Joe Parrino
T5 Data Centers
President 7×24 Exchange,
Rocky Mountain Chapter
MOMENTUM = ½ (MV)2
Where…
M = Mass of the Chapter (increasing)
V = Velocity of the Chapter (also increasing)
Thus…
Momentum of the Chapter = On a Roll !!
I’m in my second year of serving as President of the Rocky Mountain Chapter. These are exciting times for us in Denver, as we’re seeing significant growth in our Chapter attendance and Sponsorships (thank you Sponsors!). The primary reason is we’re getting our Front Range End Users back to our meetings. Another reason is that we’ve got a STRONG Board of Directors standing behind it all!
Here’s a summary of 2018 thus far…
On March 22nd we hosted Peter Panfil of Vertiv, who gave a fascinating talk on how we can use failure analysis to harden our high availability systems. We had over 70 attendees at the new Springhill Suites on the Auraria Campus. We provided free valet parking and a fabulous lunch.
On May 11th, we toured the NOAA Earth Systems Research Laboratory in Boulder where their Super Computing arrays analyze the weather-related happenings on Planet Earth. Our Executive Vice President Scott Nahman and his team did a WONDERFUL job of hosting around 80 attendees, along with guiding the four tour groups through their data center. Our keynote speaker, David Gallaher, took us on a journey to Antarctica, where he and his colleagues from NASA measured and confirmed the shrinking depths of the ice shelves. He did not bring us good news…the climate is changing and it’s hard to argue that we’re not the primary reason for the cause. David used this data to make the case for reducing energy consumption in our data centers. We invited the Chairman and CEO of 7×24 Exchange International, Bob Cassiliano, along with the Chapters Director Michael Siteman. We were proud to host our two distinguished guests from 7×24 International.
Regarding the Chapter itself, we have an elaborate Vision, Mission and Strategy that can be found on our website, but it all boils down to a few simple things…
- Programming…we are committed to bringing you relevant topics that are not sales pitches, topics that are attractive to our target audience: our Data Center End Users
- Participant Experience…we strive to create a friendly atmosphere, good food and good locations, where our End Users can hopefully glean a few takeaways to apply to their own operations, as well as get connected with our local Vendors and Contractors
Our other objective is to remain connected to our educational institutions. While Bob Cassiliano was here, myself and two of our Board Members, Max Billington and Jasen Boyington, met with the heads of Engineering Technology at Metro State University, as well as the Engineering Department Heads at Colorado School of Mines and the University of Colorado. I also met with Emily Griffith Technical College, a place I attended 30 years ago as I was figuring out my direction in life!
We gained some excellent takeaways from the meetings, a couple of which are to advise them on their Data Center Certificate programs, and also assist them in starting a Student 7×24 Exchange Chapter. As we left each meeting, I felt they were pleased about this developing partnership.
We are committed to getting Engineering and Technology Students to our Chapter Programs free of charge. We’re also offering two $1,000 Scholarships again in 2018, the third year we’ve done this.
As an industry, we’ve got to do a better job of filling our pipeline of future workers, and your Rocky Mountain 7×24 Exchange Chapter will continue to help facilitate this.
Allow me to lastly thank our Sponsors. Without you, none of this happens. The venues, the food, the valet parking, the Golf Tournament. THANK YOU for your support. End Users, get to know your local service providers. They just might have some good solutions for you to make your mission critical operations more resilient, hardened, and efficient.
We hope you will join us for our next two events…
| August 23, 2018: | Third Annual Golf Tournament at Fox Hollow in Lakewood |
| September 28, 2018: | Tour of National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Super Computing Data Center in Cheyenne |
If you’ve not attended one of our Programs recently, we’re on a roll. Give us a try, we’ll do everything we can to make you feel welcome and glad you made the investment in time.
All this will make our Front Range Data Center community feel more connected, and ultimately, will continue to increase our 1/2MV2!!
Warmest Regards,
