Afcom Chief: Watch for Hot Air

Mainframes are still hip, and watch out for the heat, according to data center manager organization Afcom.

Afcom president Jill Eckhaus tells NDCF that many of the key trends of 1980 will figure prominently in the groups work during 2005, which happens to mark its 25th anniversary.

“You have things like mainframes, automation, disaster recovery, and security that are still issues,” she says.

Mainframes, in particular, are something of a cause célèbre for Afcom, which has been on a crusade to boost skills in this area (see Mainframe Skills Shortage Looms).

But there are other key data center issues to be addressed this year, according to Eckhaus.Eckhaus warns that the amount of heat generated by blade servers is a growing source of tension in businesses. ”The IT department buys a blade server but the heating and cooling is a facilities problem. It’s about getting people to talk to each other.”

This leads to questions about how data center managers communicate with their facilities counterparts. Why is this important? Eckhaus says that emerging technologies such as blade servers could put data center managers in conflict with facilities management people.

Afcom will also be focusing on how data center managers deal with the board in 2005, by helping them prove the long-term benefits of specific technology purchases, says Eckhaus.

Afcom will be launching a new event called The Data Center Information Exchange in the fall, in addition to its Data Center World conference, which takes place in Las Vegas in April.

— James Rogers, Site Editor, Next-Gen Data Center Forum0