DCD Zero Downtime: The Bi-Weekly Data Center Show

It is the 100th episode of Zero Downtime! Before we get into the episode, a huge thank you to all of our listeners - new and those who have been with us since the beginning. In this episode, we are joined by Kevin O'Leary, AKA Mr Wonderful, best known for being on Dragons' Den/Shark Tank, with a recent debut in the Marty Supreme movie. Lesser known is O'Leary's involvement in the data center sector. We talk about his investment in Bitzero, plans for the "Wonder Valley" data center campuses, and his thoughts on the data center market in North America as a whole.

In this episode of Zero Downtime, we talk with Damien Lucas, CEO of Scaleway, about the European cloud computing market and whether it is possible to compete with the US hyperscalers.

DCD sits down with the CEO of Sage Geosystems, Cindy Taff, to talk all things enhanced geothermal, and how the technology could power the data centers of tomorrow.

That data centers need insurance goes without saying. Any commercial building will typically be insured against standard damages and risks, but data centers are far more complicated than an average warehouse or office. One area that has emerged of late is the idea of “SLA” insurance, or Service Level Agreement insurance. Parametrix is one of the pioneering companies in this realm, and we discuss where the idea came from and why it is growing drastically in popularity.

Mobile devices require networks to make them function, and these networks are often deployed in places most people wouldn’t dare to visit, such as telecom towers.Some can be found thousands of miles high, but for tower contractors, it’s their everyday job, and across all sorts of weather conditions. Tommy Schuch, a former tower contractor and now documentary maker and founder of Climber Protection Group, explains the risks of the job to DCD, and why the sector needs a shake-up to protect those risking their lives. Is this the most dangerous job in the world?

With the deployment of 4G and 5G services still an important focus for US carriers, the need for telecoms infrastructure to house this equipment couldn’t be greater, which presents an opportunity for infrastructure companies such as Palistar Capital-backed Symphony Towers Infrastructure. DCD caught up with David Bacino, CEO, Symphony Towers Infrastructure, to discuss his first few months in the role, opportunities in the market, and plans for 2026.  Update: After this episode was published, Bacino announced he is set to transition from his role as CEO to that of vice chairman.

Anyone who has entered a data center will be familiar with the upright rack design that has become standard in data halls around the world.But while piling up the “pizza boxes” has served the industry well for decades, the advent of liquid cooling systems, developed to meet the thermal needs of advanced chips, means a new approach may be needed.Cooling firm Air2O is thinking outside the (pizza) box, and has come up with a modular, stackable design for data center racks, which it says can improve cooling efficiency.On this episode, DCD speaks to Air2O’s Iggy Kogan about the new design, dubbed the High Thermal Density Air-Cooled Rack Assembly.

The UK is calling time on its copper networks, and thousands of telephone exchanges across the UK are set to be closed in the coming years.The end of an era, some of these buildings date back around 100 years or more. If recent history is anything to go by, many will be turned into residential buildings.Lisa Kinch, a historic places adviser for Historic England and associate lecturer at the Manchester School of Architecture, did her PhD research on telephone exchanges in the UK, giving her a unique view on these buildings and their historical context.We discuss her research and the unique place the UK's telephone exchanges have in the country's architectural history.

While critical infrastructure has always been the backbone of the digital landscape, the recent data center boom has caused more people than ever before to become aware of the industry and consider the career opportunities it might have to offer.However, like the tech industry writ large, there’s a perception amongst some outside of the critical infrastructure sector that its workforce lacks diversity and therefore isn't an industry in which they could excel professionally.In this episode, Lizzy McDowell, director of marketing, Kao Data, tries to dispel some of the myths about the industry and discusses the importance of promoting diversity within the data center sector and why there’s never been a better time to consider a career in critical infrastructure.

DCD speaks to Dr. Tim Gregory, nuclear scientist at Sellafield, the UK's national nuclear laboratory, and author of the best-selling book Going Nuclear, about the history of nuclear power, how it actually works, and whether it can play a key role in powering the growth of AI both in the UK and further afield.