I just got back from Data Center World in Las Vegas, and a couple of question I was asked were.

Seen anything good at the show?

Do you see anything as big changes in the data center industry?

After a long night out on Tuesday night with some amazingly smart data center people it hit me what is changing the data center industry.  People.  There are more people who are thinking holistically of the role data centers play in IT.  The past ways of building data centers are many times wasteful, inflexible and expensive.

There are now people who have software backgrounds who are working on data centers.  There are process engineers who are working on data centers.  The role of data center designer building to align with the companies business is part of a business strategy.   Twitter is the latest to announce they are going to a custom data center.

Importantly, having our own data center will give us the flexibility to more quickly make adjustments as our infrastructure needs change.

Finally, Twitter's custom data center is built for high availability and redundancy in our network and systems infrastructure. This first Twitter managed data center is being designed with a multi-homed network solution for greater reliability and capacity. We will continue to work with NTT America to operate our current footprint, and plan to bring additional Twitter managed data centers online over the next 24 months.

The rapid growth of the data center construction driven by companies who are hiring expertise into their company to build efficient, flexible and cost effective data centers to align with business objectives is where companies are gaining competitive advantages.

A common problem in colocation data centers is the end user’s perception that a cold data center is a good data center.  It is people’s beliefs that drive misperceptions on what a data center should be.  The innovative people are breaking the myths created by the analyst community and marketing departments on what a data center should be.

One of the main reason I went to Data Center World in LV was actually to go to a private party at PURE nightclub.

I will name no one who was there, but for those who were there you know who was, and I wanted to document the event as how it is significant to drive change in the industry.  Many of the people there I have blogged about as they are some of the most innovative thinkers.  People are driving the greening of data centers not technology.

We had four cabanas outside with a great view of the city.

I met the organizer of the event for the first time in Dec 2009 when interestingly enough I went to PURE for his private party.  The first one was fun with about a dozen.  Yesterday’s party had about 3 dozen.  He was able to get an amazing attendee list.

At the last minute we got a confirmation someone was flying in at 9p and he could make the party, as many of his ex-coworkers and present coworkers were there.  His last minute acceptance I shared with another visionary who I met at the show who had his “500 MW of power” data center team with him and he changed his travel plans to attend the party as he realized when else could he connect with some of the other people there.  Plus he’s partied at PURE and knew how much fun it would be.

We had a few more people who were able to bring some forward thinking end users and land owners as well, so it wasn’t just data center designers.

Writing this blog post at 10p on Weds night, it is kind of surreal that just 24 hours ago, I was in LV with some of most amazing data center people.

The tagline “What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” may describe a typical late night party.  But, I think what happened last night at the PURE nightclub was a connecting of people who have a passion for the industry rarely seen, and their ideas will leave Vegas.

People are going to drive the greening of data centers and changes in the industry.  Not a vendor’s technology.  Not, new standards or an analyst report.

Dec 2010 is Gartner Data Center World and many of the same people will be back in Vegas.  We’ll see if the party master can pull off another event, but he is going to have a tough time topping last night.

I've been travelling more than usual and I am in the airport now going to Las Vegas for Data Center World.

Data Center World is the largest global event of its kind and has been named one of the 50 fastest growing tradeshows in the U.S. It is the leading educational conference for data center professionals.

Data Center World is presented by AFCOM, the premier data center association representing 4,500 of the largest data centers around the world. To learn more about the association, visit

I'll see if I have time to live blog, but it should be a full 2 days.

A friend and I went to hear William Gibson read a chapter from his new book Zero History.

While William was reading a chapter,  I decided to download the book to my Kindle 3.  After reading the chapter, William took 1/2 an hour to answer various questions.

One of the questions was on how William uses Twitter, and he told the story of "Detection of Novelty" and how he used to spend $200-$300 on foreign magazines and randomly flip through them to simply lte him be attracted to what catches his eye.  With Twitter he focuses on finding efficient novelty aggregators that gives him the exposure he used to get from his foreign magazines.

When watching the standing room only crowd holding their hardcopy books, I thought what does William think about book signing with people having Kindles?  I decided to ask William this question which turned out to be the last before book signing.

William responded with humor that he could use a carbide tip to etch his signature in a strategic place, and how some people have brought those silver pens to sign black things.  Then there were some fanatics who wanted William to sign their laptops and motherboards.  William went on a bit more and used my question to end the session and transition to book signing.

Luckily, I sat in the front next to the door where they were going to start the line for book signing.  My friend went 1st as he had a hardcopy book.  I was next with my Kindle 3.  I showed William my Kindle 3 screen and chapter 1 of Zero History, and asked him to sign the Kindle 3.

William Gibson said this is the first Kindle he has signed.

I asked the last question, on the first day of William Gibson's book signing tour for Zero History, and have the first Kindle he has signed.

Boy I am glad I sat in the front and was #2 and not in the line of a hundred people behind me.  ;-)

Is this a new trend to have book authors sign Kindles?  I don't know, but I have the first Kindle signed by William Gibson.

And, here is William's tweet.

Signed very first Kindle at Microsoft. Actually, *touched* very first Kindle. Appealing unit, IMO.36 minutes ago via Twitterrific

The energy was high at Lee Tech on Tap in Chicago and I can see why people keep on attending.  Given how much I have written about the event many people were surprised this was my first one to attend and I am glad my first was where it started.

There are some great people I met there and discussed ideas that wouldn't have happened if  I wasn't at the event.  Usually when you go to an event you feel good if you make a couple of good contacts.  In one night, I made at least 7 good connections that I will follow up on.

The benefit of an event is finding people of the same mindset and people who are different who stimulate new thinking.

A good indicator of the energy and how well things worked is the sub groups that existed.  There were over a dozen sub groups and people knew at some point, "hey you need to take to Mike, he is right over there, let me get him."

The support of sub group of discussion is a method to foster better collaboration.  This is what Rob Howard discusses in the post I reference on collaboration software.

It should be noted that I am not advocating that communities be limited by membership size. Rather, capabilities should exist within a larger community to support smaller, internal groups that can form around narrow areas of interest. This is validated by both Twitter and Facebook, which have in recent months both introduced capabilities to narrow the scope of conversations:Lists, privacy controls, and so on.

I am still digesting the event, and there are a series of follow up meetings I have today based on the connections I made last night.

It was well worth the plane trip to come to Chicago.  And, I am looking forward to my next Lee Tech on Tap event.

Thanks to the folks at Lee Technologies I was extended an invite to attend the Lee Tech on Tap event in Chicago on Aug 5, 2010.  I've written about the event so much, it will be good to see the people and event in person.

I would live blog the event, but I think I'll be too busy talking to people.  I don't expect any press releases surrounding the event so there is no need to hurry and post.

As the event is hosted in an Irish Pub, I am sure I will get the question isn't your name Ohara Irish.

I’ve been to Ireland many times visiting Apple and Microsoft facilities, and my name Dave Ohara so many times my name gets spelled with an apostrophe (like O’Hara).  But I am not Irish even though I have kissed the Blarney stone and bought a family crest for my Dad of O’Hara.  My Ohara surname is Japanese, but I still enjoy Ireland.  I don’t have this problem when I go to Japan. :-)

Ohara is a Japanese surname (e. g.: 小原,尾原,大原)

For those of you attending, I'll probably be one of the few Japanese Americans there, so I should be easy to spot.

Here are a list of things I am looking for:

1. Why people like the event and how it compares to other data center events?
2. What are top issues/problems that people think need to be addressed in data centers?
3. What do people think of the helmet cam idea?
4. What should I be blogging more about?
5. Do people think Green is an issue for data centers?

I'll be at the event early and staying late.