GreenScale publishes data centre grid design guidance

GreenScale, a developer of hyperscale data centre campuses, has published open-source design requirements to help data centre operators adapt mechanical and electrical (M&E) infrastructure to variable AI loads and evolving grid codes. The document, Grid & AI Load Compatibility: System Design Requirements for AI Load, Grid Code & Fault Ride-Through, was developed with contributions from vendors, partners, and independent experts. It outlines considerations for managing variable AI power demand, meeting grid connection requirements, complying with fault ride-through rules, supporting demand response, and adapting to future changes in grid codes and tenant load profiles. GreenScale says the guidance is intended to give operators a practical starting point for developing their own designs, reducing duplicated work and helping the industry progress towards compliance. Fault ride-through requirements are emerging as data centres become more significant participants in the electricity system, where grid stability is a shared objective. However, grid codes vary by region and continue to evolve, leaving no widely adopted common specification for data centre power systems to be designed and tested against. Liam Newcombe, SVP Product, Energy Strategy and Innovation at GreenScale, notes, “The deployment of AI requires data centres to move from being simple customers of the electricity grid to participants in the grid. "Data centres as a class are now large enough to impact grid stability, which means facilities need to adapt, incorporating capabilities such as fault ride-through to ensure this impact is positive, resulting in a resilient, stable grid. "The task is no longer simply to protect the IT equipment from the grid, but to meet the combined requirements of the IT equipment, data centre infrastructure, and electricity grid. “This document is published as a work in progress. It provides an initial approach that we hope others in the industry will test, challenge, and improve. By publishing it open-source, we hope to provide a useful starting point for others, sharing our learnings both direct and from our contributors.” Addressing evolving grid requirements The guidance promotes a base system design that accounts for foreseeable operating conditions, including load- and site-specific constraints that affect design, equipment selection, and specification. Examples include specifying uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems with fault ride-through capabilities and mechanical equipment able to operate across required voltage and frequency ranges. Liam says adaptability was a central principle, as AI load profiles, grid codes, and flexibility requirements continue to develop. The guidance aims to help project teams make proportionate decisions now and reduce the risk of costly equipment changes later. GreenScale suggests that modelling, technical data, and design knowledge developed through early projects could also be transferable to future data centre developments. The document is released under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) licence, allowing companies and individuals to use and build upon it under the licence terms. GreenScale is inviting data centre operators, designers, engineering consultants, utilities, technology providers, and independent experts to review and reuse the document, as well as to contribute to further industry discussion. For more from GreenScale, click here.

Using data centre waste heat with aquatherm piping systems

Data centres generate large amounts of waste heat as servers and cooling systems operate around the clock. Instead of discharging this heat into the environment, it can be captured and used as an energy source for nearby buildings or heating networks. To make this technically and economically viable, a reliable piping infrastructure is required to transport the thermal energy from the data centre to heat pumps, heat exchangers, and external consumers with low losses. aquatherm offers suitable solutions for this task: aquatherm blue for the internal data centre circuits, connecting servers, cooling equipment, and heat exchangers, and aquatherm energy, a pre-insulated PP piping system designed for underground distribution (for example, to local or district heating networks). Both systems are corrosion-free, durable, and designed for closed-loop operation, supporting the long-term use of data centre waste heat as a local energy resource. More details are available at Using Waste Heat from Data Centres: Turning Digital Heat into Community Warmth. For more from aquatherm, click here.

Huawei Cloud rolls out enterprise AI products

On 18 September, Peter Zhou, Director of the Board at Huawei and CEO of Huawei Cloud, delivered a keynote titled The Agentic Cloud for the Agentic World: Build Together, Grow Together at Huawei Connect 2026. He shared Huawei Cloud's latest progress. He announced the global launch of the latest AI Cluster Service (AICS), a key step in Huawei Cloud's strategy to strengthen the silicon bedrock on the cloud and reinforce the foundation for agentic AI. The keynote also highlighted the Agentic Model as a Service (MaaS) platform, which brings together diverse models to accelerate model capabilities as services at scale. The AgentArts enterprise-grade agent platform already serves over 100 enterprises. The Industry AI Foundry has accumulated more than 1,000 industry assets, with over 1,000 projects deployed. The Industry AI Foundry now includes two new zones, Smart Government Zone and AI Hardware Zone, to drive agents toward large-scale adoption. These efforts, taken together, are building a thriving AI ecosystem on the cloud. Building Agentic Infra for agents Peter also highlighted that, in the agentic era, infrastructure no longer simply exists to provide compute. Instead, its purpose has expanded to making every token more efficient, coordinating general and AI compute, enabling models to keep learning, and, more importantly, running agents securely and reliably within real production environments. Huawei Cloud has defined Agentic Infra, a new paradigm around efficient tokens, enhanced memory, unified general & AI scheduling, and secure autonomy. To date, Agentic Infra has served over 3,500 customers. • The latest AICS is built on a five-level fast recovery mechanism with full-chain observability. It supports over 40 days of stable training on cloud and is capable of fault recovery within 10 minutes. Furthermore, supported by coordinated optimisation across scheduling, cache, and algorithms, it delivers 20% higher token throughput than the previous generation of compute service. The latest AICS will be commercially available in China on 30 September and in markets outside China on 30 November. • The Context Memory Storage (CMS) solution addresses the needs of long-horizon agent tasks for memory capacity and access efficiency. It provides a petabyte-scale memory space, twice the storage capacity of comparable industry products, and supports high-speed terabyte-scale memory reads with 50% higher performance than industry peers. • Agentic MaaS brings together diverse models, enabling developers to invoke state-of-the-art (SOTA) models from leading providers with just one click and no deployment required. At the event, MiniMax demonstrated its advanced multimodal model, which, combined with Huawei Cloud, delivers open, cutting-edge multimodal capabilities. Building an enterprise-grade agent platform to help enterprises develop and use agents effectively Huawei Cloud is advancing its enterprise-grade agent platform through a dual approach: commercial and open source. Built on AgentArts and its open-source edition, openJiuwen, the platform opens up more than 5,000 general Model Context Protocol (MCP) assets and over 1,000 industry-specific MCP assets, making it easier for enterprises to develop, use, and manage agents. To date, the platform has served more than 100 customers, including the Shenzhen Longgang District Government, China Southern Power Grid, Guangzhou Laboratory, the University of Science and Technology of China, Kingsoft Office, Sichuan Yingu Carbon Sink Renewable Resources Co., Ltd., Changsha Thunder Cloud Network Technology Co., Ltd., and KingMed Diagnostics. At the event, Kingsoft Office shared its implementation practices based on Huawei Cloud's agent platform. By deeply integrating the agent platform with the WPS 365 Document Center and WPS Comate, Kingsoft Office has built vertical office agents that are now deployed across multiple industries, including finance and government. Huawei Cloud has announced that AgentArts will be commercially available in markets outside China on 30 December. To date, the openJiuwen open-source community has surpassed 50,000 stars and 3.29 million downloads. Together with Chinasoft International, iSoftStone Group, and Beiming Software, Huawei Cloud has launched partner commercial editions and shared a broad market space, helping partners thrive on Huawei Cloud's silicon bedrock. Advancing the Industry AI Foundry to accelerate AI adoption at scale across industries Through the Industry AI Foundry, Huawei Cloud brings together assets such as industry scenarios, models, data, knowledge, and agents, turning industry know-how from isolated project experience into reusable industry capabilities. It has built five industry-specific zones — Smart Healthcare Zone, Embodied AI Zone, AI for Science (AI4S) Zone, Smart Manufacturing Zone, and Smart Finance Zone — with over 1,000 industry-specific assets and more than 1,000 deployed projects. Two new zones have been launched within the Industry AI Foundry: Smart Government Zone and AI Hardware Zone. The Smart Government Zone has already brought together 24 founding partners, covering a range of scenarios such as government office operations, public services, urban governance, and industry development. The AI Hardware Zone has onboarded 15 core partners, covering more than 20 device types, including AI glasses, AI toys, and AI recording cards, along with over 10 scenario templates and more than 110 scenario skills. From infrastructure and enterprise-grade agent platforms to industry ecosystems, Huawei Cloud is committed to building an open agentic cloud, with open infrastructure to power AI, an open platform to support enterprises in effectively developing and using agents, and an open industry ecosystem to accelerate AI adoption at scale. Ultimately, Huawei Cloud looks to move forward with customers and partners to build and grow together in the agentic era. Themed Advancing the Agentic World, Huawei Connect 2026 delved into AI across three dimensions: strategy, technology, and ecosystems. You can catch up on in-depth looks at Huawei's latest strategic initiatives, and how the company also unveiled its all-new digital and intelligent infrastructure products, scenario-specific solutions for industries, and development tools. The event ran from 17 to 19 September at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center and Shanghai Expo Center. For more information, please visit Huawei Connect 2026 online by clicking here. For more from Huawei, click here.

Kao Data appoints new CFO

Data centre developer and operator Kao Data has appointed Bruce Claassen as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), with the appointment taking effect on 1 October 2026. Bruce joins Kao Data as the company progresses developments in Stockport, Greater Manchester, and Park Royal, West London, alongside its AI-ready campus in Harlow, Essex. He brings more than 20 years of experience leading finance organisations across multinational and multi-sector businesses, with experience in capital investment, refinancing, and finance team development. Bruce joins from Global Switch, where he spent four years as Group Finance Director and most recently Acting CFO, leading the company's finance organisation across Europe and APAC, overseeing refinancing programmes, and supporting its international expansion. He comments, “The data centre industry is experiencing an unprecedented period of transformation, and I am excited to be joining one of the UK’s leading digital infrastructure businesses as it continues to support growing demand from the AI and hyperscale cloud sectors. “I look forward to working closely with the board, our investors, and the leadership team to deliver Kao Data's long-term growth strategy, building on the company’s strong foundations and reputation for developing and operating data centres engineered for AI and advanced computing workloads.” New CFO joins as Kao Data expands Spencer Lamb, CEO at Kao Data, says, “Bruce brings extensive experience of operating within fast-paced, high-growth, private equity-backed businesses, together with deep expertise in capital investment and refinancing. “We are delighted to welcome him to Kao Data as CFO. His combination of digital infrastructure expertise, financial leadership, and private equity experience makes him an excellent fit as we continue to accelerate our growth ambitions and meet increasing customer demand.” Bruce began his career in international listed companies before moving into senior finance roles at Towergate, Worldpay, RAC, and Global Switch. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in London and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. For more from Kao Data, click here.

Schneider Electric unveils software-defined MV switchgear

Global energy technology company Schneider Electric has unveiled what it describes as the world's first fully software-defined medium-voltage (MV) switchgear, designed to change how electrical distribution systems are deployed and operated for AI factories and other applications. Announced at YOTTA 2026 in Las Vegas, USA, the equipment forms part of Schneider Electric's Software Defined Energy approach, which separates system intelligence from hardware and uses software to add functionality and performance updates. Traditional MV systems often rely on engineered-to-order designs, which can result in longer lead times and complex procurement. Schneider Electric's software-defined approach uses standardised hardware platforms and over-the-air software updates, allowing functionality to be changed without physical modifications. The company says the modular architecture can reduce system complexity, with less wiring and fewer components. Based on Schneider Electric's studies and estimates, the approach can deliver up to three times faster ordering and manufacturing, whilst digital commissioning processes can enable up to twice as fast commissioning and on-site acceptance testing. Software-defined approach to medium-voltage equipment The equipment includes connectivity and analytics for real-time system monitoring, alongside AI-powered predictive maintenance through EcoCare Services. Schneider Electric says this can provide greater visibility into system performance and help reduce unplanned downtime. Melton Chang, Executive Vice President, Power Systems Division at Schneider Electric, notes, “Data centres are being asked to build faster than traditional power infrastructure can move. “With Software Defined MV switchgear, we are bringing the logic of software to medium-voltage equipment so customers can deploy in a fraction of the time, standardise across regions, and add new capabilities with zero downtime.” The equipment has already been deployed through a pilot with Equinix in a live colocation data centre environment. Greg Metcalf, Senior Director, Global Data Center Design and Innovation at Equinix, comments, “Software Defined MV Equipment transform the way we design, procure, build, and operate MV switchgear, allowing increased standardisation for multiple use cases whilst maintaining the highest standards of safety, quality, and reliability. “We look forward to deepening our collaboration with Schneider Electric as we continue to innovate and scale for the future.” Schneider Electric plans to extend the software-defined MV architecture across its medium-voltage portfolio and, progressively, other parts of the powertrain. Pilot programmes are expected to continue through 2027, with broader availability planned from 2028. The company says the approach is intended to support faster project execution, greater operational visibility, and lifecycle-based service models for electrical infrastructure. For more from Schneider Electric, click here.

Leviton invests $100m in network infrastructure

Leviton, a manufacturer of cabling, fibre, and connectivity products for data centres and enterprise networks, has announced a $100 million (£75 million) global capital investment in its Network Solutions business, aimed at expanding manufacturing capacity for fibre-optic and copper networking systems. The five-year investment follows an $80 million (£60 million) capital programme completed in 2025. Leviton says the new investment is in response to demand for networking products for AI infrastructure and smart buildings. Daryoush Larizadeh, President and CEO of Leviton, comments, “For 120 years, Leviton has remained relevant by looking beyond today’s demands and investing in what comes next. “This $100 million commitment to our Network Solutions business underscores our determination to lead through innovation, manufacturing excellence, and customer partnership.” The investment covers Leviton's Network Solutions manufacturing facilities for fibre-optic and copper systems. It includes increased capacity for Category 6A cabling and connectors, as well as expanded fibre-optic cabling and connectivity manufacturing for enterprise and data centre networks. Expanding fibre and copper capacity Ross Goldman, COO of Leviton Network Solutions, notes, “While many organisations remain cautious amid volatile raw material and energy costs, Leviton believes this is the right time to invest. “The expansion of AI, smart buildings, and high-performance networks is happening at an unprecedented pace. With this five-year investment, we’re ensuring our customers have access to the capacity, quality, and global scale they need, when they need it most.” The investment follows Leviton's previous capital programme, which expanded global production capacity, doubled the size of its Fuquay-Varina (North Carolina) facility, and increased its copper and fibre manufacturing capabilities. Ross concludes, “Capital investments like these are not just about adding capacity; they are about building long-term capability and service. Our customers are planning infrastructure for decades of AI-driven growth. We’re matching that vision with the foresight to invest in world-class manufacturing, even in challenging market conditions.” For more from Leviton, click here.

ECOC Exhibition honours optical connectivity innovation

Eight companies have been recognised at the ECOC Exhibition Industry Awards 2026 for innovations in optical connectivity. The awards, presented in Málaga, Spain, recognise developments across optical modules, test and measurement, fibre infrastructure, and access networks, including technologies for photonics, quantum computing, and AI data centres. The winners are Avencia Tech, China Telecom, Ciena, Corning Optical Communications, Furukawa Electric, Keysight Technologies, Lumentum, and Semtech Corporation. Michael Lebby, Awards Committee Chairman at the ECOC Exhibition, says, “Congratulations to this year’s winners of the ECOC Exhibition Industry Awards 2026 for their contributions and innovations to the optical communications industry. “It is great to see such strong momentum across the industry as new challenges and opportunities emerge from the sectors of photonics, quantum computing, fibre infrastructure, and AI data centres.” Optical connectivity award winners The award categories and winning products are: • Best Optical Module: Ciena’s Vesta 200 6.4T CPX• Best Optical Test & Measurement Process: Keysight Technologies’ N4378A Lightwave Component Analyzer (LCA) – 220GHz• Fibre Infrastructure Innovation: Furukawa Electric’s Snap-Beam Connector: Compact, Detachable Optical Connector for PIC Integration• Optical Access Innovation: China Telecom’s Industrial Network All-Optical Intelligent Connectivity (Industrial PON)• Optical Communication Innovation: Corning Optical Communications’ CPO FlexConnect fibre• Optical Component (Chip/Wafer) Innovation: Semtech Corporation’s 224Gbps per lane TIA family for linear pluggable optics• Optical Component (Package/OSA/Fibre) Innovation: Lumentum’s VCSEL-based FOWLP optical engine for AI scale-up networks Two further awards were presented as part of the Post Deadline Awards: • Higher optical communications value chain technology & products: China Telecom’s Optical Access Network 'Network-Compute-Intelligence' Integrated Intelligent Interconnection• Lower optical communications value chain technology & products: Avicena Tech’s LightBundle eKit: 1Tbps evaluation kit for microLED-based interconnects The ECOC Exhibition Industry Awards recognise technologies and companies in the optical communications sector. The 2026 awards covered developments intended to address requirements for AI, cloud, and high-capacity connectivity.

A-Gas at Chillventa: Discover the LRM journey for data centres

A-Gas is a company specialising in the lifecycle management of refrigerants, which is increasingly relevant as the industry looks to reduce its carbon emissions and move away from high global warming potential (GWP) gases. For over 30 years, A-Gas has supported clients and partners, including those in the data centre sector, on their environmental journey as an enabler of lifecycle refrigerant management (LRM) and circularity in the industry, with world-class processes for the safe recovery, reclamation, and destruction of used refrigerants. This LRM circular approach is the opposite of the 'take, make, and dispose' model that has dominated the refrigerant industry for decades. By recovering used refrigerant gases and reclaiming them to AHRI 700 standards, A-Gas makes better use of existing resources and reduces the need for virgin production. Re-supplying these products to the market helps the wider heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC-R) industries embrace circular economy principles. Where no future reuse is possible, A-Gas uses United Nations-approved destruction technology to eliminate the gases in a safe and environmentally responsible way. During the three days of Chillventa, A-Gas will take visitors on a journey through the different phases of Lifecycle Refrigerant Management (LRM). A-Gas will highlight how each phase impacts the refrigerant lifecycle and demonstrate how its products and services support customers at every stage. • Recovery — featuring globally renowned services such as Rapid Recovery and Rapid Exchange• Supply — showcasing its expertise in multiple refrigerants, including low and ultra-low GWP refrigerants, as well as the new blends• Reclaim — highlighting world-class reclamation capabilities that restore refrigerants to AHRI 700 standards for re-supply Why Rapid Recovery is important for data centres For data centre operators, Rapid Recovery is a key part of this approach. The sector has specific requirements in terms of speed and efficiency, which A-Gas is able to address promptly, keeping server downtime to a minimum. In this context, one aspect that is often underestimated is the logistical complexity involved in challenging environments such as hyperscale data centres and edge infrastructure. In these cases, decommissioning or retrofit operations may involve large quantities of refrigerant and require rapid intervention to minimise disruption to operations, which could otherwise result in significant inconvenience and substantial financial losses. Rapid Recovery is a high-speed, on-site refrigerant recovery programme delivered by highly specialised technicians using purpose-built proprietary technologies, lorries equipped with 120-metre flexible recovery hoses and other company assets, including 1,000-litre drums and high-performance vacuum pumps. The service removes refrigerant at speeds of up to 10 times those of traditional recovery processes, while operating in full compliance with local and international regulations. It also includes comprehensive support with all required documentation. The service can be adapted to applications of any size and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A-Gas meets visitors at Chillventa Discover A-Gas solutions and more by visiting A-Gas in Hall 1 - Booth 1-332. The team looks forward to welcoming you and guiding you through the LRM journey. For more from A-Gas, click here.

SUBCO announces 'largest subsea build in Indo-Pacific history'

SUBCO, an Australian developer of undersea fibre optic cable networks, has announced three new subsea cable systems - APX North, APX East-2, and APX West - to provide additional connectivity capacity for AI and other data-intensive applications across the Indo-Pacific. APX North is a 9,500km, 24-fibre-pair system that will connect Sydney to Japan via Guam. It will be the first hypercable from Australia to connect directly to Guam, and the first system to provide direct connectivity between Japan and Australia. Like SMAP, APX North will include switched branching units, allowing selected fibre pairs to bypass landing in Guam and operate directly between Australia and Japan. APX East-2, meanwhile, is a 10,000km, 24-fibre-pair system connecting Guam to Los Angeles. It is intended to provide additional route diversity between the US, Japan, and Australia via Guam. Bevan Slattery, founder and Co-CEO of SUBCO, explains, “This segment is vital and will serve as the backbone for trans-Pacific traffic between Asia and the US, as well as providing diverse connectivity for Australia and Japan via APX North. We expect this system to be incredibly popular.” The third system, APX West, is a 4,600km, 24-fibre-pair system connecting Perth to Singapore, with branches to Jakarta and Batam in Indonesia. The system is designed to provide additional resilience and flexibility through switching in and out of regional interconnection hubs in Batam and Jakarta. Bevan continues, “Singapore and Indonesia remain critical to Asia's connectivity landscape, and their strategic importance will only grow as bandwidth demand accelerates. "New interconnection hubs are needed to deliver greater flexibility and route diversity. We are building as much of that as possible into our system design and making that available to our cornerstone customers through APX West.” SUBCO is targeting completion of all three systems in 2029. Connecting Australia and Southeast Asia “I know it’s ambitious, but it’s achievable and it’s necessary. We are finalising the details of cable supply and vessels and expect to be Contract in Force on all three systems by early next year,” says Bevan. “People have been slow to understand that AI factories are dead without massive subsea connectivity to carry tokens from factory to customers - hundreds and hundreds of terabits per second. That’s why we are about to undertake the single largest subsea infrastructure build ever by a carrier in the Indo-Pacific. "Not only is the build itself huge, but the timeframe is compressed with over 40,000km of cable to be installed in just over three years. Our team has signed up for the challenge and will grow significantly as each system reaches CIF.” For more from SUBCO, click here.

Datum progresses Farnborough data centre build

Alex Baker, Labour MP for Aldershot, has toured UK data centre provider Datum Datacentres' Cody Technology Park campus to see progress on FRN2, the company's second Farnborough data centre. The steel frame is now complete, with construction having moved to the roof. FRN2 is targeted to become operational in 2027, adding 22,000ft² (2044m²) of technical space and supporting up to 30kW per rack. The project is being delivered at Cody Technology Park, which Datum describes as one of the UK's most secure technology campuses. The development is expected to create skilled jobs during construction and operation. Alex Baker MP comments, “This is a hugely significant project for Farnborough which will help to provide the digital services that businesses in our area need to grow. "Datum’s business creates skilled jobs and valuable training opportunities for local people - directly and indirectly - while showing how investment in our digital infrastructure can support a more sustainable future. I look forward to returning when the new data centre opens its doors.” FRN2 construction reaches roof stage Mark Richards, Chief Financial Officer at Datum Datacentres, notes, “There aren't many places in the UK where you could build a facility like FRN2, and we're fortunate that one of them is our home. "The frame is up, the roof is underway, and, by 2027, this building will be supporting organisations across the country. It matters to us that our MP took the time to see the work while it's happening, because construction is the part of a data centre's life the public never usually sees.” The development follows construction of a similarly specified facility at Datum's northern campus in Manchester. Launched in June 2025, MCR2 is providing data centre capacity for the North West's digital economy. For more from Datum Datacentres, click here.