Monday Links

My data center stock index was fairly steady last week, but closed down today, at $19.20. The Dow Jones Internet Composite Index tracked similarly and closed today at $58.83.

Here are some other items of interest I have run across recently:

• Wachovia initiates coverage on Data Center Space. "We believe the network neutral data center space represents a relatively safe derivative way to play on the continued growth of IP and internet traffic."

• Reuven Cohen has a very interesting blog post: "Cloud Interoperability and The Neutrality Paradox.

• Matt Stansberry has the Biggest Stories of 2008 article.

• The Seeking Alpha blog has a very nice write-up on the Equinix presentation, given with Dan Golding from Tier 1 Research: Operating Today's Data Centers & Key Industry Trends That Will Affect Your Business. This is a very nice presentation with some really good insights to supply and demand for the industry.
  

• As some of you know.... I have a pretty strong side interest in data center site selection. So much so I published a white paper on the topic last year. I am a visual learner, so I love having all of the maps of the U.S. for natural disasters and other things. I have started to work on a second version of the paper and recently found another map that is interesting. The International Journal of Health Geographics recently published some new research: Spatial patterns of natural hazards mortality in the United States. The paper "examines the spatial patterns of natural hazard mortality at the county-level for the U.S. from 1970-2004 using a combination of geographical and epidemiological methods". Click through to the PDF to see the various maps.

• DataCenterKnowledge has a nice video of the uber-awesome SuperNAP in Vegas.

• Even Bigger Nightmare on Tech Street

Business Technology Trends To Watch

There are a million and one 'lists' of various things on the Internet. Typically most of them do not have a ton of meaning to them, but I ran across one todayI really liked. The McKinsey Quarterly released their "Eight Business Technology Trends to Watch" list, and it has some good thoughts.

The list is also basically a summary of business books, as each trend has a "further reading" category that talks in more detail about the trend. Of particular interest and applicability to the data center (in my opinion) are #5 and #7. The trends are:

1. Distributing cocreation
2. Using consumers as innovators
3. Tapping into a world of talent
4. Extracting more value from interactions
5. Expanding the frontiers of automation
6. Unbundling production from delivery
7. Putting more science into management
8. Making businesses from information

Check out the list here