DCD Zero Downtime: The Bi-Weekly Data Center Show

CTO of NexGen Cloud discusses entering the cloud market with a focus on HPC and GPU infrastructure. Topics include challenges in GPU supply, sustainable expansion, competition, data sovereignty, and diversifying GPU workloads in the cloud market.

Sourcing adequate amounts of power to run new facilities is a problem that keeps even the most seasoned data center operators awake at night.  Many are looking at new technologies such as battery storage to help meet their power demands, but ensuring these assets operate efficiently can be a challenge. Dublin-based GridBeyond thinks it can help by providing grid-connected battery technologies and management software to data centers and other clients across a range of industries. In this episode, Michael Phelan, founder and CEO of GridBeyond, talks about the challenges and opportunities presented by the clean energy transition, and the future of Ireland’s overstretched power grid.

With AI dramatically driving up density, data center cooling is getting much more interesting.  Iceotope is one of the companies exploring the most efficient and sustainable way to cool down data centers - and their solution is precision cooling. On the face of it, precision cooling resembles immersion cooling - viscous liquid? Check. Bathtub-like container? Check. But as CEO David Craig explains, it is actually a far more efficient solution. Beyond the world of liquid cooling, we talk about political optimism and how the next generation will hopefully help us all towards a greener world. 

Joanne Rodriguez, CEO at Mycocycle, discusses using mycelium to recycle data center construction waste, create new materials, and reduce carbon emissions. They explore mobile bioprocessors for on-site waste processing, transforming materials like gypsum, rubber, and carpet into valuable raw materials. The conversation highlights using mycelium in construction, partnerships with hyperscale companies, and innovative business models for mushroom recycling.

Nuclear power may have its detractors, but amid a growing capacity crunch data center operators are becoming increasingly interested in whether atoms can provide the electrons needed to power tomorrow's high-density facilities. In this episode, Chris Lohse of the Idaho National Laboratory, talks about the recent innovations around nuclear power, the highs and lows of recent years, and what the future might hold for nuclear-powered data centers.

Sustainability consultant John Booth discusses the need for more sustainability in the data center industry. Topics include challenges in sustainability, a past trip to Belarus, evolution of data center standards, ICT manufacturing for recycling, concerns on data center growth, navigating the digital world, challenges of power generation in the UK, and advancements in nuclear fusion for sustainable data centers.

TechUK's Luisa Cardani discusses the challenges and potential of the UK's data center market, including regulatory changes, urban challenges, emerging markets like Scotland, AI's impact on data centers and job prospects, the evolution of non-tech backgrounds into tech, and the complexities of data centers across various sectors.

Bryan Cantrill, CTO of Oxide Computer, explains why the industry has been using the wrong components in data centers. The cloud's success is due to its easily consumed virtual servers, but it comes with costs. Cantrill discusses the need for an elastic infrastructure on-premise and why his team had to rebuild almost everything to deliver it.

Discover how hard drives are evolving with new technologies like heat-assisted magnetic recording, potentially doubling their capacity. Learn from Seagate's CCO about the impact on data center operations and the future of storage technology.

Yuval Boger from QuEra discusses the fundamentals of quantum computing, exploring different approaches, challenges to commercializing it, and potential use cases. Topics include quantum computing methods, practical applications in various industries, data encryption implications, and future integration in data centers.