The BDCC was founded in September, 2016 by Milldam Public Relations and Vanderweil Engineers to network, inspire, create and advance the greater Boston innovative spirit and discuss all things data center. From co-location, to network and MEP operations, electrical and mechanical design, industry trends, DCIM and software to relocation, strategy, and security, no topics are off limits. The group meets quarterly to informally talk shop and help each other learn and grow.
Held on August 10 and hosted by Milldam Public Relations, Iron Mountain and Vanderweil Engineers, the fifth MeetUp of the BDCC set record attendance for the group. With a maximum capacity of 75 RSVP’s, the training room at Iron Mountain’s downtown Boston headquarters was standing room only as presenters from Iron Mountain, 451 Research and New England Fiber (NEF) spoke from a variety of perspectives on trends impacting the modern data center.
Dana Adams, Vice President of Data Center Portfolio and Operations for Iron Mountain, led the program with an overview of services provided by the company, a brief on its current business focus, and details on each of its four data centers (Boston, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Manassas, Virginia). With the launch of the Virginia site, Iron Mountain offers wholesale and retail data center services in four major U.S. markets with inter-site Level 3 dark fiber connecting all markets for effective disaster recovery and more than 1,000,000 square feet of existing & expansion space. Additionally, Dana gave some excellent insight into Iron Mountain’s recent expansion into the Western US with the acquisition of FORTRUST.
Kelly Morgan, Research Vice President, Services for 451 Research spoke next and used findings from the analyst firm’s surveys to discuss enterprise cloud adoption and what the move to the Cloud means for colocation and managed service providers. A comprehensive presentation, Kelly included information on the need for data centers in new or different locations for latency reasons, the steady growth in data center space still being led by Enterprise while Cloud is making significant gains, and the related anticipated growth in services (managed services, security services, and professional services for Cloud enablement are expected to see significant increases over the next two years).
Concluding our panel was John Pomposello, Vice President of Sales for New England Fiber (NEF). Touching on all things fiber, John’s presentation included an overview of the types of fiber used within the data center and connecting to the data center, discussed why a latency overview matters, and extrapolated on why connectivity matters when selecting a data center.
Milldam PR Account Executive, Alexis Ahern with the company’s Founder and President, Adam Waitkunas.
The August MeetUp of the BDCC was one of the best to date and Milldam PR and Vanderweil Engineers have already begun planning for our next event in early November. Do you work in the data center space and are interested in joining the BDCC? If so, please learn more and sign up at the group’s MeetUp page. If you’re interested in speaking or hosting a future event, please reach out. We’d love to discuss your ideas! Otherwise, see you in the fall!
Brendon Stellman authors the column “Pure BS” and is Vice President, Director of Client Relations for Milldam Public Relations.
