Data Centre Business News and Industry Trends

Eaton finds gap between digital transformation and energy transition efforts

Eaton has announced new research on the relevance of the energy transition in digital transformation planning for power-critical businesses. Commissioned by Eaton, this S and P Global Market Intelligence report - The Intersection of Digital Transformation and the Energy Transition - highlights that although 77% of companies surveyed expect to transition away from their current power sources, only half are currently executing the digital strategies needed to navigate this shift. In addition, less than a third of companies track key sustainability and energy intelligence metrics, and even fewer (17%) have digitally enabled legacy systems. “We identified a major gap in how businesses are applying digitalisation to realise decarbonisation goals and this research is a wake up call, shedding light on the opportunities for businesses to focus investments and make a bigger impact,” says Aravind Yarlagadda, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Eaton. “Businesses need to move far faster on digital transformation. The good news is that the time for action is now, and tools like our Brightlayer digital foundation help businesses gain deeper energy insights that are essential to evaluate worthwhile investments. Our industry-specific software suites are already helping customers meet these challenges.” The study included 1,001 respondents who are involved in digital transformation efforts across four power-critical business sectors in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including: buildings, data centres, industrials and utilities. “Until now, enterprise transformation projects have focused primarily on optimizing business processes. The coming energy transition will impact digital best practices and processes and will prove an important competitive differentiator for firms that are first to embrace that approach,” says Rich Karpinski, Senior Analyst, 451 Research, part of S and P Global Market Intelligence. Sector research findings Building owners and operators made clear power optimisation and ESG reporting are critical issues. Sustainability is the top goal for this sector, prioritised by 46% of the sector respondent. Yet, building owners are sceptical that smart building initiatives will pay off: the top digital challenges include calculating a favourable cost/benefit analysis (cited by 52% building survey respondents) and a lack of pressing digital use cases (45%). Data centres have embraced digitalisation and are now looking for next-generation digital opportunities to either streamline operations or generate revenue to create competitive advantages. Next-step goals involve increasing use of renewables, cited by 50% of data centre owners; improving energy storage, according to 47% of respondents; and making money selling power back to the grid, chosen by 34%. Industrials have focused digitalisation efforts on perennial challenges like addressing skilled worker shortages. Yet, digitalisation addressing energy transition lags. Only 24% of industrials cited energy and power concerns as a key digital driver for industrial transformation. For industrials to maintain or gain a competitive upper hand, applying digitalisation to the energy transition will be a key advantage. Utilities are facing massive shifts in energy generation as renewables increase along with the need for increased digital intelligence. Digital transformation is essential to new business models and revenue sources, including support for electric vehicles (EV) through customer EV-charging needs (identified by 49% of utility respondents) or EV charging stations themselves (cited by 45%). www.eaton.com www.spglobal.com

Lincoln Rackhouse and Principle Real Estate Investors acquire Atlanta data centre

Lincoln Rackhouse has announced the acquisition of a key data centre located in the heart of Atlanta's high-tech corridor. The strategically located data centre is an enterprise-grade, highly secured facility, ready to be deployed to customers' specific design and power requirements. The 185,000 square-foot facility sits on a 38-acre parcel with more than 7MW of capacity, and a design to expand to over 13MW. Furthermore, the site can support a separate 30MW ground-up data centre development, ideal for today's hyperscalers and operators. According to Data Centre Hawk, Atlanta's data centre market continues to grow due to the favourable business climate, competitive colocation and cloud environments, reasonable power costs, low natural disaster risk and robust connectivity. The city has cultivated a tech hub, with more than 55 colocation providers and enterprises calling it home. “We're proud to partner with Principal Real Estate Investors in a market that's quickly become one of the most robust data centre regions in the US,” states Martin Peck, Executive Vice President, Lincoln Rackhouse. “Our plan is to begin the immediate development of additional turn-key critical floor space, that will ultimately align and address our customer's current and future expansion needs.” “This acquisition of a high-quality asset in such a dynamic market provides an excellent addition to our portfolio of data centres,” comments Ben Wobschall, Managing Director, Portfolio Management for Principal Real Estate Investors. “We're thrilled to be able to bring immediate availability and expansion to accommodate our customers’ growth in the South East.” St. Louis based Ascent will continue to provide facilities management, engineering and construction services to the site. Marketing and leasing will be provided by Digital Crossroad and CBRE's Atlanta based data centre solutions team.

Reading can expect £1bn economic boost from CityFibre rollout

A new report commissioned by CityFibre has identified that Reading stands to be a huge beneficiary from the rollout of future-proof full fibre infrastructure, which is now well underway across the town. The study by the consultancy Hatch, (Economic Impact of Full Fibre Infrastructure from CityFibre’s Network), estimates that, over a 15-year period, the positive impacts of CityFibre’s £58m investment in Reading will include £625m in productivity and innovation gains, £138m from a widened workforce, £18m in local authority efficiency savings and £384m in increased housing value. Technological benefits are also a major focus of the report, which demonstrates that CityFibre’s network in Reading will help realise £1bn gross added value (GVA) from 5G services, £249m from the Internet of Things and £263m from Smart City initiatives, like intelligent traffic management systems and street lighting. The continuing transition to home and flexible working, supported by full fibre access at home and in the office, is also unlocking access to a larger pool of labour for employers. In Reading, working productivity uplifts are estimated to exceed £35m. The direct impact of network construction is also identified as a major contributor to Reading’s economic growth, creating network construction jobs within CityFibre’s build partners and supply chain. Wherever possible, the new jobs will be recruited locally to support the rollout. As a whole, the UK stands to benefit from over £38bn in potential economic benefits. Productivity improvements and innovation are responsible for the largest impact, driving more than £22bn in GVA gains nationwide. This is due to the positive effect that far faster and more reliable digital connectivity has been shown to have on business productivity and innovation, increasing turnover and contributing to the formation of new businesses and business models. Stacey King, Area Manager for Reading at CityFibre, says: “This report demonstrates just how powerful and essential full fibre is as a catalyst for growth and as a platform for innovation and investment. “Reading is quickly becoming one of the best digitally connected towns in the UK, and the opportunity for residents and local businesses is huge. We thank residents for their patience as we progress with the full fibre infrastructure build here in a bid to offer more people access to some of the best broadband packages available.”

Xtel launches new data centre in New York City market

Amid a rise in cyber crime and digital transformation, Xtel Communications has announced its third data centre in the sought-after New York market. The facility, located in Newark, New Jersey, adds to the company’s growing data centre portfolio. Xtel’s other facilities are strategically located in Philadelphia and Plano, Texas. The addition of this new facility allows Xtel to expand its serviceable footprint of Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) via fibre-optic connections. In addition, the data centre will provide robust DDoS attack mitigation options to enable more secure environments. This is especially critical as these types of cyber crimes continue to increase at an alarming rate. In recent years, DDoS attacks have risen by over 151%. Other key features of Xtel’s New York market data centre include: Additional redundancy options for customers seeking more diversity in last mile fibre providers and fibre pathsDirect Connect options to SaaS (Software as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) providers, allowing the end-user customer to directly access these providers without having to traverse the InternetStrategic enterprise-level colocation services All Xtel data centres have the ability to maintain, operate, and monitor fibre optic backbones, voice platforms, and data centres. The data centres are part of a high availability ‘active-active’ network architecture, allowing for immediate service failover and load balancing between the data centres. Each data centre is annually re-certified for major compliance frameworks, including FedRAMP, FISMA, SSAE18, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and Privacy Shield - GDPR. “As enterprises and businesses continue to scale and digitally transform, the addition of our New York market data centre adds critical cyber security services, connectivity and redundancy to a prominent, stable market with an ever-growing, favourable business climate,” states Brian Flynn, President of Xtel. “We continuously invest in our network infrastructure while regularly expanding our services and solutions portfolio to meet ever-changing requirements. We look forward to continued growth in this market and beyond.”

ESR announces over $1bn first close of inaugural Data Centre Fund

ESR has announced the first close of over $1 billion in equity commitments for its inaugural vehicle, Data Centre Fund 1, dedicated to the development of its growing data centre business. ESR DC Fund 1 brings together some of the world’s largest institutional investors, including sovereign wealth and pension funds. ESR will raise a separate discretionary capital sleeve to co-invest into the fund which will likely close the balance of the fund at the hard cap of $1.5 billion. Additionally, the partners have an upsize option of an additional equity commitment of $1.5 billion, that would bring the total investment capacity to as much as $7.5 billion over time. ESR’s current data centre development portfolio comprises data centre projects primely located in major data centre clusters across Asia, including Hong Kong, Osaka, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Mumbai and Singapore, delivering 300MW IT load. Amongst these projects is a key asset the group acquired in Osaka that will be developed into a multi-phase data centre campus with a development potential of up to 95MW IT load to serve both hyperscalers and colocation operators in the rapidly growing Osaka market. Jeffrey Shen and Stuart Gibson, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of ESR, says: “APAC is the prime market for data centre development and investment in the new era of digitalisation. The substantial first close of our inaugural data centre fund marks a significant milestone for ESR as we continue to grow and scale our digital infrastructure business. We thank our capital partners for their strong support to this exciting effort. “As the largest new economy real estate platform in APAC, we are looking to play into the critical need for digital infrastructure in a big way going forward by leveraging our core competitive advantages with a singular focus to support our capital partners and customers to thrive and capitalise on the continued rise of the new economy and digital transformation in APAC.” Diarmid Massey, ESR Data Centres CEO, highlights: “With nearly $60 billion of New Economy AUM, digital infrastructure is a key strategic focus for ESR Group. Naturally, our ambition is to offset high energy consumption by aligning with our ESG strategy to refurbish, re-develop, convert some of our existing 39.8 million sqm GFA of assets into large and edge data centres, and to explore sustainable options through actual renewable energy generation from the rooftops.” Devashish Gupta, ESR Data Centres CIO, elaborates: “The APAC Data Centre fund is uniquely placed to take advantage of ESR Group’s adjacencies in land, power, fibre origination, strong pipeline of recently acquired data centre specific sites, a dedicated team of experienced data centre professionals, and partnerships with best-in-class data centre operators for co-location assets. Our ability to offer powered shells, fully fitted, and colocation assets to serve hyperscalers, enterprises as well as operators, provides a scalable solution with shorter ready-for-service timelines to our customers; and risk-adjusted strategies to our capital partners.”

How to select the right racks and enclosures for your physical infrastructure environment

Marc Garner, VP Secure Power UK and Ireland, Schneider Electric Digital transformation has been a key focus for businesses for many years, but post-pandemic many organisations’ efforts have accelerated. IDC forecasts that direct digital transformation (DX) investment growth between 2022-2024 will hit $6.3 trillion – equating to 55% of all ICT investment by the end of 2024. Data centres are the very heart of the digital economy and their infrastructure, especially in micro data centres and edge computing environments, form the basis of many digital transformation efforts. Architectures and requirements, however, will differ from one business to another, and the mission-critical systems that underpin these projects can mean the very difference between success and failure. As such, it pays to pay close attention to the choice of components.   Changing environments Today choices around racks, enclosures and other physical infrastructure need to be made according to the critical environment in which they’re being hosted. This can range from a server rooms and network closets in offices, to edge data centres and colocation facilities. Each environment will differ in the way it’s been designed to accommodate IT equipment and critical applications, with resilience often the main priority. The majority of server, storage and network equipment is designed for mounting in 19in racks, based upon the standard established by the Electronic Industry Alliance (EIA). However, one of the most popular IT racks sizes is 600mm (24in) wide, 1070mm (42in) deep, and 42U tall, where 1U or rack unit, measures 1.75in (44.45mm). Today, most data centres support standardised rack configurations to host a variety of IT equipment (ITE) densities and form factors that may require additional accessories. Increasingly, 48U, 52U and even 58U racks are being installed to increase the volume of IT equipment in the same rack footprint. Outside of enterprise facilities, which have adequate cooling and environmental control, small server rooms and branch offices can often play host to mission-critical IT. In the era of IT infrastructure everywhere, these environments can typically be unsecured, unmonitored, and space constrained – conditions which can lead to system downtime or ‘close calls’ that require immediate attention. The networks edge As the demand for infrastructure at the edge increases, preconfigured micro data centres are often selected to standardise designs, reduce complexity, and increase speed of deployment. Gartner, for example, estimates that by 2025, 75% of enterprise data is expected to be created and processed at the edge, and recent research from IDC found that 50% of respondents are investing in edge computing, to ‘improve cyber security’, and that systems resiliency and reliability also remained key factors in decision making. There are also several factors driving the proliferation of data and its consumption at the edge. First among them is the demand for low-latency applications, including digital streaming from film, TV and music platforms. Secondly, the rise in IoT connected devices, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning are driving digital transformation in almost every industry. Nevertheless, having a standardised system built on pre-integrated hardware is essential to increase reliability at the edge. Data centre modernisation is also a hot topic, given the focus on improving energy efficiency and sustainability within the sector. In both on premises and legacy data centres, row-based architectures utilising hot or cold aisle cooling configurations can offer a host of benefits including faster deployment, greater resilience and increased energy efficiency. A simple approach to rack selection A rack is often the very foundation of digital transformation, but choosing the right system is essential. To simplify the selection process, Schneider Electric recommended a four-stage approach: Identify the attributes of all IT and non-IT equipment to be mounted, and establish some basic parameters, such as dimensions and load capacity. The attributes of non-IT equipment such as rack power distribution units (PDUs), automatic transfer switches (ATS), rack-mounted uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and so on, should also be considered. Remember, network racks are generally wider than server racks due to their cabling requirements. Select IT rack dimensions and load capacity based on the attributes of equipment, and here there are three key factors to consider: Firstly, the growth plan of the equipment - if future requirements are unknown, it may be worth specifying over-sized racks to enable higher rack density requirements.Secondly, higher rack densities generally equate to greater rack weight. Therefore, ensure that racks (and the facility floor) are capable of supporting weights at the highest rack densities.Thirdly, specify vendor-neutral racks, which often means the widest range of equipment can be accommodated from the largest number of manufacturers. This also means end-users can also plan for changes over the lifecycle. Select your rack preferences, which might include colour, door style (curved or angled), the type of door lock or physical security and seismic bracing. Regardless of preferences chosen, design criteria and system uptime should remain the key priority. For example, any change to the front or rear rack door should not restrict airflow to the critical IT equipment. Finally, select your IT rack accessories to improve operational efficiency. Accessories can be utilised in one of several ways. For example, to improve cooling performance through airflow containment, to reduce the risk of downtime through power capacity and cable management, or to reduce physical threats and human error through remote monitoring and Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software.

DataBank completes expansion of third Atlanta data centre

DataBank has announced that it has completed the expansion of ATL3, one of the company’s three Atlanta area data centre locations. The expansion began in late 2021 and added more than 22,000 square feet of data centre space, bringing the total capacity to more than 44,000 square feet of white space and total raised floor space to 72,000 square feet. The construction project also increases the site’s total power from 1.5MW to 6MW. “We’ve been looking forward to completing this expansion project to further support our customers’ infrastructure needs and growth,” says Tony Qorri, DataBank’s Vice President of Construction. “Bringing this additional capacity to Atlanta aligns well with DataBank’s growth in the region’s data centre market and underscores its position as one of the prime emerging internet hubs in the South East United States.” Atlanta’s data centre leasing activity is the third highest in North America. According to Lisa Calhoun, a partner with the Atlanta based investment firm, Valor Ventures, growth is on an upwards trajectory marked by $1 billion of venture capital investments over the last year alone, representing an influx in demand for cloud storage. This investment is driven by thriving industries like healthcare IT, fintech, logistics, and manufacturing – sectors heavily dependent on strong communications infrastructure. Located in the Historic West End district, DataBank’s ATL3 colocation facility is a carrier-neutral interconnection hub with access to 10-plus on-site carriers and many internet, fibre, interconnect, and cross-connect options. The facility features security measures including dual-factor biometric authentication, 24-hour dedicated security guards, perimeter fence, mantraps, and CCTV.

Schneider Electric creates education platform to address skills gap

Schneider Electric has announced a series of updates to its vendor-agnostic and CPD-accredited digital education platform, the Schneider Electric University. Available in 14 different languages and accessible globally for free online, the dedicated professional development platform directly addresses the data centre sector skills gap, helping industry stakeholders to upskill and stay up to date with the latest technology, sustainability, and energy efficiency initiatives affecting the sector. To date, the Schneider Electric University has delivered more than one million courses to over 650,000 data centre users, with more than 180 countries represented by its global user-base. The new updates to the Schneider Electric University Data Centre Certified Associate (DCCA) qualification include fundamentals of power, cooling, racks, physical security, and guidance on how to optimise data centre designs to drive resilience, energy efficiency and sustainability. Its newest courses, for example, include ‘Optimising Cooling Layouts for the Data Centre’, ‘Fundamental Cabling Strategies in the Data Centre’, ‘Examining Fire Protection Methods in the Data Centre’ and ‘Fundamentals of Cooling II – Humidity in the Data Centre’. Furthermore, its curriculum addresses key focal points for the industry, such as data centre site selection and planning (which offers guidance on how to select brown and greenfield sites for access to renewable energy), alternative power generation technologies (which helps drive the implementation of renewable energy strategies, on-site power generation and use of technologies such as microgrids) and battery technology for data centres (which evaluates the sustainability impact of different types of UPS batteries, the benefits of Lithium-Ion technology, and offers an analysis of the associated lifecycle costs). Addressing the industry skills gap Research in the Uptime Institute Annual Data Centre Survey 2021 estimates staff requirements will grow globally to nearly 2.3 million in 2025. Further, 32% of respondents reported difficulty in retaining staff, with 47% having difficulty finding qualified candidates for open jobs. Attracting and retaining talent within the industry, which is the heart of the digital economy, is now reaching a critical mass. By encouraging individuals to upskill and continue their professional development for free, the Schneider Electric University is directly addressing the data centre industry skills gap, helping businesses to attract and re-train both new and existing talent, providing access to specialised technical education. “In the last few years data centre capacity demands have grown exponentially, reaching record new highs as digitisation and cloud adoption accelerates. The sector skills shortage, however, remains a significant challenge and has potential implications for other connected industries,” says Rob McKernan, Senior Vice President, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric Europe. “By providing guidance on the latest technology and sustainability initiatives, we believe the Schneider Electric University offers an invaluable resource to help bridge the skills gap by empowering business ecosystems, reskilling the workforce, and training the next generation of professionals to build the data centres of the future.” Long-term commitment to education Prior to its acquisition by Schneider Electric in 2006, members of the Data Centre Science Centre at APC created the ‘Data Centre University’ as a free resource to help train and upskill the next generation of industry professionals. Their vision was to create a CPD-accredited training curriculum that would support the professional development of industry stakeholders and prepare them to build the data centres of the future. Now branded the ‘Schneider Electric University’, the platform has grown to offer more than 200 data centre, energy efficiency and sustainability courses via two dedicated colleges, the Professional Energy Manager (PEM), and the DCCA qualification. All courses are available as self-paced, one-hour modules, in 14 different languages, offering free access to energy education. Furthermore, the university is recognised by 25 different industry CPD bodies, including BICSI, the Electrical Contractors Association (ECA), Engineers Ireland, and the Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP).  The Schneider Electric University has remained completely impartial, with all courses maintaining 100% vendor-neutrality. To-date it has delivered over 1,000,000 courses to more than 650,000 users globally and offers a crucial lifeline for industry professionals seeking to advance their skillsets. 

New agreement with Republic of Korea to spark new era of digital trade

British businesses and consumers are set to benefit as the UK announces an ‘in principle’ deal to boost data sharing with the Republic of Korea. The deal is the UK’s first independent adequacy agreement with a priority country since leaving the European Union and sees the government seizing the benefits of having independent data laws. The ability to share more data without restrictions reduces administrative and financial compliance burdens and makes it easier for more organisations and businesses to trade and operate in both countries. It opens up new markets to digital trade and brings benefits such as lower prices to consumers. Data-dependent trade between the UK and the Republic of Korea is already worth £1.33 billion. This agreement will empower British businesses to build on this and grow the economy. The new agreement means UK-based organisations looking to sustain or grow their operations in the Republic of Korea (such as AstraZeneca and the bank Standard Chartered) and Korean-headquartered companies with operations in the UK, such as Samsung and LG Electronics, will be able to share data freely and maintain high protection standards. Organisations will no longer need contractual safeguards, such as International Data Transfer Agreements and Binding Corporate Rules in place. The agreement will also boost research and innovation, making it easier for experts to collaborate on medical treatments and other vital research that could save lives in the UK. Data Minister, Julia Lopez who signed the landmark agreement, says: “Today marks a huge milestone for the UK, the Republic of Korea and the high standards of data protection we share. Our new agreement will open up more digital trade to boost UK businesses and will enable more vital research that can improve the lives of people across the country.” Republic of Korea Commissioner of the Personal Information Protection Commission, Jong in Yoon says: “I am honoured to agree to this joint statement today. Strengthening cooperation between the UK and the Republic of Korea based on the shared recognition of high standards of protection can contribute to forming a healthier and more sustainable global data landscape.” The deal in principle strengthens the UK’s commitment to championing international data flows as set out in the National Data Strategy. The decision follows a year of detailed technical discussions between officials from the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Republic of Korea, the PIPC and the Financial Services Commission. The deal will promote the trustworthy use and sharing of data between the two countries and spark a wave of digital trade. It is a clear signal that British organisations and consumers can trust data standards in the Republic of Korea. Data-driven trade generated nearly three quarters of the UK’s total service exports and generated an estimated £234 billion for the economy in 2019. The Rt. Hon. John Whittingdale MP, Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to the Republic of Korea, says: “I am delighted that the first new data adequacy agreement to be reached in principle by the UK is with the Republic of Korea. This reflects the strong relationship which already exists between our two countries and our shared commitment to high standards of data protection. By enabling the free flow of data, I have no doubt that this will reduce barriers and help businesses to trade.”

Fire safety amongst topics at Siemens Transform event

Siemens is presenting a two day conference and exhibition entitled ‘Transform 2022’ which will see the largest cross-section of the company’s UK and Ireland customers gather to address some of the most challenging issues currently facing businesses. Staged at the Manchester Central Convention Complex from 12-13 July, the focus will be on how Siemens and its customers can tackle the different pressures that are being brought to bear on business, with discussions, ideas and technologies that can help to provide the transformation required to shape a sustainable future. Amongst the topics under discussion will be fire safety and the role it can play in that process. ‘Digital Fire Safety: The tools you need to transform your fire protection’ will be the focus for a presentation on 12 July led by Rob Yates, Head of Fire Products, Siemens UK and Ireland. Rob says “We, like our customers, are very aware of the economic, environmental and societal pressures and the accelerated rate at which businesses are having to adjust to such challenges. This event will provide an important collaborative forum to address them. Digitalisation is one of the key drivers in ensuring a business is future-ready and fire safety is no exception. We’ll be looking at the significant benefits that cloud-enabled devices can bring to a fire safety system in terms of the availability of data and how it can be used to track compliance, enhance system records and ensure more efficient maintenance.” To register for the event click here.