Good morning, this is Cold Isle Insights, your five-minute morning read to catch up on the world of data centers and digital infrastructure.

Here’s what we’re looking at:

Est. read time: 3mins, 19secs

- Big Deals -

Google loves Ohio, Ohio loves google

The tech titan is sowing further seed in Ohio, adding two more data center locations to support its current $600 million facility in New Albany. Columbus and Lancaster are the lucky ladies set to host the new data centers to support Google’s evolving AI needs.

And it seems Ohio, with its disaster-free land, abundant water, and tempting tax treats, is becoming the 'it' place for high-tech infrastructure. The state provides a digital bridge between Virginia, Chicago, and Atlanta, and is located within 750 miles of over half the US population.

The two new computing hubs will push Google’s total investment in Ohio to over $2 billion.

Amazon levels a dozen offices to build data centers

If ever there was a metaphor for the current digitization of our economy and lives, here it is. Amazon filed papers last week in Loudon County to raze 9 office buildings (on top of the two they’re already leveling) to build 4 data centers.

Under the plan, (part of a $35 billion Loudon County strategy) Amazon will replace the moldering office spaces with 900k sqft of computing power. For a full breakdown of the transactions and planned developments that comprise the deal, read the write-up here.

ServerFarm strikes a deal with the moneymen

It’s true, ServerFarm (who boasts one of the best names in the dc industry) struck a deal to sell majority ownership to investment management group Manulife.

HERE’S THE PRESS RELEASE

Who’s ServerFarm? They’re a middle-market data center owner/operator overseeing a portfolio of eight data centers across North America and Europe.

Who’s Manulife? The Toronto-based international insurance and investment management firm has over $1.3 trillion under management. Remember John Hancock Financial? Manulife swallowed them in 2004 on its way to being an international megainvestor.

Why? The ServerFarm deal is part of a larger trend we’ve seen recently of large capital firms buying large stakes in middle-market data center providers. It allows the investment firm exposure to this market which is on fire, and provides the necessary capital the dc providers need to compete with the hyperscalers.

- Power and Cooling -

Johnson report claims hope after all

Building power, safety and HVAC conglomerate Johnson Controls reported marked progress in sustainability measures throughout Europe and the world.

Here are some of the highlights of the report:

• Buildings represent 40% of all global carbon emissions.

• Building improvements were responsible for 86% of emissions reductions in Europe last year.

• Global emissions were kept below a 1% rise (much lower than predicted).

• 90% of Johnson’s research and development budget is dedicated to sustainability.

• JC reports that its scope 1 and 2 customers’ emissions have been reduced by 42%.

• “Net Zero as a Service” is having a big impact on customer emissions, and has proven to be a durable business model.

You can read the full report HERE

Cooler chips: Dorritos or the DOE?

Cooling Operations Optimized for Leaps in Energy, Reliability, and Carbon Hyperefficiency for Information Processing Systems. You read that right, the acronym COOLERCHIPS is the name given to the program launched by the Department of Energy to provide funding for next-gen cooling technologies for data centers.

Their stated mission is to reduce cooling-related energy consumption in data centers from current levels of 30%-40% to 5%. Good luck with that. 👍

- Cloud Extras -

CIO does a moderately good job describing how AI is going to disrupt the cloud business

Vultr looks to democratize the cloud

AWS and Zscaler cozy up to help businesses make the big migration

Daily Dall-E

“You told us the nacho fries we worth the trip!”
“I didn’t know they closed at 11…”

Thanks a lot for reading.

Please let me know how we’re doing by replying directly to this email. And if you want to help grow this, please share with someone who’d learn something from Cold Isle.

- Taylor