KC Mares posted a blog entry on the SVLG Data Center Summit.

SVLG Data Center Summit a GREAT Success

Yesterday, October 15th, after a culmination of a year’s worth of work from over 60 people, the SVLG Data Center Energy Efficiency Summit went off smoothly. We had 44 presenters, 24 case case studies presented and about 450 people at the summit. The event was hosted by NetApp in Sunnyvale. Representatives from numerous Silicon Valley elites, start ups, VCs, and solution companies were present. All case studies were presented from data center end-users, showing what they are doing to reduce energy use in their data centers. We had brief sessions about cloud, carbon reductions, notable sessions called the Chill Off 2, in which various cooling technologies were tested with real load in a real data center, also testing the systems at various temperature ranges. Andrew Fanara with EPA gave a quick update of EnergyStar for servers, storage and networking gear. Paul Scheihing with DOE provided an update of the energy efficiency programs and plans for data centers. I had a candid interview with California Energy Commission Commissioner and old friend Jeff Byron about California’s energy policy, zero-energy buildings requirement, renewable portfolio standards, energy efficiency standards for TVs and other consumable devices, etc. It was fun!

KC goes on to highlight the collaboration and interaction.

Overall, a wonderful event. It was great to see so many industry friends, old and new, and to make new friends. As the co-chair of the program and summit, it was great to see so many people interacting with each other, beginning collaborations stimulated from the excellent case studies presented, which is what the program is all about: Innovation through collaboration. Together we are benefit when we share with each other, and consequently, we as an industry is then improved. It was wonderful to see every presenter do a fantastic job showing off their wonderful case studies. No vendors showing off their product, instead, everyone sharing information.

What this event is proving effective for the data center industry is the power of social networking to drive innovation. Intel’s Eleanor Wynn gave a presentation that discusses this concept.

Session Title:
Social Networking and Innovation

Abstract:
This session will present research on social network topographies.
Topics include:
• Can social networks generate innovation?
• Effective and ineffective network topologies
• Characteristics of social networks that allow predictions on success
• Current social media technologies at Intel and the types of additional capabilities that are needed to support ongoing collaborative networks across the globe

Speaker:
Eleanor Wynn Social Technology Architect and Principal Engineer
Intel Corporation

I am talking about social networking, not social media.

The organizers and sponsors got their value as people stuck around for the cocktail reception.

The cocktail reception at the end of the day drew about 200 people that wanted to stay and chat, make friends, and just have fun. So many thanks go out to my committee, which brought the case studies and presentations to us, which includes but not limited to: Bill Tschudi, Bob Hines, Bruce Myatt, Dale Sartor, David Mastrandrea, Deborah Grove, James Bickford, Kelly Aaron, Mukesh Khattar, Patricia Nealon, Ralph Renne, Rosemary Scher, Tersa Tung, and Zen Kishimoto; to Ray Pfeifer, my program co-chair, who brought this program to us last year and so many of the case studies this year again, and his leadership to keep this program about the end-user; to LBNL, CEC, CIEE and PG&E for helping to fund case studies and support the program; to the many sponsors of the summit. And certainly to SVLG for their staff to help make this summit a reality, and most certainly also their lead person, Bob Hines, for his drive and energy. Overall, an excellent day, full of wonderful people, making new and great little discoveries which each other to advance the energy efficiency and this financial success of our businesses, and helping to lead the data center industry to greater success.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to the event, but I am reaching out to my social network of people who did go to find out comments they had. And, KC is going to help extract some of the highlights.

Congratulations KC for hosting a great event.