The Data Center Frontier Show

History and Reach of Edge Data Centers

According to a recent State of the Edge report, global capital expenditure on IT equipment for edge infrastructure is projected to grow to $104 billion by 2028. Moreover, recent IDC research forecasts worldwide spending on edge computing platforms to reach nearly $274 billion by 2025.
As AFL executives in a related DCF 'Voices of the Industry' essay from earlier this year explained further, "Edge data centers are key to unleashing advanced use cases resulting in new user experiences and new business opportunities."
As recently as last month, a market brief from JLL unpacked just why smaller data centers are taking off, as AI, 5G and hybrid work fuel an exponential expansion of edge computing footprints.
As noted by the brief, "Hyperscale centers are usually located in cities and can typically house 10,000 racks with a capacity in excess of 80 MW. Edge data centers by comparison, have a smaller capacity between 500 kilowatts to 2 MW and, as the name suggests, are located on the outer edge of networks. They bring computing capability geographically closer to those users situated further away from the heart of the cloud."
“These assets are increasingly important to the architecture of computing networks, thanks to the continued adoption of IoT devices and now the rise of generative AI applications, and machine learning,” added Tom Glover, JLL Head of EMEA Data Center Transactions.
For its part, PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited (PwC) recently noted that "the global market for edge data centers is expected to nearly triple to $13.5 billion in 2024 from $4 billion in 2017, thanks to the potential for these smaller, locally located data centers to reduce latency, overcome intermittent connections and store and compute data close to the end user."
PwC's edge data center examination cautioned, "However, the right timing and strategy for moving data centers (and related services) to the edge will be different for each organization, depending on the conditions, environment and business opportunities in its marketplace."
So even a just a cursory reading of the business and technology prospects for edge data centers told DCF's editors that it was time for a podcast discussion probing the history and reach of this most evergreen (yet paradoxically sometimes elusive) technology topic for our industry.
Here's a summary points discussed by of DCF editors Matt Vincent and David Chernicoff in today's podcast.
1:01 - Framing the topic with a Bill Kleyman quote.
2:06 - Comparing and contrasting the "original" or "local" edge vs. the hyperscale version.
3:33 - How a lot of edge data centers have come out of the CDN model.
4:23 - From Google and AWS to Akamai, Cloudflare and Rackspace.
6:46 - Optimizing delivery at the edge to challenge the hyperscalers for business.
7:45 - Blending edge computing and edge data centers to move data around as little as possible.
9:11 - 5G and telco: The 'red-headed stepchild' of the edge data center?
9:43 - "If you think about it, every cell tower you see has a data center attached to it."
11:32 - Many major CSPs didn't expect the kind of usage their cell towers are getting.
12:35 - On self-driving cars and autonomous vehicles as competitive edge use-cases.
14:26 - Leveraging 5G, actual connectivity, and localized data centers.
15:17 - How latency and bandwidth have become huge issues in gaining a business advantage.
15:34 - Edge permutations redux.
16:47 - "You just had to work AI into the conversation, didn't you?"
17:50 - When data center-quality analytics live in the trunk of a vehicle.
18:25 - Qualcomm: "Wherever a phone is, that's the edge."
19:21 - "Think of the issues involved. The backhaul, the latency, the security of that data moving across that much fiber."
20:15 - Latency Makes People Go Away
21:31 - "There's certainly a lot more edge-type data centers being built than giant hyperscale data centers."
22:03 - What have supply chain issues done to these smaller data center builds?
22:40 - How edge data center development may depend on what the market does.
23:12 - Engineering the industrial vs. the suburban edge in rural areas.
26:10 - Closing thoughts: "What's old is new again...The first point of contact is the edge."
Here are links to some recent DCF stories on edge data centers:
Akamai Bets on Bringing Cloud In Closer with 5 New Data Center Sites
Getting Closer to the Edge: Data Centers Move Closer to Consumption
Roundtable: Growth Seen Across Many Flavors of Edge Computing
Data Center Insights: Phillip Marangella of EdgeConneX
Tower Operators Step Up the Pace of Their Edge Deployments
Let Form Follow Function at the Edge

Notes on Cooling and the Future of Power

The latest episode of the Data Center Frontier Show podcast begins with the site's editors Matt Vincent and David Chernicoff  commemorating the "hand off" of show hosting duties from DCF founder and Editor at Large Rich Miller. As duly noted, this transition of course occurs amid another terrifying, annually recurring "hottest year on record" for planet Earth. The discussion between editors unfolds to focus on two areas wherein David has done significant reporting this year, based on a wealth of accumulated industry knowledge: data center cooling and the future of power for data centers. Tune in to hear the editors unsuccessfully attempt to bypass the topic of A.I. for even just three minutes...
Here’s a timeline of points Matt and David discuss on the podcast:
0:00 - Podcast Hand-Off Notes: 'Oh Captain, My Captain'1:17 - Hello to David Chernicoff in the Hottest Year on Record (Again)2:03 - Cooling and the Future of Power (and the Impact of AI) 2:55 - "Whatever space you give it, it will fill."3:08 - Doing the math for a tray of NVIDIA H100 processors. 4:02 - 10 kW isn't high-density anymore (and DoE's COOLERCHIPS program knows it).5:02 - Becoming better corporate citizens of the world (or at least Northern Va.)6:40 - Notes on CO2 Cooling and Liquid Cooling 7:21 - Replacing HFCs for Less GHGs9:26 - Liquid Cooling: A Whole Different Ball of Wax10:44 - Devil's Advocate: Water-based Cooling13:14 - Incremental Cooling Processes and the Real World14:17 - "Musk bought 10,000 H100 CPUs..."15:04 - Cooling in the Hybrid Cloud Environment16:02 - Data Centers, the Utility Crunch and Nuclear Power18:01 - The Main Issue is the Grid Itself19:21 - The Building of New Substations Has to Occur20:31 - "Is AI the straw that breaks the camel's back?"23:02 - Implications for Edge Data Centers24:53 - The Next Hurdle for AI: The Speed of Interconnection

What AI Will Mean for the Data Center Industry

What might AI - artificial intelligence - mean for the data center industry? On this week’s Data Center Frontier Show, host Rich Miller chats with DCF Senior Editor David Chernicoff, who has been digging into all things AI, including its potential impact on cloud platforms, chip makers, hardware startups, server vendors, and colocation providers. They take a deep dive into the implications of AI for the data center industry. If you are at all interested in AI and data centers, this is the podcast for you.  Here’s a timeline of topics David and Rich discuss on the podcast: 1:15 – David shares a bit about his career and "Data Center Journey"  3:45 – "An Interesting Time for Hardware:" Trends driving development of chips and servers.      6:15 – The history of rack density, and the arrival of ChatGPT and generative AI.   11:30 – How AI might be disruptive, and how data and cost factor into its business impact.   17:15 – Echoes of the early days of cloud, and what that tells us about AI's trajectory. 21:30 -- Rich and David discuss the opportunities for colocations, OEMS and the edge.    24:45 -- The Road Ahead: Trends to watch as generative AI evolves, including societal issues  Here's a link to some of David's recent DCF stories on AI and its impact on various sectors within digital infrastructure.   How Intel, AMD and Nvidia are Approaching the AI Arms Race The AI Arms Race: Startups Offer New Technology, Target Niche Markets For Leading Cloud Platforms, AI Presents A Major Opportunity Dell Technologies, HPE Pursue Multiple Paths into Enterprise AI  Did you like this episode? Be sure to subscribe to the Data Center Frontier show so you get future episodes on your app.

The State of the Data Center 2023 with Bill Kleyman

DCF Show host Rich Miller chats with Bill Kleyman, a long-time contributor to Data Center Frontier and one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming Data Center World 2023, where he will share insights from the AFCOM State of the Data Center 2023 industry survey. Bill and Rich dive deep into all the hot topics - including the rise of AI, rising rack density, the cloud  capacity crunch and supply chain and nuclear-powered data centers. It's a fun and interesting discussion.  Here’s a timeline of topics Bill and Rich discuss on the podcast: 1:45 – State of the Data Center: Key trends in Bill's keynote summarizing the AFCOM survey.  9:45 – Trends in rack density and cooling: Will data centers look more like HPC?     17:00 – Nuclear-powered data centers: Why we're hearing more about this, and the prospects for small modular reactors.   22:15 – Bill and Rich talk supply chain, and the ripple effects on data center delivery.  26:00 – The NIMBY Problem: Why community relations matters for data center companies. 29:15  -- Is there a data center shortage on the horizon.   31:00 -- On the front lines of the AI Boom. Bill's work with Neu.ro. "This is an absolutely critical point for our industry." 37:00 -- AI "hallucinations" and reliability. How do we assess societal impact? 43:00 - How might AI address automation and staffing challenges in the data center industry? 49:15 - The shape of the hybrid cloud: Bill's take on the balance between cloud, colo and on-premises data centers.

How Investment Powers the Growth of the Cloud

The cloud computing boom has beennfueled by an infux of capital. One of the most prominent growth stories is NTT Global Data Centers, which has become the world's third-largest data center operator and is building across the United States. On this week’s Data Center Frontier Show, we chat with Steve Lim, the Senior VP of Marketing for NTT Global Data Centers, who has had a front row seat for the company's enormous growth, and shares his take on some of the trends and markets playing a role in NTT's data center journey (as well as his own).  Here’s a timeline of topics Steve and Rich discuss on the podcast: 1:45 – NTT's progress in the U.S., from RagingWire to GDCA.  5:15 – How a capital partner like NTT can bring new scale to an operating platform. 9:00 – Northern Virginia: Demand continues in a region facing land and power constraints.   14:00 – How data center sub-markets develop, including the role of availability zones. 16:25 – Why community relations matter for data center companies. 21:00  -- Base isolation: Seismic risk and NTT's growth strategy in Santa Clara.   26:20 -- Why Hillsboro is the new hotness in the hyperscale sector.   32:15 -- Steve shares his Data Center Journey. Be sure to subscribe to the Data Center Frontier show so you get future episodes on your app. We'd love it if you "like" the DCF Show so others can enjoy it as well.

What The Chip Revolution Means for Data Centers

Across Silicon Valley, there are innovations underway that will change the way data centers are cooled. Greg Stover works with technology disruptors to help understand new processor designs and their implications for the design of racks and data halls. DCF Show host Rich Miller talks with Stover, the Global Director of Hi-Tech Development for Vertiv, about trends in processors and how they may accelerate the adoption of liquid cooling.  Greg also discusses the evolution of Vertiv, which he describes as "a $5 billion startup," and what the company sees ahead for  the data center and cloud computing industry in 2023.  Here’s a timeline of topics Greg and Rich discuss on the podcast: 1:20 – About Vertiv - "We're a $5 billion startup" - and Greg's role working with tech disruptors.  3:25 – The state of the chip sector, and what it means for the data center sector. 6:30 – What AI adoption means for IT-focused businesses.  .   10:15 – Liquid cooling: What does the transition look like?. 13:45 – Greg's outlook for the future of data center cooling. 16:00  -- The Metaverse question - what might it mean for business and infrastructure.   20:00 -- Edge use cases, and how to plan for edge computing infrastructure. 28:00 -- Greg shares his "Data Center Journey." Be sure to subscribe to the Data Center Frontier show so you get future episodes on your app. We'd love it if you "like" the DCF Show so others can enjoy it as well.

A Deep Dive into Immersion Cooling with JD Enright

Immersion cooling, in which servers are submerged in liquid coolant, has a high "cool factor" but low adoption. On this week’s show, talk with JD Enright about all things immersion cooling. In our wide-ranging discussion, we explore how hyperscale operators and the crypto sector are approaching the use of immersion, the potential for its use in edge computing, and how TMGcore is serving the market, including its robotic system for swapping out submerged servers. As President and CEO of TMGcore, Enright is working to enable more companies to take advantage of the benefits of immersion cooling, which supports higher power densities, and also offers potential economic benefits by allowing data centers to operate servers without a raised floor, computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units or chillers  Here’s a timeline of topics JD and Rich discuss on the podcast: 1:00 – Background on TMGcore and what it does.  3:00 – Trends in data center cooling, rack density, and where immersion fits. 9:00 – The role of hyperscale providers in new technology adoption, and their interest in immersion cooling.   13:00 – Why the cryptocurrency sector has embraced immersion cooling and deployed it at scale. 17:45 – .How immersion cooling can play a role in the growth of edge computing. 24:00  -- TMGcore's development of a robotics system to manage servers in an immersion enclosure.  28:30 -- What's ahead for TMGcore and its immersion technology. Be sure to subscribe to the Data Center Frontier show so you get future episodes on your app.

The Growing Urgency of Data Center Action on Climate Change

As a large energy user, the data center industry has a key role to play in the global response to climate change. Pankaj Sharma of Schneider Electric is on the front lines of this effort, working with data center operators and suppliers on a holistic approach to making digital infrastructure more sustainable.  Sharma joins DCF Editor Rich Miller for a wide-ranging discussion about the growing sense of urgency for climate action, the Schneider sustainability framework for data centers, and how the metaverse may impact how we power and cool our critical infrastructure.  Here’s a timeline of topics Pankaj and Rich discuss on the podcast: 1:00 – Pankaj's role at Schneider Electric and his Data Center Journey.  3:20 – Why sustainability is so important for data centers and IT applications 5:30 – How the Schneider Electric Sustainability Framework can help data center operators respond.   10:00 – How the industry experience with PUE provides insights on sustainability responses. 12:45 – The growing sense of urgency for climate action, in the data center industry and beyond. 14:15 – Pankaj offers his take on the recent Schneider Electric Innovation Summit and key takeaways.  20:15 – The Metaverse and what it means for data centers and mission-critical infrastructure. 23:15 - The future of cooling, and how metaverse compute tech may impact cooling. 25:10 - The data center supply chain is "a huge challenge" but is getting better. Here are some links with more about the topics we discuss: Schneider Sustainability Framework Offers Roadmap for Climate Response: The framework helps data center users  identify, measure and manage their carbon impact, and is intended to spark an acceleration of the climate response from the industry. Data Center Metrics Every Data Center Operator Should Measure:  Without standardized sustainability metrics, it’s difficult to ensure internal alignment between design, procurement, operations, and sustainability teams. Schneider Electric proposes five categories of data center sustainability metrics that can be used to report on environmental sustainability. Schneider Electric Innovation Summit: The Future Requites Smaller Faster, Smarter, Cleaner:   “There is massive pressure from investors, regarding ESG (the environmental, social and governance aims of companies)," company CEO Jean-Pascale Tricoire said. "If you want to attract good people, you need to have a plan for sustainability.” (From our sister pub Energy Tech)  Did you like this episode? Be sure to subscribe to the Data Center Frontier show so you get future episodes on your app. 

Why Data Center Site Selection Matters So Much in 2022

On this week's Data Center Frontier Show, we talk site selection with Ernest Popescu, the Vice President for Global Site Development for Iron Mountain Data Centers. All around the globe, data center operators are facing challenges in finding enough land, power and water to support the rapid growth of cloud computing. As campuses become MegaCampuses, finding suitable real estate is becoming difficult. That's why site selection has become one of the most important skillsets in the data center business. Popescu has lengthy experience in hyperscale site development and capacity planning for Amazon Web Services and Facebook, but saw a unique opportunity in the growth of Iron Mountain Data Centers, which has been winning both enterprise and cloud deals. Popescu is also intrigued by the potential for tapping Iron Mountain's global real estate footprint of more than 1,400 document storage locations to support edge computing. Here's a timeline of topics DCF Editor Rich Miller and Ernest discuss on the podcast: 1:00 - Ernest's Data Center Journey. 2:45 - Why data center capacity planning is difficult. "The past isn't necessarily a good indicator of the future," says Ernest. 5:30 - After working so much with hyperscalers, why Iron Mountain? 10:00 - Why site selection is such a hot topic in 2022. 12:45 - How about faster networks? Do they change any of the methodology around site selection. 16:00 - Edge computing, and why this is an opportunity for Iron Mountain. 23:00 - What Ernest likes best about this job.

EdgeConneX: The View From the Edge

EdgeConneX has built one of unique growth stories in digital infrastructure. An early leader in edge computing, EdgeConneX later began building huge data centers for hyperscale operators. It's a result of following the customers, says Phillip Marangella, the Chief Marketing Officer of EdgeConneX. On today's show, Marangella speaks with host Rich Miller about how edge computing has evolved and where it is headed, how EdgeConneX is seeking to build a diverse workforce, and how the company's 2020 acquisition by EQT Infrastructure has accelerated growth. Here's a timeline of topics Philllip and I discuss on the podcast: 1:00 - The EdgeConneX story: What it does and who it helps. 7:00 - The demand tidal wave: "We're all building as fast as we can." 9:15 - Understanding the Edge: "It's the user experience ... It's not rocket science." 13:00 - Building the worfroce of the future, and why diversity matters at EdgeConneX. 18:00 - Capital matters: How EQT's backing has turbo-charged growth. 21:30 - Digital infrastructure is a global story. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to subscribe to the Data Center Frontier show.