Great Event in Vienna VA yesterday

My company hosted an event with Data Center Marketplace yesterday in Vienna Virginia to discuss a number of hot topics in the data center space. I presented on site selection, and was amazed at how little knowledge is out there about how to do it. So I shared my site selection menthodology that we use when evaluating sites and had over 50 requests to get a copy. If you want one email me and it's yours.

The other topics were related to sustainability hitting on topics like efficiency in the data center, using REC's to offset carbon footprints, and different strategies to deliver data center services in a greener fashion. The thing that struck me was the pervasive disconnect between facilities, IT, and Finance. There is still little information shared across disciples and silos which is vital to doing something that is quantifiable, tangible, measureable, and successful. Information needs to shared not guarded like a stash of candy under your bed that you think you'll get in big trouble for if people see what you have. It really hit home when I was driving to the airport and listening to a program about Botnets and how industry groups have formed to foster information sharing. The premise was - hackers share information all the time and the organizations they break into don't and this is at the crux of the the problem and why IT security will always be on the defensive. So there was a group formed by the major ISP's that is operating as an informational Switzerland so people can leave their logos at the door and discuss freely about what they are doing to combat botnets, which ones exist and how to prevent (ideally) or remediate the issues they cause.

I have harped on this issue when the containerized data centers wouldn't share ANYTHING about their products, and would scratch their heads as to why they werent selling more. Well, if you can't talk about things that are issues, you have no issues, right? WRONG. Sharing information is key to overall success, and while the short sighted approach of 'share nothing for fear that a competitor will use data against you' is still prevalent not only in containerized data center discussions, it is prevalent in business. I don't get it. Your competitors will find out where the achilles heels are anyway, and isn't it better for the manufacturer to identify a flaw publicly than a competitor to announce it?