I’m at the CBRE Critival Environment Practice Annual Conference in Richardson, TX. The entire CBRE CEP is in attendance along with a few data center folks such as: Digital Realty, Compass Datacenters, CyrusOne, QTS, T5 and others. This post is my attempt at live blogging today’s events.
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16:21
This session is a panel session with Chris Johnson, Syska; Brian George, Corgan; and Greg LaCour, Glenser. Lots of Q&A.
16:20
Last session of the day: “Data Center Design Trends”
14:36
Current session: BofA Global Data Center Strategy. I will not post updates during this session as it includes confidential material.
14:10
Pitt really did a great job in his session. I am very impressed. It is going to be an interesting industry in the next five years.
14:07
Stresses to use best practices everywhere!
14:07
If you are not using cloud, stop stalling! The issues are management, not technical in nature.
14:05
Security is the biggest constraint in public cloud usage.
14:04
Cloud spending is impacting IT staff.
14:00
What is the Cloud?
- On-demand IT
- Capacity and cost scale up and down
- Private or public clouds
- Infrastructure, platform, software as a service
13:57
Is cloud even relevant to facility operations?
13:52
IT and data centers to become a commodity in the next 5 years.
13:48
Replacing team talent is essential.
13:46
Sites will be selected by operations cost. Water will be a scarce resource.
13:44
There has been great focus on PUE. But it doesnt measure IT consumption.
13:39
Mentions that only holistic modular solutions will remain in the next five years. To include IT, space, power and cooling.
13:37
Is there a increase tolerance for risk? Is it tolerance or is it ignorance of risk?
13:36
Preserve capital for what companies do for a living! Not to do-it-yourself data centers.
13:33
In the next five years: TCO will drive decisions. Period. Data centers are an IT tool. Use of third parties considered a normal option to avoid use of capital.
13:31
Highlights data center finance history. TCO was a new concept in 2005. Getting capital was easy for some, but constrained for others. Data centers were real estate investments.
13:29
PItt says, “Not all data center are created equal”. They range from Enterprise, Scientific, and Consumers. Or sliced a different way: High Availability, High Revenue, and Green sites.
13:24
After a nice lunch we continue with Pitt Turner of the Uptime Institute in his session: “Future of the Industry”
12:14
Lunch time and catching up with old friends.
12:08
Steve Carter’s session was good. He touched on high level industry issues will influence the future of the industry.
12:01
Consider the impact on changes. Just because things have been the same in the last five years doesnt mean it will remain that way in the next five years.
11:58
Cheap power states will be more expensive states in the following years due to equipment replacement needs
11:49
It takes 10,000 hours to be really good at something. Outliers reference.
11:44
SC- You need to help IT groups with capacity planning!
11:40
Mobile network connection speeds will increase 9-fold by 2016. Where is it connecting to? Data centers.
11:39
By the end of 2012 the number of mobile connected devices will exceed number of people on Earth.
11:38
The impact of mobile in todays economy is keeping our industry going.
11:34
CAPEX cost = (MEP + building) ; Tier III cost per kw of IT load ~ ,000
11:32
What is the simple way to look at density growth? What is your cost for that density?
11:29
Highlights the importance of defining specific needs to actual business requirements.
11:26
Steve Carter starts by proposing the question: what, why and how for digital infrastructure convergence
11:16
Next: Steve Carter from the Uptime Institute talks about Eliminating Stranded Capacities.
11:15
Overall, great presentation and demo. It is definitely a great resource, but if you are looking at a small city, I would follow up with a local connectivity expert.
11:06
Lifespan of cables – 30 years underground
11:02
Caution- FiberLocator is a tool and does not have EVERY fiber provider in every city. But if you know that there is a fiber provider in an area not covered, you can request NEF to do research and update their maps.
10:57
Doing a live demo of FiberLocator – pretty cool tool.
10:49
Fiberlocator is GIS based so it can add layers such as FEMA floodplain maps and airport proximity.
10:36
Fiber – no limitations vs copper
10:34
Biggest consequence if connectivity is not addressed: loosing the deal!
10:33
Major decision also revolve around connectivity and its reliability.
10:31
NEF, they serve as connectivity experts. Mentions that network is part of TCO.
10:27
Fiber 101 session starting. Pat Lynch is introducing NEF Fiber and FiberLocator.
10:08
Session ends. Next session, Fiber 101.
10:07
Sweet spots for deals:
CyrusOne: since they do retail as well they do not limit the deals, from single racks to 10k sqft 1MW deals.
Digital Realty: Definitely 1 MW.
10:01
T5 – Brokers should review RFPs and ask the right questions so that when the RFP is delivered it makes sense.
09:58
Digital Realty – Brokers should be conduits of information. This is a complex business but if we work together the result is much better.
09:56
Stream – CBRE has the best platform for a critical environments. Expects CBRE to get deeper in technical items – biggest value Stream sees in working with brokers.
09:53
T5 – the sales force is small and nimble but very responsive.
09:51
CyrusOne – have about 15 sales directors throught the country, primarily in Ohio and Texas.
09:50
Digital Realty – They have regionalized sales directors and Marsh sees them as tenant reps, managing the customer relationships.
09:48
Stream – If the CTO/CIO tours your property, then its a great sign.
09:46
T5 – Companies are doing a better job looking at incentives. Mentions that they see a lot of requirement changes from customers throughout the life cycle of the deal.
09:43
CyrusOne mentions that there is a trend of IT reporting to CFO’s. Since these decisions are extremly capital intensive.
09:37
Wholesale Data Center Product Discussion. Pat O’Keefe (CBRE) is moderating the session.
CyrusOne (Caroline Breslford-Caldarera)- Highlights high availability architecture and high density. Massive modularity, scale from the retail market to massive wholesale market and the customers in between.
T5 (Frank Lyles)- Currently has 4 parks in the US. Highlights all the critical megs delivered throught their facilities. Average is 150 kw/sqft density
Stream (Anthony Bolner)- Describes how Stream started, as a data center acquirer. They now build purpose built data centers, now called private data centers. They are a regional player and private capitalized and focus is enterprise.
Digital Realty (Bryan Marsh)- Highlights 31 markets including domestic and international. Describes the products available and mentions that they fit 80% of the market space. DLR does not want to do managed services but is looking to provide more colocation offerings. DLR continues to acquire land throught the US, thinking about San Antonio for more BTS customers. Bryan stresses Digital’s financial strength.
09:10
The conference kickoff session just finished. Pat Lynch, Mitch Harris and Jerry Reich set the stage for the conference. Very interesting to hear the value propositions that CBRE brings to the table to their customers. The conference has great break out sessions. I am going to the wholesale data center product discussion next.