Pulsant invests £1m in Birmingham data centre

UK data centre operator Pulsant is investing £1 million in its Birmingham data centre to support growing demand for AI and advanced computing in the UK’s "second city". The investment will fund infrastructure upgrades at the 2,405m² facility, which Pulsant acquired from IT services provider Specialist Computer Centres (SCC) last year. Located five miles southeast of the Birmingham city centre, the site has been integrated into Pulsant’s UK-wide edge infrastructure platform, which connects 14 regional data centres from Edinburgh to Fareham on the south coast. The facility provides local businesses with access to data centre infrastructure and more than 1,600 technology providers, including international carriers. The investment also includes security upgrades and a refurbishment of the facility for Pulsant staff and regional businesses that maintain their own infrastructure on site. Rob Coupland, CEO of Pulsant, says, “A year on from our acquisition in Birmingham, we’re excited to unveil powerful new capabilities in the UK’s second city - an economic powerhouse which has traditionally been underserved in terms of digital infrastructure. “We’re investing in our data centres to meet the urgent need for ultra low-latency, sovereign compute power across the UK. Our platform is here to support inference AI workloads today, and now we’re all set to scale in Birmingham as demand grows. “Businesses can move, store, and process their data securely close to where they’re based, rather than relying on public internet or routing through [an] increasingly constrained London, while also gaining access to a global ecosystem of tech partners.” Midlands businesses plan technology investment Recent Pulsant research found that the Midlands was the most data-confident region in the UK, with the most ambitious investment plans. More than 60% of Midlands businesses expect to make significant increases in technology investment within two years, compared with a national average of 47%. Russell Brown, CEO of SCC UK, comments, "We've worked closely with Pulsant over the last year and welcome this continued investment in UK digital infrastructure. "As organisations adopt AI and manage increasingly critical workloads, they are placing greater importance on resilience, security, and knowing where their data is stored and processed. "Investments like this help strengthen regional capability, give organisations more choice, and support the long-term growth of businesses across the Midlands and the wider UK." Pulsant worked with European fibre network provider Zayo Europe to connect the Birmingham site to its nationwide platform. Colman Deegan, CEO of Zayo Europe, notes, “Industry leaders constantly focus on compute power, but raw capacity is only half the equation. "Pulsant’s Birmingham upgrade solves the local power and space challenge, but heavy AI workloads will continue to stall if the underlying fibre networks can’t handle the traffic. That’s where this strategic partnership comes in. “By plugging the facility directly into our national backbone, we’re removing the infrastructure guesswork for Midlands businesses. It cuts out the London bottleneck entirely, delivering the seamless, low-latency connection required to run real-world AI applications across the region.” For more from Pulsant, click here.

KROHNE introduces data centre liquid cooling flowmeters

KROHNE, a German manufacturer of process instrumentation and flow measurement technology, is targeting data centre cooling efficiency with its flow measurement technology, including chilled water and liquid-to-chip applications, as operators manage increasing power and rack densities. The company’s electromagnetic and ultrasonic flowmeters measure liquid flow in cooling water loops, secondary circuits, and heat recovery systems. This data can then be used to monitor coolant distribution, manage pump and valve operation, and assess thermal performance. In liquid-to-chip cooling systems, flow measurement can help operators monitor glycol-water and other coolant circuits supplying individual racks and processors. Accurate flow data can also support automated control systems that adjust pump speeds and valve positions according to cooling requirements. Flow measurement supports heat recovery According to KROHNE, one data centre project using hybrid liquid cooling and waste heat recovery deployed approximately 40 KROHNE OPTIFLUX 4100 electromagnetic flowmeters to measure glycol-water flow through cooling circuits ranging from DN100 to DN250. The measurements are used to monitor heat dissipation and system efficiency, as well as support a thermal management system that captures waste heat for use in district heating networks. KROHNE also supplies flowmeters and temperature sensors for heating circuits, heat exchangers, and district heating connections. Measuring heat and cold transfer can help operators assess system performance and monitor the results of efficiency measures. The company cites other applications where flow and temperature measurement has been used to track hot and chilled water between geothermal probes, heat pumps, and concrete core conditioning systems. In one building-scale installation, the monitoring contributed to reduced natural gas consumption. KROHNE says its flowmeters are designed for long-term operation in demanding industrial environments, with applications including chemical processing and wastewater treatment. The technology can be integrated with existing monitoring and control systems used for data centre energy management.

iON+, ACCURE to streamline BESS data access

iON+, the data and asset performance management platform developed by Conrad Energy, has partnered with battery analytics provider ACCURE Battery Intelligence to simplify data access from battery energy storage system (BESS) assets. Under the partnership, iON+ will provide data services to ACCURE customers through a data bridge that extracts and records high-frequency data from BESS systems. The service will transfer data from BESS assets to the ACCURE platform in near real time. It can also return corrected values, including State of Energy (SoE), which can be used to inform dispatch and trading decisions. Corrected battery data supports trading The partnership is intended to reduce the time required to integrate BESS data, allowing iON+ to transfer high-frequency information from customers’ portfolios into ACCURE’s analytics platform. ACCURE says correcting SoE can make additional energy available for trading and reduce penalties associated with overstating available energy. The approach has been used at Gore Street Capital’s 75MW Dogfish BESS in Texas. ACCURE says analysis of operating data indicated an annual benefit of more than $110,000 (£80,655), equivalent to around a 5% increase against average BESS trading revenues in ERCOT. Corrected values went live at the site in July 2026 without additional hardware. ACCURE’s platform monitors battery performance down to cell level, with the company’s engineers working with asset owners and operators to identify issues such as imbalance. Rhys Kirk, Chief Technology Officer at iON+, says, “We are delighted to have formalised this mutually beneficial partnership with ACCURE. We have been working with ACCURE for some time and know from first-hand experience the breadth and quality of their analytics.” Yannick Gindroz, Head of Partnerships at ACCURE, says, “The iON+ team’s experience in extracting and transferring high-granularity data made them an obvious partner for us. In our industry, visibility is everything, and so we are always looking for ways to show our customers more of what their assets are doing.”

EcoDataCenter to establish third data centre in Sweden

Swedish sustainable data centre operator EcoDataCenter has signed an agreement with Smedjebacken Municipality to purchase 52 hectares of land for its third data centre campus in Sweden’s Dalarna region. The agreement follows a letter of intent between the company and municipality that has been in place since 2019. Construction is expected to begin once building and environmental permits are finalised, which is anticipated in early 2027. The campus has an initial planned capacity of 150MW, with potential for further expansion. Once fully developed, it is expected to support 125–150 permanent jobs, alongside several hundred additional roles during construction. As EcoDataCenter’s third site in Dalarna, the development follows its original campus in Falun and a second facility in Borlänge. Smedjebacken campus adds Swedish capacity The company says the new campus will expand its data centre capacity in a region that already hosts several hyperscale operators. Peter Michelson, CEO of EcoDataCenter, comments, "We have our roots in the region, and being able to continue to grow here is very important to us. We've had many productive discussions with Smedjebacken since 2019, and we are now taking the next step in this establishment." Fredrik Rönning, Chair of the Municipal Executive Board at Smedjebacken Municipality, adds, "This is a major step towards breaking ground. An establishment of this scale means a great deal for the local labour market. EcoDataCenter's high ambitions on sustainability were a decisive factor in the municipality's decision." For more from EcoDataCenter, click here.

LINX, JPIX launch London-to-Tokyo network route

Internet exchange operators the London Internet Exchange (LINX) and Japan Internet Xing (JPIX) have launched direct network routes between London and Tokyo, giving European networks access to JPIX’s interconnection platform and local peering opportunities in Japan. The partnership began in 2018, initially allowing networks in Tokyo to access content in London through LINX. Under the new service, LINX members can now connect directly to JPIX Tokyo through the LINX LON1 peering platform. JPIX says it will manage the connection and ordering process through a carrier partner, removing the need for customers to arrange separate local connectivity. Mike Hellers, Product Development Manager at LINX, comments, “It’s great to see this partnership flourish. We have a handful of networks now peering in London from Tokyo with quite high bandwidths. We are pleased to now be able to work with JPIX to provide the reverse route from London to Tokyo.” European networks gain Tokyo peering access The new route is intended to support demand for Japanese digital content from European networks, including content associated with anime, manga, and gaming. An introductory service for LINX members provides 1Gbps connectivity to JPIX for £400 per month, including transport bandwidth between LINX LON1 and JPIX Tokyo. Other bandwidth options up to 5Gbps are also available. Tetsuya Hamada, Senior Executive Expert at JPIX, says, “This new route is a wider project we are working on to increase the awareness of local peering in Japan for networks in Europe.” Tokyo is a major interconnection location, with more than 20 international subsea cable systems connecting Japan with North America, Southeast Asia, and Australia. The service expansion forms part of LINX IX Connect, a programme covering its collaborative work and network routes with other internet exchange points (IXPs), including JPIX, Namex in Rome, and NYIIX in New York. For more from LINX, click here.

FlexSysAI launches platform to manage DC energy demand

Australian energy technology company FlexSysAI has launched a platform designed to make data centre power demand more flexible by shifting GPU-based AI workloads between locations and times without affecting service. The platform connects electricity market and grid conditions with AI workload balancing, allowing compute to be shifted to locations where electricity is cheaper and more abundant. Non-critical workloads can also be reduced when the grid is under strain and electricity prices are high. FlexSysAI says the approach could help data centre operators connect to the grid sooner, reduce electricity costs, access renewable power when it is available, and receive payments for supporting grid operations. The company was founded by energy specialists, technologists, and entrepreneurs including Victor Feoktistov (pictured above), Angelo Perera, and Sean Senvirtne. The team has developed its demand response technology over several years and secured a retail licence providing customers with direct access to energy markets. Australia provides test market for flexible computing FlexSysAI is initially targeting Australia, where the electricity grid, growing data centre demand, and high penetration of renewable generation provide a testing environment for the platform. The company says it is exploring adoption with multiple data centres in Australia. It is backed by EnergyLab and Sean Senvirtne, and is part of NVIDIA’s Inception programme. The launch comes as governments consider approaches to managing increasing data centre electricity demand. The Australian Energy Market Commission recently recommended a national framework that includes operational flexibility as one potential approach to managing demand. FlexSysAI co-founder Victor Feoktistov says, “Data centres need a strategy for the power crunch that is holding back the sector. Physical grid constraints are beginning to bite and time to power is already a major constraint for operators. "These pressures are likely to worsen over the next two to three years, while regulatory pressure is moving even faster as more jurisdictions look to require flexibility from large energy users. “Operators stay in control, see a live price for flexibility, and choose when to shift workloads while connecting to the grid sooner and getting ahead of mandatory requirements that continue to emerge across key markets.” Angelo Perera, Chief Technology Officer at FlexSysAI, adds, “We are starting in Australia’s National Electricity Market as it has one of the world’s most challenging grids, and its structure and volatility strongly reward smarter, more flexible demand. "This makes Australia an ideal market to prove the technology before deploying it globally as we provide a long-term solution to the accelerating electricity demand problem.” FlexSysAI has formally stated it intends to expand into international markets as data centre electricity demand increases.

UK data centre lighting market to reach £130m

The UK data centre lighting market is projected to reach around £130 million by 2030, more than doubling from approximately £54 million in 2024, according to UK commercial lighting manufacturer Whitecroft Lighting. As the UK has become a major location for European data centre development, the company notes there has been an increasing demand for lighting and mechanical and electrical (M&E) infrastructure. Data centre lighting currently represents around 6% of the UK commercial lighting market. Based on the projected 2030 market value, this could rise to around 14%, exceeding the shares attributed to commercial offices and entertainment and leisure lighting (both at 13%) and education lighting (at 11%). Whitecroft estimates that the wider market will grow from £13 billion to £32 billion over the next four years, with the expansion of AI contributing to demand. “The unprecedented growth of the UK data centre market presents both big opportunities and challenges to lighting manufacturers,” says Richard Williams, Head of Strategic Projects at Whitecroft Lighting. “It’s impossible to ignore a growing £32 billion market on your doorstep. To put that in perspective, the entire capital investment budget for NHS estates is around £10 billion this year. “However, data centres present a unique environment, both in their complexity and scale, with developers facing systemic challenges, such as access to the grid and renewable energy, technical resilience, and access to water for cooling all taking precedence over more traditional construction and M&E.” Data centre projects create larger lighting contracts Richard explains that the value of data centre lighting relative to construction costs is lower than in typical commercial buildings. He continues, “As a result, Whitecroft’s Strategic Projects team have calculated that the value of data centre lighting, when compared to the overall cost of construction, is 60% lower than for a typical commercial building. “However, such is the size of the latest multi-billion-pound hyperscale data centres that larger manufacturers, such as Whitecroft Lighting, can offset this by fulfilling big, varied contracts.” Whitecroft says it has increasingly focused on large infrastructure projects where security and resilience are key considerations. In 2022, it secured a contract to design and manufacture LED lighting for Hinkley Point C, supplying 40,000 luminaires. The company also supplied £3 million of lighting for Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2 redevelopment, providing 25,000 lights. Whitecroft has since secured contracts to supply lighting for two data centres, one in Portugal and another near Frankfurt, Germany. The company is one of 13 specialist lighting brands within the European Fagerhult Group. Several brands within the group are collaborating on data centre projects across Europe, including Veko Lightsystems in the Netherlands.

AI infrastructure: Planning for long-term growth

This article from Antonio Castano, Global Market Development Director at AFL, highlights how a combination of technologies, architecture, and deployment models is driving the next generation of physical infrastructure. In today’s landscape, several infrastructure approaches are becoming increasingly relevant: • Neoclouds provide specialised compute capacity • Brownfield deployments accelerate AI implementation within existing facilities • DCI extends AI infrastructure across multiple facilities • CPO brings optical interfaces closer to compute and networking components • VSFF supports higher-density optical connectivity Each approach addresses a different requirement. However, the consistent, underlying planning challenge remains that AI deployments can change significantly between hardware generations, whilst optical cabling, pathways, and connectivity infrastructure typically remain in service for much longer periods. This means physical infrastructure needs sufficient capacity and flexibility to accommodate technologies that may not yet be widely deployed. Designing around a single AI architecture can limit future options, particularly where increasing fibre density, distributed connectivity, or new optical interfaces require changes to the physical layer. The long-term objective is to establish an infrastructure foundation that can support successive generations of AI systems without requiring extensive physical redesign. AI is not scaling through a single infrastructure model. As neoclouds, brownfield deployments, DCI, CPO, and VSFF connectivity reshape the data centre landscape, the physical layer must be designed as a flexible foundation that can adapt across multiple generations of AI architectures. Approaches to the infrastructure of tomorrow Neoclouds provide dedicated access to accelerated computing, allowing organisations to scale AI capacity without building equivalent facilities. This model can shorten deployment timelines whilst increasing demand for high-density power, cooling, networking, and optical connectivity. For infrastructure planners, the key consideration is ensuring supporting physical infrastructure can accommodate rapid changes in compute requirements. Brownfield deployments can accelerate AI capacity by reusing existing power, cooling, pathways, and facility space. However, infrastructure designed for conventional workloads may not accommodate the fibre density required by modern AI systems. For example, an NVIDIA NVL72 rack can require up to 1,152 fibre connections. Retrofitting requires careful planning for capacity and future upgrades. Data centre interconnect (DCI) allows AI environments to operate across multiple buildings, campuses, or locations. This approach can provide greater flexibility when capacity, power, or resilience requirements exceed what one facility can support. However, longer connections introduce additional considerations around latency, optical performance, power, and network architecture that must be addressed during infrastructure planning. Co-packaged optics (CPO) places optical interfaces closer to compute and networking components, reducing electrical transmission distances within systems. The architecture can support higher bandwidth while changing how fibre connectivity is presented around equipment. Physical infrastructure, therefore, needs sufficient flexibility in cable routing, fibre management, and connectivity capacity to accommodate evolving optical architectures. Very small form factor (VSFF) connectivity enables more optical connections within limited rack and panel space. Higher connection density becomes increasingly important as AI systems require greater numbers of fibres for high-speed networking. The benefit depends on adequate pathway capacity, patching space, and cable management, making VSFF part of a wider physical infrastructure strategy. Long-term AI growth: Building flexible foundations AI infrastructure will continue to combine different deployment models, facilities, optical technologies, and connectivity architectures. Because physical infrastructure remains in service longer than compute and networking hardware, capacity and flexibility are critical. A modular optical foundation allows operators to accommodate future AI requirements whilst protecting existing infrastructure investments. With AI infrastructure demands scaling fast, bringing new considerations that challenge traditional data centre design, AFL’s ‘AI Infrastructure’ whitepaper series, including Architecting AI at Scale and Building AI Training Clusters at 16K Accelerators, examines these requirements in greater detail. For a deeper dive, read AFL’s blog, What Does Sustained AI Growth Mean for Data Center Fiber Infrastructure? For more from AFL, click here.

Colt DCS appoints new CEO

Colt Data Centre Services (Colt DCS), a hyperscale and colocation data centre operator, has appointed Quy Nguyen as CEO, effective immediately. He has served as Acting CEO since April 2026, following the retirement of Niclas Sanfridsson. Quy joined Colt DCS in 2016 and has held senior leadership positions across sales and marketing, customer experience, design, and delivery. Most recently, he served as Chief Sales Officer, where he led the company’s commercial strategy and customer relationships. Before joining Colt DCS, Quy held senior roles spanning finance, strategy, and general management. As CEO, Quy will lead Colt DCS as it expands its global data centre platform. The company has nearly 800MW of capacity under development across global markets, with demand being driven by cloud adoption and the growth of AI workloads across Europe and Asia. Comments on the new appointment Tim Cohen, Chairman of Colt DCS, says, "Quy has demonstrated exceptional leadership during a period of significant growth and transformation for Colt DCS. "His deep understanding of our customers, our people, and our business, combined with his strategic vision and proven track record of execution, made him the outstanding choice to lead the company." Quy himself comments, "I am honoured to be appointed CEO of Colt DCS at such an exciting time for our company and industry. We have built a strong track record for delivering world-class digital infrastructure, fostering trusted customer relationships and executing ambitious growth plans across key markets. "I look forward to working alongside our talented teams around the world to build on our strong foundations, expand our global platform, and deliver long-term value for our customers, partners, and stakeholders." For more from Colt DCS, click here.

euNetworks sets new sustainability loan targets

euNetworks, a European bandwidth infrastructure company, has introduced two environmental performance targets through its Sustainability-Linked Loan (SLL), linking sustainability measures to the design and development of new network infrastructure. The revised framework introduces Network Development Impact by Design Plans for major network projects, alongside a target for continuous improvement in the company’s GRESB infrastructure benchmark score. euNetworks first established its €760 million (£650 million) SLL in 2021 to support the expansion of its fibre network across Europe. The facility was then refinanced and expanded to €1.26 billion (£1 billion) in 2024. The Impact by Design Plans will now apply to major projects requiring significant new network construction. These projects account for a large proportion of euNetworks’ annual capital investment and approximately two thirds of its current greenhouse gas emissions. The plans will assess lower-carbon materials, construction techniques, and supplier options during the design stage, before project specifications are finalised. The approach is intended to incorporate environmental considerations into commercial and engineering decisions alongside cost, delivery times, and customer requirements. New targets added to €1.26bn loan The GRESB target will measure continuous improvement against an infrastructure-focused benchmark covering governance, environmental management, and operational performance. Marisa Trisolino, CEO of euNetworks, says, “Our new SLL targets mark an important step in euNetworks’ commitment to growing our business sustainably, focusing our efforts on the areas where we can deliver the greatest impact. “The introduction of our NetDev Impact by Design Plans represents a significant evolution in how we approach major network development projects, embedding sustainability considerations from the very beginning of the design and planning process.” The targets complement euNetworks’ existing sustainability commitments, including its validated Science Based Targets, net zero by 2040 commitment, supplier engagement programme, and carbon measurement tools. For more from euNetworks, click here.