DCD Connect Virginia 2025 Round Up

From blind spots to GBI Green Globes: Is the industry missing a trick?

This year’s DCD Connect Virginia was both exciting and inspiring, and it is rare to have the opportunity to bring together a table of high-profile industry leaders. Data center alley did not disappoint, and we were incredibly honored to welcome such guests.

It was also the first time that EkkoSense shared its Leaders Breakfast with changemakers, GBI (Green Building Initiative). Co-hosting the breakfast resulted in diverse and meaningful conversations. From the scale of growth and realistic deployment of AI data centers to opening speed to market opportunities by aligning environmental, compliance, and legislation strategies with community priorities and needs.

Here are the top five outtakes:

1. The State of AI: Deployment vs. GPU Infrastructure Take Up

The gap between AI infrastructure deployment and tenant acquisition continues to be significant. Operators are moving fast to be ready for the onset of AI and to onboard customers, with some building out facilities with multiple racks of GPUs in readiness. This move is indicative of a broader industry trend where the rush to be “AI-ready” has outpaced strategic demand. One reason for this may be that, while generative AI dominates headlines, operators offering AI as a service report that their clients primarily use basic algorithms rather than cutting-edge applications. This reality check suggests the industry is still in the early stages of understanding how to effectively integrate AI into business operations, and how enterprises are adopting rather than simply progressing to more advanced generative solutions.

2. Market Growth and Infrastructure Challenges

As with all DC conversations, the delegation kept coming back to growth – in terms of market expansion and the operational challenges that come with it. As data centers get ready to proliferate in key markets, operators face mounting pressure to ensure resilience in the same two key areas, power and cooling, restricting companies to regions that are open to expanding quickly:

– Power Consumption: The fact that AI workloads are driving unprecedented power demands across the industry, with many operators grappling with how to scale sustainably, there will be some winners and losers in States across the Americas. The energy requirements of GPU-dense environments will mean significant investment in the grid, but also in alternative energy. Phoenix was raised a number of times. Noted as the fourth-largest data center market

in the US, whilst it faces its own grid challenges, it also has extensive solar renewable energy sources. Is it sustainable? The larger regions will need to rethink their energy strategies to ensure grid stability and to source sustainable power alternatives.

– Cooling Solutions: Despite significant industry buzz around liquid cooling, actual deployment at scale remains limited. In addition, many facilities currently manage GPU heat loads using rear-door heat exchangers. This paints a very different picture from the ambitious direct-to-chip projections, highlighting that there is still a need to grow facilities that rely on traditional MEP designs.

3. Data center ESG: From Nice-to-Have to Must-Have

Sustainability emerged as a central theme, but with a new urgency. What was once primarily a corporate responsibility initiative is rapidly becoming an operational imperative driven by regulation. Multiple jurisdictions are introducing legislation that includes mandatory reporting components for data centers, making comprehensive data collection and transparency non-negotiable. This shift means operators can no longer afford to view ESG monitoring as separate from core operations. The ability to track, report, and optimize sustainability metrics is becoming as fundamental as monitoring uptime and capacity.

4. The Case for Integrated Operations and ESG Platforms

The conversations at the breakfast underscored a critical need: operators require tools that provide visibility across their entire portfolio while addressing both operational efficiency and sustainability goals. When managing multiple sites, identifying pain points, tracking performance, and demonstrating compliance becomes exponentially more complex without the right platform. This is where the collaboration between EkkoSense and GBI creates particular value. We are combining operational intelligence with ESG monitoring capabilities. This means operators gain a comprehensive view that addresses both immediate operational needs and long-term sustainability requirements.

5. Future Proofing

As we move into 2026, data center operators face a unique moment. The pressure to deploy AI infrastructure, meet growing capacity demands, and satisfy increasing regulatory requirements is converging.

Success will belong to those who can balance agility with growth, operational excellence, and sustainability, supported by platforms that provide the automation and transparency of modern data center management demands. The intimate conversations at our DCD Virginia breakfast reinforced what we already knew: the industry is at an inflection point. The question isn’t whether operators will need integrated tools for managing both operations and data center ESG, but how quickly they can implement them.

Steve Lewis is VP of U.S. Sales and is heading up EkkoSense in North America as it continues its global expansion. Based in Lincoln, Nebraska, Steve brings more than 20 years of experience in data center and IT channel sales to EkkoSense.

Further reading.

• EkkoSense partners with the Green Building Initiative (GBI), and how EkkoSoft Critical provides data that contributes to GBI Green Globes certification .
• Data and Sustainability: An award-winning act – an article by Farah Johnson-May on DatacenterDynamics.com on the combined Green Building Initiative and EkkoSense proposition.