrastructure being an integrated part of the digital future. Building infrastructure that can address the application latencies, many of which require excellent performance, the focus may be placed on hybrid connectivity option to deliver a seamless user experience. Attendees were energized by this discussion with question being asked that drilled down in the actual need and demand for a distributed digital infrastructure.
At the evenings attendee reception, a common message seemed to be found in many conversations. People were finding that problems that they thought might be there own were not just theirs, and in many cases speakers at the event had touched on solutions that would have a positive impact on the attendee’s specific situation.
Day Two
The keynote speaker for Day Two, Rob Coyle, Director of Technical Programs for the Open Compute Project Foundation spoke on how the collaborative mission of the OCP benefitted many facets of the data center industry. Using examples from AI solutions for the data center, Coyle highlighted how the collaborative efforts of the OCP were already benefiting the development of AI data centers, showcasing solutions from a number of vendors who are also OCP members.
The rest of the morning sessions provided practical advice on topics ranging from how sites are being selected for AI data centers, why the conditions for building AI centric have become the norm rather than an outlier, and how AI itself can be used to understand and take advantage of this new normal situation where balancing a seemingly huge number of issues has become an everyday activity in data center development and how AI can be used to facilitate development.
Day Two’s afternoon sessions took this opportunity to look at actual solutions to the common development problems being addressed; cooling, batteries, and behind the meter power. From the questions asked of presenters, these were topics that had significant interest, with some of the questions pushing towards next generation solutions past the current cutting-edge implementations being deployed.
The final event of the day was a selection of structured roundtable solution discussions. These sessions, which required a stand-alone registration, saw over 200 attendees sit down at round table with individual vendors to discuss solutions to specific problems, including AI Ready Data Centers, Data Center Construction, Liquid Cooling Challenges, Long Term Sustainability, and sustainable backup power. Each attendee had the opportunity to talk to vendors on two topics in the small groups.
Day Three of the event promises to continue to provide interesting content for the attendees, culminating in a discussion of “moonshot" ideas: those that potentially change sthe boundaries or the rules of the industry or some aspect of the business. In a Shark Tank-like format, entrants will present their ideas to a panel of judges from the Nomad Futurist Foundation and a week-known digital infrastructure strategist. After the presentations the judges will question the presenters and evaluate the technological pitches presented. The audience will then be invited to vote on which idea they found the most compelling, with all of the moonshot panelists being invited for interviews on a future Data Center Frontier Show podcast.
Closing Keynote Review: Compass Leaders Chart a Witty and Insightful Blueprint for Data Center Innovation
The Data Center Frontier Trends Summit wrapped on a high note with an energetic and thought-provoking closing keynote from Nancy Novak, Chief Innovation Officer at Compass Datacenters, and Amy Marks, the company’s SVP of Innovation. Together, the two industry veterans delivered a conversation that was equal parts sharp wit, seasoned perspective, and a rallying cry for how the digital infrastructure sector must rethink innovation in the age of AI and HPC.
With a blend of humor and hard truths, Novak and Marks walked attendees through the scale of challenges ahead: constrained power supplies, workforce shortages, supply chain volatility, and the sheer pace at which AI is reshaping demand curves. What could have been a sober assessment instead became a lively dialogue peppered with quick turns of phrase, candid reflections, and a contagious sense of optimism.
Their central message was clear: data center innovation can no longer be episodic or incremental. It must be embedded as a cultural imperative at every level of every organization. Marks emphasized the need for industrialized approaches to construction—borrowing methods from manufacturing to achieve speed, repeatability, and sustainability at unprecedented scale. Novak underscored the human side, noting that innovation thrives only when companies foster cultures where every team member is empowered to experiment, challenge assumptions, and drive change.
What made this keynote resonate was the credibility both leaders brought from decades of real-world execution. They spoke not just about blueprints, but about blueprints tested in the field: anecdotes of lessons learned, innovations that stuck, and the sometimes-messy reality of scaling breakthroughs. The audience laughed, nodded, and scribbled notes in equal measure.
As the Summit closed, Novak and Marks left attendees with more than a framework for innovation; they left them with the sense that the data center industry’s next great leap is not just about technology or megawatts, but about how boldly it embraces innovation as a shared cultural engine. - MV
About the Author

David Chernicoff
Matt Vincent
A B2B technology journalist and editor with more than two decades of experience, Matt Vincent is Editor in Chief of Data Center Frontier.