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The State of Colocation A data center re-balancing is occurring at a significant scale across the industry. In a persistently connected world, enterprises are reassessing the on-prem vs. cloud vs. colocation question. And based on data from AFCOM and Omdia, colocation is winning many of these assessments.
In AFCOM’s State of the Data Center Survey, 59% of respondents are experiencing some amount of repatriation from the cloud. This is the third year in a row the AFCOM report has indicated that the majority are seeing repatriation happening. And in Omdia’s annual colocation customer survey, it was found that 32% of respondents’ workloads were in colocations in 2021. However, that number is expected to grow to 34% in 2023, which is growing faster than movement to the cloud, and is actively taking share from on-premise management.
Join Bill Kleyman of Switch and Program Chair of DCW as he moderates our panelists, Tony Grayson of Compass, Alan Howard of Omdia and Bill Thomson of DC BLOX to learn why enterprises choose colocation, for what workloads, and advice for best practices to handle the migration. OUR PANEL
 | MODERATOR: Bill Kleyman | Executive Vice President of Digital Solutions, Switch | Program Chair, Data Center World
Bill Kleyman joined Switch in 2019 and has never looked back. Bringing in more than 15 years of experience, Bill works with Switch’s marketing, branding, engagement, and technology teams to support new business initiatives, marketing programs, industry messaging. As an industry analyst, speaker, and blogger, Bill helps the Switch team develop new ways to impact the digital infrastructure industry as leaders in sustainability, Exascale design, ESG, power development, and more.
Before joining Switch, Bill was the CTO at MTM Technologies, where he worked with new designs around virtualization, data center architecture, and cloud design. He was also a leader in the cloud and DevOps practice at EPAM Systems. He leveraged his multi-lingual skills to support next-generation digital engineering solutions on a global scale.
Bill is also an Infrastructure Masons (iMasons) Advisory Council Board Member, helping push the digital ecosystem and data center industry forward. As a part of iMasons, Bill holds the chair position for the IM Millennials/GenZ Member Resource Group, focusing on inspiring and bringing young people into the technology industry. Recently, Bill received the 2020 IM100 Award and the 2021 iMasons Education Champion Award for his work with numerous HBCUs and for helping diversify the digital infrastructure talent pool. Bill is a champion for D&I and works closely with Switch and iMasons to further diversity, inclusion, and equality program. |  | Tony Grayson | General Manager - Quantum, Compass Datacenters
Tony Grayson is the General Manager of Compass Quantum and is known as a cloud and data center leader throughout the industry. Mr. Grayson regularly speaks and writes on topics ranging from sustainability to energy to datacenters to edge. Before joining Compass, Tony was an SVP at Oracle, where he was responsible for their physical infrastructure and regions. Before Oracle, Mr. Grayson held senior positions with AWS and Facebook. Before embarking on his datacenter career, Tony served for 20 years in the United States Navy in multiple places, including Commanding Officer of USS PROVIDENCE (SSN-719). Mr. Grayson is a winner of the prestigious VADM James Bond Stockdale Award for inspirational leadership. |  | Alan Howard | Senior Analyst - Cloud & Colocation, Omdia
Alan focuses on cloud and colocation service provider markets and covers service revenues, data center locations and new construction, and the distribution of data center capex. Coverage includes current service provider revenue performance, service offering trends and insights, and data center construction and expansion. Alan has more than 30 years of experience in the information technology industry, serving in technical, marketing, research, and business management roles. He is frequently invited to speak at conferences and advise on colocation, data center, and cloud markets and strategies. Prior to joining Omdia, he was vice president and chief researcher for Wired Real Estate Group, a data center advisory firm. Alan was responsible for consulting with investors, investment banks, data center operators, real estate owners, and enterprises to assist with market assessments and strategy.
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| Bill Thomson | Vice President - Marketing and Product Management, DC BLOX Bill Thomson is VP of Marketing and Product Management for DC BLOX, a multitenant data center operator in the Southeast US. He is a technology industry veteran with over 30 years of experience developing and driving the growth of numerous enterprise software, Software-as-a-Service, communication services, data center, and cloud infrastructure products for B2B markets. Thomson has led strategic product planning, marketing and product growth for many leading technology companies including AT&T, NTT, Cbeyond, and Vonage. He has served on the Technology Association of Georgia Product Management Society Board, holds a Master of Science degree from Stevens Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Rutgers University. |
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