Among its well over 300 million users Worldwide, people use LinkedIn for a lot of different reasons. Some are searching for a better job. Some are recruiting job candidates. Some are prospecting. Some want to grow their businesses. However, for those in the data center industry, LinkedIn Groups can be an extremely effective way to observe, research, and fine-tune your data center strategy.
In this post, we’ll introduce you to 30 different groups where data center professionals spend a lot of time:
451 Research
As part of 451 Research, the 451 Research LinkedIn Group is open (not restricted to members) and was launched in 2008 and has over 3,000 members that are part of the data center value chain. The includes those in cooling, power, real estate, software, and telecommunications, as well as data center end users and service providers.
The group owner is James B. Stanton, who is Senior Vice President of Marketing at 451 Research.
7x24 Exchange Local Chapters Groups
A non-profit trade association, conference producer, and magazine publisher, 7x24 Exchange has 24 local chapters – mostly in the United States with their own member-only LinkedIn Groups. These include:
- 7X24 Exchange Arizona Chapter – Created in 2013, this LinkedIn Group has just over two dozen members and is owned by Richard Reyher, Director of Global Data Center Services at eBay.
- 7x24 Carolinas Chapter – Launched in 2010, this LinkedIn Group has well over 300 members and is owned by Robin Aron, vice president of sales and marketing at Envirotrol.
- 7X24 Exchange - Central Virginia Chapter – Started in 2012, this LinkedIn Group has few dozen members and is owned by Eric G. Layman, Division Manager and DC Technology.
- 7x24 Exchange Delaware Valley Chapter – Launched in 2013, this LinkedIn Group has just over 100 members and is owned by Brad Ratushny, Director of Infrastructure at INetU.
- Empire State Chapter 7x24 Exchange – Founded in 2012, this LinkedIn Group has about two dozen members. It is owned by Joseph F Maggio, vice president at Integrated Design Group and Independent Mission Critical Power Consultant and DSA Encore.
- 7X24 Exchange Lone Star Chapter – Launched in 2010, this LinkedIn Group has well over 300 members and is owned by Phil Flinn, a senior IT consultant at Victori Recruiting.
- 7x24 Exchange Lake Michigan Region Chapter – Started up in 2008, this LinkedIn Group has over 300 members and is owned by Tom Kutz, an expert on mission critical construction and management.
- 7x24exchange.org | New England Chapter – Created in 2012, this LinkedIn Group has over 200 members and is owned by Daniel Gallagher, a portable storage media analyst at IBM.
- 7X24 Exchange International, Northern California Chapter – Launched in 2008, this LinkedIn Group has just over 400 members and is owned by Rich Garrison, a Senior Principal at Alfa Tech.
- 7X24 Exchange Northwest Chapter -- Created in 2012, this LinkedIn Group supports a few dozen members and is owned by William (Bill) Hunter, a data center engineer at Amazon.
- 7X24 Exchange Rocky Mountain Chapter – Started up in 2011, this LinkedIn Group supports just over 150 members and is owned by Scott Nahman, an IT manager with Earth System Research Laboratory, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
- 7x24 Exchange - Southeast Michigan Chapter – Started in 2010, this LinkedIn Group has a few dozen members is owned by Chris Japhet, Director of Operations with CBRE.
- 7x24 Exchange Southern California – Created in 2010, this LinkedIn Group has over 200 members and is owned by Aaron Wykoff, a business development manager and recruiter at Xtreme Consulting Group.
- 7x24 Exchange Texas South Chapter – Started in 2010, this LinkedIn Group has just over 200 members and is owned by Greg Rhodes, a senior business development manager at Walter P Moore.
- 7x24 Exchange - Washington DC Chapter – Founded in 2010, the group has over 500 members. It is owned by Jonathan Litvany, who brings over a quarter century of expertise at the intersection of Global IP Backbone and Networking, Mission Critical Infrastructure, and Real Estate Brokerage.
Cloud Hosting & Service Providers Forum
With over 28,000 members, the Cloud Hosting & Service Providers Forum is open, was launched in 2009, and is owned by Reuven Cohen, Chief Technology Advocate at Citrix.
This group is very active with daily news, insight, and editorials on cloud services, managed cloud data centers, and web hosting.
CRE’s Commercial Real Estate Data Center Networking Group (CapRate Events, LLC)
A private group with over 1,500 members, CRE's Commercial Real Estate Data Center Networking Group (CapRate Events, LLC) was started in 2011 and supports the data center conferences produced by CapRate Events. In other words, if you wish to join this group as part of your data center strategy research, you’ll need first to attend one of their data center-centric conferences.
The group is owned by Brian Klebash, founder and president of CapRate Events.
DatacenterDynamics Global Discussion
Supporting a global conference producer of events for the data center industry, the DatacenterDynamics - Global Discussion is a private group with over 16,000 members that was started up in 2008.
While its LinkedIn Group type is Conference, the Group Profile mentions that their groups are open to any data center professional, not just those that attend the DatacenterDynamics conferences.
The group is owned by Dan Scarbrough, co-founder of DCD Group.
Data Center Advisors
An open group with nearly 3,000 members, the Data Center Advisors LinkedIn Group was created in 2009 for managers, operators, end users of data centers, and vendors of data center products and services.
Because of its variety of topics, including data center conferences, design questions, migrations, power, product advice, security, and site selection, this seems like a solid place to at least listen to discussions going on as part of your data center strategy planning.
The group is owned by Arpen Tucker, enterprise sales director for EMEA at Uptime Institute, which is an independent division of 451 Group.
Data Center Engineering
A private group with over 18,000 members, Data Center Engineering started back in 2008.
Its mission is to bring IT professionals together to discuss data centers and, more specifically, data center power infrastructure.
This LinkedIn Group is owned by David Cuthbertson, CEO of AssetGen Limited and CEO of Square Mile Systems.
Data Center Knowledge
As a companion LinkedIn Group to the widely-read, online news leader Data Center Knowledge, the Data Center Knowledge LinkedIn Group is a private group, launched in 2010, with over 5,000 members.
The group is owned by Kevin Gold, VP of marketing and content at iNET Interactive and chairman of HostingCon.
Data Center Professionals
A private group with just over 40,000 members, the Data Center Professionals LinkedIn Group started up back in 2008.
Its members are the directors, managers, operators, and technicians responsible for data center uptime.
This LinkedIn Group is owned by Patrick Howard, the hosting solutions relationship manager at Allscripts.
Data Center Pulse
Whether this group has been spammed in the past, or just wants to make sure it’s not going to happen, the Data Center Pulse LinkedIn Group is the most direct in their profile description of who’s allowed to join and who’s not.
The mission of this group is to inspire discussion and debate about the pulse of the data center industry and its future. Those who are welcome include those involved with data center architecture, design, efficiency, operations, strategy, sustainability, and usage.
Data center professionals in business development, consulting, marketing, and sales capacities trying to figure out their data center strategy – regardless of experience or expertise – are clearly not welcome.
This private group was created in 2008, has just over 3,000 members, and is owned by Dean Nelson, vice president of Global Foundation Services (GFS) at eBay, and founder and chairman at Data Center Pulse.
Data Center Pulse: INDUSTRY
As a subgroup of the Data Center Pulse LinkedIn Group, the Data Center Pulse: INDUSTRY LinkedIn Group is more inclusive – inviting all who are a part of the data center industry.
Although the group is private, there are apparently no restrictions on membership or participation. So it may be a more inviting place to work on your data center strategy research.
Like its parent group, Data Center Pulse: INDUSTRY was started in 2008 and is owned by Dean Nelson, but has about twice as many members: just under 6,000 members.
DCRE | Colocation & Data Center Real Estate
Advertised as the largest data center real estate (DCRE) community on the planet, the DCRE | Colocation & Data Center Real Estate LinkedIn Group is apparently the place to go for learning about and strategizing about the real estate sector of the data center industry.
This open group was started in 2008, has just over 8,000 members, and is owned by Everett Thompson, CEO of RAD Data Centers, CEO of Wired Real Estate Group, and President and CEO of Wired Technology Research.
The DCRE | Colocation & Data Center Real Estate LinkedIn Group also has a handful of small, highly-niched subgroups for DCRE : Modular and Container Data Centers, DCRE : Data Center Equipment Sales / Brokerage, DCRE : Data Center NNN Leased Properties, and DCRE : European Union.
Hosting Industry
With its appeal a little wider than just the data center industry, the Hosting Industry LinkedIn Group addresses the challenges surrounding connectivity, data centers, dedicated servers, rack space, and shared web hosting.
This private group was started up in 2008, supports over 19,000 members, and is owned by Ben Welch-Bolen, CEO at World Wide Web Hosting.
There are two small, but highly-targeted subgroups: Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2C) and Companies and Assets For Sale (Hosting, DC, SAAS, and Related).
Mission Critical Data Center Facilities Professionals
A private group that’s focused on data center facilities, the Mission Critical Data Center Facilities Professionals LinkedIn Group is all about data center commissioning, equipment, facility design, and facility operations.
Launched in 2008, the group has over 3,000 members and is owned by Peter Kazella, a nationwide data center facilities recruiter at Peter Kazella & Associates.
The Green Data Center Alliance
One of the few public LinkedIn Groups for professionals in the data center industry, the Green Data Center Alliance LinkedIn Group provides a neutral community for discussions about controlling and containing power consumption within data centers.
Members are encouraged to share their ideas, processes, strategies, technologies, and thoughts – and even their white papers – that help reduce data centers' carbon, cooling, and power footprints.
The group was created in 2008, has over 15,000 members, and is owned by Derek Schwartz, a data center lead at Accenture.
The Uptime Institute
As a private group, the Uptime Institute LinkedIn Group is the online community for the Uptime Institute – which produces a variety of educational, thought leadership resources for data center professionals, including certifications, conferences, consulting, independent research, and publications.
Its mission is to provide unbiased research to help improve the performance and efficiency of data centers.
This LinkedIn Group was created in 2009, has over 6,000 members, and is owned by Matt Stansberry, director of content and publications, for the Uptime Institute.
Which of these 30 is your favorite LinkedIn Group for creating and refining your data center strategy? Are there other LinkedIn Groups you’ve found particularly effective as a data center professional? Let us know in the comments below.
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