Innovation remains essential. “What got us here today – what got us 20x growth over the last decade – is not going to get us our next 20x growth.”

Among the topics Advisory Council members discussed at our most recent leadership meeting was innovation – and how it is as important as ever. This is the seventh in our series of eight blog posts reflecting the top-of-mind issues discussed by the fourteen Advisory Council members (five end users and eight partners) – infrastructure leaders at hyperscale tech companies, colocation providers, mission critical equipment providers, and mission critical facility engineering, design and operation firms.

One partner cautioned that the data center industry not become complacent. “I was in the utility business before this. Utilities cut way back on investment and the industry stagnated. Educational programs that had fed new talent into the industry shut down. Infrastructure Masons is exciting because we can prevent that from happening in the data center industry.”

So far, partners and end users see a groundswell of innovation in the market and credit it, at least in part, to the cloud players. Indeed, freed from the constraints of traditional concerns about single-site reliability, cloud players have driven some extraordinary innovation in the data center.

“What got us here today – what got us 20x growth over the last decade – is not going to get us our next 20x growth.” – Click to tweet

But it’s never time to rest on one’s laurels. As one end user explained, “What got us here today – what got us 20x growth over the last decade – is not going to get us our next 20x growth. Our next billion users are not in the U.S. and Europe. As such we’re going to experience different ecosystems, different challenges. Maybe you have to partner with the local governments and communities and develop basic infrastructure that we take for granted even in Kansas.”

“Our next billion users are not in the U.S. and Europe. As such we’re going to experience different ecosystems, different challenges.” – Click to tweet

One partner wondered how the dissemination of innovation could be sped up. “There is a lot of innovation in the data center space – whether cooling, power, etc. On power, there’s innovation in storage of power, architecture of power, microgrids, distributed generation, etc. But it’s such a slow transition from development to implementation in the data center. How do we find ways to speed adoption so the industry is more dynamic and innovative?”

“How do we find ways to speed the adoption of innovation in the data center?” – Click to tweet

Advisory Council members broadly agreed that there has been tremendous innovation in the data center industry to date – and that the pace of innovation must accelerate even further. That will take beyond-the-box thinking from players across the data center supply chain and up and down the technology stack. Infrastructure Masons members are up to the challenge.

Come back next week for the final installment in our top-of-mind series and hear from the Advisory Council members on scale – which takes on a whole new meaning and makes even the hyperscale data centers of yesteryear feel small.

Previous posts in the top-of-mind series

The Biggest Challenge of All? People
Our Environmental Legacy
Shifting Power & Shifting Priorities
Just How Critical Is Our Critical Infrastructure?
Emerging Markets Pose New Challenges
Alignment Between IT, Facilities & The Business

Learn more

Infrastructure Masons was established to provide infrastructure executives and technical professionals an independent forum to connect, grow and give back. If you’re not already a member, learn the benefits of joining at https://imasons.org/join/.

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