Podcast · Business

Cool Vector

Cool Vector covers the rise of data centers and the digital infrastructure investment asset class. Through interviews and panel discussion with leaders in operations, capital, energy, real estate and technology, Cool Vector offers in-depth, lively conversations with the entire ecosystem of the boomi

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 10 min
Latest: 8 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

8 Oct 2026 · 20 min

The Era of Nuclear-Powered Data Centers Is Approaching

Demand for nuclear power within the digital infrastructure industry is so great that the director of America's most important nuclear research complex has to remind people that he doesn't actually sell reactors. Cool Vector's David Snow caught up with Brian Smith, Chief Technology Officer of Nuclear Science and Technology at Idaho National Laboratory, at the recent Yotta conference in Las Vegas. Smith described exciting advances specifically in small modular reactors (SMRs) that will transform the way data centers are powered. In the meantime, Smith says interest in nuclear remains high,…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

E70 · 29 Sep 2026 · 36 min
How to Build Two Gigawatts in West Texas
A planned two-gigawatt data center campus in West Texas will rely on behind-the-meter generation powered by abundant local natural gas, according to the CEOs of PowerBridge and Liberty Energy, the two companies partnering on the project. In an extensive interview with Cool Vector, Alex Hernandez, CEO of PowerBridge, and Ron Gusek, CEO of Liberty Energy, explained the scope of the project and the natural advantages that West Texas enjoys as a location for digital infrastructure, including pre-existing energy infrastructure, "produced" fracking water and a relatively sparse population.…
E69 · 28 Sep 2026 · 16 min
PTC and Nomad Futurist Unite for Golf and Next-Gen Development
A two-day charity golf tournament - the Nomad Ho'ohui Invitational - will now kick off the annual Pacific Telecommunications Council, according to Brian Moon, CEO of PTC, and Nabeel Mahmood, co-founder of the non-profit Nomad Futurist Foundation. The Nomad Ho'ohui, an invitation-only Ryder Cup-style matched play competition, will take place January 15 and 16 at the Kapolei Golf Club, blending industry networking with a mission to grow the next generation of digital infrastructure talent. The golf tournament collaboration between Nomad Futurist and PTC grew out of a shared mission: advancing…
E68 · 15 Sep 2026 · 30 min
Data Centers Have a Community Engagement Problem
The data center industry has been caught off-guard by public backlash, and must respond with transparency and much deeper community engagement, three communications veterans tell Cool Vector. The Cool Vector episode, "Data Centers Have a Community Engagement Problem," includes Megan Baker, founder and principal of Tuli Public Affairs, Ilissa Miller, founder and CEO of iMiller Public Relations, and Phillip Koblence, CEO of Critical Ventures as well as co-founder of Nomad Futurist. The experts unpack why data center projects are eliciting fierce local opposition. They discuss how, after…
E67 · 10 Sep 2026 · 23 min
What Might 'Throw a Wrench' Into Data Center Financings?
A boom in off-balance-sheet data center development is made possible by the good credit of hyperscaler customers, says Harold Chen, Senior Director in Fitch's Complex Credit Group. In a conversation with Cool Vector, Chen says he expects courts to enforce the guarantees made to these special-purpose vehicles, and to their underlying bondholders, should hyperscalers find it necessary to walk away from data center lease agreements. Chen joins Hadassa Lutz, a partner at Cloud2Ground and host David Snow to explain how these partnership structures are designed to isolate projects and protect…
E66 · 25 Aug 2026 · 1 min
The 'Big Game Changers' for Data Center MEP Engineers
The growing implementation of liquid cooling technologies is forcing data center MEP engineers to rethink their fundamental design assumptions, says Chris Sutton, founder of Sutton Engineering which specializes in data center design. Sutton tells Cool Vector that, while the electrical side of data center infrastructure reached a level of maturity some time ago, the mechanical side is now in the middle of a significant transformation, and keeping up with that transformation comes down to having a team of skilled engineers. Sutton Engineering's biggest focus right now is building a training…
E65 · 4 Aug 2026 · 9 min
Emerging Markets Need More Data Centers
Emerging and developing markets remain significantly underinvested in digital infrastructure, says Obinna Isiadinso, the global sector lead for data centers and cloud services investments at the International Finance Corporation (IFC). "India today has something like 1.7 gigawatts of capacity, compared to Northern Virginia that has 3 or 4 gigawatts," Isiadinso tells Cool Vector, citing the country as an example of an emerging market facing a compute constraint. Isiadinso, whose team has invested in data centers since 2005 and now holds roughly $400 million in the sector out of a broader $3…
E62 · 30 Jul 2026 · 11 min
Oracle’s Director of Construction Says Building Data Centers is Like Building Cities
Building AI infrastructure at gigawatt scale means "developing city-sized machines,'" says Craig Deering, senior construction manager at Oracle. Drawing on decades of experience — from dismantling AT&T and building the Baby Bells to leading cloud and now AI data center projects — Deering tells Cool Vector: "The challenges of developing a city-sized machine have been known for at least a century. We just need to realize that we're building at that scale." Deering shares his outlook on the economics of AI compute, the human toll of building at unprecedented speed, and why he remains bullish on…
E64 · 27 Jul 2026 · 5 min
Solutions for the Data Center ‘Power Bottleneck’
Data centers have access to plenty of power, but it's often stranded rather than put to use, says Ken Sullivan, co-founder and CEO of Bay Compute. "Power is the bottleneck to AI growth," Sullivan says. "A lot of the 'colos' and data centers are operating at 30, 40, 50% average power utilization." Sullivan lays out how the shift toward AI inference is intensifying the power problem, why colocation operators are now being forced to optimize infrastructure they've never had to think about before, and why he believes the industry's component-by-component fixes are hitting diminishing returns.…
E63 · 21 Jul 2026 · 27 min
For Hamilton Lane, Good Data Center Operators Are 'Harder and Harder to Find'
The biggest constraint facing data centers is finding the people capable of operating those data centers, says Brent Burnett, Managing Director and Head of Infrastructure and Real Assets at Hamilton Lane. Burnett tells Cool Vector that as capital floods into digital infrastructure, the pool of management teams equipped to run complex, cap-ex-heavy platforms remains small, and the price of accessing them keeps growing. In an in-depth conversation with Cool Vector's David Snow and United Integrity Advisors' Eli Scher, Burnett explains how Hamilton Lane screens operators, why current valuations…
E61 · 14 Jul 2026 · 3 min
Nomad Futurist Helps Computer Science Student Discover Digital Infrastructure
The digital infrastructure industry is incredibly diverse and needs talent of all types, says Harris Hamid, a computer science student at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, and a student advocate for non-profit Nomad Futurist Foundation. "No matter what you're doing, you can find a spot here," Hamid tells Cool Vector. Hamid emphasizes how the industry welcomes people from all backgrounds, recalling how he has already met graphic designers, engineers, and career-changers with different areas of expertise to offer. He encourages students to see Nomad Futurist as a resource…
E60 · 7 Jul 2026 · 8 min
The Saga Behind NYC's Free Public Wifi
Walter Cannon helped create and implement LinkNYC, the project that brought free public Wi-Fi to all five boroughs of New York City. Cannon tells Cool Vector about how the project came to be under the Bloomberg Administration, as well as the logistical and political hurdles of rolling out thousands of Wi-Fi kiosks. Looking ahead, Cannon - a self-described "all-around technology guy" — discusses the growing need for low-latency infrastructure closer to end users, especially as AI adoption becomes more widespread. Access the transcript and a searchable library of content at the Cool Vector…
E59 · 7 Jul 2026 · 2 min
Bringing AI into Construction Management
Artificial intelligence tools are being adopted across construction, including digital infrastructure construction, says Indigo Pinto, Co-Founder IBB Solutions, a management firm for digital infrastructure construction projects. Pinto is also an ambassador for Nomad Futurist, and she reflects on discovering Nomad Futurist and how the phrase "the future is now" resonated with her view of the industry's trajectory, particularly when it comes to the rising generation of talent entering the field. Access the full transcript and a searchable library of content at the Cool Vector Substack.…
E58 · 24 Jun 2026 · 10 min
Optimizing Data Center Design from 'Chip to Chiller'
The data center industry is leaving enormous value on the table by failing to apply chip-level simulation techniques to the full infrastructure stack, argues Sherman Ikemoto of Cadence. Closing the “chip-to-chiller” design gap is now an existential requirement, given the pace of AI compute density growth. In an in-depth Cool Vector interview, Cadence’s Group Director of Business Development describes how “the timescales to build chips, and to build the facilities that house the chips, are totally different. So there's this natural massive gap in the design chain.” Key takeaways from…
E57 · 23 Jun 2026 · 33 min
The Futures Market for Compute Has a Fungibility Problem
Stan Hanks invented a commodities market for broadband while at Enron, and has well informed views on the need for a similar market for compute. The main challenge: units of compute are proving difficult to standardize. In this episode of Cool Vector, Stan Hanks of Kreneon, Wayne Nelms of Ornn, Hadassa Lutz of Cloud2Ground and host David Snow join Cool Vector to examine whether compute can be turned into a tradable commodity — drawing a direct line from Hanks' experience creating a broadband futures market at Enron to the emerging effort to do the same thing for GPU capacity. Compute has the…
E56 · 17 Jun 2026 · 6 min
The Coming Boom Will Be Fueled by Connectivity
The AI boom will be fueled by connectivity — and the companies that win will be the ones that can build fast enough to keep up with it, says LightRiver CEO Mike Jonas. The hyperscalers, telcos, and utilities driving this buildout are well-funded and highly motivated, but years of consolidation have left them understaffed for the scale of deployment they now need to execute, Jonas tells Cool Vector. Speaking on the sidelines of the PTC in Honolulu, Hawaii, Jonas also breaks down why the shift from AI training to inference is the next major wave — one that will push spending from massive…
E55 · 16 Jun 2026 · 30 min
Data Center Deals are Appearing on the Secondaries Radar
Data center owners are turning to the infrastructure secondaries market for capital, and getting pushback over unrealistic valuations, says Eddie Keith, Partner and Head of Infrastructure Secondaries in the Ares Secondaries Group. In a fascinating conversation, Keith tells sister channel Liquid Courage how digital infrastructure has rapidly evolved from a fringe asset class into one of the most active and compelling corners of the secondaries market, driven by capital needs that outpace what traditional fund structures can accommodate. Keith draws on nearly two decades of secondaries…
E54 · 11 Jun 2026 · 6 min
Matching Power Demand With Power Availability
The data center industry is sitting on a large reserve of underutilized compute capacity, says Phil Flaherty, Chief Revenue Officer of PADO AI. The capacity existing facilities, and unlocking it — rather than waiting for new gigawatt-scale builds — is both faster and more practical. Flaherty tells Cool Vector the real opportunity lies in coordinating what happens inside a data center's walls with the broader grid, turning today's passive power consumer into an active, grid-aware participant that can reduce costs and improve reliability. He pushes back sharply on the political narrative that…
E53 · 9 Jun 2026 · 28 min
The Data Center C-Suite is Expanding
From his perch as an executive recruiter into the data center and overlapping asset management industry, Patrick Reyes says he is seeing a proliferation of opportunities for mid-level executives to move up to the C-suite, and to move from smaller platforms to larger, private equity-backed growth platforms. Reyes, a Partner at Nu Advisory Group who oversees executive recruiting in the digital infrastructure space, says that as private capital floods into digital infrastructure, the link between investment activity and executive hiring has never been tighter. In an in-depth conversation with…
E52 · 3 Jun 2026 · 2 min
The Importance of Cable Landing Stations
Felix Seda of NJFX explains how a cable landing station differs from a conventional data center — its core value proposition being latency reduction and the elimination of routing inefficiencies, connecting the US, Europe, and Latin America across four subsea systems within a single co-location facility. He frames NJFX's moment as directly tied to the industry's shift from AI training to inference, arguing that the network layer — not just compute — becomes the critical variable once trained models need to reach end users at scale. Access the transcript and a searchable library of content at…
E51 · 22 May 2026 · 3 min
Inventory Problems When Hyperscalers 'Buy Everything Out'
When hyperscalers dominate supply chains by buying out available inventory and capacity, mid-market data center builders are left scrambling, says Kristen Sanderson, SVP at Duos Technologies Group. Sanderson is head of Duos Technologies' newly formed Infrastructure Solutions Group, which operates as a more flexible, nimble alternative to traditional big-box distribution, taking a strategic, project-specific approach to sourcing rather than speculative stocking. Sanderson, speaking on the sidelines of the 2026 Pacific Telecommunications Council, tells Cool Vector sees a significant market gap…
E50 · 20 May 2026 · 5 min
In Hawaii, Digital Infrastructure is a Public-Private Mandate
Hawaii is embarking on a major upgrade of its digital infrastructure, intended to make the Aloha State more competitive as a digital hub, according to Garret Yoshimi, VP for Information Technology and CIO of the University of Hawaii. "This is a really big investment for the state," Yoshimi tells Cool Vector. "It's public funds going into this space, really intending to lift all boats in terms of infrastructure." The University of Hawaii's role in this build-out is to leverage its deep research and education partnerships to position the state as a regional hub, making resilient, multi-path…
E49 · 20 May 2026 · 4 min
Hawaii Studies Mainland Data Center Trends to 'Stay Ahead of the Curve'
Rosa White, CFO and Co-founder of DR Fortress, Hawaii’s largest data center company, says Hawaii's position as a tier-three market allows her company to see what unfolds on the mainland and globally first. DR Fortress owns a 65,000-square-foot data center in Honolulu, and is now pursuing a three-megawatt expansion, paced deliberately to stay one step ahead of incoming demand from the hyperscalers and AI providers that are increasingly eyeing Hawaii as an edge market. Access the transcript and a searchable archive of content on the Cool Vector Substack:…
E48 · 19 May 2026 · 4 min
Bullish About the Tier-Two Data Center Opportunity
Demand for co-location from local enterprises remains strong in second-tier US cities, says Kevin Bostik, CFO of DartPoints, in an interview with Cool Vector. Speaking on the sidelines of the 2026 Pacific Telecommunications Council, Bostik says smaller cities will remain in play as enterprise customers need to push workloads closer to the edge. Bostik also describes the unique role that a CFO plays at a digital infrastructure company in securing the best capital structures with the right partners up front, given the typically large capital commitments required at the outset of a development.…
E47 · 12 May 2026 · 8 min
Oracle's '300 Miles Per Hour' AI Tailwind
From his vantage point advising 15,000 Oracle enterprise customers, Scott Charter sees AI being rapidly integrated into the operating systems of modern business. Speaking on the sidelines of the DCD New York event in March, Charter, Director of AI Strategy for North America at Oracle, tells Cool Vector how AI is reshaping everything from hiring and benefits management to quarterly financial closes — and believes the demand curve has no ceiling. "I remind you: today's AI is the worst AI you'll ever see,” Charter tells Cool Vector. “A month from now, two months from now, a year from now, it…
E46 · 5 May 2026 · 20 min
Sustainability in Data Centers is Seeing Short-Term Setbacks
A widening gap is developing between the data center industry's stated sustainability ambitions and the harsh operational reality of an AI-driven power grab, say four digital infrastructure veterans. This episode of Cool Vector includes commentary from Miranda Gardiner, Executive Director of the iMasons Climate Accord, Wannie Park, CEO of PADO (an LG Nova-backed company), Nabeel Mahmood, data center executive and Co-Founder of Nomad Futurist and Phillip Koblence, data center executive and Co-Founder of Nomad Futurist. The conversation is moderated by host David Snow. The challenge facing the…
E45 · 5 May 2026 · 7 min
MIT Grads Build 'S&P 500, But For Compute'
Two recent MIT graduations have launched “the S&P 500 for compute” in order to allow digital infrastructure market participants to better hedge against price fluctuations. Having graduated last year, Kush Bavaria, Co-Founder and CEO, and Wayne Nelms, Co-Founder and CTO, launched ORNN as an index fund for components necessary for compute fed into the infrastructure. Nelms spoke with Cool Vector on the sidelines of the DCD New York event in March. “If compute costs drop too much, [vendors] go underwater,” Nelms told Cool Vector. “So they sell futures. And then enterprises, if compute costs…
E44 · 24 Apr 2026 · 11 min
In the Digital Infrastructure Deal Market, 'Most of 2026 is Spoken For'
Suffice it to say that Richard Lukaj has been busy - the Co-Founder of digital-infrastructure focused investment bank Bank Street has advised on a torrent of transcations accross data centers and fiber networks, and says the deal pace and complexity is such that "most of 2026 is spoken for." Speaking at a Bank Street networking event in Honolulu, Hawaii, during PTC 2026, Lukaj shares with Cool Vector a number of market insights, including these key takeaways: Digital infrastructure laggards will be absorbed by stronger players: "There will be folks who drive into what is currently an…
E43 · 20 Apr 2026 · 10 min
Hydrogen Will Fuel the First Zero-Emission Gigawatt Data Center
Is a zero-emission, gigawatt data center possible? The CEO of EdgeCloudLink says yes, but only if developers are capable of substituting hydrogen for natural gas as a source of energy. Speaking on the sidelines of the DCD New York event in March, Bachar tells Cool Vector his company already runs a zero-emission data center in Mountain View, California. The success gave ECL and partners the ambition to aim for a gigawatt project in Texas. Bachar estimates pipeline hydrogen runs at roughly six to seven cents per kilowatt hour, on par with natural gas, making the economics more competitive than…
E42 · 16 Apr 2026 · 10 min
'The Use Cases are There, the Infrastructure is Not'
Hyperscalers increasingly will realize they don’t need mega data centers, which, by the way, are becoming targets in military conflicts, according to industry veteran Tony Grayson. As the former President of Compass Datacenters and then Northstar Enterprise and defense, Grayson has long been at the forefront of modular data centers that serve the edge compute needs of the digital infrastructure landscape. On the sidelines of the 2026 PTC event in Honolulu, Grayson spoke with Cool Vector about a range of topics. As a former commander of a US Navy nuclear submarine, Grayson has strongly…

About Cool Vector

Cool Vector is a English business podcast from david95a. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: david95a
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 10 min
Latest episode: 8 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1765619576

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