We’ve all experienced them. The awkward silence, the
slightly desperate inquiry about the weather or the
sputtering conversation punctuated by “sorries” and
“no, you go aheads” are all recognized as symptoms of
having run out of things to talk about with someone.
Usually, this is a temporary phase, but sometimes this
exhaustion of topics is a permanent condition. In some
cases, this absence of areas for communication can have
drastic consequences like the parting of the ways with a
friend or a spouse. Let’s face it, when there is no more to
say, even the best listener has met his or her match.
Recently I have begun to wonder if we aren’t reaching
this point in the data center industry.
I was struck by this concern the other day while I read an
article that detailed the
8 Tips for Shaping Your Data
Center Strategy.
Obviously, this is a deeper dive on that
old classic, 5 Tips for Shaping Your Data Center
Strategy. Let me begin by saying that all of the
recommended actions made perfect sense, and there
were three more than usual. The problem, however, is
that they made perfect sense because they were so self-
evident. Advice like “Integrate disaster recovery and
business continuity into your core data center strategy”
is right up there with “wear a coat when it’s cold outside”
in its blatant obviousness. This doesn’t mean that it
shouldn’t be followed, but it does mean that if it comes
as a revelation to you—“I never thought of that!”—you
should probably think about a career change.
Obviously, there is nothing wrong with reiterating
common sense recommendations or generally
accepted wisdom. Who among us couldn’t survive
without the ability to prescribe well-worn bromides
when confronted with the vagaries and uncertainty of
daily life? “Study hard” and “don’t talk with your mouth
full” are certainly keys to success, but how many times
do you need to hear them after the age of ten? I wonder
if this is the point that we are at within the industry. Yes,
we are all bombarded on a daily basis by articles and
blogs on topics like SDDC, Facebook or Google’s latest
foray into “clean” energy and what we all need to do
maximize the Cloud, but isn’t this all starting to sound a
little repetitive?
For example, a recent perusal of one of the industry’s
leading information sites included articles on
Openstack, high density cooling, and an announcement
that a new mega data center was slated to be built in
one of those small towns that thought having their own
McDonalds was “dreaming big.” Mildly interesting?
Perhaps. Different and exciting? Not so much. In a sense
it’s like those magazines with the headlines screaming
about the “101 things you need to do to …” that are in
violent competition with their counterparts who boast of
the “102 things you need to do” to achieve the same
result. It gets so mind numbing that I just buy
Sports
Illustrated
.
Lately we’ve all been seeing more and more about how
the future of data centers is in the software used to
manage and operate them. In fact, Software Defined
Data Centers (SDDC) stories are proliferating at a rate
that the guys who write about the Cloud and Big Data
are starting to feel a little nervous. I will agree that this is
some pretty snappy stuff but after you’ve sat in a
tradeshow presentation or two, attended the webinar
and read 50 or so articles is there anything more to say?
I think the major problem we have isn’t so much that
data center related topics aren’t interesting, it just seems
that they contribute to our inherent penchant for “group
think”. If every conversation we have on a subject simply
serves to reinforce our collective belief in how great it is
or how it represents the future of the industry, the time
it takes to get to violent agreement becomes
measurable in milliseconds. I don’t know about you, but
I think we could all benefit from a dissenting opinion or
two. How refreshing would it be if someone came out
and said that the Cloud, Big Data and SDN (take your
pick or feel free to add your own) really kind of sucked?
Don’t we all really know on some fundamental level that
agreement tends to kill conversation while dissent fuels
it? Since we are currently in a period devoid of any
innovation that might be described as a true game
changer, perhaps we might have to bide our time by
using disagreement as a conversation starter until one
comes along.
I realize every day carries with it the potential to offer up
some new and exciting innovation that can set the
industry buzzing and isn’t that what gets us all out of bed
in the morning? As they say, “variety is the spice of life,”
and I think we’re all ready for a pinch of this and a dash
of that to guide us into new areas of conversation. Until
then let me just say that inspiration can come from many
places and avoiding not having anything to talk about is
certainly as good as any.
80
7X24 MAGAZINE FALL 2014
Chris Crosby is the founder and CEO of Compass Datacenters. He can be reached at
Have We Run
Out of Things
to Talk About?
By Chris Crosby
