I haven't blogged much the last few days as I was immersed in networking opportunities related to Data Center Dynamics San Francisco.  This is my 3rd Data Center Dynamics event in SF, but probably at least my 10th, attending events in Seattle, NY, Chicago, and London.  At each event my social data center network gets better and I have fun with the DCD gang.

I know the DCD crew well, and ran into one of DCD gang in the bar as I entered the Hilton through the bar, not through the lobby.  We continually joked he was invisible and not here as we saw each other through the event.  I always go the night before to DCD and meet up with the crew to see who is in town and chat.

So, what did I think about DCD SF. First, the networking opportunities are one of the best in industry.  When you see Google, Microsoft, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Intuit, ask.com, VMware, and a bunch of end users networking freely at an event something is working right.  The number of people from each company was interesting.  You can see who was leveraging the networking opportunity to learn more.  And, many had good things to say about the presentations.

One of the subtleties of networking is the quality of your relationships.  Seth Godin posted on the idea of signals.

The management of signals

There are two things we can get better at:

1. Getting accurate signals from the world. Right now, we take in information from many places, but we're not particularly focused on filtering the information that might be false, and more important, what might be missing.

2. Sorting and ranking information based on importance. We often make the mistake of ranking things as urgent, which aren't, or true, which are false, or knowable, when they're not.

Dealing successfully with times of change (like now) requires that you simultaneously broaden your reach, focus on what's important and aggressively ignore things that are both loud and false.

Easier said than done.

I happened to run into Dan Scarbrough at SFO as I was leaving the morning, and this post fit in with some ideas Dan and I talked about.

Dan Scarbrough
Co-CEO

Dan is a co-founder of the DatacenterDynamics Conference and Expo Series and is the Managing Director of the company globally, with direct operational responsibility for the EMEA region. He has been working in Business to Business publishing for fifteen years, holding senior roles within UK based publishing companies including Campden Publishing and Sterling Publishing PLC.

We had an interesting chat on how people are becoming more open in discussing ideas at DCD.  I told Dan, it was interesting how the end users have figured out they can have deep conversations in the exhibit area and outsiders who want to meet them can't get in.  The vendors know if they bother attendees by trying to insert themselves in the conversations, they start off on the wrong foot, by interrupting a meeting.  The amount of vendor hovering is much lower than other data center conferences.  Vendors/salesman still try to get inserted, but they have less than 30 seconds usually as the high value attendees don't make themselves available for random introductions.

Part of the fun I have attending the conference is watching the patterns of interactions. Who is talking to who?  Who is there and who isn't?  Who has changed jobs?  Who is ramping up? Who is laying off?  Who is building? As Seth Godin's post mentions looking for accurate signals, testing facts with others who know, looking for correlations, filtering out the noise and prioritizing is important.

Being an engineer at HP, Apple, and Microsoft it is humorous that  I spend more time on people connections than the technology.

But, getting the people element right is part of being an Industrial Engineer.

Industrial Engineering (often now supplemented as "Industrial & Systems Engineering" or "Industrial & Operations Engineering") is a branch of engineering dealing with optimizing complex processes or systems. It is concerned with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, materials and/or processes. It also deals with designing new product prototypes more efficiently. Industrial engineering draws upon the principles and methods of engineering analysis and synthesis, as well as the mathematical, physical and social sciences together with the principles and methods of engineering design to specify, predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems or processes. Its underlying concepts overlap considerably with certain business-oriented disciplines such as Operations Management, but the engineering side tends to greater emphasize extensive mathematical proficiency and utilization of quantitative methods.

FYI, Stephen Worn,DCD CTO is an industrial engineer as well.

Stephen Worn
CTO / Managing Director North America

Mr. Worn has been involved with industry-leading enterprises and clients around the world for over 20 years as an Industrial FMS and ICT Network and Facilities Engineer; with over eight years in Asia, across the Americas and again back on a pan-European level. Most recently Mr. Worn was the Head of Technology Services for Dimension Data UK, where he was also their acting Practice Manager for Data Centres and Intelligent Buildings.
Stephen has held senior management roles in Nortel Networks as their EMEA Senior Director of Datacentres, at Japan’s Nippon Suisan International, China’s National Center for Industry and Technology, as well as with the Center for Special Economic Zones. Mr. Worn has worked with other Asian multinationals, in addition to his BOD role with OT Partners.
Mr. Worn has supported DatacenterDynamics since its first conference as Chief Technical Advisor and Guest Conference Chairman. He is now Managing Director of North America for DatacenterDynamics as well as Global CTO, and acts as a Moderator at many of the most important events. He holds two masters' degrees.

Also, thanks for my blog readers who found me at DCD SF, it was great to know I can use my blog to connect with others who I may not know, and get to meet face-to-face at a data center event, building a better network.  I made some new connections that definitely fit in my network.

I'll be at my favorite data center event, Data Center Dynamics in SF on July 16.

Some interesting topics are:

Industry Executive Roundtable - Are We Reaching an Inflection Point in Our industry?
Challenging Pre-Conceptions of How Data Centers and IT Infrastructure Are Designed, Built and Operated.

 

Executive Roundtable: Game Changers – The Impact of the Cloud, Unified Computing and Applications

 

The Model Data Center:
Operational Management of Data Centers through Simulation
Sherman Ikemoto, General Manager, North America - Future Facilities Inc

 

If you haven't gone to a DCD conference you're missing out on a chance to connect with your peers in the area.

Earth2Tech has a post on 5 green data center startups to know to support its Structure 2010 conference that was on June 23 - 24.

5 Green Data Center Startups You Need to Know

Katie Fehrenbacher Jun. 20, 2010, 7:03pm PDT 4 Comments

6

This week we’ll be kicking off the GigaOM Network’s (our parent company) third annual event focused on cloud computing and Internet infrastructure, Structure 2010, in San Francisco. In honor of the big event, which will feature speakers like Paul Maritz, the CEO of VMWare, Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.com, and Paul Sagan, the CEO of Akamai, we’ve decided to round up 5 green data center startups to watch.

I had high hopes looking at the list, but I found only one I would agree with.

2). SeaMicro: Low-power server maker SeaMicro is stealthy no longer. Last week the under-the-radar Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, which is backed by at least $25 million from venture firms Khosla Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson, finally unveiled its server technology that consumes a quarter of the power of a regular server but packs more than 2,000 CPU cores and costs $139,000. The startup uses Atom chips and its own specially designed silicon to manage the networking. The bet is that Internet bigwigs like Amazon and Facebook will be willing to buy servers from a new startup to save on the ever-increasing energy costs of computing.

You can go through the list, but I would have reworded the post. 

Here are 5 exhibitors at Structuretone 2010 who have green data center offerings.

Here were a few comments that think there are others

1. DanSunday, June 20 2010

   What about packetpower.com?

2. Reply

   Impulse MagazineMonday, June 21 2010

   I am not familiar with any of these companies, I will definitely check them out

3. Reply

   Richard DonaldsonMonday, June 21 2010

   Not sure how http://www.core4sys.com didn’t make this list – with >80% proven energy savings vis-a-vis incumbent Liebert/Chilled Water systems, it should have been a mention.

Anyone who has gone to three or more data center events finds the repetition of content numbing and boring.  Your first event is exciting as you learn new things, but when you go to the next you look for what you missed, then your third you look for what is new and you realize over 90% of what is presented is regurgitated content.

Why?  Because most of the content is being presented by speakers and vendors as their standard slides as they go from one data center event to the next.

The vendors pay money for the event, you pay money to go to the event, but do these people get good value for the taxes and time they pay?  No, but what choice do they have?

In the end you go to meet the other people there. 

As today is the 4th of July, a declaration of independence theme made sense.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Above is the infamous presentation of the declaration of independence.  Thomas Jefferson gets much of the credit of the work along with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.  The five prominent figures depicted are, from left to right, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin.

As there were a bunch of radical thinkers challenging the rule of British Empire.  There a few rethinking how data center executives meet and discuss ideas.  What happens if you focus on freedom of discussion and remove the taxes paid by vendors and attendees? 

What happens if you attended an event where the main reason you go is to meet the people there and talk about anything you want?  You have independence to talk to anyone you want about anything you want.

Steve Manos has been doing this with Lee Technologies on Tap.  He has been growing attendance month to month by 58% and has some of top data center executives in the Chicago area attending.

When people say this.

Other favorite comments by participants that night:

“This is insane”

“Thank God you brought name tags”

“Who ISN’T here?”

“If this gets any bigger, you are going to have to rent our Wrigley Field”

And Steve adds this.

..but the most self gratifying was hearing that everyone thought it brought an incredible amount of value to them and that they were very appreciate to be invited to participate.

And you see this.

You see that focusing on end users freedom to discuss ideas unleashes energy that is constrained by the current data center event model.  The social mixers at typical data center events are hosted in the exhibit area.  That isn't free form thinking, it is traffic management that justifies the booth fees paid.

Atlanta Lee Technologies on Tap had its first event  on June 17 as well.

I was talking to Lee Kirby who is on the left in the last picture above and we are thinking how Lee Technologies on Tap should be hosted in the SF bay area.

The idea of data center information exchange independent from the data center events is growing.  And, the ideas being exchanged and connections being made have huge value to the attendees.

The 4th of July is celebrated as a day of independence once a year.  Lee Technologies on Tap provides a venue where the lucky few who get to attend will be able to celebrate independent data center thinking once a month.

This makes so much more sense than another specification or data center standard.

Breaking down the silos. getting people discussing ideas. 

Happy 4th of July.  Celebrate Independence Day!

BTW, look at these pictures again when is the last time you saw this many data center people smiling. :-)

Today Steve Manos is hosting the latest "Lee Technologies on Tap" event in Chicago.  I've seen the list of attendees, and I would go if I hadn't made vacation plans 6 months ago.

A typical data center event will be organized around a theme and revenue model.  The revenue comes from a combination of sponsorship and paid attendees.  But, something is wrong when attendees pay to hear from those who have the most amount of sponsorship money.  To maximize revenue, the event organizers will get guest speakers to draw in the attendees and the sponsors as how important the event is.  Which is all part of the game/method in running events.  Sometimes event organizers can even get additional revenue by selling the speaking slots on the side.  Now for those of you who get guest speaking spots that are not vendors you may be thinking I don't have to pay, but you are most of the time the filler that pads around the vendor speaking positions.  The event people sprinkle a few around and it looks like an industry event.

What is wrong with this?  After 2 or three events you find you aren't learning much.  The main reason you go to the events is to network with other in the industry.

What happens if you change the event model and make networking the purpose of an event? So people want to attend to network not just meeting people, but discussing issues that are important in data centers.  No presentations is the rule.  Being able to go to an event on a regular basis with peers in your local area to drink a few beers creates a self-organizing dynamic.  Those users who are discussing important issues have a following.  Those users who blow a lot of air and are self absorbed sound just as shallow as the salesman.  If you are one of the lucky few vendors who get to attend you need to be careful not to drop into a sell mode, probing details about data center equipment that are clearly ways you are looking to sell your product. (what is a common practice at typical data center events.)  If you share your ideas and listen to others you can stay.

The popularity of Steve Manos's method is growing and it doesn't hurt that Mike Manos will be there as well.

Ironically, I think people, vendors and attendees, would pay to go to the event now that it has critical mass.  Maybe the event should be run as the "Data Center Club."  Focusing on the business networking is driving discussions and information exchange people want. 

This challenges the typical rule of Data Centers like "Fight Club".

Wal-Mart, Data Centers and The Fight Club Rule

June 3rd, 2006 : Rich Miller

“The first rule of Fight Club is – you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is – you DO NOT talk about Fight Club.”

Some companies take the Fight Club approach with their data centers. You DO NOT talk about the data centers. One of these companies is Wal-Mart, which has piqued the curiosity of the media with its closed-mouth response to curiosity about the company’s 125,000 square foot data center in Joplin, Mo. The Joplin Globe describes it as a “building that Wal-Mart considers so secret that it won’t even let the county assessor inside without a nondisclosure agreement.” Wal-Mart gladly supplied them with more ammunition. “This is not something that we discuss publicly,” Wal-Mart senior information officer Carrie Thum told the paper. “We have no comment. And that’s off the record.”

Fight club was viral.

More fight clubs form across the country, and they become the anti-materialist and anti-corporate organization called "Project Mayhem"

Lee Technologies on Tap is having its first Atlanta event hosted by Eric Gallant today as well.