The Three Musketeers of data-center transformation—Skanska's Jakob Carnemark and Inertech's Earl Keisling and Gerald McDonnell—put their reputations on the line when selling telecommunications company TELUS the first installation of Skanska's smart, ultra-green modular data center. They claimed Inertech's new, patented cooling system would cost 80% less to operate than a conventional chilled-water system.

Carnemark, the mastermind behind the design-build package—complete with intelligent management software—was so confident about the new cooling system that he risked more than his reputation: He gave TELUS a performance guarantee that said Skanska would pay incremental utility costs if the Rimouski, Quebec, facility used more energy than had been budgeted.