Data Centre Business News and Industry Trends

STACK Infrastructure expand Women in Data Centres program

STACK Infrastructure has expanded its Women in Data Centres program aimed at recruiting and supporting the career development of new and diverse talent in the data centre industry. The program offers a year long, full time, paid apprenticeship that targets candidates of all backgrounds with strong values, who do not have prior data centre operations experience. The apprentices will train alongside industry professionals as critical operations technicians with the opportunity to be placed in a permanent role in one of the company’s American facilities upon completion of the program. Although the program is actively sourcing women, the company is an equal opportunity employer that supports diverse, inclusive and unbiased hiring practices and all interested applicants are encouraged to apply. “We are proud to greatly expand this program after a successful first year, which experienced tangible, positive results with previous apprentices who are now thriving in their full time positions within the data centre field,” says, Brian Cox, Chief Executive Officer of STACK Americas. “It is essential that the digital infrastructure industry diversify its technical operations talent pool by addressing the underrepresentation of women and diverse groups to create an equitable environment where new voices and new ideas can flourish.” The goal of the program is to attract applicants who would not normally have the baseline experience for the position of critical operations technician, a role that is crucial in maintaining uptime within these critical facilities. Following the success of last year’s program, STACK has placed candidates and continues to accept applications for the 2023 class. It ensures that regardless of employment background, race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, national origin, mental or physical disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law​, all employees have the training, guidance, and tools to obtain high demand skills necessary to be successful in this rapidly growing industry with historically lucrative career advancements. Interested candidates should visit the STACK Infrastructure careers page for more information and to apply.

STT GDC and Firmus to build sustainable AI factories

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) has announced a significant investment into a global venture with Firmus Technologies. The venture is to be based in Singapore and will see the launch of a GPU-centric Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering focused on deep learning AI and visual computing workloads, to be known as Sustainable Metal Cloud (SMC). SMC will deliver bare-metal-service access to high-performance AI clusters, which include some of the world’s most advanced workload accelerators including GPUs and high-speed networking from NVIDIA for energy-efficient computing. It will leverage Firmus’ proprietary, scaled, immersion-cooled platform, the HyperCube, to deliver sustainable AI factories that are all at once sustainable, scalable, high-performance and cost-effective. Within the HyperCube, Firmus will operate a fleet of high-performance servers provided by OEM partners including Supermicro. It unlocks access to world-class AI tools and hardware in a highly available way. The SMC is being launched in Singapore, India and Australia in 2023, with the Singapore AZ (SIN01) expected to be live in H2 2023. The combination of Firmus’ platform, paired with STT GDC’s highly efficient data centre infrastructure, will result in AI workloads running with a lower PUE, lower CO2 emissions and higher petaflops per watt. “The compound growth in forecasted energy consumption is an existential threat to the data centre sector. Data centre operators and their customers must be prepared to embrace and support new cooling solutions and expand the services they offer beyond traditional air-cooled colocation if they are to host AI GPU platforms in a sustainable manner. The evolution of the data centre into AI factories of the future will fundamentally change the way that all infrastructure operators are thinking about the design and operation of their facilities. STT GDC’s foresight and long-term vision made them the ideal global partner for Firmus’ highly developed solution,” says Ted. “The future of data centres will rely on the ability to provide both exceptional performance and highly sustainable services at scale. From our beginnings in Singapore almost 10 years ago, we now have scaled the business to cover 10 geographies. We are immensely pleased to enhance our core co-location offering to include the latest GPU-based bare-metal services, empowering our customers with access to the next generation of high-performance computing which will be so critical in the AI revolution. These high-performance services are a key component of the critical infrastructure needed to support the plethora of AI use cases that will be critical to business, governments and society in years to come,” says Bruno Lopez, President and Group Chief Executive, ST Telemedia Global Data Centres.

Telehouse Thailand celebrates the opening of its new data centre

Telehouse has officially opened its first Thai data centre at the prime location of Rama 9 in Bangkok with an investment of $74 million, aiming to create a connectivity ecosystem and become the first purpose-built data centre to achieve 100% power supply by renewable energy in Thailand. The event was joined by Kazuya Nashida, Embassy of Japan in Thailand; Sonklin Ploymee, Deputy Secretary General; Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) and credible partners from Thailand and other countries to mark the opening in Bangkok. Bangkok is the newest location among 45 Telehouse locations in the world. Telehouse Thailand is its third footprint in south east Asia, with a building area of 9,000m2 and a 9.5MVA power capacity. With the location in the centre of Bangkok, the data centre focuses on Telehouse’s interconnection strategy, aiming to be the internet hub data centre where multiple telecommunication carriers and service providers interconnect and exchange data traffic domestically and internationally. In addition to the goal of developing and promoting the network system in Thailand, Telehouse Thailand is also keen on green environmental initiatives and to be the first data centre in Thailand to procure 100% renewable energy-based electricity, aligned with the Telehouse global target of achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2026.  Ken Miyashita, Managing Director of Telehouse Thailand, says, “We are very excited to announce and celebrate our official opening in Bangkok. With our location in the heart of the city, Telehouse Thailand will provide secure and reliable data centre services to act as a connectivity hub in south east Asia. We are ready to elevate data centre standards and contribute to the digital society in the country and region.”

Neterra listed as key data centre investor in Europe

Neterra has been recognised as one of the ‘Prominent Data Centre Investors’ in Europe alongside names such as Amazon Web Services, Facebook (Meta), Equinix, Google, Microsoft, NTT Global Data Centers, and Orange Business Services. The ranking is part of a research made by Arizton Advisory and Intelligence titled ‘The European Data Center Construction Market - Industry Outlook and Forecast 2023-2028.’ With nearly 30 years of experience in the global telecommunications market, Neterra is a trusted provider of data centre solutions and global connectivity for both the world's largest companies and small and medium-sized businesses. The company owns four data centres and provides first-class colocation, fast and secure connectivity, energy efficient cooling systems, top-notch equipment, servers, and support from a professional team 24/7. Neterra's data centres operate under the brand Sofia Data Center - SDC. Two of them are in the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, on a common campus. They are built and equipped in accordance with the highest standards in the industry and provide their customers with connectivity with the largest telecom operators in the world. SDC Stolnik is part of Data Centre Park Stolnik - the largest data centre and telecommunications hub in south-eastern Europe. It offers unlimited colocation space and power, as well as specially designed crypto-mining rooms. SDC Ruse is the main point of presence of BFOR - the shortest optical route between Romania and Turkey. With its strategic location and reliable redundant connectivity, SDC Ruse is a suitable alternative to prevent the interruption of essential business processes during disasters and accidents. Through its data centres and already-established global network of more than 200 points of presence in more than 65 countries, Neterra provides a broad portfolio of services. Companies trust telecom for international connectivity, guaranteed business internet (DIA), global peering, DDoS protection, data centre services, rental servers, cloud solutions and more.

Colt partners with Venari Security to protect against cyber risks

Colt Technology Services has announced a collaboration with Venari Security. The partnership will give organisations deeper visibility into their encrypted network traffic, improving security and helping them to stay on top of complex regulatory requirements. The collaboration will see Colt integrate VigilanceAI, Venari Security’s Encrypted Traffic Analysis (ETA) platform, into its existing service offering. The platform provides insight and visibility into how encryption is actively used across the enterprise, including cloud, regulated and third-party environments, allowing Colt customers to maintain strong encryption standards while supporting data privacy in transit. By providing this validation and visibility, Colt’s customers can reduce their risk exposure and potential attack surface. Mirko Voltolini, VP Innovation, Colt Technology, says, “At Colt, we look for innovative technologies to help solve our customers’ real business challenges. Venari Security’s solution enables businesses to measure, monitor, and ensure compliance with encrypted communications. Regulated industries and global organisations face significant challenges meeting country-specific and regulatory obligations. In recent years we have seen a significant change in regulatory and privacy laws requiring data to be encrypted in transit. Venari Security’s VigilanceAI platform enables Colt to help our customers solve in a truly innovative way the challenge associated with encrypted communications.” Hiten Mistry, Chief Revenue Officer, Venari Security, says, “We are delighted to partner with such a prominent innovative network and technology operator. With Colt’s footprint across capital markets and enterprise organisations, we are genuinely excited about this partnership. Our platform enables organisations to understand their encrypted communications, highlight risks and ensure that customers meet their privacy and regulatory obligations regarding encryption. Organisations face the potential of significant financial penalties and reputational damage by not adhering to privacy and regulatory compliance. Additionally, with the rise of quantum computing, organisations need to gain visibility of their encrypted communications to deliver a plan for a post-quantum era.” 74% of organisations have reported one or more cyber security incidents in the last 12 months, according to Forrester’s April 2023 'Top Cybersecurity Threats in 2023' report. The VigilanceAI platform consists of two solutions, V-Comply and V-Detect. Colt will be integrating both solutions into its offering, enabling it to provide a thorough TLS attack surface review as part of the routine security hygiene service it offers its customers. The collaboration is the latest to be announced as part of Colt’s ongoing digital transformation programme, focused on enhancing, simplifying and automating systems and processes which directly address customers’ business challenges, to boost Colt’s customer experience.

Manulife Investment Management acquires controlling interest in Serverfarm

Manulife Investment Management (Manulife IM) has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Serverfarm. The investment by Manulife IM, together with support from existing shareholders, will provide capital to Serverfarm to continue its expansion across north America, Europe, and Israel to capitalise on attractive market opportunities. Serverfarm currently operates a portfolio of eight data centres across north America, Europe and Israel that aggregate more than 1,500,000ft² and 125MW of IT capacity, and it has secured additional land for future data centre developments. “Avner and the Serverfarm team have built a high-quality data centre portfolio and growth platform that is well-positioned to capitalise on the strong secular tailwinds in the data centre market,” says Recep Kendircioglu, Global Head of Infrastructure, Manulife Investment Management. “We are excited about the company's future and our ability to support Serverfarm through its next phase of growth on behalf of our clients.” “Partnering with Manulife Investment Management, an investor that shares Serverfarm's vision for growth and customer service, will allow us to effectively address the next wave of demand from our existing and new customers,” says Avner Papouchado, Founder and CEO of Serverfarm. “Our new relationship with Manulife Investment Management provides Serverfarm with additional expertise and new capital to execute on a number of attractive development opportunities and give our customers a long-term growth runway.” The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023 after the satisfaction of customary closing conditions including the receipt of certain regulatory approvals.

Alibaba Cloud plans to strengthen global partnership ecosystem

Alibaba Cloud is set to further empower its ecosystem partners through a series of new initiatives, including the launch of an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Acceleration Program, a training empowerment programme for partners, as well as new incentives to reward partner excellency. “We are committed to growing together with our global partners and providing them with even stronger support to expand their businesses into southeast Asia and beyond,” says Edward Cai, Chief Commercial Officer, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence at the company's Partner Summit 2023 in Singapore. “All new initiatives underscore how much value we place on our partners. Together with our partners’ industry know-how, technology capabilities and market insights, we can deliver significant benefits to our customers.”  New initiatives to support partners’ growth Alibaba Cloud’s ISV Acceleration Program was launched to provide global ISVs with new financial incentives and more robust technical support to expand their business opportunities in Southeast Asia. As part of the program, Alibaba Cloud will help its ISV partners to optimise the marketplace listing fee on Alibaba Cloud’s marketplace platform, and expand the product sales through Alibaba Cloud’s sales team and its vast network of channel partners. Alibaba Cloud also pledges to enhance technical support for global ISV partners, offering comprehensive technical enablement resources to help them build, publish and operate their solutions on the cloud platform. In addition, the company will invest to co-develop customised products and solutions with its ISV partners. ISV partners including Neo4J, 6Estates, One2Cloud and SCash Global have already joined the acceleration program to get the most benefits from their partnership with Alibaba Cloud. At the same summit, Alibaba Cloud also announced the launch of a new training empowerment portal for global partners. The Alibaba Cloud Partner Empowerment Portal provides product and service training and certifications, educational content on topical technology developments, as well as resources and tools to increase partners’ service capabilities. The portal aims to empower 500 global partners including channel partners, Managed Service Partners (MSPs) and ISVs in the current financial year, with training topics covering cloud, AI, Web3 and more. To bring more tangible benefits to Alibaba Cloud’s partners outside China, the company also announced a series of new financial incentives including discounts and rebates for rewarding resellers and distributors as well as some joint go-to-market initiatives. This is part of the $1 billion investment that Alibaba Cloud announced in 2022 in order to support its global partners’ technology innovation and its market expansion. “Our new initiatives showcase our unwavering commitment to helping our global partners thrive and innovate on Alibaba Cloud,” says Selina Yuan, President of International Business, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. “Partners play an essential role in enhancing and delivering Alibaba Cloud’s services and offering to our global customers. Together with partners, we can bring world-class technologies, products and solutions to our customers for their greater business success.”  New partnership on security, blockchain and talent development During the summit, Alibaba Cloud also unveiled deeper collaboration with its ecosystem partners. It has announced its new collaboration with IBM to provide a security solution for businesses across APAC. The security solution integrates features of IBM’s security products - QRadar SIEM and QRadar SOAR - as well as Alibaba Cloud’s wide range of security capabilities. It provides services including real-time reporting and centralised visibility into the cloud environment to detect threats such as ransomware, insider threats and cloud attacks. The co-developed solution aims to mitigate mounting cyber security risks while creating a secure, stable and protected cloud environment for clients during their digital transformation journeys. Another collaboration unveiled is with Avalanche, providing a launchpad for businesses to rapidly deploy metaverses on the Avalanche public blockchain. Cloudverse is a one-stop solution for businesses to seamlessly customise, launch and maintain their own metaverse space, creating new dimensions for engaging with customers. Alibaba Cloud also announced collaboration with training partners to bolster talent development in Southeast Asia. With the target to train 100,000 general public talents in the region by the current financial year, the SEA Talent Empowerment Program aims to attract training partners to contribute to the talent development drive. The initial training partners include Rahi Systems (information technology services and solutions provider), Solutions for Asia (security service solution provider), Lightning Cloud (multi-cloud operation solution platform) and Edu360 Cloud (digital certification service platform).

UTC Heathrow announces educational partnership with Vertiv

UTC Heathrow has announced a partnership with Vertiv, which will see its people working alongside the UTC to deliver a co-teach programme of learning based on the data centre sector. Developed in collaboration with leading data centre industry organisations, the Digital Futures Programme is a first for any UK school. The programme, which contributes to a BTEC Level 3 National Diploma/Extended Diplomas in Engineering (NQF), allows students to gain the essential knowledge and skills needed to thrive in technical careers within the data centre sector.  This sector is currently experiencing booming growth, but is facing an ongoing skills shortage. The Digital Futures Programme, now in its second year, is helping to future-proof the industry by inspiring a new generation to join it and enjoy a rewarding career. Vertiv Vice President of Services EMEA, Michael O’Keeffe, comments, “Without a doubt, the skills gap is still as wide as ever. For us at Vertiv, and others in the industry, technical knowledge is a competitive advantage. Technically skilled professionals with a good understanding of data centre technology are critical, but also hard to find. Young people, especially women and those with diverse backgrounds, are under-represented in this field. By joining UTC Heathrow on this important programme, we are working to develop the skills needed to join the industry.” Candace Rose Kumi, Employer Engagement Lead at UTC Heathrow, says, “We have been delighted with how the Digital Futures Programme is evolving. Having a global critical digital infrastructure provider join the team of leading industry organisations adds a new dimension. With its global presence and track record of innovative products and services, Vertiv brings a great deal of strength and depth to what we can offer students. We are very excited at the prospect of how Vertiv’s involvement will develop the programme even further.” Several Vertiv engineers with training backgrounds and extensive industry experience will be teaching students useful skills in electrical and mechanical engineering, IT, networking and problem resolution.

Kao Data invests £350m in new 40MW Manchester data centre

Kao Data has announced a new 40MW data centre in Manchester, UK. Following the acquisition of two new data centres last year, the move represents the next phase in the continued expansion of the Kao Data platform, with Manchester named as the first of its new Tier II locations in Europe. The latest phase of Kao Data’s platform expansion has seen the company secure a 39,000m2 ex-industrial site for sustainable redevelopment at Kenwood Point, Manchester. The new data centre, which is planned to become operational in late 2025, will provide space for nine data halls, creating a leading infrastructure hub to support Greater Manchester’s growing technology ecosystem and the UK’s largest high performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors outside of London and the Oxford-Cambridge arc. Kao Data’s first data centre in the north of England will follow the organisations award-winning high performance design, efficiency and sustainability ethos, providing a sustainable, OCP-Ready and NVIDIA-DGX ready certified infrastructure platform for advanced computing. For example, the facility will deliver a PUE of 1.2, be powered by 100% renewable energy, and utilise hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) in its generators - providing the highest-grade, sustainable data centre capacity in the region. Furthermore, the data centre will be precision-engineered to incorporate heat re-use capabilities, supporting local communities in its immediate vicinity with a valuable resource in the wake of the cost-of-living crisis.   “Our move into Manchester marks an important next step in the continued evolution of our organisation, and we’re excited to bring our industry-leading data centre platform to one of the UK’s most influential technology and business hubs,” says Spencer Lamb, Chief Commercial Officer, Kao Data. “We believe our new facility will set a new standard for sustainable data centres within the region and will provide a piece of foundational infrastructure that supports both Northern England’s advanced computing clusters, and the government's ambitions to become a technological and economic powerhouse for HPC and AI.” Manchester has been hailed as one of the UK’s fastest growing technology hubs and has established itself as the country’s pre-eminent Tier II data centre cluster, driven by the media, scientific research, and enterprise sectors. The city’s technology ecosystem, for example, is projected to add £74.8bn GVA (gross value added) to the UK economy, and the region is an attractive location for enterprise with access to a highly skilled workforce, readily available renewable energy, and lower operating costs than the London market. As AI becomes more ingrained into every facet of business and enterprise, Greater Manchester is placed to play a pivotal role in the government’s ambitions to become a world-leading superpower in science and tech. With the move to establish a new 40MW data centre in the city, Kao Data is actively supporting this mission, and the region's technology-driven business communities.

Growth expectations are fuelling network security investment

A10 Networks has recently published research - Global Communication Service Providers: Market Growth Fuels Security Investments - revealing the priorities, expectations, and perspectives of CSPs across the globe as they evolve and expand their services and infrastructure in an increasingly complex digital environment.  The study was undertaken by independent research organisation, Opinion Matters, among 2,750 senior IT professionals from a range of communication service providers across 11 regions around the world, with 250 UK respondents surveyed. It found that all (100%) of UK service providers surveyed expect to see traffic volumes rise in the next two to three years. Two thirds of respondents expect to see traffic increase by 50% or more - with one quarter (25%) believing it will soar by 75% or more. As a result, four key themes ran throughout A10 Networks’ second UK CSP survey. These were: focusing on investment, preparing for growth, expanding services to meet underserved communities, and seizing opportunities to expand into new markets with new services. Anthony Webb, Vice-President of A10 International, says, “These predictions align with the sustained traffic growth we’ve seen in recent years. Although the pandemic created a one-off burst in growth which we witnessed in our 2021 survey, with 98% of UK CSPs surveyed stating this, we are now seeing more sustained patterns emerging which show continuing growth at a considerable rate. Likewise, these positive growth levels are creating both the urgency and the confidence for CSPs to undertake substantial investment projects.” Network security strategy is becoming more sophisticated and diverse The survey found that UK respondents’ top three priorities for network security investments were:  32% simplification and integration of disparate, disconnected point security solutions 32% ransomware and malware protection services 30% upgrading firewalls Anthony continues, “Although upgrading firewalls and other security appliances were in the top three, this was less dominant than it was two years ago when we did our first CSP survey. This points to the fact that today’s network security strategy must be wide-ranging, with a well-rounded approach that can handle the full spectrum of emerging threats to maintain a high quality, reliable, and secure service for customers.”  Providers are working to close the digital divide Alongside investing in network security, UK CSPs are planning to expand their networks to reach unserved or underserved communities: 63% of UK respondents say they are expanding their networks to unserved/underserved communities. 49% are planning to expand for an uplift of more than 10% of their current subscriber base. 14% are expanding for an uplift of more than 50%. 37% are planning to build additional data centres and expand to provide additional capacity for other service providers. Anthony adds, “Connecting communities is central to reducing inequality and supporting digital opportunities, so it is heartening to see this positive direction of travel. Combining this with robust security strategies will result in more people and communities worldwide benefitting from safe, reliable digital services.” Enterprise cloud migration is having a positive impact Enterprise cloud migration has been a strong trend over the past decade, accelerated by the pandemic. The survey found that UK CSPs are now focusing on finding the right mix of cloud services to support future plans: Overall, 69% of UK respondents report a positive outcome related to their cloud transition 27% say it has directly generated revenue 21% say they have evolved to offer public cloud and managed data centre services 21% now have differentiated services that have increased their relevance to customers Anthony comments, “It is interesting to see that one in four CSPs say they have gained revenue as customers have distributed workloads and data centre functions between private, on premises and public cloud. This cloud transition is also evident when it comes to key purchasing criteria for network equipment, as being in a cloud-native form factor was a must-have criteria, with 30% saying this.” IPv6 transition remains an ongoing challenge Worldwide demand, as CSPs globally add more subscribers, has made IPv4 addresses scarce. Providers therefore need to plan for transition to IPv6. However, the survey shows that only 34% of UK respondents expect to achieve this in the next two to three years. More than one third (34%) are adopting a strategy of carefully managing their IPv4 pools and gradually transitioning to IPv6. 32% aim to run the two in parallel. Anthony concludes, “This shows that CSPs are adopting a more cautious approach to IPv6 adoption, leveraging existing investment and carefully managing existing IPv4 addresses or running the two in parallel, rather than accelerating full transition plans. “A10 Networks’ Global Communication Service Providers: Market Growth Fuels Security Investments report shows that CSPs are at a crucial point as they aim to capitalise on demand and seize opportunities to grow and diversify their business. To realise their full potential, service providers need to scale and protect their networks so the infrastructure they provide is secure and highly available.”