I’ve just returned from Dallas, TX, site of the penultimate DatacenterDynamics event of 2010. While there, I met a number of people who were soon to board a plane for the Data Center Alliance event scheduled for today in Atlanta. And thanks to Twitter, I was also able to follow some of the unfolding events at Gartner’s Data Center event in Las Vegas, which wraps up tomorrow. Dave Barry, I’m told delivered a very funny keynote address. I wanted to attend all the events, as they all seemed worthwhile. Many larger vendors faced the same conundrum by exhibiting at all three.

Mission Critical doesn’t have enough staff or resources to attend every event, so, I along with 427 pre-registered attendees, chose to go to Dallas. This wasn’t the first time this year that I had to choose between conflicting events, but I am happy with my choice. For one thing, I had the opportunity to sit with many people from the data center community in Dallas. There is a great deal of value in getting to know readers from some of the nation’s data center hotspots. DatacenterDynamics does a terrific job in this regard, perhaps because of the way the organizers hold events in so many cities. In addition, although the vendors may have split their time between events, they did not stint on effort. PDI, for instance, brought its new I-Con modular data center to Dallas, where it was available for viewing by all attendees.

While at the event, I was able to attend a number of sessions. Each session focused on an issue of interest to data center operators nationally. Nic Bustamante, manager of Global Operations Engineering for Microsoft, discussed that company’s strategies for evolving into a more energy-efficient organization. James R. "Ray" Craig, owner, Craig Consulting Services, discussed the new BICSI standard, which was made available at a discount to all event attendees. And finally, APC by Schneider’s Larry Pellerito discussed whether the rationale and justifications behind hyper-low PUE efforts make sense for every application.

I’m looking forward to getting back on the road again (but not until next year), knowing that it will be a busier travel year than ever. For a full list of shows we are sponsoring, please visit our website.