How Pure DC is balancing engineering innovation with a community-first approach
Interview with Ryan Botta, Chief Operating Officer (Data Centres), Pure DC
Building and maintaining data centres is one of the major engineering challenges facing the world today, essential for powering the digital infrastructure that underpins modern society. As Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Pure DC, Ryan Botta is at the forefront in providing data centre capacity to some of the most innovative organisations in the world. I spoke to him about his background, the massive opportunity for the sector, and how Pure DC is balancing rapid growth with community engagement and sustainability.
Earlier this year, Pure DC announced plans to build one of the world’s largest living walls at its North London data centre, a perfect example of the evolving role data centres play within communities and the company’s innovative approach to doing business.
Historically consisting of grey boxes designed to keep people out, accelerating demand for data centres around the world means operators are evolving their approach. Pure DC is at the forefront of prioritising local engagement and sustainability, alongside engineering and digital innovation, a balance that was central to attracting Ryan Botta to his new role as COO.
“We’re at a pivot point for humanity in our ability to leverage technology,” says Botta. “Every major scientific, interpersonal, and commercial endeavour relates to the expansion of how humans interact with digital infrastructure. Data centres are the bedrock of facilitating that, but as demand for space and power increases, we must ensure we are also giving back to the communities and environments where we operate.”
Supporting critical infrastructure
Botta’s role spans the design, development, and operation of vast data centre facilities for the most innovative and demanding technology organisations. With an operating life of 15 to 20 years and ruled by the ‘five nines’ - 99.999% uptime - it is no small task.
“Data centres are the greatest engineering marvels in the world today,” he says. “I've been to data centres that draw the same power as a small city. They are world-class power plants, IT and network facilities, employing hundreds of people and essential for processing and storing everything from health records, online shopping and banking, through to defence intelligence, co-ordination of emergency services and safety. It is no exaggeration to say that the success or failure of entire economies is predicated on their ongoing operation.”
Discovering Data Centres
Born and raised in South Africa, Botta has lived and worked all over the world. But his first exposure to the critical role of data centres was at Johnson Controls in the UK, where he managed facilities for IBM between 2010 and 2013.
“I soon realised that although IBM cared about its manufacturing facilities and offices, the physical infrastructure it cared most about was its data centres. As I grasped their critical and growing role in powering digital innovation, I quickly knew it was an industry I wanted to be part of,” he says.
This realisation led to a role managing data centres at Norland Managed Services and, when it was acquired by CBRE, a move to Singapore to start its Asia Pacific data centre business. Later, moving back to the UK, Botta led the company’s global hyperscale business, where over the years he played a key role in building CBRE’s Data Centre Solutions business into the largest outsourced data centre portfolio in the world.
A shift in perspective
The move to Pure DC has brought new challenges, including a switch from working with an outsourced service provider to an operator, and from a Fortune 500 multinational to a private equity-backed organisation. This has given him a new perspective on the entire data centre lifecycle, as well as more input into conversations around debt, equity, and strategic direction.
“There's a higher intimacy with the supply chain, and pride in being closer to the tip of the spear,” he explains. “In a smaller, more agile organisation, there is also greater immediacy of decision-making, combined with strategic horizons based on long-term strategy.”
Navigating the resource crunch
A high level of agility is critical for Pure DC to respond to the full spectrum of risks associated with operating a highly complex business across multiple geographies. Geopolitical uncertainty, regulatory change, and supply chain disruption are constant concerns.
But above all, Botta must grapple with how to fulfil ever-increasing power demands, as sustainably as possible. While the data needs of AI grab headlines, cloud services - comprising the majority of Pure DC’s capacity—still have significant room to grow, with around 70% of workloads yet to be transitioned to the cloud.
“We’re living amid the biggest resource crunch in the world today,” he explains. “We’re consistently thinking about how to plug those gaps through working with governments and developing ways to generate our own power. Plus, finding a way to do so more sustainably, whether through environmental credits, renewable energy resources, biomass, or other solutions.”
Winning the war for talent
Amid a fierce war for technical talent, Pure DC must also ensure it attracts highly skilled engineers and construction workers to meet ambitious delivery timelines. To do this, it has prioritised creating a strong brand and vision that employees can unite behind, and which acts as a powerful force for attraction and retention.
“I've seen organisations purely focus on financial outcomes, or equity,” he says. “But the kind of people who choose a career with Pure DC want to believe their work is going to lead to something amazing and revolutionary. We have built a vision linked to the pride people have in working in this critical infrastructure.”
The company also places significant focus on ensuring that frontline workers are aligned with the balance of stakeholder priorities, which span customers, communities, investors, and beyond. This transparency aids employee engagement, ensuring everybody is moving in the same direction.
“Both the success of the team and the success I've had so far have been through ensuring the whole group understands the breadth of outcomes we’re working towards, whether you’re delivering for a large, hyperscale organisation, an enormous developer, or a listed co-location company,” he says.
Scaling under pressure
The right organisational strategy is also key to retaining the startup culture and mentality as the business scales. Pure DC has achieved this by encouraging decentralised decision-making and an entrepreneurial spirit, while simultaneously breaking down siloes to retain a centralised vision and parameters.
“As the business grows and expands, that entrepreneurial mindset should permeate the entire organisation, giving us greater agility to respond to a changing landscape,” explains Botta.
As Pure DC grows rapidly, putting ownership in the hands of local, frontline teams is also vital for ensuring community engagement remains at the forefront and the company can deliver its vision of a digitised and sustainable future.
A multidisciplinary approach
Perhaps more than any other sector, data centres encapsulate some of the biggest issues facing the world today, spanning technology, talent shifts, power, and sustainability. Overcoming these competing demands requires strong leadership, and Botta believes a truly global and multi-disciplinary approach is the key to doing so successfully.
“The most successful people I've seen in the data centre industry are those who don’t fixate on their chosen discipline,” he concludes. “The greatest engineers are those who understand the customer and commercial imperatives, and the needs of shareholders. The greatest commercial leaders are those who understand rack density or supplier procurement. For those who get it right, there are boundless opportunities in what is quickly becoming the world’s pre-eminent asset class.”
