The Data Center Frontier Show

Quantum Corridor CEO Tom Dakich On U.S. Midwest Data Center Horizons

For this episode of the DCF Show podcast, Data Center Frontier Editor in Chief Matt Vincent and Senior Editor David Chernicoff speak with Tom Dakich, CEO of Quantum Corridor, about compute possibilities for his company's super-fast, super-secure fiber-optic network operating in the area of Chicagoland and Northern Indiana.
Almost exactly a year ago, Quantum Corridor launched what the company bills as "one of the fastest, most secure fiber-optic networks in the Western Hemisphere" with its first transmissions from the Chicago ORD 10 Data Center at 350 E. Cermak Rd. to a data center in Hammond, Indiana. 
Formed in 2021 as a public-private partnership with the state of Indiana, Quantum Corridor was established to enable advanced Illinois and Indiana tech innovators to exchange data nearly instantaneously, the better to achieve frontline technology breakthroughs. 
Funded through a $4.0 million grant from the state of Indiana’s READI grant program and with the cooperation of the Indiana Department of Transportation and Northwest Indiana Forum, Quantum Corridor's network is utilizing 263 miles of new and existing fiber-optic cable beneath the Indiana Toll Road to link data centers, quantum research facilities, life sciences and genome scientists and hyperscalers with industry-shattering speeds and throughput.
Transmitting at data speeds reportedly 1,000x faster than traditional networks, on its launch in 2023, Quantum Corridor said the new network aims to enable regional businesses and institutions to achieve breakthroughs in the segments for defense, financial modeling, biotech, cybersecurity, machine learning, research and more. This optimism came on the heels of the Biden-Harris administration’s designation last October of of the Chicago MSA as a U.S. Regional Technology and Innovation Hub.
With its first transmissions, Quantum Corridor achieved a latency of 0.266 milliseconds of information exchange over its current 12-mile network—a transmission speed 500 times faster than the blink of an eye and far exceeding the average network’s existing 12-times-longer latency. 
The combination of near-instantaneous transmissions paired with massive throughput is expected to enable exponential breakthroughs in modeling and problem solving across myriad industries. Quantum Corridor continues to expand its mileage and connect research facilities. According to the company, the network already has the capacity to transmit nearly the entire current content load of the internet in a single transmission.

Nomads at the Frontier, Ep. 2 - OCP Global Summit 2024 Reflections

The purpose of the Data Center Frontier/Nomad Futurist: Field Report podcast series -- aka "Nomads at the Frontier" -- is to gather recurring industry insight, expertise and commentary from Nomad Futurist Foundation leaders and ambassadors, firsthand and in the field, as they participate in various industry events.
Nomad Futurist is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established, per its mission statement, "to demystify the world of digital infrastructure and the related technologies that impact every aspect of our daily lives."  Committed to educating youth in underprivileged communities, promoting diversity and inclusion, and opening up opportunities for growth and new career paths, the group says its "primary focus is to empower and inspire younger generations through exposure to the underlying technologies that power our digital world." Nomad Futurist is known for appointing individuals throughout the data center industry to its ranks of Ambassadors and Advisors, who work to promote the organization's ethos and goals in their professional spheres. Nomad Futurist's members are a pervasive presence in the data center sector, to be found in attendance and presenting at most industry events in the U.S. and abroad. 
For episode two of the Nomads at the Frontier series, DCF Editor In Chief Matt Vincent moderated a tight yet pithy discussion with Nabeel Mahmood, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Nomad Futurist, and Rob Coyle, Director of Technical Program for the Open Compute Project Foundation, about the newly announced strategic alliance between the two organizations as reflected at the 2024 OCP Global Summit (Oct. 15-17), each taking a shared role in addressing workforce and education challenges in the data center industry.
In the podcast, Mahmood and Coyle highlight how the significance of the new alliance between their organizations was reflected at OCP 2024, which was attended by an amazing 7,000 people, and discuss future initiatives to foster collaboration. The discussion covers how this year's event answered the need for standardization in liquid cooling solutions, and how presentation reflected the growing importance of automation and robotics in response to issues ranging from increasing rack density to labor shortages, especially in hyperscale and AI-oriented data centers.
The talk also addresses the alliance's joint roadmap to formalize strategic directions for the partnership, with OCP-Nomad Futurists announcements planned over the next three to six months to possibly include events such as hackathons, designathons, and other disruptive initiatives and happenings to engage both industry insiders and newcomers.

Using Advanced Augmented Reality to Improve Data Center Project Delivery

In this episode of the Data Center Frontier Show, Matt Vincent, Editor in Chief of Data Center Frontier, is joined by Waleed Zafar, Mission Critical Director at XYZ Reality to discuss using augmented reality to improve Data Center project delivery. XYZ Reality is a leading developer of augmented reality (AR) solutions for construction that give contractors and owners an accurate and objective way to manage and deliver quality projects.

Liquid Cooling Goes Mainstream with CoolIT Systems’ COO Pat McGinn

With server densities on the rise, the expansion of cloud services, the rapid adoption of high-performance computing and the explosive growth of AI, data centers need more effective cooling solutions that can handle higher heat loads. Liquid cooling systems are uniquely positioned to fill that need – while also providing a significant reduction in cooling-related energy consumption.
In this episode of the Data Center Frontier Show podcast, Matt Vincent, Editor-in-Chief of Data Center Frontier, talks to Pat McGinn, Chief Operations Officer of CoolIT Systems, about how the liquid cooling market has changed in the past 12 years. They also discuss the benefits of single-phase direct-to-chip liquid cooling and McGinn predictions for the market in 2025 and beyond. 
Listen to this 18-minute podcast to learn more about:
The benefits of liquid cooling for data centers.
The liquid cooling options available for data centers.
How liquid cooling can help improve data center performance and efficiency.
The role of cooling distribution units (CDUs) in liquid cooling.
How liquid cooling can help with energy consumption, especially with the rise of AI.
If the talk about liquid cooling capacity constraints are accurate.
Why you should trust your data center to the liquid cooling experts at CoolIT.

Balancing Performance and Sustainability in Data Centers

In this episode, we delve into the complex interplay between performance and sustainability in data centers. As technology continues to advance, so too does the demand for powerful, efficient data centers. However, this growing demand also raises concerns about energy consumption and environmental impact.

Nomads at the Frontier, Ep. 1 - Yotta 2024 Show Impressions

For this installment of the Data Center Frontier Show podcast, we bring you the first episode in a new series with our friends from the Nomad Futurist Foundation.
Nomad Futurist is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established, per the group's mission statement, "to demystify the world of digital infrastructure and the related technologies that impact every aspect of our daily lives."  Committed to educating youth in underprivileged communities, promoting diversity and inclusion, and opening up opportunities for growth and new career paths, the group says its "primary focus is to empower and inspire younger generations through exposure to the underlying technologies that power our digital world." 
Nomad Futurist is known for appointing individuals throughout the data center industry to its ranks of Ambassadors and Advisors, who work to promote the organization's ethos and goals in their professional spheres. The organization's members are a pervasive presence in the data center sector, to be found in attendance and presenting at most industry events in the U.S. and abroad. 
The purpose of the Data Center Frontier/Nomad Futurist: Field Report series -- aka "Nomads at the Frontier" -- is therefore to gather recurring industry insight, expertise and commentary from Nomad Futurist leaders and ambassadors, firsthand and in the field, as they participate in these events. 
Yotta 2024 Impressions
For the first installment of Nomads at the Frontier, Data Center Frontier's Editor in Chief Matt Vincent called into Las Vegas during the debut of Yotta, an event conceived and brought forth by Data Center Dynamics aimed at unifying leaders and stakeholders in digital infrastructure industry at large.
For this interview, DCF spoke with Nomad Futurist Advisors Jodie Lin, Customer Advocate and CSR with data center infrastructure company Mirapath, Inc., and Illissa Miller, CEO of iMiller Public Relations, a firm focused on the digital infrastructure industry, for their reflections and impressions from the environs of Yotta 2024. To begin, we asked Lin and Miller for their top takeaways from the show regarding the confluence between the larger world of digital infrastructure and data centers.
Next, given how attuned data centers are to the AI technology shift, we asked Nomads Lin and Miller for their perceptions of the level of preparation within rest of the digital infrastructure space, as heard from at Yotta, for facing up to AI's demands and opportunities. DCF also wondered whether, based on impressions received from Yotta, the data center industry’s obsessions with power, cooling, sustainability, and managing exponential growth in wake of AI seem to be shared equally by the larger world of digital infrastructure.
Finally, owing to certain breakthroughs in the areas of regulation, funding, and planned deployment, this year has felt like a tipping point in terms of optimism for advanced nuclear energy, especially in the US data center industry. As such, we asked our Nomads to gauge whether this anticipation for "new nuclear" energy was as palpable in the larger world of digital infrastructure as encountered at Yotta?

Powering the Future: How Rehlko is Leading the Change in Sustainable Energy for Data Centers

Rehlko, formerly Kohler Energy, is setting a new standard in the data center industry by offering the first generator in the data center industry with an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). The company recently released a brand new EPD in the form of a PEP ecopassport® that provides transparent, third-party verified insights into the KD Series™ generator’s environmental impact across its lifecycle. Here’s a link to the report that details how Rehlko is committed to transparently communicating its product's lifecycle footprint and how the process is accelerating data centers' efforts to measure Scope 3 emissions and work toward net-zero ambitions.

Considerations for Turn-Key Data Center Liquid Cooling with Park Place and ZutaCore

For this episode of the Data Center Frontier Show podcast, we sat down with liquid cooling data center partners Park Place Technologies and ZutaCore. During the podcast, DCF Editor in Chief Matt Vincent spoke with Chris Carreiro, Chief Technology Officer for Park Place Technologies, and Manfreid Chua, Vice President-Business Development, AI & Sustainability for ZutaCore, about how the companies' partnership is enhancing liquid cooling technology prospects for sustainable AI computing.
In September, Park Place announced the expansion of its portfolio of IT infrastructure services to include the two major liquid cooling formats for data centers, i.e immersion liquid cooling and direct-to-chip cooling. ZutaCore is a key developer and supplier of direct-to-chip, waterless liquid cooling technology which formally supports NVIDIA's GPUs.
Direct-to-chip advanced liquid cooling technologies apply coolant directly to the server components that generate the most heat, including CPUs and GPUs. And Park Place notes that immersion cooling empowers data center operators to do more with less: less space and less energy. Using liquid cooling methods, the company contends that businesses can increase their PUE by up to 18 times, and rack density by up to 10 times. Ultimately, this level of efficiency can lead to power savings of up to 50%, which in turn leads to lower operational costs.
Park Place also notes how, from an environmental perspective, liquid cooling is significantly more efficient than traditional air cooling. The company reckons that, at present, air cooling technology only captures 30% of the heat generated by the servers, compared to the 100% captured by immersion cooling, resulting in lower carbon emissions for businesses that opt for immersion cooling methods.
Park Place prides itself on providing a single-vendor outlet for the whole liquid cooling technology adoption process, from procuring the hardware, conversion of the servers for liquid cooling, to installation, maintenance, monitoring and management of the hardware and the cooling technology.
“Our turn-key liquid cooling offerings have the potential to have a significant impact on our customers’ costs and carbon emissions, two of the key issues they face today,” said Carreiro.  “Park Place Technologies is ideally positioned to help organizations cut their data center operations costs, giving them the opportunity to re-invest in driving innovation across their businesses."
In the course of our talk, Carreiro highlighted the challenges of data centers' AI sustainability conundrum, and the corresponding benefits of Park Place's warranties. For his part, ZutaCore's Manfreid Chua delved into the industry's shift from air to liquid cooling due to the demands of generative AI, and the advantages of his company partnering with Park Place for optimizing the energy efficiency footprint of data centers. 
Additionally, Chua shared insights regarding the economic value of NVIDIA's AI accelerators, and the finer points of the race to sustainability and net zero for large-scale AI data centers. Chua talked about talk about how resources like land, energy, and water all become possible limiting factors for AI factories at scale, and how liquid cooling can help alleviate such limitations.

Future-Ready Cabling for AI: The Journey towards 800G

Join us for this podcast as we explore the dynamic landscape of data centers and how Artificial Intelligence (AI) has reshaped them. We'll delve into the shift from a 'north-south' traffic system to the sophisticated 'east-west' system that revolutionized data processing.
Our guest, Dave Hessong from Corning, illustrates the crucial role of high-speed connections like 800G in meeting AI's demands. The discussion reveals how upgrading to this speed is not just beneficial, but essential in optimizing your data center.
Latency, a key factor in network performance, is also a core topic of our conversation. Understanding its significance and how reducing it can enhance performance provides an edge in today's competitive market.
The discussion further delves into the importance of state-of-the-art fiber optic cables, connectors, and cabling architecture in boosting a data center's performance. The complexities of AI deployment, its impact on fiber density, and the innovative solutions it necessitates are also explored.
As we unveil the future of data centers, the estimated rise in AI capacity and the associated challenges are discussed. These include the increased power requirements and the need for a more organized cable and fiber infrastructure.
While 800G might seem like just the beginning, the discussion elaborates on how this transition can future-proof your data centers for the next three to seven years. The extraordinary and transformative impact of AI, still in its infancy, on business and society is also a key highlight.
Looking to the future, the anticipated growth in bandwidth as AI continues to evolve, and the exciting prospect of technology reaching 1.6Tbps next year, are discussed.
We encourage you to tune in and engage with us as we navigate this rapidly evolving field. Regardless of your level of expertise, this conversation promises valuable insights into the future of data centers. Join us on this enlightening journey into the world of AI and data centers.

Prometheus Hyperscale Expands Data Center Horizons to 1 GW

Prometheus Hyperscale is the new corporate entity formed this month which expands upon the footprint and the promise of the Wyoming Hyperscale White Box project, first reported on by DCF in 2022. 
For this episode of the Data Center Frontier Show podcast, we spoke with Trenton Thornock, founder of Wyoming Hyperscale, who has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Prometheus Hyperscale; Trevor Neilson, a seasoned climate-tech CEO and energy transition investor, who joins as the company's President; and John Gross, President of J.M. Gross Engineering, who is handling the project's liquid cooling infrastructure. 
The Wyoming Hyperscale White Box data center has been under construction since 2022 on 58 acres of land near Aspen Mountain Evanston, Wyoming, and represents a blueprint for creating super-efficient data centers with low impact on the environment and benefits for the local community. In the companies' transition, Wyoming Hyperscale has merged with Prometheus Hyperscale and been expanded from a 120 MW project to plans for a data center campus with 1 GW of IT capacity.
The data center is being built on land owned by Thornock's family, which has been involved in ranching for 6 generations. The location benefits from ready access to renewable energy from nearby wind and solar farms. Wyoming Hyperscale has a contract with Rocky Mountain Power for 120 megawatts of power and a 138 kV substation, which is fed by the same switchgear as the renewable energy generation sites. The site sits on a major east-west fiber highway that tracks the 41st parallel, along which data center hubs have emerged in places like Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska and Utah. The Union-Pacific Railroad line, which provides key right-of-ways for fiber deployment, runs through nearby Aspen Mountain.
The Evanston project underscores Prometheus Hyperscale’s commitment to sustainability and innovation. By integrating 100% renewable energy and advanced liquid cooling technology combined with heat reuse, the Evanston facility promises to be one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly data centers in the world.  Importantly, less than 10% of the project’s power development plan is grid dependent (120 MW of 1,220MW or 9.84%).
The first facilities yielded by Phase 1 of the Evanston project are expected to come online within the next 18 months. Prometheus Hyperscale has also revealed plans to construct four other data centers across Arizona and Colorado. And as previously reported by DCF, this May saw the announcement of a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) by fission-based nuclear small modular reactor (SMR) specialist Oklo to deliver 100 MW of power to Prometheus, using Oklo's Aurora Powerhouse reactors for power generation.
"Our partnership with Oklo not only provides us with a reliable, clean energy source but also positions us as a leader in sustainable data center operations," said Thornock. "Sam Altman’s and Jacob Dewitte’s vision for a sustainable future through advanced energy solutions aligns perfectly with our mission at Prometheus Hyperscale."
During the podcast, Thornock discussed the evolution of the Wyoming hyperscale project with Prometheus, highlighting its growth to a 1 GW prospect since the groundbreaking of the Evanston County project in 2022. For his part, Trevor Nielsen emphasized increasing demand for Prometheus driven by advancements in computing power and the importance of sustainability in the energy transition. 
Our conversation also covered the company's partnership with Oklo, focusing on the streamlined permitting process for small modular reactors in Wyoming and the strategic use of resources for data center energy generation.