After doing the data center bozos of 2009, I thought it would be appropriate to recognize data center industry players who have provided a positive example to follow.
1. Microsoft for building it’s 700,000 sq ft Chicago data center with both container and raised floor space. This highlights the benefits of the new container format while acknowledging that containers aren’t appropriate for all circumstances.
2. Google and D-Wave for bring sci-fi to life with quantum computing.
3. Best re-use of the strangest structure, the CLUMEQ supercomputer built in a former particle accelerator silo. Now if they can just get the airflow going the right way, it would be absolutely awesome.
4. The DoD for lending legitimacy to cloud computing.
5. Best data center green “2 fer”,i/o Data Centers Phoenix ONE for covering an absolutely massive roof in solar arrays. Generate power and keep the roof (and by extension the facility) cooler and you have a perfect 2 birds with one stone.
6-10. A major shout out to everyone who managed to run a data center cloud this year without fouling it up!
Vern, SwiftWater Telecom
The Server Room 