Top 10 Data Center Stories for September 2020

Big companies doing big things. That was the theme for September at Data Center Frontier. Reader favorites for the month  included Google going even greener, Microsoft making servers last longer (by deploying them underwater), Facebook building bigger than ever, Amazon refining its edge strategy, and Equinix repositioning its brand.

Not to mention billion-dollar funding announcements from Aligned and GI Partners, our Executive Roundtable, and a late-month M&A deal.

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

• Beyond Colo: Equinix Repositions as Digital Infrastructure Company: Equinix, the world’s largest provider of colocation and interconnection services, provider, is repositioning itself as “the world’s digital infrastructure company.” It’s the latest wrinkle in the language of the data center industry.
• GI Partners Raises $1.8 Billion to Invest in Digital Infrastructure: One of the most experienced investors in the data center sector has raised a large fund and is ready to go shopping. GI Partners today said it has lined up $1.8 billion in investor backing for its Data Infrastructure Fund.
• The Business Edge Emerges: Deals Highlight Growing Investment in Edge Computing: The Business Edge is drawing closer, as seen in a flurry of announcements that showcase the many ways stakeholders in distributed computing are stepping up their investment and deploying real-world edge infrastructure.
• Google: Our Data Centers Will Be Carbon-Free, Round the Clock by 2030: Google will power its entire global information empire entirely with carbon-free energy by 2030, matching every second of its data center operations to renewable energy sources.
• Microsoft: Servers in Our Underwater Data Center Are Super-Reliable: Servers housed for two years on the ocean floor were substantially more reliable than those in traditional data centers, Microsoft said today. The findings could bring benefits to data center economics for traditional projects on land.
• Facebook Adds 1.5 Million SF of Data Centers in $1 Billion Georgia Expansion: Facebook will invest $1 billion to add three huge data center buildings to its campus in Georgia. The construction project will add 1.5 million square feet of capacity.
• Executive Roundtable: What’s Next for Hyperscale Computing: In our 20th Data Center Executive Roundtable, six data center authorities assess the accelerating market for hyperscale computing, and how developers, service providers and the supply chain can keep pace.
• How AWS Cloud Customers Are Using Local Zones for Edge Computing: Amazon Web Services is adding a second Local Zone edge node in Los Angeles, providing single-digit millisecond latency to customers. AWS says users are tapping Local Zones to run hybrid environments and support latency-intensive tasks like game rendering.
• Greener Capital: Aligned Lines Up $1 Billion for Expansion: Aligned has completed a $1 billion credit facility that will fund an expansion of its data center portfolio. The financing used a sustainability-linked loan structure that ties terms to sustainability metrics.
• DataBank Acquires zColo Data Centers in Major Expansion: Colocation provider DataBank has agreed to acquire zColo in a deal that dramatically expands DataBank’s data center network, adding 44 data centers across 23 markets in the U.S. and Europe.

In September, Data Center Frontier’s guest column series, Voices of the Industry, featured insight from leaders at DCi Data Center Infrastructures,  wtec, ProLift Rigging, DataBank,  Server Technology, QTS Data Centers, CoreSite and Stream Data Centers. Here are the Voices columns that were most popular with DCF readers last month:

• Five Critical Success Factors in Data Center Construction (DCi): Brett Semans, Managing Principal at  DCi Data Center Infrastructures, delves into how the data center build process has evolved. Read on to further explore how to ensure data center construction success.
• The Right Cloud Strategy Starts With the Right Data Center Strategy (DataBank): JP Laqueur, Senior Vice President of Marketing at DataBank, explores the close ties between cloud strategy and success and data center strategy and approaches. .
• 5-Point Plan for Eliminating Human Error in Data Center Operations (BCS): John Hevey, Vice President, Corporate Technical Service at BCS Data Center Operations, offers a step-by-step plan to cut down on human error and data center outages in data center operations.

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