John Merrick

Having a great time basking in the glory of yet another successful endeavor. Our Development team has built another beautiful large scale data center and handed over the keys (MCC2 in Manassas VA). As part of our Operations team I’ve had the pleasure to support all the temporary groups that bridge the gap between base build and our tenants live production loads. All of this done on an aggressive schedule across multiple phases and during a crippling pandemic where supply chain issues and staffing shortages threatened schedule and quality. Successfully bridging that gap is such a critical time from a cash flow standpoint. From IST through tenant interior build out we helped our client get their product to market by shaking out the back of the house infrastructure while integrating subsequent phases AND providing QC alongside CloudHQ and tenant vendors. All with a scant staff & providing 100% uptime. Only those of us who have lived it will understand it enough to appreciate the Herculean efforts that takes. Many others just hire a vendor then depend on them to do the work, police themselves and fill out reports of how great a job they are doing. Recipe for lingering issues too close to the Critical loads and thus potentially impacting client commitment. We have built a great team here. Its humbling to watch some of the great mentors move on to retirement. It’s sobering to begin filling their shoes. It’s rewarding to see the new folks come in and assimilate to this culture. I boast to them about how this is an education you cannot buy anywhere. Truly a diamond. This is the sixth data center where I’ve been part of bridging that gap from start up to racks making $$$ for someone. Counting VA2 & VA3 at AboveNet, ACC2 & ACC3 at DuPont Fabros, ACC9 at Digital Realty and now MCC2 with CloudHQ. All of those facilities are still sturdy money makers for their owners. I’ve had a lot of exposure to other facilities throughout my career as well. It’s been such a treat. It’s getting late in my career. I’m not impressed with the buzzwords & empty babble of wanna be players who have some Johnny come lately pet project & a money tree behind them. The time is at hand where a lot of those trees of cash are dropping their leaves like a windy November day in Northern VA. I’m interested in helping the field Champions be better prepared to support the business Champions who are interested in building assets that stand the test of time & turn over. Not many will remember me for it. But those that do, have my heart & my loyalty.