I was listening to Mike Manos’s Chiller Side chat discussion hosted by DataCenterKnowledge’s Rich Miller. One point Mike made was the challenge of facilities and IT having different views of what the data center needs to be. Many of the questions were about power and cooling systems, so I think most of the listeners didn’t know how to address Mike’s challenge for facilities and IT working together.

Later in Mike’s conversation he discussed the issue of the carbon footprint from power production as an issue for data centers and the need to think about this as part of a green data center strategy. In fact, Mike mentioned green IT often.

I was going to ask Mike “What is an example of what you have found works to bridge the gap between facilities and IT?” Unfortunately, there was technical problems so I couldn’t ask the question.

So I came up with my own answer. “Discuss the carbon footprint of site selection as facilities and IT personnel evaluate locations.” To get the lowest carbon footprint requires the teams to work together to evaluate the alternatives and the trade-offs.

I know Mike uses this strategy as he selects sites for Digital Realty Trust and its customers.

Do you?