IMN LogoRecently, iMiller Public Relations had the pleasure of attending Information Management Network’s (IMN’s) 5th Annual Forum on Financing, Investing and Real Estate Development for Data Centers in Half Moon Bay, CA.

This exciting forum brought together 300 senior executives from the data center industry, includingIMPR logo copy-resized-600
owners, investors, tenants, capital and service providers. Some of the many speakers at the IMN conference included:

  • Jeffrey Moerdler, Member of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
  • Miles Loo Jr., Executive Director and Global Practice Leader of Cushman & Wakefield Western, INC.
  • Mike Hagan, Vice President of Schneider Electric
  • Erik Levitt, CEO of Open Data Centers
  • Chris Crosby, CEO of Compass Datacenters
  • Derek Garnier, CEO of Layer42 Networks

Key themes discussed throughout the event included overcoming the challenges of supply and demand in the competitive data center market, best practices for growing data centers, and preparing facilities for natural disasters.

For those who didn’t have the chance to attend, here are our top three takeaways from the event:

  • New Risks are Emerging

The threat landscape is changing for data centers. As Jack Pressman of EMP GRID Services explained during a panel on natural disaster preparedness and cost tolerance, this evolution of risk is driving a shift in the threat assessment paradigm. Now, data center leaders need to take into account advanced disaster planning strategies such as local natural disaster potential, natural disaster insurance and climate change.

  • Data Centers are Going Underground

While we call underground data centers exotic, they’re quickly becoming the new norm. Underground data centers offer many advantages in regard to operational costs, expandability, natural disaster protection and valuation. 

  • Customer Needs are Changing

Customer needs are becoming increasingly heterogeneous, as shown in the “President/CEO panel for Wholesale and Hybrid Data Centers…Growing Your Data Center Business”. Data centers need to recognize and capitalize on customer needs by offering new and innovative customer-facing solutions through expansion.

To learn more about IMN’s 5th Fall Forum on Financing, Investing & Real Estate Development for Data Centers, click here.