I am heading to 7x24 Exchange Phoenix Nov 13- 16, and part of my activities besides blogging is to moderate a panel with Google’s Joe Kava, AOL’s Mike Manos, and Citi’s Jack Glass. We have a prime speaking spot right after the break on first day after the keynote.

Joe, Mike, and I have been discussing the idea of a thought leadership panel discussion since the Uptime Symposium. Our idea is to not discuss the technology, but the people in data centers and the challenges to find the best and brightest people for the data center jobs. “Hunting for the Talent”

It is not easy to find the right people, and sometimes the innovative people come from other industries. Semiconductor manufacturing is where many have come from, including Joe Kava. Submarine design and operations is another. Some of the most innovative designs are coming from the companies who have staffed up their own design teams – Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Yahoo, Dell, and HP all have their own data center design and operations teams.

Here is Joe presenting about the Hamina Data Center

Mike is a dynamic speaker that makes great points.

Jack Glass is passionate about energy.

“We didn’t ignore energy in our designs,” said Jack Glass, Citigroup’s Senior VP of Data Center Planning. “My electric bill for North American centers is north of $20 million a year. Our team decided that we should be out in front of this issue. LEED was a joint decision between IT and real estate.”

The panel discussion is going to be a great way to discuss an important topic and we appreciate the support the 7x24 Exchange staff has provide for this unique presentation.