The data center field moves at a rapid pace, and sometimes it can seem tough to catch up on everything that’s going on around us in our separate roles and teams — it can be even tougher to get a good handle on where things stand with the sector as a whole. As an industry, we need to make sure we’re taking the time to take stock, evaluate progress, and work together to solve some of the problems that face us all as we move to create a more connected future. Under the banner of Infrastructure Masons (iMasons), a group of data center professionals have come together to do just that.
A year ago in St. Andrews, Scotland, Rehlko (formerly Kohler Energy) and Schneider Electric hosted a bi-annual event called Power Down Getting Green (PDGG). This event brings together some of the data center landscape’s brightest minds and most important personalities to talk about the challenges and opportunities facing the data center sector as a whole. There were many great conversations, presentations, and even a visit from a modern-day polar explorer.As a result of a particularly groundbreaking workshop hosted by iMasons’ Dean Nelson and Schneider Electric’s Joe Reele, one of the new developments from the PDGG gathering was the emergence of working groups meant to create progress around some of the most pressing issues facing data centers today. One of those work groups was called Data Centers As A Good Neighbor, which, among others, included representatives from EcoDataCenter, iMasons, T5 Data Centers, and Yondr Group. Together, the group identified that a major obstacle facing data center expansion and construction is the owners and operators of these facilities demonstrating their value to the neighborhoods in which they are located. Data centers, it was discussed, had become the enemy, and we observed a lurking, pervading sense that our line of work was perceived as bad for communities and the environment.
Broadly, it's safe to say that our industry struggles with inadequate connections to local communities and government agencies, lacking a unified approach to understand public concerns and align with public goals. Without a clear, consistent strategy and message, communities and governments form their own perceptions. Addressing this was the mandate of the newly-formed group — to establish how data centers could be a better neighbor, and change some NIMBY opinions (Not In My Backyard) to PIMBY ones (Please In My Backyard). The group met periodically throughout the year, and eventually evolved to include additional expertise and members from new organizations such as Akerman, Conic, and EcoMetrix.
“This working group addresses one of the most important objectives and challenges of the data center marketplace today, which is the responsible integration of network infrastructure into the geographical areas where we live and work,” explains iMason’s Santiago Suinaga, one of the Good Neighbor working group’s contributing members. “The iMasons recent State of the Industry report has identified public perception as one of the four most prominent challenges to meeting the unprecedented global demand for digital infrastructure, and we need a new way to think about the relationship between digital infrastructure organizations and local communities. The iMasons’ new Social Accord project aims to address that issue, and this working group’s efforts mesh seamlessly with that larger project.”
Now it’s been a year, and the group has come a long way. Their initial deliverable for advancement of the Social Accord is an effort called a Data Center as a Good Neighbor Playbook, a type of guidebook that can lead data centers through the process of public engagement to find an optimal balance between people, planet, and profit.
“The playbook is a resource for business leaders and community leaders to use and consult wherever data centers are deployed, with the goal of achieving balance and partnership” describes Schneider Electric’s Cyre Denney, the program director of the working group. “Because every community is different, the strategies for data center development and operation in the playbook are community context-dependent.”
Although still a work in progress, a draft of the playbook currently features an alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, biome metrics to create ecosystem integrity scores, and other resources geared toward community engagement and appropriate financial and social metrics. Currently, the group is working with consulting firm Accenture to provide a framework that is easy to implement, and able to track multiple projects across different geographies. The aim is to release the official document in Q1 2025 through the iMasons website, with further supplements to include a fully quantifiable scorecard and real-world case studies.
“The data center industry has been called the best-kept secret in the world, and it’s time to change that,” explains Denny. “We may not be as well understood as a local power company or favorite supermarket, but we want to ensure we are there for people just the same, providing access to connectivity, education, and opportunity. As an industry, we need to do a better job of partnering with communities, governments, and others to ensure leaders and decision makers are informed and part of the development of the infrastructure they depend on.”
“Our industry is at the forefront of innovation and sustainability, and we want to ensure the industry is not perceived as a growth-at-all-costs industry. It is imperative that we create a strategy where all developers, vendors, and end-users in this industry partner with communities for mutual understanding and growth. Our goal is to ensure the voices in our communities know they have our attention and that we recognize the need to engage with them to listen to their concerns,” says Denny.
So, just what does that community engagement look like? In order to create an understanding of what kind of influence the playbook could have on the industry’s future, the group created a thought exercise to demonstrate what the vision — and in many ways the idealized outcome — of the playbook could be, if implemented in its full breadth and depth. The vehicle for communicating the playbook’s larger vision is an imagined magazine feature, entitled How a data center became ‘of the community’. Set to publish later this year, the piece is a fictional short story formatted as an editorial. Set in the future, it details the journey of a hypothetical data center build as the project leaders attempt to work with community leaders to create a mutually beneficial scenario for a new construction project.
“Initially, people weren’t clear on what we were trying to accomplish, what the suggestions would look like in practice, and what value it would bring”, explains freelance tech writer John Roach, author of the piece. “So, we asked ourselves: ‘What would this look like if it became a real, tangible thing, and how can we present that to someone who isn’t familiar?’”
“We started mapping all of the elements — the tools, the techniques, the measurements, the methodologies. Then, we sat down and said, ‘If this were to happen in the future, how would it play out, and who would the main stakeholders be?’, and that’s where the story came from. It’s a hypothetical application of the social accord playbook framework, imagining it in a realistic, plausible future context,” says Roach.
The title of the short story conveys its primary message: that data centers should not just want to be located in their communities, but rather seek to be of their communities. Being Of The Community implies a deep connection and integration within the community, suggesting that a business shares its values, actively participates, and is invested in the well-being of the people surrounding it. To reach the goal of becoming Of The Community, as illustrated by the story, involves proactive ecological, economic and social planning on behalf of a data center to positively impact local communities across these dimensions as much as possible.
“In our opinion, it’s a must-read for anyone working in or for a data center. Many stakeholders have already expressed interest, from hyperscalers and data center operators to economic development leaders, industry associations, and more,” says Suinaga.
The Good Neighbor working group will continue to work toward meaningful neighborly solutions, notably with the final completion and distribution of the Social Accord Playbook. While this industry project is an effort to bring communities and digital infrastructure companies together under common goals, it’s also a helpful reminder that we, as members of the data center domain, are all in this venture together and that our future is in our own hands. Here’s hoping the upcoming short story and playbook can inspire more of the same in the days to come.
Rehlko
Rehlko, formerly Kohler Energy, is a global leader in energy resilience, delivering the solutions critical to sustain and improve life.
