Data Center Summit attracts industry, partners

The Data Center Summit convened over 250 industry, government, and academic leaders at Virginia Tech's Alexandria academic building on May 5 to address the rapidly evolving challenges of data center development. The summit focused on finding solutions for powering the information economy, particularly in Virginia, which faces significant complexities due to the fast-moving nature of the industry. Executive Vice President and Provost Julie Ross highlighted Virginia Tech's unique position to facilitate these discussions, given its research capabilities in efficiency and its strategic location near "data center alley." Panels covered critical topics such as power solution capacity and reliability, designing and deploying data centers at scale, compute workloads, and critical infrastructure security and resilience. Speakers, including HITT Co-President Evan Antonides, M.C. Dean CEO Bill Dean, and SmithGroup Senior Principal Jamison Caldwell, discussed innovations in smart construction and the need to connect power supply with compute demand. Kirk Cameron, managing director of the Institute for Advanced Computing, emphasized the importance of collaboration across sectors to solve the massive energy challenges. Ali Mehrizi-Sani, director of the Power and Energy Center, stressed that no single entity can tackle these issues alone, underscoring the value of events like this in fostering collaboration among industry, utilities, government, and regulators. Participants expressed hope that advancements in efficiency and smart construction will yield benefits beyond the data center industry, aiding the broader electrification of society and providing research opportunities for future challenges.