Today, I live in Herndon, Virginia, minutes away from Data Center Alley where 70 percent of the world’s Internet passes through. I take pride in my community and the digital infrastructure industry, which are both a big part of my life. My nephew Palmer Denny broadened my perspective on the relationship between my industry and community over a family dinner last spring. He’d taken his first job out of high school as an assistant to a local government official in neighboring Prince William County and was concerned about the expansion of data centers there. His constituents felt that data centers encroached on their homes, made too much noise, consumed too much power, and disrupted historical landmarks. I was inspired to see him care about my industry’s impact on his community and reach out courageously and engage with me, to try to understand my point of view and learn how we can work better together.
My nephew personalized the pushback the digital infrastructure industry is encountering in communities where data centers are clustered around the world and highlighted the need for our industry to be better neighbors. I thought back to this experience when I was tapped on the shoulder to lead an industry effort to create a framework to help the data center industry be a good neighbor in the local communities where digital infrastructure is deployed. It is an exciting opportunity for me to help the data center industry hear the voices of people like Palmer and build the bridges needed to support the expansion of digital infrastructure that’s become as critical to any community as its local food markets, schools, and hospitals. My goal is to move data centers from “being in the communities” where they are built and operated to being “of the communities.” To be “of the community” implies a deep connection and integration with the community. It means doing more than just operating at an address in the community. It means sharing the values of the community and caring for the well-being of the people in the community—and the ecosystems that sustain it. It means supporting local causes, hiring from the local talent pool, and enhancing local ecosystem services. Our goal is for the data center industry to engage proactively with communities to understand their needs. Those community needs will vary based on their location, culture, economy, education, and more. Understanding and appreciating these concerns is the only way we can achieve economic, social, and ecological balance in the communities where digital infrastructure is deployed today and will be deployed tomorrow.
