Microsoft Generation 4 Data Centers

I know I will tick off a bunch of Google fan-boys with this post, but today Microsoft announced something that has completely blown my mind as it comes to data centers.   If it was ever in doubt before who is really driving the data center industry it should be clear today.  Their announcement of their Generation 4 facilities is like nothing I have ever seen before.

The link to the video is here:

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=b4d189d3-19bd-42b3-85d7-6ca46d97fe40

Microsoft Data Center Chief, Michael Manos posted an excruciatingly large and detailed post (almost a book really!) complete with pictures, graphs, and metrics on their vision for the future of their data centers.   Joined by his two key lieutenants  Christian Belady and Daniel Costello, the post articulates a vision that to the best of my knowledge no-one, and I mean no-one has put forth in this industry before.  It also gives you an insight into the levels of investment and research the Redmond giant is pouring into this space.  

Manos and Belady also recently shook up the 7×24 event in Palm Springs, California event by doing a joint presentation on the Data Center industry at large.  Two slides into the presentation someone stood up and challenged them to skip the slides and get into a real conversation on the challenges in the industry.  Surprisingly, they did, and by all accounts what followed was an hour and a half of pure Data Center gold.   These guys have more info in their heads than could fill up a volume of books.

I really dont want to hear people talking about how Google has better technology or data center leadership, or the Uptime Institute, or any other think tank institution.  Put up or shut up on the information at large, demonstrate leadership, share the information.   Show me an example where anyone has shared so deeply for free or without disclaimer.  Microsoft has clear leadership here.  Period.  They still have miles and miles and miles to go on their actual service offerings – but from an infrastructure perspective they are clearly tops.   With visionaries like Manos, Belady, and Costello, I think its likely to stay that way for some time to come!