The Open Compute Project Podcast Challenges, Metrics, and Allies in Women in OCP with Shruti Sethi
In this second installment of the Women in OCP series, host Rob Coyle goes deeper with Shruti Sethi, Sr. Product Manager on Azure Storage at Microsoft, OCP Sustainability Steering Committee rep, and Women in OCP Co-Lead.
Where Part 1 covered the founding and structure of the group, this conversation digs into the harder questions: the real challenges the initiative faces, how it measures progress, what it will take to scale, and, critically, why male allies and non-women supporters are not just welcome, but essential. Shruti's perspective bridges her sustainability work with Microsoft Azure and her leadership at Women in OCP, making this a rich and candid conversation about what meaningful inclusion actually looks like in the data center industry.
What You'll Learn
The real operational challenges of running a geographically distributed community — and how Women in OCP is adapting
Why keynote abstract submissions are the most tangible, front-and-center metric for measuring women's representation at OCP Global Summit
How Women in OCP tracks membership growth as a leading indicator of community health (230+ members and climbing)
Plans to collaborate with external women's groups such as Women in Tech and Women in Mission Critical
Why scaling across all OCP technical domains — networking, security, sustainability, cooling, and more — is a deliberate priority
A clear and direct message: Women in OCP is open to all supporters, regardless of gender
How the group plans to build internal alliances with OCP domain sub-groups to ensure representation across the board
Chapters
0:00 — Introduction — Meet Shruti Sethi, Microsoft Azure PM and Women in OCP Co-Lead
1:00 — Real Challenges — Geography, Virtual Events, and Bridging the Personal Connection Gap
2:59 — Representation on Stage — The Keynote Abstract Problem and How to Fix It
6:34 — Measuring Impact — Membership Growth, Summit Momentum, and Key Metrics
7:58 — What's Next — External Partnerships, Industry Collaboration, and Scaling Across OCP Domains
12:15 — Allyship and Open Invitation — Why Women in OCP Welcomes Everyone
About Shruti Sethi
Shruti Sethi is a Senior Product Manager on the Azure Storage team at Microsoft, where her work centers on the intersection of cost efficiency and carbon efficiency — end-to-end environmental and economic impact across cloud infrastructure. At OCP, she serves on the Sustainability Steering Committee and is Co-Lead of Women in OCP alongside Sung Kim of bp Castrol. Shruti brings a systems-level perspective to both her technical product work and her community leadership, approaching inclusion as an industry-wide challenge that requires cross-organizational solutions.
About the Open Compute Project
The Open Compute Project (OCP) is a collaborative community committed to redesigning hardware technology to efficiently support the growing demands of data centers. Its members span the entire data center value chain — from hardware manufacturers to hyperscalers — sharing open designs and best practices that advance the industry as a whole.
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