We become accustomed to focusing on details, so much so that it is hard to imagine how our efforts can affect something much beyond today’s set of tasks, our current projects, and perhaps something bigger somewhere. I know I experience a sense of control when tackling small projects with looming deadlines that is somehow lacking when I’m dealing with a bigger project.

Mission Critical has often applauded the efforts of those who take a step back and examine the global impact of our work in the mission critical industry. I’d like to call out the original founders of the 7x24Exchange and the Uptime Institute and their successors. Certainly Len Eckhaus was ahead of the curve when he founded AFCOM. Dan Scarbrough, George Rockett, and Stephen Worn deserve credit for their efforts at Data Center Dynamics. And I would be remiss if I didn’t single out Dean Nelson and Mark Thiele for initiating the Data Center Pulse. And contributors to The Green Grid deserve a shout out too. I’ve omitted hundreds of others, so please forgive me for any oversights.

Even the earliest of these leaders couldn’t imagine a time when data centers would operate at such high power densities. Similarly the early astronauts could not imagine a time when space junk would imperil satellites, and yet here we are. The accumulation of small decisions has led us to crises that human ingenuity must resolve.

Personally, I am an optimist. It cheers me to think that we have in our power the ability to figure out how to clear the junk from space and resolve density issues in our data centers.

That’s why this month’s cover story discomfits me so. Not everything is in our control. Perhaps we can control the unintended consequences of unexpected growth or check the results of the Butterfly effect, but we certainly cannot control the sun and the way it affects the planet. It is clear that some force larger than the earth has pushed the planet into and out of ice ages and mini ice ages and towards global warming. Our cover story this month on sunspots (see p. xx) provides a warning to prepare for the truly unpredictable and to try to manage the uncontrollable.

Ken Uhlman of Eaton and Jim Vanderpas of UTC teamed up to do a review of the more down to earth developments in data center practice. They were gracious enough to allow Mission Critical to run excerpts of a much longer white paper. Please download this whitepaper. It is available at our website.

I’d also like to recommend Bruce Myatt’s critical look at the status of LEED for data centers and Dennis Cronin’s discussion of greenfield construction. I’m very proud of this issue and hope that you find it to be informative and provocative.

Mission Critical can now be found on two social media networks, Facebook and LinkedIn. Heslin said, “In addition to two blogs that can be accessed from the Mission Critical homepage, plus our webinars and on-line education program and buyers guide, we are making increased use of LinkedIn and Facebook.”

Mission Critical has established its Facebook page athttp://tiny.cc/S7rnU.

The LinkedIn Group is athttp://tiny.cc/dj2vw.

Please feel free to follow Mission Critical using either site.