Should Labor Day be called Data Center Day?

We wanted to take a moment to reflect on the Labor Day holiday in the US.  Today’s holiday celebration looks more like an end-of-summer poolside blowout, complete with charcoal grills belching smoke, water splashing, and American flags waving.  Kids are back in school and summertime is officially over. 

The origin of the holiday was a little less about chillin' by the water with a beer and a hotdog and had a more noble goal: to celebrate the American worker, and the product that resulted from his labor.  In the late 1800’s, the head of a then-new labor union proposed a day of rest for those "…who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

Who talks like that anymore, am I right?

Yet the words are simple, and the sentiment is spot on.  None of us who labor take much time to behold or take credit for the role we all play in the grander scheme of our industry. Everyone is too busy getting things done to stay ahead.  We at Server Technology would argue that the mission-critical space is the very definition of grandeur, and certainly something that could not have been fathomed more than a century ago.  The modern data center is the paramount of technical achievement combined with the best and brightest in the fields of manufacturing, design, and construction.

How many people labor to make a single data center a reality?  If you think about it a little, it is staggering to try to envision the number of hands involved.  Programmers, manufacturers, floor makers, chip makers, engineers, electricians, managers, brick layers, the list goes on and on.  There is someone involved from every walk of life, from every part the economy, and every type of industry.

The US Department of Labor states, “The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy.”  Doesn’t that sound like it could apply to our industry?  I’ve heard it said that there are more data centers on the West Coast than in the rest of the world combined.  I also know that when you walk into a facility in Moscow or Kuala Lumpur, you will see a host of American-made products keeping the power on.

It is appropriate, therefore, that Server Technology pays tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the Data Center worker.  We are proud to contribute our labor, and we support the contributions of all of the people who work to make the mission-critical market one our nation can be proud of.