Kirby Group Engineering’s CEO Henry McCann discusses his Datacloud experiences to date and highlights the areas he expects to dominate conversation – including cooling technologies, holistic energy strategies, AI, and more.

2025 will mark the ninth year in which Kirby Group Engineering has had a presence at Datacloud, so we have been involved for half of its lifetime to date, and it’s now a permanent fixture in our team’s calendar. In 2017, Kirby was a little over half a century old, with fewer than 700 direct employees, revenue of approximately €160m and we were an unknown player in the data centre industry.

Fast forward to 2025, and Kirby is now a key leader in the international Mechanical and Electrical Engineering and Construction industry. Kirby employs over 1,800 people and recorded turnover above €700m in 2024. We have bases across Ireland, the UK, mainland Europe and South Africa and our business is focused on the Data Centre, Life Sciences, Industrial, and Power & Renewables sectors.

It’s been a time of staggering transformation not just for ourselves but for the DC industry as a whole. Last year the World Economic Forum predicted 181 zettabytes of data would be created, captured, copied and consumed globally in 2025. Datacloud is where we go to meet the people leading innovations on how this information can be stored and protected for the future, in ways that must evolve alongside the ever-expanding ways in which it is created.

From a professional point of view, the networking opportunities are excellent. Several of my director-level colleagues will make the trip this year, which I think illustrates how seriously we take this event when it comes to beginning and building on valuable relationships with both end users and our fellow contracting organisations. Making the switch from Monaco to Cannes has afforded Datacloud more space to comfortably accommodate the growing numbers of people who recognise the value associated with this annual gathering.

From a personal perspective, Datacloud Global Congress is a hugely enjoyable experience. The atmosphere in the venue and at all of the associated events is one of excitement for the future and the innovation that stems from the people gathered in the Cannes sunshine.

This will be my first Datacloud Global Congress as CEO of Kirby Group Engineering, and I know it will offer a different perspective for my attendance at Datacloud 2025. Through my 18 years and various roles at Kirby, I have developed an in-depth understanding of our business and industry at every level and I believe this puts me in good stead to recognise opportunities to innovate and be creative across the business – and this is what I will be looking out for in Cannes this June, along with my team.

Some of the topics which I will be especially looking out for relate to the issues around energy and data centres going forward. With the exponential growth in data consumption, cloud services, and AI workloads, the pressure on data centre infrastructure, both in terms of energy demand and environmental impact, has never been greater. Every stakeholder in this space, from operators to regulators, is acutely aware of the challenges related to power consumption and temperature control.

I believe one of the more promising developments is in advanced cooling technologies, particularly liquid cooling systems. These approaches, which circulate liquid coolant directly to

heat-intensive components, are becoming increasingly important as traditional air-based cooling reaches its efficiency limits, especially in high-density environments driven by GPUs and AI accelerators. Not only do they offer better thermal performance, but they also significantly reduce overall power usage and operational costs.

Of course, there’s also a broader shift towards holistic energy strategies. We’re seeing data centres move to regions with access to renewable energy – Spain / Italy / Portugal are attracting large DC investments, as well as increased use of AI-driven automation to optimise thermal management in real-time. These trends—combined with regulatory developments pushing for transparency and carbon reduction—are reshaping how we design and operate data infrastructure.

I think Datacloud’s organisers have made the right call to feature this issue prominently on the agenda and I will be sure to attend relevant sessions, such as Wednesday’s panel about learning from the Nordics, particularly as we have a strong presence in the region – and ‘Decarbonising data centres: The future of digital infrastructure’ on Thursday.

Datacloud is an excellent place to discuss AI in the context of our industry and I’m sure those sessions will attract crowds of delegates, ourselves among them. Over the past 18 months we’ve made great strides in developing our native Kirby AI platform, KAI. The goal is to position it as a thought partner to everyone at Kirby. Successful trials within the digital construction department gave us the confidence to begin uploading required documentation and processes as we work towards a goal of developing a secure source of detailed information about every aspect of the company.

At its most advanced, I see KAI becoming central to decision-making. It will have the power to rapidly recall and assess any similar scenarios faced by the company in the past, judge potential savings or benefits for the company, identify alternative options, share lessons learned and most importantly, optimise decisions for success. Harnessing digital innovation has been a trademark at Kirby for decades now and I believe it will continue to put us at the forefront of our business for many more.

Kirby colleagues have often contributed to discussions on the stage at Datacloud, and this year our Director of Power and Renewables Michael Murray will take up the baton during a panel on Wednesday June 4th, entitled ‘De-risking the Supply Chain’. Curating and maintaining our supply chain has been a major focus since the early days of Kirby. Now in our 62nd year, we have built a very loyal group of suppliers who tend to move from project to project with us. We work together to an agreed set of standards and these are maintained through a collective understanding of our goal to deliver top-class results for customers.

At a time of increased volatility, I believe this strong network of suppliers means we’re well-placed to adjust to changing trends. We value and appreciate our suppliers – and vice-versa – and our interconnected way of working means we can communicate clearly to ensure a deep understanding of demands on each of our businesses, and how we can adapt to support shared goals.