The QTS Experience

When James told me the best early warning for a job-site injury isn’t a safety number, I said what you’re probably thinking — that’s ridiculous, and how would you even measure it? What came next changed how I look at it. Come find out what the number is.

Chapters:

00:00:00 A Gaelic footballer walks into a data-center podcast

00:02:07 Culture as bedrock: measure the inputs, not the score

00:05:30 Scaling culture when you’re hiring thousands

00:06:34 What PepTalk does: feedback from the field, and morale as a leading indicator

00:11:57 The blind spot: why the once-a-year survey misses it

00:16:18 The data: low-morale stretches vs. high-incident stretches

00:19:43 People leave unsafe sites: retention as the early warning

00:36:14 Construction vs. operations: human error and reinforcement

00:40:19 Staying alert in a “fully operational Death Star”

00:45:39 Reading the site like a body: must-have or nice-to-have?

00:51:11 Measuring the truth, and the one big takeaway

Links / References

James Brogan (guest) — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesbrogan1/

Bernard Brogan (co-founder) — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernardbrogan/

PepTalk — website: https://www.peptalk.com

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For more information, go to https://www.Q.com

Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/users/qtsdatacenters

Think you have a great topic for a podcast or would like to schedule an interview with Dave? Send in your requests to podcast@q.com

Rob Hopewell’s been in data centers so long I keep accusing him of starting at 11 — UUNET, EdgeConneX, now running QTS sales. We get into why this AI moment isn’t the dot-com bust, why the phone in your hand is a data center, and how our industry can finally explain itself.

Chapters:

0:00  From UUNET to now — the early internet, peering, MAE East/West

5:44  “Unprecedented” — solving first-time problems (spiky AI load, the utility)

7:47  Selling power, not square feet — the model that changed the industry

11:48  A day in the life running QTS sales — deals at the C-level

14:16  What the dot-com bust taught him — strategy, relationships, hustle

15:29  The 2016 hyperscale pivot — the Freedom Design and the availability zones

19:04  “Plan B: make plan A work” — the first deal, and Blackstone

24:09  EdgeConneX and what “the edge” really is

30:37  Building speculatively — the formula that won Atlanta

36:04  The messaging problem — what a data center actually is

40:09  Why AI isn’t a bubble (and meeting OpenAI in 2017)

45:08  “One throat to choke,” building sales talent, and the takeaway: culture

Links:

Rob Hopewell on LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/robhopewell/]

QTS Data Centers: Q.com

Thank you for visiting our channel, be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe! 

Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/users/qtsdatacenters

Think you have a great topic for a podcast or would like to schedule an interview with Dave? Send in your requests to podcast@q.com

Rob Hopewell’s been in data centers so long I keep accusing him of starting at 11 — UUNET, EdgeConneX, now running QTS sales. We get into why this AI moment isn’t the dot-com bust, why the phone in your hand is a data center, and how our industry can finally explain itself.

Chapters:

0:00 From UUNET to now — the early internet, peering, MAE East/West

5:44 “Unprecedented” — solving first-time problems (spiky AI load, the utility)

7:47 Selling power, not square feet — the model that changed the industry

11:48 A day in the life running QTS sales — deals at the C-level

14:16 What the dot-com bust taught him — strategy, relationships, hustle

15:29 The 2016 hyperscale pivot — the Freedom Design and the availability zones

19:04 “Plan B: make plan A work” — the first deal, and Blackstone

24:09 EdgeConneX and what “the edge” really is

30:37 Building speculatively — the formula that won Atlanta

36:04 The messaging problem — what a data center actually is

40:09 Why AI isn’t a bubble (and meeting OpenAI in 2017)

45:08 “One throat to choke,” building sales talent, and the takeaway: culture

Links: Rob Hopewell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robhopewell/

QTS Data Centers: Q.com

Thank you for visiting our channel, be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe!

Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/users/qtsdatacenters

Think you have a great topic for a podcast or would like to schedule an interview with Dave? Send in your requests to podcast@q.com

A West Texas frac company turned out to be one of the best-positioned energy players of the AI era. Luke Saladyga explains how that happened, why power got scarce so fast, and why the steadiest jobs of the next decade might be ones nobody told you to want.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Welcome back on Star Wars Day

00:02:13 The perfect storm: how power got scarce

00:09:10 From Oracle to VoltaGrid: frack fields to AI power

00:10:21 Moving 25 to 40 megawatts in under 24 hours

00:12:38 The hard part: load transients in milliseconds

00:20:24 Why Luke joined, and betting before the contracts

00:24:00 8.3 gigawatts contracted, and why competition matters

00:30:09 How Oracle burned the ships

00:36:14 Will the grid catch up? The swing-set problem

00:46:01 Is this a bubble? Why turbine makers stay cautious

00:54:04 Communication and energy: the engine of every advance

00:56:20 Behind the meter, explained simply

00:58:50 Take-or-pay contracts and the coming efficiency push

01:03:38 Labor: the real constraint and the aging-talent crisis

01:11:18 The markers of who adapts well

01:28:37 Mike Rowe, welders, and the trades PR battle

01:31:19 Georgia's free trade tuition and a welder who blew his mind

01:35:23 Where to follow Luke, and the one takeaway: embrace the chaos

References and Links:

Luke Saladyga LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saladyga/

VoltaGrid: https://voltagrid.com

Jim Gao (Phaidra): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimgao/

Texas SB6 — load-transient / large-load interconnection bill

Thank you for visiting our channel, be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe!

For more information, go to https://www.QTSDataCenters.com

Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/users/qtsdatacenters

Think you have a great topic for a podcast or would like to schedule an interview with Dave? Send in your requests to podcast@qtsdatacenters.com

Somewhere along the way “diesel” turned into a dirty word. Jim McDonald’s spent 30 years on the generators that keep 911, hospitals, and your data alive — and he’s a little tired of playing the villain. We get into what’s real, what’s myth, and why he still thinks everybody wins.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Welcome, and the “luminary chair”

00:01:24 From the University of Delaware to founding MIRATECH (1992)

00:04:16 The first data center (2006) and the “internet hotel”

00:06:52 What a backup generator does, and why a data center needs it

00:10:16 The “nines” of reliability and the 7-second diesel start

00:13:27 What “five nines” actually means in downtime

00:16:42 How often the generators really run (mostly testing)

00:19:44 Diesel’s “Mufasa moment”: how a word got loaded

00:24:00 “Dirty diesel” — where the myth comes from

00:25:07 The ratepayer pledge and the peak-power problem

00:27:06 Why diesel: 48 hours of fuel on site

00:30:15 Behind-the-meter and microgrids, explained

00:36:14 202(c) orders, Ashburn, and grid-vs-on-site emissions

00:48:14 PJM, the load-duration curve, and demand response

01:02:10 EPA Tier 2 to Tier 4 and a “new spirit of cooperation”

01:14:57 Energy storage: heating bricks, ice, and synthetic DNA

01:30:05 Small modular reactors and the nuclear question

01:33:24 Three daughters and “nuclear is super safe”

01:40:44 What to watch in the next 18–24 months

01:43:13 The takeaway: open minds, and everybody wins

References and Links:

Jim McDonald (guest), MIRATECH — LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jim-mcdonald-80229223

MIRATECH (guest’s company): miratechcorp.com

David McCall (host): linkedin.com/in/davidnmccall

QTS: q.com

Ratepayer Protection Pledge (White House, March 2026): whitehouse.gov — Ratepayer Protection Pledge

PJM Interconnection (regional grid operator referenced re: load-duration curve / demand response): pjm.com

Book referenced — “The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel” by Douglas Brunt (2023).

Plant Vogtle (Georgia Power / Southern Company) — the Georgia nuclear plant Jim worked near during construction.

Michael Shellenberger nuclear talk (~10–15 years ago, “several million views”)

Thank you for visiting our channel, be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe!

For more information, go to https://www.QTSDataCenters.com

Learn More about QTS Data Centers on the QTS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/users/qtsdatacenters

Think you have a great topic for a podcast or would like to schedule an interview with Dave? Send in your requests to podcast@q.com