Manufacturing isn't leaving this country or evaporating; it’s migrating from the real world to the virtual world, according to CBRE North American data center chief Todd Bateman. That's why we're excited to present Bisnow’s 4th Annual Data Center Boom, March 18 at The Westin Chicago River North, starting at 7am.

Todd, who'll be a panelist at our event (snapped with his family), says the Midwest and Rust Belt has been a manufacturing hub for over 100 years, and now people are creating apps in the same way they used to make widgets. This means companies and developers need to get and stay online. Demand for data centers is not a fad and is going to be strong for the foreseeable future. In Downtown Chicago, as in other major data center markets, users who are focused on latency and network interconnection drive the market. In suburban markets like Elk Grove and Aurora/West Chicago, users seek economic and operational efficiencies.

Also among our panelists, ESD’s Aaron Duda (pictured chilling and enjoying the benefits of connectivity with the little one) reiterates that security is the name of the game in the data center space. In the past six months, clients have been “considering diversification of their colo-footprints and are starting to build their own infrastructure back up for more secure transactions,” he says. You can thank all the recent hacking issues for that. On top of that, he thinks that it's not climate driving new data center locations but latency and power costs; access to good quality water is essential for keeping everything chilled and running smoothly.

Continuum chairman and CEO Eli Scher, also a featured speaker, tells us newer data center clients are concerned with risk aversion, first and foremost, and escaping urban centers because they require the kind of floor plating and structures that can support heavy cooling systems and equipment. And to bring it all back to Todd’s concept of “nu-manufacturing,” Eli says, “one thing we’re really focused on is connectivity,” because without it, how can all the creations be created digitally? Hear from Eli and others, and learn how data centers are a vital part of the next wave of American manufacturing and innovation, at Bisnow’s 4th Annual Data Center Boom, March 18 at The Westin Chicago River North, starting at 7am. Sign up here!