Verrus is a new data center company that is seeking to build the data center of the future. It is rethinking key aspects of how data centers are built, and how they interact with the power grid.

On this episode of Data Center Richness, host Rich Miller speaks with the leadership team at Verrus, an all-star team of data center pioneers who are rethinking the data center for 2025 and beyond. That includes new approaches to some of the huge challenges the industry faces around power and design.

Verrus is a company to watch in the next few years. It plans to use software, AI, and deep wells of engineering experience to improve how data centers interact with compute workloads and the power grid. It plans to create grid-interactive data centers that use energy storage and software to work more effectively with utilities, along with data center designs that optimize every watt at every point of the power chain.

Verrus is backed by Alphabet spinoff Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, and much of the Verrus leadership team helped create Google’s hyperscale data centers. That includes my guests today, Nelson Abramson and Anand Ramesh, the CEO and CTO of Verrus, who will share about their experience at Google. All told, the Verrus team has deployed 13 gigawatts of data center capacity.

If you’re wondering what the future of data centers will look like, I think you’’ll enjoy today’s conversation. Here’s an overview:

00:00 - Intro: Rethinking the Data Center

02:10 -Who is Verrus? Meet Nelson Abramson and Anand Ramesh

04:45 - How Verrus plans to be different

07:20 - “Fundamentally re-evaluating” data center development

09:15 - Data centers as an anergy asset

12:11 - The role of energy storage in Verrus’ ambitions

15:25 - Design innovation at Verrus

17:00 - The utility relationship, and opportunities in load flexibility

22:00 - New structures and tools that can redefine utility relationships

28:30 - Power design, energy optimization and the Negawatt

44:10 - Data centers are fundamentally changing

At Data Center Richness we demystify technology and explain why data centers matter, and what comes next for the Internet, cloud computing and AI. Host Rich Miller is a journalist and analyst who has been covering the data center sector for 25 years.

Subscribe to our channel for more insights!

On the Web: Data Center Richness https://datacenterpodcast.com/

LINKS FROM THIS SHOW:

Verrus https://verrusdata.com/

Technical Report w NREL: The Data Center as a Flexible Grid Asset https://verrusdata.com/news/verrus-nrel

Verrus on LinkedIN https://www.linkedin.com/company/verrus/

RELATED VIDEO:

Flexibility: The Key to Unlocking More Data Center Power https://youtu.be/D6-1QxRRxoA?si=0Zf8leFTQJ28ZlTg

How Will Data Centers Be Different in 2030 https://youtu.be/IUO8fUWNoX8?si=QjhHEBlvx3fMR0Z-

Data Centers, AI and the Future of Power https://youtu.be/EYo2YK7L5q0?si=0ae-RwdbBFQnRwJ8

Supplemental music via Epidemic Sound https://share.epidemicsound.com/60o8qx

AI will be a paradigm shift for tech - and how that may change our work and our daily lives. What will that look like?

To explore this important topic, Data Center Richness host Rich Miller speaks with Bill Kleyman, CEO of AI technology firm Apolo. They discuss the speed of the AI transition, what comes next, what it means for the tech sector, how we handle this type of big, disruptive change as society.

Rich and Bill examine AI adoption in the context of cloud computing, and how initial skepticism and trust issues led to refinement and widespread usage as the technology matured. A major difference is the speed of development, as improvements in AI hardware from NVIDIA and other chipmakers drives rapid change in data center design, power and cooling.

In the second half of the podcast, Rich and Bill discuss the recent Data Center World conference, and what the huge turnout tells us about the curent "data center moment."

Here's an overview of the conversation:

00:00 - The AI Transition

02:30 - Up Next: Bold innovation and Uncomfortable Transitions

03:15 - Paradigm Shifts Create Winners and Losers

06:30 - Big Changes in How We Interact With Data

11:30 - Journalism and "Google Zero" as an Early Signal

13:30 - FOMO and Comfort With Asymmetric Change

17:15 - AI, Trust and the Cloud Computing Precedent

18:45 - Bill on Making Compliance Work in an AI-Powered World

21:10 - A Recap of Data Center World

25:30 - Real Estate Enthusiasm and the AI Risk Proposition

28:20 - What 'Wonder Valley" Tells Us About Where We're Headed

31:15 - Data Centers as Real Estate on Steroids

32:00 - Natural Gas a Bridge Fuel for AI Infrastructure

32:30 - Is Liquid Cooling Infrastructure Sexy?

36:30 - The Potential for Waste Heat Recycling

39:00 - Community Resistance and Responsible Infrastructure

41:00 - Can AI Transform the Power Grid?

At Data Center Richness we demystify technology and explain why data centers matter, and what comes next for the Internet, cloud computing and AI. Host Rich Miller is a journalist and analyst who has been covering the data center sector for 25 years. Subscribe to our channel for more insights: https://www.youtube.com/@DataCenterRichness?sub_confirmation=1

LINKS FROM THIS SHOW:

Bill Kleyman https://billkleyman.com/

AFCOM State of the Data Center Report https://datacenterworld.com/2025-state-data-center-report/

Apolo Web Site https://www.apolo.us/

Data Center Richness https://datacenterpodcast.com/

RELATED VIDEO:

Bill Kleyman: How Soon Will We See Nuclear Data Centers? https://youtu.be/STr3FHuBhok

Why Data Centers Matter in the Age of AI https://youtu.be/9GJSENgbcmk

Supplemental music via Epidemic Sound.

Supplemental image via Storyblocks

What will the data center of 2030 look like? How will design and technology change as AI moves to the next level?

Those are the questions that Vlad Galabov and his research team addressed at the Omdia Analyst Summit at the recent Data Center World conference. Vlad is the Senior Research Director for Enterprise Infrastructure at Omdia, one of the market intelligence services at Informa TechTarget.

At DCW we got a chance to talk with Vlad about how AI is changing the way data centers are designed and built, and how Omdia believes the market will evolve. It was an interesting conversation about AI and the road ahead. That includes a look at the growth on-site natural gas generation to support AI data centers, and how adoption of liquid cooling will scale dramatically to support high-density racks from NVIDIA.

00:00 - How AI will change the future design of data centers 01:07 - Overview of Vlad's work and the Omdia team's research focus 01:35 - How has the landscape changes since ChatGPT arrived? 03:30 - Why the pace of change is accelerating 07:10 - Reasoning as a glimpse into the future of AI 08:50 - On-site natural gas generation as a speed-to-market strategy 11:30 - The road ahead for liquid cooling 17:37 - How will enterprise customers keep pace in the AI arms race?

At Data Center Richness we demystify technology and explain why data centers matter, and what comes next for the Internet, cloud computing and AI. Host Rich Miller is a journalist and analyst who has been covering the data center sector for 25 years.

LINKS FROM THIS SHOW:

Vlad Galabov on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/vlad-galabov-384b2535/

Omdia Web Site https://omdia.tech.informa.com/

RELATED VIDEO:

Why Data Centers Matter in the Age of AI https://youtu.be/9GJSENgbcmk?si=xZIpDc7T0a06nTSO

Data Centers, AI and the Future of Power https://youtu.be/EYo2YK7L5q0

How Soon Will Nuclear Data Centers Become A Reality? https://youtu.be/STr3FHuBhok

Supplemental music via Epidemic Sound.