Explore the Agenda
7:00 am Check-In & Networking Refreshments
7:50 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
Staying Ahead of Regional Constraints in the Evolving Texas Market
8:00 am Panel: Analyzing Evolving Texas Trends, Risks, Challenges & Project Conditions: How Can You Stay Ahead Over the Next 12 Months?
- Examining how data center project conditions have shifted over the past year, exposing new execution risks you must account for as schedules, budgets, and delivery models tighten
- Identifying emerging regional pinch points across Texas, including labor saturation, utility congestion and infrastructure strain, to adjust scope, contracting strategy, and sequencing before constraints harden
- Assessing current mechanical loads, electrical demand, site layout and build sequencing trends in Texas, clarifying where timelines are compressing and where delivery durations are extending under AI-driven density
8:30 am Texas Market Breakouts: Unlocking Regional Execution Strategies for Data Center Projects
Join this interactive, problem-solving session focused on delivering data center projects across rural and urban regions, from permitting variability, design integration and labor availability to supply-chain constraints, power and water usage. How do you succeed across different Texas market conditions?
9:00 am Morning Networking & Refreshments
Strengthening Productivity to Deliver More Resilient Data Centers
Optimizing Construction in the Field
Strengthening Productivity to Deliver More Resilient Data Centers
10:00 am Increasing Alignment & Communication Between Owners & Project Partners to Accelerate AI-Driven Data Center Delivery
Principal Program Manager, Microsoft
- Collaboratively developing structured processes for navigating project phases from procurement to commissioning, embedding Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)
- Implementing transparent reporting, shared risk/reward structures and aligned performance metrics (DB, CMAR, IPD) to strengthen trust, accelerate approvals, and balance speedto- market with total cost of ownership
- Integrating owner and operational input early in design through contractor and supplier engagement to reduce commissioning risk, optimize constructability, and leverage advanced construction techniques such as Advanced Work Packaging (AWP) and Construction Optioneering
10:30 am Case Study: Redefining Prefabrication & Modular Decision-Making to Manage Cost, Labor & Schedule Pressure
Regional Director, Aligned Data Centers
- Evaluating prefabrication options through a cost–schedule– risk lens
- Prioritizing prefabrication for repeatable, labor-intensive systems, including electrical assemblies, cooling components, and modular infrastructure where workforce constraints are most acute
- Assessing site and project conditions unique to Texas, distinguishing where prefabrication delivers schedule certainty versus where logistics and access introduce execution
11:00 am Case Study: Rewriting Contract Structures to Strengthen Trust for a Multi-Billion Dollar Project
Vice President of Construction, T5 Data Centers
- Using transparent frameworks to define scope, change management, and payment milestones: what contracts did we consider to get the most out of our project partners?
- Aligning contract-type and timing with the need for early certainty: how we planned labor, locked-in pricing and secured long-lead materials without carrying unnecessary risk
- Balancing flexibility with escalation and delivery exposure, recognizing how deferred commitments and late approvals increase cost and undermine schedule reliability on projects
Optimizing Construction in the Field
12:00 pm Networking Lunch Break
Aligning Teams to Deliver the Scalable, High-Performance Data Centers of the Future
1:00 pm Fireside Chat: Identifying the Operational Technology Cybersecurity Blind Spot to Protect Data Center Operations & Enhance Resiliency & Uptime
- Exploring what Operational Technology (OT) cybersecurity is, how it differs from IT security, and why it is becoming an increasingly important consideration for designers, contractors, and operators delivering mission-critical infrastructure
- Indentifying where vulnerabilities emerge across power distribution, cooling systems, water infrastructure, and building management systems that are designed, installed, and integrated during construction
- Embedding cybersecurity considerations earlier in the design and construction process, aligning engineering teams, contractors, and operators on system architecture, controls integration and secure commissioning to strengthen long-term operational resilience
1:30 pm Panel: Defining the Next Generation of Data Centers to Build the More Efficient & Scalable Facilities of Tomorrow, Today
- Examining technology evolution impacts on facility design, including faster transitions from chip prototype to production and power density growth
- Identifying strategies hyperscalers and colocators are using in Texas to reduce total power demand and improve operational efficiency
- Evaluating design adaptations for power-constrained markets to ensure scalability, redundancy and long-term performance