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Inside the World of Data Centers, with Derek Siler, Flexential

March 18, 2024 by John Ray

North Fulton Business Radio

Inside the World of Data Centers, with Derek Siler, Flexential

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Inside the World of Data Centers, with Derek Siler, Flexential (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 753)

In this episode of North Fulton Business Radio, host John Ray interviewed Derek Seiler from Flexential, a company that provides data center infrastructure services. They discussed the importance of data centers, how Flexential helps businesses manage their data, and the significance of having data centers across the country for better application performance. Derek also highlighted Flexential’s capabilities in hosting and managing the vast data and computational needs of modern businesses, including AI workloads. He also delved into the challenges and solutions around data security, phishing attacks, the importance of multi-factor authentication in protecting business data, success stories, and much more.

John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. The show is recorded and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

Derek Siler, Solutions Architect and Channel Sales, Flexential

Flexential empowers the IT journey of the nation’s most complex businesses by offering flexible and tailored hybrid IT solutions comprised of colocation, cloud, connectivity, data protection, managed services, and professional services. The company builds on a platform of three million square feet of data center space in 19 highly connected markets, and on its 100Gbps private backbone to meet the most stringent challenges in security, compliance, and resiliency. See how Flexential goes beyond the four walls of the data center to empower IT through an interactive map found on www.flexential.com.

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Derek Siler LinkedIn

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:00 Introduction to North Fulton Business Radio
01:28 Welcoming Derek Siler from Flexential
01:38 Exploring Flexential’s Impact on Data Center Infrastructure
03:44 The Importance of Scale in Data Center Operations
07:05 Navigating the Complexities of Cloud Computing
08:52 The Critical Role of Data Centers in Today’s Digital World
11:31 Security Measures and Challenges in Data Management
20:26 The Future of AI and Flexential’s Role
24:43 Identifying Ideal Clients for Flexential
25:48 Success Stories and How to Connect with Flexential
29:25 Closing Remarks and Additional Resources

About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray

With over 750 shows and having featured over 1,200 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in our community like no one else. We are the undisputed “Voice of Business” in North Fulton!

The show welcomes a wide variety of business, non-profit, and community leaders to get the word out about the important work they’re doing to serve their market, their community, and their profession. There’s no discrimination based on company size, and there’s never any “pay to play.” North Fulton Business Radio supports and celebrates business by sharing positive business stories that traditional media ignore. Some media leans left. Some media leans right. We lean business.

John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. The show is recorded and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and many others.

The studio address is 275 South Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009.

John Ray also operates his own business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their value, their positioning and business development, and their pricing. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as consultants, coaches, attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.

John is the bestselling author of The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices.

Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions, with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

Evolving and Inclusive: Iron Mountain Data Centers Supports Their Staff Their Community and the Planet E5

February 24, 2021 by Karen

Phoenix Business Radio

Evolving and Inclusive: Iron Mountain Data Centers Supports Their Staff Their Community and the Planet E5

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Evolving and Inclusive: Iron Mountain Data Centers Supports Their Staff Their Community and the Planet E5

Iron Mountain Data Centers, is so much more than just a data center. IMDC is part of a larger global organization that supports their people, their community, and their global reach.
A strong culture is at the root of IMDC and it shines through the staff as well as Dan and Julia on the podcast. With Dan having been part of the company for 6 years and Julia for 8 months, they were both able to give their insight into the recruitment and onboarding of the company. Although, their onboarding took place at different times (Julia during the pandemic) the culture was able to show strong for both. A great culture begins before the onboarding process though.

Because IMDC has grown a strong culture of team members that care and feel connected to the overall mission, their people have become their best marketing and recruitment tool. A strong culture helps the bottom line, and while that isn’t the number one goal, it allows IMDC to lower the cost of recruitment and retention. It leads the company to be successful when their employees are happy and feel supported.

This conversation had so many highlights about the company and the things that they are doing to grow, not only the company, but their people and the communities where the data centers are located.

IMDC offers Management training to promote and grow its employees from within.
IMDC has focused greatly on sustainability and reducing their carbon footprint. With 100% renewable energy, they understand the need to be an industry leader, providing their customers with green power.
IMDC Cares is a program that launched in 2020 due to the continued desire to give back to their global communities. There is a large focus on STEAM organizations and providing students with the skills that need to be successful in the future.

This company is a great example of how amazing culture can help to grow the company, help the bottom line, and support new initiatives that support communities outside of the company. This podcast is great for leaders that are looking for new ways to support their team and their culture. This is also a great podcast to listen to if you are growing a start up company and need to see the examples of how a great culture can help the return and the bottom line of the company.

Iron Mountain Data Centers operates a global colocation platform that enables customers to build tailored, sustainable, carrier and cloud-neutral data solutions. As a proud part of Iron Mountain Inc., a world leader in the secure management of data and assets trusted by 95% of the Fortune 1000, we are uniquely positioned to protect, connect and activate high-value customer data.

We lead the data center industry in highly regulated compliance, environmental sustainability, physical security and business continuity. We collaborate with our 1,200+ customers in order to build and support their long-term digital transformations within our 3.5M SF global footprint spanning 3 continents.

Dan Rattner is Chief of Staff/VP, Safety, Security, & Government Programs. Dan joined Iron Mountain in 2015 as part of Global Safety, Risk and Security. He spent his first year and a half working in the Boyers Underground, before relocating to Boston to oversee a number of GSRS functions, including safety and security for IMDC.

This summer, Dan took on the role of IMDC Chief of Staff. Prior to Iron Mountain, Dan held a number of senior positions in the public and private sectors. He started his career in the CIA, and later served as Senior Advisor for Homeland Security and Public Safety for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Dan and his wife Martha own a farm in Kentucky where they breed and raise Thoroughbred and Arabian horses.

Julia Kendall has more than 20 years of experience executing high tech B2B marketing communication programs. Her key focus is developing strategic, collaborative and creative solutions to enable organizations to exceed sales and growth goals.

Most recently, Julia was the VP of Marketing for Cologix, where she helped them grow from a start-up company to a leading North American interconnection provider, including the integration of 10 acquired companies. Prior to Cologix, Julia was the Director of Marketing at Zayo (including zColo) and held leadership roles at several biotech companies.

Julia and her husband live in Louisville, CO with their 3 kids. They play all sorts of sports, enjoy traveling, scuba diving and all the outdoor activities Colorado offers.

Follow Iron Mountain Data Centers on LinkedIn.

About Culture Crush

Culture Crush is officially relaunched! We are thankful to Debra Caron who launched and hosted the show originally. Culture Crush is back with a new host but the same focus- highlighting what makes a great company culture and how it affects the overall success of a company.

Culture is not just a tag word to be thrown around. It is not something you throw in job descriptions to draw people to applying for jobs within a company.

According to Marcus Buckingham and Ashely Goodall in their book Nine Lies About Work, “Culture is the tenants of how we behave. It’s like a family creed. This is how we operate and treat each other in the family.”

On this long form podcast we will highlight companies local to Arizona and beyond that are crushing it with great culture!

We will talk with company leaders to learn about real-life experiences, tips, and best practices for creating a healthy work environment where employees are finding joy and satisfaction in their work while also striving and growing within the company.

About the Host

Kindra Maples is your new host taking the lead on the relaunch of Culture Crush! She is spartan racer, past animal trainer, previous magician’s assistant, and has a weakness for Oreo cookie shakes. Her journey working with people actually started working with animals as a teenager (don’t worry we won’t go that far back for her bio).

She worked for over 15 years in the zoo industry working with animals and the public. Her passion of working with animals shifted into working with people in education, operations and leadership roles. From there her passion of leadership and helping people develop has continued to grow.

Then came the opportunity for relaunching the Culture Crush Podcast and she jumped on it. Leadership, growth, and strong company cultures are all areas that Kindra is interested in diving into further.

Shout Outs

We want to thank a few people for their behind the scenes effort in helping this relaunch to come to life. James Johnson with Tailored Penguin Media Company LLC.– It is a small, but powerful video production company with a goal to deliver the very best by articulating the vision of your brand in a visually creative way. Gordon Murray with Flash PhotoVideo, LLC. -Flash Gordon has been photographing since high school and evolving since then with new products that will equip, encourage, engage, and enable. Renee Blundon with Renee Blundon Design – She is not only one of the best free divers (that’s not how she helped with the podcast) but she is great with graphics design and taking the direction for the vision that you have while also adding creative ideas to bring to your vision to life.

These are just a few of the folks that supported the relaunch of the podcast. If you would like to be part of the Culture Crush team or would like to support underwriting the show- please reach out: culturecrushpodcast@gmail.com

Exploring Opportunities for Students E5

August 13, 2020 by Karen

Phoenix Business Radio

Exploring Opportunities for Students E5

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Exploring Opportunities for Students E5

In this episode of STEM Unplugged, our guests discuss how their companies play a role in the lives of Arizona students. Both Iron Mountain and Junior Achievement of Arizona are supporting the community to stay connected. Each guest is noted for making an effort to reduce the digital divide and providing resources for online learning. The goal of the Arizona tech industry is to create a diverse group of workforce ready individuals.

During the discussion, we celebrate the donation of 100 Chromebooks by Iron Mountain. Our SciTech network of students, parents and teachers who have received the gift of technology are thankful for the support. Everyone is doing their best during this time. The curriculum of JA has been supporting students in Arizona prepare for their futures and in the discussion you can hear about CSO Shalae’s life changing opportunity as the mayor of JA BizTown! Get connected with companies making a difference and let’s discuss how to provide mentoring to all who would like to advance, especially those who consider themselves non-tech individuals!

Iron Mountain Data Centers operate a global colocation platform that enables customers to build tailored, sustainable, carrier and cloud-neutral data solutions.

As a proud part of Iron Mountain Inc., a world leader in the secure management of data and assets trusted by 95% of the Fortune 1000, we are uniquely positioned to protect, connect and activate high-value customer data.

We lead the data center industry in highly regulated compliance, environmental sustainability, physical security and business continuity. We collaborate with our 1,000+ customers in order to build and support their long-term digital transformations within our 3.5M SQF global footprint spanning 3 continents.

Rick Critchly is Vice President and General Manager in the Iron Mountain Data Centers. Rick previously served as the Chief Operating Officer for IO Data Centers, Vice President of Global Sales for Core Link Datacenters and the Chief Operating Officer for Cyber Trails, a national provider of IT services.

Rick is a board member of the Fresh Start Women’s Foundation and a previous board member of the Arizona Technology Council. He is also actively involved in the Arizona Business Leadership Association.

Follow Iron Mountain Data Centers on LinkedIn.

For more than 60+ years, Junior Achievement of Arizona (JA) has been preparing millions of Arizona students to succeed in work and life. We’re empowering their futures by giving them the knowledge and skills they need to manage their money, plan for their future, and make smart academic, career and economic choices. Delivered by 8,000+ business and community volunteer mentors, our hands-on, age-appropriate programs focus on three key areas: financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. At the foundation of all our programs is teaching students the ability to think critically.

Serving tens of thousands of students each year and over 2 million since its founding, JA is shaping the college- and career-readiness conversation, and we play an important role in Arizona’s workforce and economic development. Our programs help students connect what they learn in the classroom to the real world, and demonstrate how learning correlates to earning – knowledge critical to empowering today’s students to be successful, contributing members of society in the future.

We serve students with diverse backgrounds and socio-economic status throughout Arizona. While our programs are invaluable to all students regardless of background, the majority of the students we serve come from low-income households.

We are a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization wholly dependent on the financial and volunteer support of individuals, foundations and businesses. Our in-classroom programs are offered at no cost to teachers or students.

Anne Landers is the Senior Director of Marketing and Development for Junior Achievement of Arizona (JA), a Tempe-based nonprofit that educates tens of thousands of primarily low-income children about financial literacy and career readiness. She has been with JA for five years, is the first marketing director in 20 years – and by far the most sophisticated we’ve ever had – and oversees all digital, PR, marketing and advertising. She is also the first person to build our data management program for donor and volunteer engagement. Anne’s title does not adequately describe her role or importance – Anne is a key member of JA’s leadership team and has been fundamental in leading monumental change for a VERY old-school organization. For perspective, JA had no Wi-Fi five years ago.

Previously, she spent three years at the nonprofit, Life In Abundance, where she was the Interim Director, overseeing the U.S.-based operations and fundraising, which supported programs in Africa and the Caribbean. She began her career at an advertising and PR agency, Decibel Blue, where she was one of the agency’s first two employees, managing clients such as Dunkin’ Donuts. Honored as a 40 Under 40 in 2018, Anne holds a degree in Journalism from ASU.

Follow Junior Achievement of Arizona on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About Our Sponsor

SciTech Institute™ was established as the Arizona Technology Council Foundation as the conduit for collaboration among STEM industry, academia, civic, and non-profit organizations in Arizona. Now, rebranded and named the SciTech Institute™ the goal centers around aligning assets and resources to motivate individuals to pursue STEM-related educational and career paths or find a passion while engaged in community events during the SciTech Festival.

The Chief Science Officer program highlights the 6th-12th graders that have been selected as leaders in their schools and communities to receive training to build a world-class community of diverse STEM-literate workers and knowledgeable, engaged citizens. Science For All allows for tax credit donations to provide engaging experiences for students while RAIN (Rural Activation Innovation Network) focuses on resources for the rural areas of Arizona.

As a STEM Learning Ecosystem, SciTech Institute™ focuses on collaboration and connecting individuals with opportunities! STEM Professionals are encouraged to engage with the future workforce by serving as a mentor, leadership coach, panelist, keynote and session trainer during a variety of conferences hosted or sponsored by SciTech Institute™ and The Arizona Technology Council.

Teachers and Administrators are invited to connect with the resources available while activating a large network of STEM champions for student projects, judges at events, volunteers, exhibitors and more. SciTech Festival Event Coordinators are supported during the planning and execution of community STEM events around the state by the SciTech STREET Team Members and the growing network of volunteers. The possibilities are endless! SciTech Institute™ looks forward to connecting with you today. Visit SciTechInstitute.org today for more information.

Follow SciTech Institute on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About Your STEM Unplugged Host

After graduating from Bolivar-Richburg High School in rural western New York and joining the United States Army, Kelly Greene learned quickly to adapt to her surroundings to be successful. She attended Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio and played shortstop on the Tiger softball team while earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education.

After graduating from Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training, she traveled the world with the military. While stationed in Misawa, Japan, Kelly fell in love with learning about cultures around the world. Even as a deployed Soldier during Operation Iraqi Freedom for two tours, she found opportunities to connect with the local children to form the Victory Base Council Girl Scouts with her fellow servicemen.

In 2013, she was deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and traveled the country by air and had the opportunity to utilize the most advanced technologies available to the tactical HUMINT operations in theater. Upon return from combat, she retired with 21 years of service and began teaching 6th grade Math.

After being selected as a Westside Impact Teacher of the Year and having her Fiesta Bowl Charities Wish Granted for a morning news studio, she was asked to begin a new class on campus – 7th grade STEM! Using her enthusiastic nature and combined with her strong classroom management she was able to design curriculum based on the Engineering Design Process to have her 7th graders complete a new project every 2 weeks!

She is excited to serve as the Director of Student Success for the rapidly expanding Chief Science Officers Program. Her goal is to push students just a bit outside of their comfort zone so they can see for themselves the power of their own ideas.