Insights into Data Centre Investment & Market Growth

First large-scale data centre for the Baltic states

The largest and most energy efficient data centre in the region was opened recently in Estonia. The building that cost nearly €40m is the first of the three buildings to be built in the same area, all of which will contribute to the development of the Baltic e-commerce and digital societies. To the ordinary citizen, this means a smaller ecological footprint of data, and even better access to e-services. In addition, the opening of the building complex will multiply the data hosting export potential of the region. "Data centres are the physical foundation of our current and future digital society, without which our way of life and business activities would be unthinkable. Greenergy’s top-tier and high energy efficiency data centre will increase the competitiveness of the Estonian economy and will create the necessary infrastructure for the digital transformation", says the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology, Andres Sutt, after participating in the opening. According to him, up until now, there was no such high-level digital infrastructure in Estonia, and the new data centre will remarkably increase the competitiveness of the companies of this area. It will also create favourable conditions for foreign companies to offer their services on the Estonian or Baltic market. Founding the Greenergy Data Centres took more than five years to get from its inception to opening, and experts from six countries participated in the process. "The complex opened today conforms to all of the highest international security standards and aims at 25% higher energy efficiency than the market’s average," says Kert Evert, the person behind the idea of creating the data centre. "Technologically speaking, we are at the absolute top of the world." The first building spans 14,500 square metres. The total planned capacity of the complex is 31.5MW – in other words, the centre's electrical connections could cover the energy needs of a smaller town. As the data centre must be prepared for the unexpected and always function, every important support system of the complex is duplicated. In some places, back-up systems have their own back-up systems. For example, there will be as many as eight fibre optic connection cables entering the territory, and they will reach the building from four different sides. Security fences, roadblocks, rotating cameras with motion, and heat sensors take care of the data centre's security, and the entire complex is covered by a 360-camera surveillance system. Only those who are authorised will have access to the data centre, which will be, among other things, ensured by a biometric identification. The Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund provided funding for building the facility.

BigChange appoints Paul Monaghan as Chief Sales Officer

BigChange has announced the appointment of Paul Monaghan as its first Chief Sales Officer. Paul is responsible for accelerating BigChange’s growth domestically and internationally. Paul joins BigChange from Lead Forensics, a business-to-business focused software provider, where he was Global Sales Director. Before that he led sales and channel activities across 22 countries for cloud collaboration company Intrado. His appointment is an important step in BigChange’s development. In February 2021, the company secured a £75 million investment from Great Hill Partners to support its growth ambitions. Paul Monaghan, Chief Sales Officer of BigChange, says: “It’s great to be joining BigChange, at this phase of its growth. We have an amazing platform that really transforms the way that our customers run their businesses. BigChange is a proven enabler of success and I’m excited by the prospect of driving growth and sustainability for field service firms worldwide.” Richard Warley, CEO of BigChange, says: “I’m very pleased to welcome Paul to BigChange to support our expansion plans and help more businesses grow stronger. He has a strong track record of serving customers, building high performing sales teams and delivering sustained growth for software companies.” 

Kao Data expands UK data centre footprint with 16MW facility in Slough

Kao Data has announced the availability of a 16 Megawatt (MW), carrier-neutral data centre in Slough, West London. The launch marks a new beginning for Kao Data following the recent investment of approximately £130 million from global infrastructure business Infratil Limited, and will expand its ultra-sustainable data centre platform into this globally significant data centre hub. The build, now underway, will adhere to the high-performance design, efficiency, and operational blueprint of Kao Data’s Harlow campus, providing customers with an SLA-backed PUE of <1.2, even at partial loads. From a sustainability standpoint, the new facility will use an ultra-efficient cooling system, be powered by 100% renewable energy, with its backup power generators powered by hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) from the outset, removing fossil fuels in their entirety. Further, the data centre will provide the industrial-scale capabilities that the Kao Data brand is well-known for. The facility is already set to become NVIDIA DGX-Ready Data Centre certified and OCP-Ready, serving the needs of high performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI) and enterprise customers, all of whom rely on the finest, Tier 3 equivalent environments to support and scale their mission-critical workloads. “The launch of our new Slough data centre offers data-intensive enterprises within the highly sought-after West London Availability Zone, the opportunity to benefit from significant new capacity, as well as the advantage of working with Kao Data’s award-winning, sustainable infrastructure and expert technical and operations teams,” says Lee Myall, CEO, Kao Data. “With this move we are excited to be strengthening our data centre footprint across the UK and establish ourselves within the world’s second largest data centre hub. Kao Data has seen tremendous growth over the last 12 months, and the launch of our Slough facility is the next step in our continuing development.” With a strong and varied existing customer base from key sectors, including financial services, life sciences, defence, artificial intelligence and the cloud, Kao Data’s expansion into the West of London presents its current colocation customers with increased diversity and resilience. Further, it offers new customers the immediate scope to quickly scale their existing colocation footprints and safeguard their future power provision. Finally, with the facility powered with 100% renewable energy, its back-up generators utilising renewable HVO fuel, and its power and cooling architectures providing an ultra-low PUE, Kao Data’s data centre will set new standards within Slough for sustainability.

Neterra listed as a key data centre investor in Central and Eastern Europe

Neterra is listed as a key data centre investor in Central and Eastern Europe, according to the report Central and Eastern Europe Data Centre Market - Industry Outlook & Forecast 2022-2027, published by the international information service provider GII. The list also includes Amazon, Microsoft, Equinix, Google, Digital Realty, NTT, Yandex and others. As a company that has been operating in the global market for 26 years, providing worldwide connectivity in a highly competitive environment, Neterra has been investing long-term and strategically in the construction and maintenance of independent, neutral data centres. Neterra provides its customers with first-class colocation, fast and secure connectivity, equipment and servers for rent, lower cooling costs, 24/7 support. Sofia Data Centre 1 (SDC 1) is in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was built in accordance with the requirements of TIER III. The building is specially designed for a data centre and meets the highest international standards. SDC Stolnik is part of the Stolnik Park Data Centre - the largest data centre and telecommunications hub in the region. It offers unlimited space for colocation and power. SDC Stolnik also has specially designed crypto-mining halls. SDC Ruse is the main point of presence of BFOR (Bulgarian Fiber Optics Route) - the shortest route between Romania and Turkey. In March 2022, Neterra is going to open its newest data centre, Sofia Data Centre 2 (SDC 2). It is located next to SDC 1, and its customers will benefit from the already established business and telecommunications infrastructure - connectivity with all existing Neterra customers and access to high-speed, secure and reserved international networks and routes. The first customers of SDC 2 receive a 10% discount from the standard colocation price. Through its data centres and the already established global network of points of presence in more than 180 countries, Neterra provides a wide portfolio of services: international connectivity and connection with some of the world's largest operators and content creators. SDC provides customers also with high-performance physical and cloud servers, DDoS attacks protection, backup services (BaaS). Thus, companies spend investment in expensive equipment, specialists and software, relying on impeccable technical and IT support.

Schneider Electric recognised in Corporate Knights’ Global 100 for the 11th year

Schneider Electric has recently earned its place in the top ranks of Corporate Knights’ annual Global 100 list of most sustainable corporations for the 11th time. The Canadian media and research company examines over 6,900 companies worldwide every year to determine the top 1% most sustainable corporations. The Global 100 methodology is based on 23 key performance indicators, with 50% of the weight of scores assigned to a company’s share of Clean Revenues and Investment. According to Corporate Knights, Global 100 most sustainable companies outperform by generating more than four times as much revenue per tonne of carbon emitted than the average company in MSCI All Country World Index. Schneider Electric has featured on Corporate Knights’ Global 100 every year since 2012, making it to the top spot in 2021, and fourth this year. This performance is thanks to Schneider’s integration of sustainability into its business strategy. In 2021, Schneider Electric reinforced its sustainability consulting business to support more partners and customers in their own sustainable transformation. “There is no magic formula to being repeatedly listed as a most sustainable company, it’s about doing well and doing good” comments Olivier Blum Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer of Schneider Electric, “As an impact company, we embrace sustainability as a business opportunity and an opportunity for all. It’s part of our model, culture, strategy, and the way we embark our entire ecosystem of employees, supply chain partners and customers, in delivering on our purpose day-in, day-out.” Schneider Electric already started the year on a high with regards to its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance, following the recent announcement of global recognition from four ESG ratings in 2021, including the CDP Climate Change A list or Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.

DigiCert acquires IoT cybersecurity provider Mocana

DigiCert has announced that it has acquired Internet of Things (IoT) cybersecurity provider Mocana. The combination of DigiCert and Mocana technologies provides IoT manufacturers and operators with a comprehensive platform for managing security across the full IoT device lifecycle. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition strategically accelerates DigiCert’s presence in the fast-growing IoT market. IDC estimates there will be more than 55 billion connected devices by 2025, with growth fueled by organizational investment in IoT platforms for achieving operational efficiency, digital transformation and competitive differentiation.  “IoT security has been a challenge for device manufactures and operators,” says DigiCert CEO John Merrill. “With the addition of Mocana, DigiCert is building on its vision for delivering digital trust, a growing necessity in the IoT market as smart devices become ubiquitous in every corner of our personal and professional lives. We are excited to introduce new and existing customers to our integrated platform and welcome the addition of Mocana’s expertise in IoT technology and the industrial and manufacturing verticals to the DigiCert team.”  “We have had a strategic partnership with Mocana for years and truly value their contribution to our product portfolio,” comments James Kline, senior director of program management at ABB Inc. “We are excited about the backing from DigiCert as a global leader in IoT security.”   The combination of DigiCert and Mocana provides customers with a means to manage device identity, secure connections, prevent device tampering, and update firmware and settings remotely and securely once in the field. This end-to-end platform reduces security vulnerabilities and enables digital transformation that is made possible from information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) convergence. “Mocana is excited to be joining the DigiCert team,” says Mocana CTO Srinivas Kumar. “Together, our solutions uniquely solve the challenges of security, from embedding security protections on-chip or at device manufacturing to on-device secure communications and firmware updates once in the field.”    

JumpCloud appoints Anita Sands to Board of Directors

JumpCloud has introduced Anita Sands as the newest member of its board of directors. A renowned public and private company director, Sands brings over two decades of investment and operations experience, including her role as COO at UBS's Wealth Management Americas group. Sands also serves on the boards at ServiceNow, Nubank, Unqork, and a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company)  sponsored by the SoftBank Vision Fund. “Anita’s experience with high-growth companies and their executive leaders in scaling and defining new markets is essential to JumpCloud,” says Rajat Bhargava, CEO, JumpCloud. “Our customers and the market are validating that only a directory can serve as the backbone for everything IT admins have to do to secure and manage distributed workforces and the apps and data they need to access. Anita has a wealth of insights into disruptive technologies and approaches, and is already contributing those insights to shape what we’re developing, how we’re growing, and how we can continue delivering more and better for our customers every day.” IT is undergoing a seismic shift as legacy systems for managing users and resources prove inflexible and expensive. Many legacy systems require complicated architectures to simply meet basic needs of hybrid-remote work and cloud-forward businesses, and organizations are forced to adapt by integrating suboptimal workarounds. Some businesses are bound by an on-premise, legacy directory and must extend it with multiple standalone solutions like single sign-on (SSO), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and device management. Others, who are wary of vendor lock-in, or are all too aware of the limitations of Active Directory, attempt to manage users without a directory and are forced to juggle dozens of individual systems to connect employees to resources. JumpCloud’s directory platform eliminates all those hassles and shortcomings with a single, simple tool for securely managing heterogeneous applications, devices, and user identity.  “Too many organizations limit their own growth due to inertia, sticking with inefficient and costly solutions because of a legacy mindset,” comments Sands. “JumpCloud is positioned perfectly to disrupt this paradigm, by making its cloud directory the foundational tool for securely connecting employees to whatever resource they need to do their job, no matter what device they’re using or where they’re logging in from. JumpCloud doesn’t just enable organizations to offer remote and hybrid work, it offers a singular tool that powers all of IT without burdening users or the admins managing it.”   A former Fulbright scholar, Sands holds a master’s degree in public policy and management as well as a doctorate in atomic and molecular physics. In addition to her board work, Sands was the 2021 James Wei Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship at Princeton University, where she taught Female Entrepreneurship. Sands’ appointment follows a series of growth, product, and financial milestones for JumpCloud, including its $225M Series F funding round, key executive hires, continued industry validation, and channel program expansion.

Power distribution market to reach $7.9 billion by 2030: says AMR

According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global power distribution unit market was estimated at $4.1 billion in 2020 and is expected to hit $7.9 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 6.9% from 2021 to 2030. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the top investment pockets, top winning strategies, drivers and opportunities, market size and estimations, competitive scenario, and varying market trends. Rise in demand for stable power and increase in focus toward reducing energy losses drive the growth of the power distribution unit market. On the other hand, space constraint and complex wiring systems with increasing number of power distribution units restrain the growth to some extent. However, surge in number of data centres across the globe is projected to create lucrative opportunities in the industry. COVID-19 scenario During the pandemic, the trend of work-from-home has been highly effective for non-manufacturing sectors, which in turn gave way to utilisation of more spaces in data centres. This factor augmented the demand for power distribution units. However, dearth of raw materials hampered the production rate of power distribution unit, thereby giving a mixed impact to the global power distribution unit market. The global power distribution unit market is analysed across type, phase, end-user industry, and region. Based on type, the metered PDU segment accounted for more than one-fourth of the total market share in 2020, and is expected to rule the roost by 2030. The monitored PDU segment, however, would garner the fastest CAGR of 7.4% throughout the forecast period. Based on phase, the three segment contributed to nearly three-fifths of the total market revenue in 2020, and is projected to lead the trail by 2030. The same segment would also exhibit the fastest CAGR of 7.0% during the forecast period. Based on region, the market across North America held the major share in 2020, garnering around two-fifths of the global market. Asia-Pacific, on the other hand, would manifest the fastest CAGR of 9.2% throughout the forecast period. The key market players analysed in the global power distribution unit market report include Siemon, Leviton, Siemens, Nvent, Powertek, Eaton, Schneider, Raritan, and Vertiv group. These market players have adhered to several strategies including partnership, expansion, collaboration, joint ventures, and others to prove their flair in the industry.

Climate crisis: the changing data centre power game

The climate crisis agenda is placing all businesses under pressure to prove their sustainability credentials for every activity. Banks are looking for climate impact reports and policies before lending. Investors are seeking viable data to measure the value of ESG actions, with a particular focus on verifiable strategies that tackle climate change and cut carbon emissions. The amount of information being sought will be huge. It will span everything from financial reporting to providing valid data on how each and every operation sources energy and uses electricity. For example, the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation has set up an International Sustainability Standards Board to develop global sustainability reporting standards. Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager says on its homepage: “Our investment conviction is that climate risk is investment risk, and that integrating climate and sustainability considerations into investment processes can help investors build more resilient portfolios and achieve better long-term, risk-adjusted returns. We believe that society is on the cusp of a transformational change towards sustainability.” Businesses are being warned to step up. Large companies are hiring or promoting individuals to the role of Chief Sustainability Officer. It’s a big job. Writing in Forbes recently, Oracle’s CSO pointed to technology innovations as holding some of the answers to achieving net zero. Whether it’s through more efficient light bulbs, using AI tracking and reduce power use across vast built environments or developing tools that help firms comply with climate regs, technology is vital. Data centres don’t stand alone For business people outside the data centre industry, all they know is their data lives in the cloud and they want that cloud to be carbon neutral. They demand that none of their data, including the sustainability data that will be used to inform decision making, is stored in carbon spewing, energy wasting data centres. For users and customers, the information (data) on where, how, and how much power is consumed inside the data centre is suddenly becoming important For those inside the data centre business, as we begin the journey to become carbon net zero, this presents big challenges. We are currently just another business sector reacting to price and supply volatility in the energy markets and looking for solutions. Yet in the short to medium term, the data centre sector may fast become an integrated part of the energy supply chain. Some data centre operators are reacting quickly to the carbon issue and citing grid integration as a USP. Today, firms like Lancium.com are providing valuable data on grid power system integration. Lancium says it is building data centres in Texas that will act as ‘controllable load resources,’ where ‘the net effect on the electrical system is carbon negative.’ Can technology make data centres adaptable to net zero aims? So, where to start? Delivering power to the workload for secure uptime remains the critical role of a data centre. Ordinarily, the infrastructure used to ensure the design purpose is met is fixed, inflexible and wasteful. Adaptability, while clearly and increasingly desirable, has been elusive to date. Enter, Adaptable Redundant Power (ARP), an innovative power design technology that enables existing data centre power topologies to overcome the challenges associated with fixed systems and deliver flexibility that addresses waste and stranded capacity while ensuring the availability of critical services. For developers of new data centres basing power designs on ARP, the technology helps bake in energy efficiency by bringing flexibility to power topologies. This creates responsive power chains that direct power to ensure IT workloads operate at maximum energy efficiency. With measurable results. Data centres will be sustainable. Data centre developers seeking investment (and permission) to build the vast campuses to run the 21st century digital economy will need to demonstrate policies that address climate change. Whatever we build in the future or change in existing data centres is going to be measured against sustainability credentials. The climate crisis demands long term solutions and as we plan for 2030 only those that stand up to scrutiny will be accepted. Written by Ed Ansett, i3 Solutions.

The remarkable 5G predictions for the New Year

Stephen Douglas, Head of 5G Strategy at Spirent Communications looks at 5G predictions for 2022. Dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) will grow during 2022, but new or reframed spectrum is needed sooner rather than later. Operators worldwide face stiff competition to provide as much 5G coverage in their markets, as quickly and cost efficiently as possible. To that end, expect more carriers to use DSS to raise their 5G profile with consumers. However, while DSS does ensure that more subscribers see that they’re connected to '5G' on their handsets, it can’t deliver data speeds that most consumers associate with 5G. Gradually, more operators will recognise that this effort is not enough to compete with non-DSS 5G services. Ultimately, operators will begin undertaking the more onerous and expensive process of reallocating/re-farming spectrum, and expanding their cell site footprint.  More operators will deploy standalone 5G core networks - and turn to hyperscalers for help. A few operators began deploying 5G SA networks in 2021, and those numbers will grow in 2022. What will be different is that many operators will be looking to partner with hyperscalers to do it, aiming to host cloud-native 5G core capabilities on cloud providers’ infrastructure. This process began in 2021, as operators began to grapple with just how challenging cloud-native infrastructure presents for traditional operations teams - and how much they can benefit from economies of scale by working with hyperscalers like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. The industry will see significant growth in investment in AI/ML and automation. Based on testing, we see significant growth in AI/ML and automation to enhance network performance and fault management. In particular, more operators are investing in active testing and assurance systems to inject synthetic traffic into their networks to emulate real users and services, instead of relying on static, passive probes. And they’re seeking to pair these systems with AI/ML algorithms that can make good decisions in real time for where, when, and what to actively test to improve services or isolate faults, without requiring human intervention. We also expect to see early efforts in using AI/ML to enhance security, and in running testing workloads from public cloud.   The first wave of telco edge cloud use cases will hit the market. 2021 saw the first fledgling edge cloud partnerships between operators and cloud providers or other third parties. In 2022 though, we’ll see these initial test runs get serious business attention and investment. Look for activity around two basic offerings: public cloud-hosted edge services, which will focus on consumer applications like gaming, augmented reality, and video content delivery; and private cloud-hosted edge offerings for enterprise and industrial use cases. In particular, expect to see commercial launches of private cloud edge services for security and video surveillance, as well as secure desktop-as-a-service offerings for home-based workers. So will private 5G networks. By mid-2022, expect to see a big push for private 5G networks for stadiums and other high-density venues. Testing over the last 18 months has revealed that the behaviour of 5G radio within these indoor environments actually provides much better coverage than anticipated, with a very small footprint. Already, a number of US stadiums have deployed indoor mmWave coverage using small cells, and found they could provide excellent coverage and performance (at speeds well over 1-Gbps, even reaching out to parking lots) for tens of thousands of users with just a handful of small cells, versus hundreds of Wi-Fi access points. These cases were proven in 2021 and should start to be deployed at scale next year. Latency will begin to replace data rates in the battle for the hearts and minds of telco customers. For decades, the race to win the mobile marketplace was all about delivering faster data rates than the competition. As operators begin to expand their focus on the enterprise and industrial sectors in 2022, that focus will begin to give way to latency. Expect more operators to invest in demonstrating to the market that their networks can not only deliver latencies as low as required, but can deliver those latencies consistently and deterministically enough to support mission-critical industrial applications. Open virtual RAN will go from pilot to production. Another incremental change in the coming year, Open vRAN will move from small-scale pilots to small- and medium-size live deployments. Based on testing, we expect to see early Open vRAN deployments in three key areas: rural regions, indoor, and non-dense urban deployments. All three are viewed as less risky than other types of deployments, either because they will not support mission-critical services, or because they will be able to fall back on the traditional macro network if needed. Some challenger service providers (Rakutan, DISH Network) may start rolling out live Open vRAN deployments in denser urban areas, but the major incumbents likely will hold off until 2023/2024. Momentum will continue building to accelerate some 'Beyond 5G' services. The service provider industry has already begun vision-setting in earnest for future wireless systems. As they do, many are searching for opportunities to bring some of those future technologies back within the umbrella of 5G architectures over the next eight years. Based on the testing we’re seeing, we expect to see these efforts in two major areas. First, integrating low-Earth orbiting satellite technology into the 5G system to enhance 5G coverage for specific use cases and specific areas of reach. Second, we’re seeing early testing efforts in the use of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces and meta-materials, with the goal of creating intelligent reflective surfaces that can direct or even amplify radio signals. These technologies, which likely won’t be integrated into 5G systems for several years, will help operators cover hard-to-reach areas by enabling RF signals to travel longer distances and avoid interference, reduce the required density of radio towers, and potentially reduce energy output and carbon emissions.