We came to Amsterdam to get familiar with the Data Centers industry. Europe has 5 major cities hosting this scene - Amsterdam is one of them. Our Co-Founder, Dr. Ofer Markman was invited to share his knowledge and expertise in the data world, in a panel titled: Data Connectivity, coping with AI and Cloud Boom - we’ve shared that already. Our goal was not only to collect as much data as possible about the data center world, but also to find design partners that will be able to validate our research and walk us through the nuances of this world: key players, main customer requirements, challenges, regulation, sustainability concerns and more.
Kickstart Europe 2024 was the chosen starting point for our journey. 1.5 days dedicated to everything Data Centers, that’s dedicated to networking, learning how to speak a new language, making friends (we’ve learned that Data Centers’ community is very close and goes back a long way) and finding our way to leave a Filo mark at the event. Nothing out of the ordinary :)
We put on our best suits (and one jumpsuit 😉) and headed up to the Gala event, the night before. The first challenge became very obvious right from the start: All the reps had known each other for ages, and we were the new kids on the block! We noticed - and appreciated - the apparent lack of ego in this industry, with everyone genuinely out to find creative solutions to big challenges. This really allowed for meaningful discussions and knowledge-sharing, which we totally welcomed and made us, and we feel hopeful about our ability to overcome the challenges facing the industry.
Another observation that we really appreciated - this industry seems devoid of ego, focusing instead on finding solutions to the community’s issues. Conversations naturally flowed from one to another, as did introductions to different individuals. By the end of the evening, we felt hopeful. There’s still a journey ahead of us, but we believe we can succeed.
Turns out we caught the Data Centers’ world in a critical moment - the physical space and the power in Europe are running out, and the Data Centers are at the point where they’re having difficulty to meeting the current demand, not to mention the expected AI-driven demand. One expert after another was pinpointing this tough dilemma, suggesting that currently available solutions, like advanced cooling systems or alternative energy generation methods are far from sufficient. The overall sentiment was that of a crisis that’s happening now.
Mmmm… can we help? They’re all searching for solutions that are hardware or construction related. Our job here is to shed light on another part of the equation - data. If we have no more space for Data Centers in Europe as we’ve exceeded the municipal allotment for data centers; If we have no more power for Data Centers as mounting pushback from local communities against further developments of data centers that suck up energy, then we need to think about the option of reducing the volume of data needed to be stored. Whether it’s through different data collection strategies, different data management systems (hot/cold/frozen…), or different data compression solutions, the solution isn’t to stay still.
We were concerned that our co-founder Dr. Ofer Markman’s panel appearance would see a small turnout due to the relatively late hour. Happily, this couldn’t be further from the truth, as not only the turnout was impressive, but the focus on Ofer’s industry-challenging remarks gained immediate traction with the audience, as well as the other panelists Stijn Grove from the Dutch Data Center Association, Paul Williams from AFL Hyperscale, and Michael Akinla from Panduit.
Presenting a unique point of view that the other panelists haven’t considered, Ofer positioned data at the forefront of the discussion around what can be done to mitigate the effects of data gravity, storage capacity shortage, and the overall challenges facing the data center world. Citing massive amounts of data garbage, the boom in data generation due to AI, and the apparent lack of attention to data volume, Ofer certainly led many in the audience to an “aha” moment.
We invite you to watch select moments from the panel, and to consider what many in the panel did: Is solving the energy consumption challenge in Data Centers enough to secure the future of the industry, or should we also look to novel methods to tackle the massive amounts of data our centers are expected to store?
#001: https://youtu.be/ky8MCIlfHF8
#002: https://youtu.be/iAZPBvFxzsg
#003: https://youtu.be/MBldG07Bg9Y
Ilan Leizgold
is the VP Sales of FILO Systems
