Chris Crosby has deep insights on essential the role of data centers in an AI-powered future. Crosby is the CEO of Compass Datacenters, which builds some of the world’s largest data center campuses.

In this week's Data Center Richness episode, host Rich Miller talks with Crosby about how Compass has embraced new approaches to power and the supply chain, as well as sustainable construction and backup power. Crosby also shares about Compass' adoption of HVO (hydrogenated vegetable oil), a lower-emissions diesel fuel, and the company's current project to convert the former Sears Headquarters near Chicago into a massive data center campus.

But for Crosby, the success at Compass all comes down to company culture and building great teams.

Highlights:

00:00 - Overview from host Rich Miller

02:00 - The role of digital infrastructure in an AI-powered world

03:30 - Solving power constraints impacting AI growth

07:45 - Load flexibility as a Pathway to Power

11:15 - The role of capital in fixing the grid

15:00 - How to address utility power queues

17:45 - How do data centers make flexibility work?

20:25 - Rethinking the data center supply chain

23:15 - The power of company culture in building great teams

27:45 - Bringing new talent into the data center industry

30:05 - How Compass thinks about sustainability

32:15 - Leading the way on adoption of HVO (low-emission generator fuel)

34:30 - Converting the Sears HQ campus into a huge data center

37:00 - The role of data center retrofits and adaptive reuse

38:25 - Data centers and community relations

41:00 - Data centers and the opportunity ahead

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:

Compass Datacenters
https://www.compassdatacenters.com/

Compass Culture: Core Convictions
https://www.compassdatacenters.com/about/

Sears HQ to Become a Data Center https://www.datacenterfrontier.com/hyperscale/article/55089460/suburban-chicago-welcomes-compass-datacenters-major-hyperscale-development-on-legacy-sears-hq-site

Chris Crosby on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-crosby-3542b71/

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-

Verrus is Rethinking the Data Center
https://youtu.be/x9OoLh8UEoc?si=mINiJlqSCMmX1ejJ

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

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