Telehouse America, a leading colocation provider, recently held its semi-annual Bootcamp event on June 22. During this innovative event, market experts addressed specific aspects of the main concerns facing IT professionals. While popular Bootcamp events in the past have included SAAS, VAAS, managed IT services, data and network security, cloud computing and power management, one speaker at this year’s event, Kevin Heslin, editor of Mission Critical Magazine, focused on trends that are driving changes within the data center. Mission Critical Magazine is the only publication devoted to data center and backup power applications.

Heslin, who is an award-winning editor with more than 25 years of experience, focused on the concept of the ASHRAE TC 9.9. Facilities personnel and IT have much to learn from each other when it comes to saving energy and leveraging colocation services. The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers Inc., Technical Committee 9.9 is focused on the design, operations, maintenance and efficiency energy use associated with modern data centers and technology spaces. In working together, experts in this field can learn from the best practices of member companies, noting their pitfalls and areas to avoid as well in the quest to save energy.

There is also a growing interest in Containers/Module data centers. Schneider Electric (News - Alert) recently reported that data center efficiency is a function of IT load comparing modular vs. non-modular designs. Over a lifetime, utilization of this type of data center space is a fraction of the traditional data center infrastructure power over a lifetime. ASHRAE has projected that density loads for IT equipment will focus heavily on computer servers. Colocation provider Telehouse offers its own Modular Data Center.

Cloud computing is gaining ground in the data center space and there are specific factors that you must consider before making that move. On average, cloud users tend to begin the migration with a single cloud application and most also share specific characteristics. A full 73 percent have centralized IT management; 57 percent have deployed virtualization; and 51 percent have defined a five-year technology roadmap for their organization. Companies are using the cloud for e-mail, file storage, office productivity, web conferencing, online learning and video conferencing. And, as popular as it is to move to the cloud, very few companies actually have a strategic plan, which can leave many struggling to navigate new waters.

In the data center space, there are a number of trends taking place in the industry that are driving change. The Telehouse colocation data center event featured Heslin, as well as Ilissa Miller, partner at Jaymie Scotto & Associates and Jon Rodriguez, senior PRIMERGY product marketing manager at Fujitsu (News - Alert). Check out the company’s video page, or access Heslin’s presentation, which will be live until the end of June.