Know Before You Go: Datacloud USA 2026 + Metro Connect Fall

Welcome, welcome, welcome everyone to No Before You Go. I am your host, JSA Scott Kataya, CEO and founder of JSA. What is No Before You Go? It is your show that covers everything you need to know as you go on site to those big industry events. We're talking insider talking points all the way to conference logistics and everything in between. So, let's get started. Today, we are spotlighting none other than Data Cloud USA 2026. That's going to be co-located this year with Metro Connect Fall. So, it all happens September 2nd through the 3rd in Austin, Texas. Excellent location. All right. And by the way, over my shoulder, there's a a QR code. Go ahead and scan it for a discount of 10%. So, the discount code is JSA10. All right. Let's go ahead and bring in our specialist today. I'm joined by Josh Lloyd Brayden, head of product for Data Cloud USA and Metro Connect, to share some tips on how attendees can make the most of this year's conference. Welcome, Josh. >> Hey Jamie, lovely to be here. >> We are so honored, and we know it's crunch time for you. So, thank you for taking a few of these wonderful moments to to give us a better sense of our Data Cloud Metro Connect big event coming up. All right. So, let's set the stage. Um Data Cloud USA, again, co-located with Metro Connect Fall, quickly becoming this key gathering for North America's digital infrastructure leaders. What makes this year a must-attend for all these executives? >> That's a great question. I think this year is all about convergence, and this event represents the true convergence of the digital infrastructure ecosystem. There's There's really no other event out there that brings all all these interconnected parts of the value chain together all focused around land, power, fiber, finance, and community. So, I think it's the unique convergence piece of our event that makes it a must-attend for this year. >> Yeah, I was reviewing your agenda and it just seemed amazing. You're bringing together leaders from data center, hyperscale, energy, investment, and AI sectors. Uh so, a lot of overarching themes connecting this year's speakers at Data Cloud USA. So, which conversations do you believe will have the greatest impact on the industry? >> Biggest theme, I believe, would be community. Um in fact, there there really isn't a greater challenge to that industry right now as we're speaking uh than building and maintaining trust with communities, municipalities, states, federal, um you know, even down to the local trout fisherman's association. Um so, I'd say that is the the chief topic that we're going to be talking about. Um of course, very close to that, if not on in on equal terms, is power. Um at Data Cloud USA, we have a whole track of sessions focused on delivering the power needs that AI workloads demand. Um and within that, we're focused on bring your own power, uh which, given the news last week around the power play uh pledge, is is particularly timely. Those, I would say, are the two biggest themes, but there's there is so much more than that, and I think we could talk for hours about everything that we're going to be uh talking about at the event. >> I know. It's it's rapidly evolving. Every every day there's um more news to devour and more more challenges uh for us to gather together and and uh figure out together. So, how is Metro Connect Now creating a platform for the strategic conversations? Oh, try that saying that. Uh strategic conversations shaping what comes next for our industry, and what trends are you hearing most about from from Metro Connect attendees? >> I think as I mentioned convergence, I think that's the really key thing here is that we run as as you probably know Metro Connect USA uh that takes place in the first half of every year. And we realized that there is this strong need to bring the data centers, the near clouds, and the hyperscalers much more into those conversations with the fiber operators because connectivity is yet another bottleneck for everyone in the digital infrastructure space, especially around AI. And so by bringing in Metro Connect Fall, we're creating a really lovely strategic kind of conversation that's again as I said completely across uh the ecosystem. And in terms of trends, that's very much what we're talking about. We're talking around the the demands that AI um brings to the table for connectivity purposes, but also the need to have good relationships between carriers, data centers, all the way through to like construction partners. So, really it's about bringing together all those different players. And and what we're doing by having Metro Connect Fall as a dedicated stage is we're shining the spotlight on the connectivity bottleneck that we're seeing at the moment. >> Yeah, I thought it was very smart bringing Metro Connect and Data Cloud USA together. Attendees really to me it seemed like have a very unique opportunity now to connect across this broader digital infrastructure ecosystem. How does this combined experience really create greater value for everyone? >> I think you know, this industry loves efficiency um whether that's in costs, whether that's in energy um and I think really if you're going to go to a conference, you you want to have as many stakeholders across the value chain in the room as possible. And whereas if you have to go to one event to speak to fiber, another event to speak to power, another to speak to investment, it it really does burn a lot of time. And time is is is more and more rare, and so this is a tremendous opportunity to speak to everyone across the value chain in one place, in one room, um around those kind of common bottlenecks around which we were all united. So, I think it's really about making the most use of your time. If you're going to go to any events this year, this is going to be the one to to go to for that reason. >> Yeah, I I agree. Efficiency is at the top of all of our lists, uh especially us executives, um and we are absolutely getting ready, uh packing up, heading over to Austin. So, we're on our way. We're attending Data Cloud USA Metro Connect. What is your best advice for making the most of our experience? >> That's a good question. I wrote the agenda, so I hope I give a good answer. Um I think key for us, and the thing that's top of mind for us when when we're creating the agenda, is we want to provide intimacy at scale. So, we don't want to be, you know, our our audience is very senior, very very strongly C-level. And so, we want to provide those those kind of face-to-face experiences at the executive level that are really valuable, but we also want to provide, you know, the the broader way of content around all of the topics that are top of mind for the industry, which again, you could have a whole year's worth of content if you really wanted to. I would say the closed-door sessions are a great place to start, whether it's the Nuclear for AI Forum, which is a rolling initiative focused on getting the nuclear capacity for AI uh up to scratch, um as well as our Near Cloud Leaders Forum, which is a new edition focused specifically on Near Clouds and Near Scale uh Near Scale Leaders. Um we also have our Investment and Finance Summit, workshops, and meetups. So, all those things where you get to talk about the really important topics, but in a way that's a little bit more private, it's a little bit more face-to-face, a little bit more valuable for that reason. Um and then on the other side of that, we do have the public-facing agenda, which is tremendously important. Um and I think the the best way to to get the most from this event is seeing every part of it. So, seeing the Data Cloud stage where we talk around data center construction, design, um cooling, um all the way through to community engagement and NIMBYism. We also have the Data Cloud Energy stage, which is as as the name suggests, focused entirely on power and energy. And then we have the Metro stage focused on connectivity and fiber. So, by getting all of the exposure to all of the different stages, you are getting that cross ecosystem exposure. So, I think that those would be my my best tips for getting the most out of the event if you're coming down to Austin this year. >> Incredible. Incredible. You've lined up the players and the topics. I'm sure this year, just like previous years, it's going to be so successful. Thank you so much, Josh, for everything you do, for helping create this platform for education and networking for our industry. We greatly appreciate it and so timely, so necessary. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> And guys, to get all the details to prepare for Data Cloud USA and Metro Connect Fall, you have to check out datacenter-usa.com. And during the conference week, use the hashtag Data Cloud USA and Metro Connect Fall. We'll be watching from social media, but also we'll be there. So, check us out as well. And did I mention we have a discount? Everyone wants to save, efficiency, right? So, be sure to use the discount code JSA10 to save on your registration. That QR code here will get you to the right page. JSATV will be broadcasting live from the conference. So, go ahead and check us out. Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and join our over 200,000 subscribers on YouTube to see all the exclusive interviews with attendees just like this one. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to know before you go. And as always, everyone, happy networking. See you in Austin. >> [music]