Top 10 Data Center Stories for October 2021

It’s already been a record year for audience growth at Data Center Frontier, and October was our busiest month ever. Data centers and cloud computing are growing in importance, powering more essential services than ever before. That also means more people are paying attention to the industry.

That was abundantly clear during the global outage for Facebook services in early October, which drove huge interest in what went wrong. DCF’s analysis of Facebook’s incident report was out most popular story in October.

But there was plenty of other news as well, including features on the growing scale of data center campuses, plans for liquid cooling at Equinix Metal and Microsoft, the economic impact of Amazon Web Services in Northern Virginia, Google’s push into edge services, and a Voices of the Industry column on trends in cooling design.  And yes, a fun piece on cloud tech in Formula 1 racing.

Here are the 10 most popular stories on Data Center Frontier in October 2021, in order of article views:

• Facebook: We Disconnected Our Data Centers From the Internet: Facebook says that a configuration error broke its connection with a key network backbone, disconnecting Facebook from all of data centers and leaving its DNS servers unreachable, the company said.
• AWS Has Spent $35 Billion on its Northern Virginia Data Centers: Amazon Web Services (AWS) investment in its cloud computing infrastructure in Northern Virginia over the past 10 years illustrates the enormous impact data centers can have on regional economies.
• Google Extends its Cloud to the Edge, Customer Data Centers: Google Cloud is bringing its cloud hardware and software into telecom networks and customer data centers, including on-premises facilities.
• Equinix Metal Hopes to Adopt Liquid Cooling Through Open19:: Equinix has been testing the use of liquid cooling in its data centers, and hopes to use the technology in its Equinix Metal service to create a high-density, energy efficient computing platform. The initiative will not impact current colocation customers.
• Quantum Loophole: Hyperscalers Want Bigger Campuses for Long-Term Growth: The 2,100-acre Quantum Loophole project in Maryland is envisioned as a prototype for the future of hyperscale computing, offering huge sites with enough land and power for years of growth. Here’s a closer look at Quantum Loophole’s plans for its first campus.
• Microsoft Aims to Slash Data Center Water Usage by 95 Percent in 3 Years: Microsoft says it will reduce the use of water in its data centers by refining how it designs and operates its massive cloud infrastructure. including operating its data centers at warmer temperatures.
• The CoilWall and FanWall Are Hot Data Center Cooling Trends: As the data center industry grew from 10MW to 100MW buildings the last five years, mechanical designers sought more cooling capacity, but with better efficiency and smaller footprints. Kris Holla of Nortek Data Center Cooling discusses CoilWalls and Fan CoilWalls, two new innovations in data center cooling that address these challenges.
• How Cloud Data-Crunching Power Accelerates the F1 Racing Experience: Formula 1 racing teams use powerful cloud and edge computing technologies to gain an edge on the track. These relationships are also valuable to tech companies, showcasing cutting-edge uses for data center technology. Here’s a closer look at the tech powering F1 racing.
• Leesburg and Beyond: TA Realty Sees Long-Term Growth for Data Centers: TA Realty is one of the new entrants in the Northern Virginia data center market. It is building a large campus in Leesburg, and has ambitions to become a long-term player in the global market for digital infrastructure.
• Overclocking the Cloud: Immersion Cooling Could Enable Faster Servers: Microsoft has been test-driving the use of overclocked processors running in immersion cooling tanks, and says the combination can boost server performance by 20 percent. The company says immersion cooling “unlocks new potential for data center design.”

Education is part of our mission at Data Center Frontier. In our Voices of the Industry feature, we share the experience of data center executives on the front lines of innovation. Here’s a look at the most popular Voices columns for DCF readers last month:

• The CoilWall and FanWall Are Hot Data Center Cooling Trends (Nortek Data Center Cooling: As the data center industry grew from 10MW to 100MW buildings the last five years, mechanical designers sought more cooling capacity, but with better efficiency and smaller footprints. Kris Holla of Nortek Data Center Cooling discusses CoilWalls and Fan CoilWalls, two new innovations in data center cooling that address these challenges.
• For the Balance Sheet and the Sake of the Planet, It’s Time Data Centers Reduce Power Consumtpion by Improving UtilizationSelf-Contained Cooling Unleashes Compute Power at the Edge (Intel):In this edition of Voices of the Industry, Eric Xie, Software Application Engineer at Intel Data Center Management Solutions shares insights on how data centers can reduce power consumption to benefit both the bottom line and the planet.
• How to Avoid Unnecessary Hardware Refreshes (Park Place Technologies): How do you determine if a slated hardware refresh is really essential? Paul Mercina, Director of Product Management for Park Place Technologies, shares three key considerations that may help you avoid unnecessary IT hardware refreshes.

Be sure to check out all of our Voices columns, including insights from DataBank and Data Aire.

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