I Love Data Centers

When I was a fast moving young sales executive working for the national data center company QTS from 2009-2011, Shelagh was one of my favorite people because she knew how to quickly get things done within the company. She was respected by both her peers and the senior leadership within the company and was able to deliver answers quickly and accurately based on her relationships and experience watching 1000's of deals cross her plate. By the time our paths crossed she had already been with QTS for 5 years and will soon be celebrating her 14 year anniversary there.

Our conversation covers a wide variety of topics; from our reactions to all the recent M&A activity taking place, to what she feels are the key characteristics of an elite sales executive and sales manager, to what her experience has been like specifically as a woman working within a predominately male industry. The insight and advice Shelagh provides throughout this episode is essential for anyone working in the data center industry. I was excited to even hear her share a story about what it was like managing me during our brief time together at QTS!

When we started the I Love Data Centers podcast a few months ago I committed to providing you with raw, honest advice and entertaining stories that will bring you some new, thought-provoking perspectives from people I have met in my career who are unequivocal experts in the data center industry.  If you are in any way involved with selling within the data center marketplace, this specific podcast is a MUST LISTEN!

In the 12th episode, I am stoked to introduce you to one of the industry experts from our own team. Todd Smith. Todd is a partner with Open Spectrum who loves data centers and cut his teeth on the industry by working at Cyrus One. 

During the interview, Todd and I stress the importance of understanding the nuts and bolts of your customer’s infrastructure during any engagement. Speaking to business drivers, applications and day-to-day operations are the most important conversations that must be had with executives. Your ability to tie the whole conversation together, marrying technology with practical business needs and requirements, significantly elevates the value you should be bringing to your clients within every engagement.

In this episode of the I Love Data Centers podcast, Data Center Patents and Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence, we have Scott Noteboom. Scott is the founder and CEO of LitBit, a company focused on making Artificial Intelligence (AI) a useful and practical tool for companies to leverage on a day to day basis. Scott’s roots are in the data center, having worked for many years starting an ISP, working for an integrated voice and data startup and then joining the likes of Abovenet, Yahoo! and Apple overseeing data center engineering and operations. With a core background in software, his perspective on the industry is unique in that he’s always been working toward developing solutions that will make data centers smarter, and more importantly, communicate with one another intelligently. Hence, his pivot in 2013 toward the AI space and work toward developing an AI specifically for the data center vertical (among many other verticals) makes total sense.

Our conversation explores primarily what AI is, and is not, along with some of the practical ways AI is being used today and will be used over the coming years and decades to come. Having accepted the reality that AI will play a large roll in our future as a species, I admire and stand behind Scott’s commitment to educating people on the topic and technology and also doing his part to ensure the technology is used for good.

Scott Noteboom Interview Show Notes

2:09 Interview starts

3:28 Where are you right now?

4:41 Where were you born?

5:51 What was the earliest computer you had?

7:15 How did your education in technology play out?

11:02 Patents and data centers at Yahoo!

17:14 Scott’s first time in a data center

19:22 How Scott got started working in an ISP

21:40 What Scott has learned from working on the data center side with big companies

24:29 Why Scott chose to go into AI

33:03 Is it risky using AI in a business?

39:05 Scott explains Lit Bit

41:46 How DAK differs from a typical BMS solution

45:34 What checks, balances, and controls can you put in AI?

55:07 Will machines and humans integrate with one another in the near future?

1:00:53 Where can people find out more about LitBit?

1:05:15 How to get in contact with Scott

1:06:27 What is the backdrop to your laptop?

1:07:55 Scotts advice to newcomers in the industry

1:09:36 What an unpopular opinion you have?

1:11:08 What is a common misnomer about the industry?

LitBit

http://www.litbit.com/#/

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottnoteboom

As the CTO and co-founder of an IT firm focused on delivering bleeding edge services to law firms, Jason was one of my first clients when I joined the industry. He quickly became one of my favorite clients when he routinely asked hard questions and held both himself, his team and his providers (me included) accountable. I knew every time we talked that I would walk away learning something important and having gained a more complete and honest picture of how his business, and my own business for that matter, actually worked.

After a few acquisitions, Jason stepped away from the industry to travel the world and author a book, "The Art of Troubleshooting". His book is one I have gifted frequently to current clients and partners over the past few years and I was thrilled to talk with him about the lessons he learned as an IT executive, entrepreneur and career problem solver.

There are only a few dozen people on the planet, still working today, who both understand how the internet was originally developed and were actually present and involved during its early evolution. Tim Pozar is among this respected and elite tribe. Our interview attempts to add color to these early days as we follow his vast career and the decisions he made pre and post running the first ISP in San Francisco and his work with Alexa and The Internet Archive.

Tim is a genuine and humble technologist, problem solver and entrepreneur through and through. Today, he works to solve complex network problems for enterprises large and small while also running the San Francisco Metropolitan Internet Exchange. Unfortunately we did not have time to cover even a fraction of the projects he's been involved with over the years, or discuss the countless hours he has spent pro-bono working to bring the freedom of the internet to every nook and cranny of Northern California.

Episode 009 Show Notes

Interview Starts 2:23

What is “TwoP”? 2:59

Where are you right now? 4:21

Tim’s background 5:47

How do you first get into technology? 6:41

Starting the first ISP in San Francisco 13:15

Limiting South Africa during Apartheid 16:00

Usenet 18:05

How does Usenet tie to ISP?

Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) 21:14

What inspired you to create your own Internet service providing company? 21:44

Tim’s first time walking into a data center 31:50

What was the next chapter in your career after Little Garden? 38:33

What is Alexa? 39:42

WAIS 44:31

Canter Seagull Incident 47:23

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) 50:08

Bright Mail 52:43

Reasons to go to a data center 55:18

The MAE 58:29

365 1:05:26

Telx 1:06:40

3 Layers to Internet exchange 1:11:51

Lobbying in DC 1:14:38

What’s the backdrop on your laptop? 1:17:55

What is some advice you would give a newcomer in the industry? 1:19:17

How to contact Tim 1:23:59

This week we have on deck Sean Holzknecht, the co-founder and CEO of Colovore, a high density colocation provider in Santa Clara, CA. Some rich content is in store for you as we explore how Sean migrated from a small town in Alaska to San Francisco where he happened to land a front row seat to the colossal boom and bust that occurred from 1998-2002. Our story here is a bit unique as it focuses on the infrastructure providers that were responsible for supporting the growth during this era and how they were affected by the $Billions to Bankruptcy phenomenon.

Coming from engineering roots, Sean's perspective is unique through all this. The lessons learned helped spawn his current data center venture Colovore, and we get to hear the complete journey Sean and his partner followed to grow the company from inception to success.

In this week’s I Love Data Centers episode - The Godfather of the Colocation Indirect Sales Channel - Sean’s guest is Dany Bouchedid, the Founder and CEO of COLOTRAQ.

Sean and Dany discuss a great many topics during their time together; such as how he got involved in the industry after a brief conversation with a young entrepreneur (who has since become one of the richest men on the planet) as well as the evolution of the telecom and data center indirect channel. We cover a few of the major events that take place within the industry as well as some of the organizations that support the channel. If you work in or around the indirect sales channel or simply want to gain a perspective on how it works and has matured over the years, this episode is a must listen!

Episode 007 Show Notes

Intro 1:17

Interview starts 2:48

Where are you right now? 3:53

What is it that you actually do? 4:48

How did you get started in IT? 7:10

Data center infrastructure demand drivers 15:50

Virtualization, Cloud, and Hybrid IT 18:10

The early days of the Technology Channel Association (TCA)? 19:50

What drove the evolution of the colocation indirect sales channel? 22:90

The role of a master agency 31:30

WTF is cloud computing? 36:50

What is the desktop of your computer? 59:00

This week's episode of the I Love Data Centers podcast, The Evolution of Data Center and Cloud, with Insights on AsiaPac and Canada, we have a more targeted conversation as Sean interviews Philbert Shih, the Founder and CEO of Structure Research, an independent research and consulting firm. Structure Research is also a member of the Open Spectrum Alliance, and contributes to the Open Spectrum Data Center Market Report intelligence.

Sean and Philbert dive in by discussing the business drivers behind the evolving MSP and data center industry. Conversation then shifts to the AsiaPac and Canadian markets where Philbert and his team have some unique and deep experience within the marketplace there. This episode is rich with practical information, best practices and industry insight. We hope you enjoy.

In this week’s I Love Data Centers episode - Data Center Trials, Fiber Optics, and House Music - Sean’s guest is Garrick Sturgill, the Director or Technology, Carrier Relations and Colo Operations at Centeris Data Centers based in Puyallup, WA, just south of Seattle.

First, Sean explores the three main threads within Garrick’s early and eclectic life (because it's just that interesting); creating with 1980’s computer hardware, working as a Cyberpunk community DJ at tech savvy parties in Seattle, and learning how to work with fiber optics. Next, you'll hear how these threads merged, eventually connecting Garrick into the broader world of the data center marketplace. Once inside the data center marketplace, Garrick experienced numerous trials by fire at the Westin Building Exchange (WBX), which has serves as the primary Internet Exchange in the Pacific Northwest. Finally, Sean helps introduce you to Garrick’s inner geek and how it grew into the ultimate geek job of playing with all the cooling, power and network infrastructure that makes a data center work. Garrick and Sean also explore Big Brother's role in the data center marketplace, although an attempt was made to keep the conversation light, because Big Brother is always listening.

In this week’s I Love Data Centers episode, Evolution of a Telecommunications and Data Center Industry Titan, our guest is Raul Martynek. Raul currently works as a partner with the communications focused private equity firm Digital Bridge. He has led numerous companies through successful acquisitions while speaking the language of finance just as fluently as that of the telecommunications, data center, hosting, and virtualization industries he serves.

This interview has some rich content. We cover topics such as Raul’s humble roots, his thoughts on the current acquisition spree taking place in the industry and what some of the key differences are between providers in hyper scale mode and those who are barely surviving.