Data Center Frontier

Important technical guidance from our EndeavorB2B sibling in the #datacenter and #criticalinfrastructure spaces, CI&M. #AI #power #IT #structuredcabling

Fiber infrastructure is becoming part of a much larger conversation around AI, regional connectivity, and the future of digital infrastructure. This article explores how fiber networks are evolving beyond traditional connectivity and becoming foundational to how AI systems, data centers, and distributed technologies stay connected. As demand grows, network design is no longer just about speed. Scalability, route diversity, synchronization, and long term reliability are playing a larger role in how infrastructure is planned and deployed. The takeaway: connectivity infrastructure is becoming increasingly critical to how future technologies operate at scale. ➡️ Read more from Matt Vincent via Data Center Frontier: https://lnkd.in/eQ8d_gxa #HarborLink #FiberInfrastructure #DigitalInfrastructure #AIInfrastructure #Connectivity #NetworkResilience #DataCenterFrontier

AI infrastructure investment is accelerating. But can power, supply chains, interconnection, and project execution keep up? At the Data Center Frontier Trends Summit, August 4–6 in Reston, Virginia, the session “AI Infrastructure Investment: Bubble, Breakthrough, or Both?” will examine whether capital is moving in step with what can actually be built. Featuring expert perspectives from: Ryan Mallory — President & COO, Flexential Phill Lawson-Shanks — Chief Innovation Officer, Aligned Data Centers John Belizaire — CEO, Soluna Holdings Hunter Newby — Founder, Newby Ventures Join us for a timely conversation on AI infrastructure demand, power constraints, capital reality, supply chain risk, community impact, and what comes next. See the session live: DCFtrends.com #DCFTrends #AIInfrastructure #DataCenters #DigitalInfrastructure #AI

Why CIOs Need to Reassess Storage Architecture for AI Infrastructure Benchmarks and lab tests are all well and good, but they rarely accurately model real-world situations in ways that customers can directly apply to their own business. Ken Claffey, CEO of VDURA, explains why storage systems can and should be designed to deliver consistent availability and throughput in real-world conditions rather than just under ideal benchmarks.  AI workloads don’t just depend on continuous, predictable compute capability; they also depend on continuous data delivery. GPUs can only process data if it is supplied without interruption, so any delay or gap in storage access immediately halts useful work. From an infrastructure specification perspective, this means that, to maintain overall system performance, storage availability must not only match compute but also exceed it. Ken takes a moment to give us a quick overview of how CIOs can address this issue in their environments. https://lnkd.in/geVcBicB

In a recent article published by Data Center Frontier, Bill Tierney, Jr., Chief Strategy Officer here at The ProLift Rigging Company, emphasizes that a lift plan is much more than a formality. It is a critical engineering tool that protects safety, schedule, and execution on complex data center projects. The article explains how assumption based planning can create hidden risks and why verified weights, real world site conditions, and engineered rigging configurations are essential for predictable outcomes. It also emphasizes how early involvement during pre construction allows teams to influence design decisions, reduce downstream costs, and avoid preventable delays. The piece explores how a single incorrect assumption can cascade through an entire project affecting crane sizing, haul path feasibility, and overall constructability. It makes clear that rigorous planning grounded in field realities is the key to successful execution on hyperscale data center builds. Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eiD_sAMe #DataCenter #LiftPlan #RiggingSafety #ConstructionManagement #ProLiftRigging

With the theme "Future-Proofing the AI Data Center," the 2026 7x24 Exchange International Spring Conference is off to a strong start in Orlando, bringing together industry leaders to examine the technological, operational, and human challenges shaping the next era of digital infrastructure. Sunday evening's reception set the tone for the week with strong attendance, great hospitality, live music, family activities, and plenty of industry conversation. Sponsored by East Penn Manufacturing and Electronic Power Design (EPD), the event highlighted two companies whose work underpins modern data center infrastructure. East Penn is a leading provider of energy storage and backup power systems, while EPD delivers the electrical engineering expertise required to design and deploy increasingly complex power environments. 7x24 Exchange President and CEO Robert Cassiliano served as master of ceremonies. Monday morning opened with a keynote from Sol Rashidi, MBA, widely recognized as the world's first Chief AI Officer and an AI pioneer whose career included work on IBM's Watson program long before today's generative AI boom. Now a Harvard AI Fellow, Rashidi delivered a message that resonated throughout the room: How do we make sure AI happens with us, not to us? Her focus was less on technology than organizational readiness, challenging leaders to prepare for a future in which humans increasingly work alongside AI agents, models, and embedded AI systems. In a fitting conclusion to the session, 7x24 Exchange honored Rashidi's work supporting children's causes with a $10,000 donation to UNICEF USA. The morning continued with Google's Govind Ramu and Gino Tozzi, who discussed Google's collaboration with the Telecommunications Industry Association on the DCE 9000 framework. The emerging standard seeks to bring quality management discipline to data center design, construction, commissioning, and operations, helping establish consistent processes and continuous improvement across the infrastructure lifecycle. Taken together, the conference's opening sessions highlighted two essential dimensions of future-proofing the AI data center: preparing people for an AI-enabled future and creating the operational frameworks needed to build and run increasingly complex infrastructure at scale. We'll have more from Orlando as the conference continues. - Matt Vincent Doug Kilgariff - Eaton | Ron Vokoun - SVL Inc. #datacenter #hyperscale #AI #colocation #missioncritical #digitalinfrastructure #power

Liquid Cooling Market Matures: Innovations, Acquisitions, and Modular Solutions for AI Infrastructure Major industry players like CoolIT Systems, Vertiv, Accelsius, and LiquidStack k are advancing liquid cooling through strategic acquisitions, integrated solutions, and modular architectures, signaling a shift from experimental to industrial-scale deployment in AI infrastructure. DCF Editors Matt Vincent and David Chernicoff Take you through what these companies are bringing to the current cooling advances for high-density data centers, including: -CoolIT's new 15kW coldplate demonstrates the potential for single-phase direct liquid cooling to support future AI accelerators, extending the viability of established architectures. -Vertiv's acquisition of Strategic Thermal Labs emphasizes the importance of system-level thermal validation, integrating coldplate design, modeling, and lifecycle support for high-density environments. -Accelsius introduces the NeuCool IR150, a fully integrated rack-level two-phase cooling system designed to simplify deployment and support high-density AI workloads. -LiquidStack's GigaModular platform offers scalable, multi-megawatt liquid cooling capacity, enabling phased expansion aligned with AI campus growth. https://lnkd.in/eRgRhKCq

Data Centers Can Have Both: Reliability and Sustainability Start at Specification As AI accelerates data center growth, the industry often frames reliability and sustainability as competing priorities. In a new DCF Voices of the Industry contribution, Southwire's Jack Graves argues that the tradeoff is largely a myth. From transmission conductors and medium-voltage cable specifications to Scope 3 reporting and embodied carbon, Graves makes the case that the same infrastructure decisions that improve uptime and long-term performance can also reduce environmental impact. The key, he writes, is moving sustainability considerations upstream into the specification and design process rather than treating them as an afterthought. An interesting perspective on how power infrastructure choices made today may shape the performance, resilience, and environmental profile of data centers for decades to come. Southwire Company Southwire Canada Southwire Technology Ventures Read on: https://lnkd.in/eFBEe-nr #DataCenters #AIInfrastructure #PowerInfrastructure #Sustainability #Energy #Hyperscale #DataCenterDesign #DigitalInfrastructure

What has actually changed in the last year when it comes to building and delivering data center infrastructure? The 2026 #DCFtrends opens with a live editorial roll call featuring members of the DCF Editorial Advisory Board, offering rapid-fire perspectives from across operations, development, capital, grid, and community. It’s a fast calibration of where the industry stands, and where execution is breaking down or accelerating. Speakers: Matt Vincent - Editor-in-Chief, Data Center Frontier/EndeavorB2B Karen P. - VP of Data Center Development & Construction, PowerHouse Data Centers Nabeel Mahmood - Managing Director, Nomad Futurist Sean Farney - VP, Data Centers, Jones, Lang, LaSalle (JLL) David McCall - Brand Evangelist, QTS Data Centers Explore the full program: https://bit.ly/3PDn7Dz Lock in your registration at the lowest rate: https://lnkd.in/eWSVSVtG #DataCenterIndustry #DigitalInfrastructure #DataCenters

Data Centers the Santa Clara Way For years, the data center industry has struggled with the same question: How do you convince communities that digital infrastructure creates value beyond the property line? Santa Clara may have one of the most developed answers in the country. In her latest feature, DCF Editor at Large Melissa Farney examines how Silicon Valley's data center capital deliberately built an ecosystem around digital infrastructure: combining municipal power, industrial zoning, affordable housing contributions, recycled water programs, and a tax structure that directly funds city services. The numbers are hard to ignore. Data centers contribute roughly 13% of the city's General Fund revenue, help support affordable housing initiatives, and have become a foundational part of the community's economic identity. What's most interesting isn't that Santa Clara welcomes data centers. It's that the city has spent three decades building a framework that allows residents, elected officials, utilities, and operators to see tangible benefits from their presence. As communities across North America wrestle with AI infrastructure growth, power demand, and public acceptance, Santa Clara offers something increasingly rare: a mature case study. This reporting takes a deep look at how the model works, and why other markets are paying attention. Read on: https://lnkd.in/eAGpygBV #DataCenters #AIInfrastructure #DigitalInfrastructure #EconomicDevelopment #PowerInfrastructure #SmartCities #DataCenterDevelopment #Infrastructure