meet me room
design firm that was working on all of
the America Online data centres and
the rest is history.
What is your main motivation
in the work that you do?
The motivation has always changed
throughout my career. In the
beginning it was the theory of
reliability which drove me. Later
it was applying engineering for
business gains and now, I find
that my motivation is in creating
efficiency through a symphony
of man and machine. Despite
doomsday opinions about the future
of Artificial Intelligence, I firmly
believe that we as a society will
achieve greatness by increasing
the understanding of ourselves
through technology. Philosophy and
technology when placed in balance
will push us forward.
Are there any major changes
that you would like to see in
the data centre industry?
The greatest advancements in the
data centre industry will be through
collaboration. The barriers between
the various levels of infrastructure
are continuously breaking down and
in a good way. It is rewarding to see
that now the very proprietors of the
applications which reside in the data
centre are considering the power
sources that drive those applications.
A decade ago, this would not have
been a faintest concern in the mind
of an application developer. But we
need to do much more to ensure that
the applications are given the specific
resources they require, not only
for optimised performance, but for
optimisation of the resources that we
devote to the applications. We owe it
to the generations that will come to
get this right.
How would you encourage a
school leaver to get involved
in your industry? What
are their options and what
attributes would they need?
Data centres are factories that are
made of machines – both computing
machines and electro-mechanical
machines. So the leaders of the
industry must understand the way
that factories operate and the way
they operate best. But programming
is the key. Learn how to tie systems
together and make them sing. If you
don’t know what API means, look
it up and understand it. In order to
optimise the data centre industry,
tomorrow’s leaders will turn the data
centre into an orchestra of science.
If you could go back to one
great event/moment in your
life and relive it all over again,
what would it be and why?
Of course I would have picked
a major crossroads and made a
different choice. There are so many.
Every decision, every day shapes your
colourful life. Just think of all of the
options you have had throughout your
career. It is like a Jackson Pollack
painting. Full of the beauty in a
system of seemingly random acts.
What are your hobbies/
interests outside work?
Anything that makes your mind
stronger and more flexible is worthy of
interest outside of work. I try to pick
a different task each year that is a
complete rewire. For example, I learned
to tie my shoes incorrectly when I was
young. So in my 39th year, I changed
the way that I did it. It literally took
about a year and a half before I was
faster the new way than the old way.
Languages, as well, are a wonderful
way to test your mental flexibility. But
my mind is truly only free when I’m
running past 15km, participating in a
rugby game, or fly fishing in a river.
Where is your favourite
holiday destination and why?
I don’t think I have found my favourite
yet. But I’ll keep searching. Holidays
are so important. Working as an
American in Europe has given me
a greater appreciation for holidays.
Acceptance of holidays from work
ensures that we have no single points
of failure in our organisations.
If a film was made of your
life which actor would you
choose to play you and why?
I think that Dustin Hoffman would
probably just stay at the bottom of the
pool thinking about plastics if he tried
to play me.
Do you have any big
industry predictions or
targets for 2017?
I am very excited about the
prospects that the interest in Artificial
Intelligence and the gains in High
Performance Computing will bring to
the scientific world. I predict that data
centres will be at the core of many
great discover ies in 2017. I hope to
play a part in that.
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