John O'Brien

John O'Brien

John is Uptime Institute’s Senior Research Analyst for Cloud and Software Automation. As a technology industry analyst for over two decades, John has been analyzing the impact of cloud migration, modernization and optimization for the past decade. John covers hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructure, sustainability, and emerging AIOps, DataOps and FinOps practices.

Latest Research

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Digital twins: reshaping AI infrastructure planning

Digital twins are increasingly valued in complex data center applications, such as designing and managing facilities for AI infrastructure. Digitally testing and simulating scenarios can reduce risk and cost, but many challenges remain.

Intelligence Updates 6 min read
 
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DeepSeek bans: implications for data centers

Chinese large language model DeepSeek has shown that state of the art generative AI capability may be possible at a fraction of the cost previously thought.

Intelligence Updates 6 min read
 
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Agentic AI shows promise — but also carries risk

Agentic AI offers enormous potential to the data center industry over the next decade. But are the benefits worth the inevitable risks?

Intelligence Updates 7 min read
 
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AI infrastructure ambitions will be cut down to size

Operators and investors are planning to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on supersized sites and vast supporting infrastructures. However, increasing constraints and uncertainties will limit the scale of these build outs.

Intelligence Updates 5 min read
 
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Data center management software: the evolving role of DCIM

Data center infrastructure management software is widely used but rarely utilized at full potential. Adopting the latest capabilities and optimizations could achieve better resiliency and efficiency.

Intelligence Updates 7 min read 3 comments
 
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Are data centers on top of NIS 2 cyber compliance?

The EU’s NIS 2 directive requires all organizations operating in Europe to comply with 10 essential cybersecurity measures, but many data center operators remain unprepared.

Intelligence Updates 4 min read 1 comment
 
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Data center management software: optimizing the IT

As operators expand their use of hybrid IT and cloud, optimizing the IT could help alleviate concerns over availability and efficiency. This report is part two of a four-part series on data center management software.

Intelligence Updates 8 min read
 
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Hyperscale data center plans at unsustainable levels

The number of proposals for new hyperscale-size data centers have reached new heights in 2024. Those that are built will require huge investment and resources — but many proposals will fail to move forward.

Intelligence Updates 7 min read 1 comment
 
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Data center management and control software: an overview

Software for data center management and control is well established, if not always widely used. Some operators are also benefitting from integrated facility and IT software.

Briefing Reports 10 min read
 
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Will legislation change how finance uses public cloud?

Uptime analysis suggests a growing interest in public cloud by financial institutions. But concerns over cloud providers’ support for regulation compliance ahead of the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act may cause some to pull back.

Intelligence Updates 6 min read
 
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Pulling IT power data with software

Pulling reliable power consumption data from IT is increasingly important for operators. Although third-party software products offer promise, significant roadblocks still hinder adoption.

Intelligence Updates 6 min read
 
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Global IT outages raise the question: who bears responsibility?

Software updates by third-party IT providers occur every day, either in the cloud or on-premises. The recent global IT outage has exposed a hard truth: that another major event is likely to occur.

Intelligence Updates 7 min read
 
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Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2024

The 14th edition of the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey highlights the experiences and strategies of data center owners and operators in the areas of resiliency, sustainability, efficiency, staffing, cloud and AI.

Keynote Reports 27 min read
 
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Using optimization software for cooling and capacity gains

Many data centers struggle to achieve maximum capacity and optimal cooling, resulting in troublesome hot spots. Advances in cooling optimization software have addressed this complexity and could be the answer.

Briefing Reports 9 min read
 
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DCIM past and present: what’s changed?

Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software is evolving and improving. This report discusses where DCIM has made most progress, and why it is now considered a viable and worthwhile investment.

Intelligence Updates 9 min read
 
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