This summer has been an extraordinarily busy time for the data center sector, a fact that has been reflected in record traffic to our coverage at Data Center Frontier.

Microsoft’s announcement that it will eliminate diesel use by 2030 was followed by its disclosure that it is testing the use of hydrogen-powered fuel cells. Meanwhile, readers were interested in recent M&A deals for dark fiber providers, and a new video offering a glimpse inside Google’s data centers. The COVID-19 pandemic continued to be a major story, prompting a building boom in Northern Virginia.

Here are the 10 most popular stories on Data Center Frontier in July 2020, in order of article views:

• Microsoft Plans to Stop Using Diesel Generators by 2030: Microsoft plans to eliminate its reliance on diesel fuel by the year 2030, a decision that has major implications for its data centers around the world, many of which use diesel-powered generators for backup power.
• Inside A Google Data Center: 2020 Version: Google has released a video tour of one of its data center campuses, the latest in a series of public glimpses of the technology and security powering its global fleet of data centers.
• Dark Fiber is a Hot Commodity for Data Center Investors:  Dark fiber is a hot commodity, as cloud computing platforms seek more network capacity to deliver data across their data center campuses. That’s why investment firms with data center holdings have been acquiring dark fiber specialists.
• American Tower Begins Deploying Edge Data Centers at Towers:  American Tower has begun deploying a network of small modular data centers at its telecom tower properties, commencing a new phase in the giant telecom infrastructure company’s expansion into edge computing.
• Novva Launches to Build Hyperscale Data Center Campus in Salt Lake City: Newcomer Novva Data Centers has unveiled plans to build a 1.5 million square foot campus in the Salt Lake City, Utah market. Novva is led by CEO Wes Swenson, backed by CIM Group, and features an innovative approach to data center cooling.
• Pandemic Spurs Data Center Construction Boom in Northern Virginia: Developers are racing to build more data centers in Northern Virginia to meet extraordinary demand for cloud computing resources due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Data Centers Above the Cloud: Colocation Goes to Space: Data Centers in space? Several space startups are integrating micro-data centers into their satellite designs, offering computing power to process satellite imaging data or monitor distributed sensors for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Here’s a closer look.
• Switch Will Use Tesla Megapacks for Hyperscale Energy Storage: Switch will use new large-scale energy storage technology from Tesla to boost its use of solar energy for its data center campuses in Las Vegas and Reno. Each Tesla Megapack provides up to 3 megawatts of energy storage.
• Evoque Shifts Into Growth Mode, Eyes Global M&A Oppportunities: With an experienced dealmaker as its new CEO, and the backing of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, Evoque Data Center Solutions expects to be an active player in the global merger scene for digital infrastructure.
• CyrusOne Taps Real Estate Veteran Bruce Duncan as New CEO: CyrusOne has named veteran executive Bruce Duncan as its new President and CEO. Duncan has no direct experience in the data center industry, but 40 years of executive leadership across varied real estate asset classes.

Voices of the Industry

In July, Data Center Frontier’s guest column series, Voices of the Industry, featured insight from leaders at  Iron Mountain, Sabey Data Centers, Telescent, Eaton, and DataBank. Here are the Voices columns that were most popular with DCF readers last month:

• Building the Data Center of the Future (Iron Mountain):  Alex Sharp of Iron Mountain explores how sustainability, efficiency & new technology will shape the design of new data center projects
• Data Centers: A Resilient Economic Lifeline Through the Pandemic (Sabey Data Centers): Darob Malek-Madani and Samuel Bendix, or National Real Estate Advisors LLC, explore how data centers have performed as an ‘economic lifeline’ and bright spot through the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Potential of Dynamic Fiber Cross Connects in a Data Center Campus (Telescent): Bob Shine, VP of Marketing and Product Management at Telescent, explores how to handle and scale growing cross connects in a data center campus, using dynamic fiber cross connects.

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