I'm hoping you noticed the cover of this issue because, well ... that's what it's there for. In case you didn't, though, our cover story this month was written by Carrie Goetz, one of our technical advisory board members, a frequent contributor, and an industry fill in the blank (veteran, trailblazer, thought leader, activist, and the list goes on).

I won't spoil the article for you, but I will share an excerpt:

"Recently, I was talking to a large group of students, and I asked how many had heard of data centers prior to that day. One student raised his hand. I asked who he knew in the industry, and he replied that it was his father. This lack of industry awareness highlights a big problem across the board. "

She's right. It is a big problem.

But, it's been a big problem for as long as I've been in the industry, and I know it precedes me.

How can nearly everyone know what ChatGPT, AI, the IoT, Alexa, Siri, etc., are and not know what a data center is? It blows my mind.

The industry needs to wake up and stop trying to keep everything a secret.

You know what's not a secret? Companies that do great things. Be one of them. You might think you are now, but you're missing a huge mark if you're not sharing the story of your data centers with the general public so they can be better citizens of the Earth and members of the workforce.

I guarantee if I survey my friends all of them will know Apple, Sony, LG, and Kohler. If I had to bet on it, I'd guess only 1% would have heard of Equinix, Flexential, Compass Datacenters, Cyxtera, CoreSite, CyrusOne, or any other major data center firm that isn't known for something else, like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook. And, of the 1% who might know, if they don't work in the industry, then they know the companies from the stock market and not through data center awareness efforts.

Sometimes, the truth hurts, and this is one of those times.

We should be doing a better job as an industry. Use this as a chance to share what you're doing with the Mission Critical audience, so we can contribute to each other's efforts and inspire each other to do more.

I think it's time people know what data centers are and the fulfilling careers they offer — don't you?