David Shaw of IO is AFCOM's Data Center Manager of the Year

David Shaw of IO accepts the Leonard Eckhaus Data Center Manager of the Year award, presented annually by AFCOM, in a ceremony Wednesday at Data Center World in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS - David Shaw of IO has been named the Data Center Manager of the Year Award by AFCOM, the leading association for data center managers. Shaw, the Senior Vice President of IO, was honored Wednesday night in an awards ceremony at Data Center World in Las Vegas.

Shaw manages more than 1.5 million square feet of data center capacity for IO, which has been a pioneer in deploying modular data center designs. He oversees IO's "Data Center as a Service" offering to deploy managed data space in IO's factory-built modules, which also includes the company's IO.OS data center management software.

The other finalists were Tate Cantrell, the Chief Technology Officer at Verne Global, and Donna Manley, the Senior IT Director at the University of Pennsylvania.

Shaw, who has been working in the industry since 1987, oversaw the opening of the world’s largest modular data center in Edison, New Jersey, and ensured that the facility remained 100 percent operational during Hurricane Sandy and in its aftermath.

The Power of People

In accepting the award, Shaw noted that there are six things data center managers work with – power, cooling and connectivity, and people, process and technology. Of those, he said people were the most important part of the equation. He dedicated the award to his team of 50 staff members, who work in four data centers in the U.S. across the U.S.

Shaw also emphasized the importance of bringing "new blood" into the industry by getting the next generation of IT workers working in the field.

Prior to joining IO, Shaw led the greenfield build and operational implementation of a 7 megawatt data center to support electronic medical records and critical patient care systems for 26 hospitals and services across five states. He was also responsible over a 10-year period for global data center management at Perot Systems.

He received in-depth specialist data center and operations training from IBM and the UK Ministry of Defense, and is certified in ITIL service management. While serving in the Royal Air Force, he graduated in electronic engineering and studied computer-aided engineering, specializing in robotics.

The data center manager of the year was selected in a blind test judged by three past winners. The award is named for Len Eckhaus, the founder of AFCOM.

AFCOM was founded in 1980 to support the educational and professional development needs of data center and facilities management professionals around the globe. The association has more than 3,500 members and 40 chapters worldwide, and provides education and networking for data center managers through its Data Center World conferences, regional chapters, and Data Center Management magazine.