Artificial Intelligence

Macquarie Data Centres supersizes data centre for hyperscalers

Macquarie Data Centres, part of Macquarie Technology Group, has announced a major expansion to its next data centre, IC3 Super West. This expansion gives IC3 Super West the potential to increase its IT load to 45MW, a 41% increase from its original plans. The expansion reflects the company's ambitious expansion plans to meet rapidly rising demand for power and data-hungry AI workloads in Australia, while creating the ideal home for hyperscale cloud customers. Macquarie Data Centres' Group Executive, David Hirst, says, “According to CSIRO, the Australian economy could gain A$315bn by 2028 through the integration of AI. However, unlocking the full potential of AI hinges on the availability of advanced AI-ready data centres. To ensure optimal performance in training and inference of these AI models, we are designing our upcoming data centres to meet and surpass the demanding requirements for higher densities.” IC3 Super West will be able to efficiently support the high densities and multi-MW power requirements of new AI chip and server infrastructure. The data centre will also have the cooling requirements to match, by optimising the latest in both air and liquid cooling technologies. This new data centre will be the third edition to the provider’s Macquarie Park Data Centre Campus in Sydney’s premier North Zone. The increase in planned capacity will mean the total campus IT load could reach 63MW. The company's ambitious growth plans were bolstered by a A$160 million capital raise in June 2023. It announced that the capital raise would be put towards its future-focused expansion strategy, which involves acquiring sites in Sydney to accelerate growth and support the AI megatrend.  Macquarie has voiced its support for AI innovation in Australia and is committed to strengthening its sovereign data centre and cloud services operations to facilitate this.

Nasuni's appointment to drive its data intelligence and AI strategies

Nasuni has announced the promotion of its Vice President of Product, Jim Liddle, to the role of Chief Innovation Officer. This new focus area will lead the development and implementation of the company’s data intelligence and AI strategies. The appointment recognises Jim’s contributions over the last 12 months in evolving the Nasuni File Data Platform by providing data intelligence for customers, ranging from search to intelligent ransomware detection. Jim brings expert knowledge and a track record of success in driving product innovation to his new role, where he will work closely with Nasuni’s cross-functional teams to harness the company’s technical expertise and culture of innovation. Prior to joining Nasuni, he was Founder and CEO at Storage Made Easy (SME). Nasuni acquired the company in 2022 to strategically leverage its technology to build upon and develop new data management offerings that prioritise the full lifecycle of file data from creation and storage, to classification, search and interrogation. “I’m excited for the opportunity that this role presents in helping Nasuni deliver on its commitment to further enhance its dynamic data management capabilities with emerging technologies,” states Jim Liddle, Chief Innovation Officer at Nasuni. “By empowering businesses to leverage the full potential of multiple and often disparate unstructured data sets, they are able to deliver more informed decision-making.” Paul Flanagan, CEO at Nasuni, explains, “Data intelligence solutions are missing the largest dataset – unstructured data, because it is spread across silos of Network Attached Storage (NAS) infrastructure. Nasuni enables customers to consolidate these silos into an object store, providing the foundation to support the seamless integration of data intelligence and AI. Our acquisition of Jim’s former company, Storage Made Easy, reflected our determination to act quickly on this insight. Jim is the perfect person to help us fulfil our vision.” Click here for more latest news.

The Data Lab launches AI-driven tool to navigate funding opportunities 

The Data Lab has launched a new free tool which uses AI to provide smart funding matches and help businesses navigate the UK’s complex funding landscape. Funding Finder allows businesses to quickly determine what financial backing is available to them in Scotland and across the UK, matching them with the most appropriate funding bodies to best support their work. The user-focused tool is designed to provide value quickly by guiding users through a simple three-staged online form. The information provided helps to create a personalised recommendation based on the available funding for which they are most likely to be eligible. The Funding Finder’s embedded AI element delivers the most relevant search results to boost application success and minimise the time spent on inappropriate bids. The launch of the tool follows a successful two-month pilot, tested exclusively with members of The Data Lab's community. The pilot received positive feedback, with a number of those who trialled the tool, identifying new funding opportunities as a result. It is now available to businesses across the UK, with further scope to extend overseas. Users of the tool will also benefit from tailored support, event news, weekly updates from the innovation centre and access to useful networks and connections, including the European Space Agency, UKRI, Innovate UK, and Find Business Support Scotland. Adam Turner, Head of External Funding Services at The Data Lab, says, “It’s impossible to ignore the crucial role grant funding plays for all stages of a business, but particularly during the start-up and scaleup phases. Scotland has always produced high quality, innovative organisations and this is something we want to nurture with the deployment of this tool. “While the funding landscape is positive, the application process has never been straightforward. As well as being time-consuming, it’s often complex and, with no single central funding body, every application can be different. We regularly received feedback from our community that a lot of time was wasted applying for funding that simply wasn’t suitable or that particular organisations were unlikely to win. Our aim with Funding Finder is to overcome some of these common pitfalls by providing a one-stop-shop for funding, to make it more accessible for businesses.” Click here for more on The Data Lab.

Legendary British astronaut to address AI in space exploration 

Big Data London, organised by Reed Exhibitions (RX), has unveiled its keynote lineup with renowned astronaut, Major Tim Peake, CMG, and the first British European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut to visit the International Space Station, set to headline the event. The exhibition and conference will run on 20 and 21 September 2023 at Olympia, London. Previously an Army Air Corp officer and test pilot, Tim Peake’s work on the ISS and active engagement with the public has made him a role model to millions. He will explain how technology such as AI has made missions to the international space station possible. His closing keynote session will take place at 4:40pm on 21 September in the Y-Axis keynote theatre.  The Big Data LDN keynotes are the centrepiece of the content programme and for 2023, it will be running two keynote theatres in parallel at opposing ends of the hall (x-axis and y-axis). Both theatres will be packed with leading subject matter experts presenting the latest intelligence and opinion on the industry’s hottest topics. The organisation connects data visionaries and real-world pioneers to deliver cutting-edge practical advice to delegates and in addition to Tim Peake, the keynote track will also feature speakers including:  Libby Liu, CEO at Whistleblower Aid, will present on the Y-Axis stage on 20 September from 15:20 - 15:50, to discuss ethics at the cutting-edge of innovation, and shed light on the importance of data privacy and ethics in the digital age. Libby has represented some of the most impactful big tech whistleblowers of the last several years, including Meta's Frances Haugen and Twitter's former Security Lead, Peiter 'Mudge' Zatko. She will speak to what big tech whistleblowers have in common, the ethical dilemmas they face long before their stories shake the foundations of companies and industries, what they grapple with, what motivates them and how they can blow the whistle safely and legally.  Ela Osterberger from Wetransfer, will present at 14:40 - 15:10, in the Data Strategy Theatre on 21 September to discuss ‘Data Strategy 101: The Essential Guide’ and why your company almost certainly needs one, how to assess what's required, what it should include and how to evolve it. The focus of this session will be a practical take home on the importance of how to implement a data strategy at scale that you can implement right away.   Gary Cronin, Director Digital Transformation, Data Engineering and Insights, Grant Thornton, will deep dive into technical data governance and unlocking the power of data assets on 21 September, 13:20 -13:50. Gary will discuss the world of data modelling, focusing on lineage, provenance, and auditability of data platforms to explore how businesses can build a robust data infrastructure that enables them to reverse data transactions and provide transparency for better decision-making and data-driven insights.    The event aims to join together industry leaders, data professionals, innovators, and enthusiasts to explore the limitless potential of data-driven technologies. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with representatives and consultants from over 180 exhibiting organisations to explore effective solutions to address their data challenges and develop a robust data-driven strategy for their businesses. The event will feature a lineup of participating organisations with renowned names such as ITV, Porsche, Google, Microsoft, Bank of England, The AA, EDF, OVO, Jaguar Land Rover, Expedia, Experian, M&C Saatchi, HelloFresh and Lloyds Banking Group.   Registration for the event is now open, and interested participants can secure their spots for free here. 

Alibaba Cloud contributes to the open-source community

Alibaba Cloud has announced its latest contribution to the open-source community by open-sourcing its seven billion parameter Large Language Models (LLM), Qwen-7B and Qwen-7B-Chat, through its AI model community, ModelScope, and the collaborative AI platform, Hugging Face. The company has introduced its proprietary LLM, Tongyi Qianwen, earlier this year in April. This model, capable of generating human-like content in both Chinese and English, has different model sizes, including seven billion and above parameters. In an effort to democratise AI technologies, the models’ code, model weights, and documentation will be freely accessible to academics, researchers and commercial institutions worldwide. For commercial uses, the models will be free to use for companies with fewer than 100 million monthly active users. Programs with more users can request for a license.  "By open-sourcing our proprietary large language models, we aim to promote inclusive technologies and enable more developers and SMEs to reap the benefits of generative AI," says Jingren Zhou, CTO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. "As a determined long-term champion of open-source initiatives, we hope that this open approach can also bring collective wisdom to further help open-source communities thrive." The Qwen-7B was pre-trained on over two trillion tokens, including Chinese, English and other multilingual materials, code and mathematics, covering general and professional fields. Its context length reaches 8K. In training, this model was aligned with human instructions. Both models can be deployed on cloud and on-premises infrastructures. This enables users to fine-tune the models and build their own high quality generative models effectively and cost efficiently. The pre-trained Qwen-7B model distinguished itself in the Massive Multi-task Language Understanding (MMLU) benchmark, scoring a notable 56.7, outperforming other major models with similar scales or even some larger size models. This benchmark assesses a text model's multitask accuracy across 57 varied tasks, encompassing fields such as elementary mathematics, computer science and law. Moreover, it achieved the highest score among models with equivalent parameters in the leader board of C-Eval, a comprehensive Chinese evaluation suite for foundational models. It covers 52 subjects in four major specialities including humanities, social sciences, STEM and others. Additionally, it reached outstanding performance on benchmarks of mathematics and code generation, such as GSM8K and HumanEval.  Click here for latest data centre news.

DTX + UCX Europe 2023 prepares teams for a new realm

As 2023's advancements in technology pose more questions than answers, the industry's most insightful minds come together at Digital Transformation EXPO Europe (DTX) - the home of digital transformation, and UC EXPO (UCX) - the home of customer and workplace tech. Taking place on 4 and 5 October 2023 at ExCel London, the event comes at a time when IT teams and business leaders are starting to realise the impact from emerging technologies which has led to the theme of this year's show being ‘preparing for the next realm'. Organisations can learn how to balance risk with reward - readying their people, processes and infrastructure for the continual evolution of enterprise technology and AI. On day one of the show, three inspiring headline speakers take to the stage with Baroness Martha Lane Fox, President of the British Chamber of Commerce and Founder of lastminute.com, opening the show to explore why businesses need to decide if AI is friend or foe. Plus, world-renowned social engineer and author of ‘People Hacker', Jenny Radcliffe, speaking on the impact of tools such as ChatGPT on human-based attacks and approaches; and former distinguished engineer at Google Cloud, Kelsey Hightower, discussing the future of open source for product innovation. Day two will feature comedian and TV presenter Dara O’Briain alongside presenter & UCL professor, Hannah Fry to discuss the key role of storytelling and the value of being human in the age of machines. Furthermore, 18 stages of content will host case studies, panel debates and peer-to-peer roundtables discussing cloud, networks, cyber security, DevOps, software engineering, unified communications and collaboration, AI and automation and data, plus a new stage dedicated to IT Ops and service management. This year's event will be backed by a host of household names including Cisco, Google, Microsoft, AWS, Zoom and HP, plus Sophos, Okta, ThreatLocker and Checkpoint. Dominie Roberts, Programme Lead for DTX + UCX, says, “Following our hugely successful Manchester show in May, we're even more excited for the Europe edition of DTX+UCX returning to London ExCeL at such a crucial time for IT teams and business leaders.” "This year's event is designed to help organisations gain the knowledge and solutions they need to keep up with advancements in technology and the way a new generation of customers and employees are using it.” “Given the lineup of headline speakers, featured case studies and technology showcases, this year is sure to be one of the best yet and we’ll be announcing the details of the agenda and expo over the next few weeks.” To register, click here. Find more events happening around you here.

Fighting a surge in AI-assisted cyber attacks with the help of AI

By Richard Massey, VP of Sales, EMEA at Arcserve With cyber attacks never ending, and its impact often lethal, organisations are constantly looking for ways to enhance their data resilience. It’s a back and forth battle, good guys versus bad guys, and recently the bad guys have taken a step forward. They’re using AI to ramp up the frequency and severity of their attacks. Worse, many newbies are jumping in to try their hand at cyber crime. Script kiddies with zero coding experience can grab off-the-shelf AI tools and create and deploy malicious software. Anyone with bad intentions can quickly develop and unleash malware that wreaks havoc on companies. For instance, readily available AI tools enable even unsophisticated actors to execute denial-of-service attacks, create phishing emails and launch ransomware. These attacks can be run simultaneously from numerous systems worldwide, making it nearly impossible for human operators to manually detect all the attacking systems accessing their websites or portals. Turning AI against the hackers It’s not all bad news for the good guys. AI and deep learning technologies are also potent weapons in the fight against cyber crime. AI-driven security solutions with self-learning capabilities can proactively respond to emerging threats and protect against a wide range of attacks — effectively putting the power back in the hands of organisations. For instance, AI security tools can detect anomalies and patterns indicative of malicious behaviour and stop attacks before they cause harm. This intelligent approach to data protection reduces reliance on reactive measures and empowers organisations to stay one step ahead of cyber criminals. AI and deep learning protection systems can also adapt and evolve to counter emerging threats. They can learn from past incidents and continuously improve their defence mechanisms. By leveraging techniques like transfer learning, these systems can update their knowledge base with the latest threat intelligence and ensure greater resilience against future attacks. These systems can also take proactive, automated actions based on predefined rules or learned behaviour. For example, upon detecting a security breach or anomaly, the system can automatically trigger measures like isolating affected systems or blocking suspicious traffic. This automated response reduces the time between detection and remediation, thereby minimising the potential impact of a cyber attack. AI in action Here’s an example of what AI looks like in action. There is a well-known threat in the cyber security industry called a remote administration tool. RAT can be embedded into a simple email attachment, such as a JPEG image, allowing cyber attackers to gain unauthorised access to a system. Antivirus engines typically detect RATs based on their signatures, then distribute an alert to all endpoints to identify and remove the RATs. However, attackers can easily modify their RATs, even slightly, to generate a different signature and evade traditional signature-based detection. To fight back, AI and deep learning technologies are crucial. Instead of relying solely on static signature matching, modern cyber security tools powered by AI can analyse the behaviour of files and processes. They can observe whether a file is executing specific actions or installing software. AI security tools can flag suspicious behaviour and prevent potentially malicious actions by learning and recognising patterns in these activities. This approach is more effective in detecting and stopping emerging threats. Attackers are constantly developing new methods to evade conventional cyber security measures, which makes it essential for organisations to keep pace. AI and deep learning can play a vital role in analysing actual threats and predicting potentially malicious actions based on observed patterns. Such a proactive approach enhances the security posture of organisations and helps them protect against evolving cyber threats. A still-evolving tool When implementing AI and deep learning tools, it’s essential to consider the challenges they may bring. We’ve discussed the benefits of AI, but it’s crucial to remember that mistakes can occur. AI is still evolving and is not 100% foolproof. Sometimes, it may misinterpret what is happening, disrupting data or system availability.  These disruptions might happen when the AI detects what it thinks are illegal activities. For instance, AI tools often work with a reliability score. An organisation can take preventive actions if the score falls below a preset threshold. However, these preventive actions may be unnecessary, resulting in unplanned downtime. As an evolving technology, AI cannot guarantee absolute perfection, and the threat of errors will always exist. Nonetheless, as more people use the technology and encounter various threats, AI systems will improve and become better at distinguishing real threats from non-threatening situations. Getting Started with AI Many companies are intrigued by AI’s potential but don’t know how and where to start with the technology. The easiest way is to work with reliable security solution providers well-versed in deep learning and AI and already incorporating the technology into their existing products. This approach enables end-users to embrace AI and apply it effectively in data resilience and cyber security. As the technology continues to evolve, we expect to see more inhouse AI and deep learning solutions developed and deployed. However, AI’s complexity will take some years to become mainstream. In the meantime, the most accessible and straightforward way for organisations to use AI to defend themselves is to engage with solution providers with readily available AI-powered tools that neutralise cyber attacks and protect against data loss. Click here for latest data centre news.

Global Cyber Summit highlights Ukrainian experience amid geopolitical tensions

Nineteen Group, organiser of International Cyber Expo, has announced its programme for the annual Global Cyber Summit, sponsored by Sonatype, Opentext and Infoblox, and hosted at Olympia London on 26 and 27 September 2023. The summit returns with greater international appeal. Among other topics of discussion, guest speakers will provide the Ukrainian perspective on cyber security, in light of recent geopolitical events. With opening remarks by Professor Ciaran Martin CB, Chair of International Cyber Expo’s Advisory Council, the Global Cyber Summit assembles the industry’s great minds to review ongoing cyber threats, priorities and challenges. Uniquely, the programme this year invites advisors closely associated with Ukrainian government agencies to present their invaluable insight into the reality and impact of Russian cyber attacks on the country and beyond. Special guest speakers include, Oksana Kharchenko, a member of YouControl, who will delve into the challenges of managing sanctions risk in the current geopolitical setting; and Andrew Hural, Director, MDR of UnderDefense, who will reflect on the last 500 days of Russian cyber operations, determining the successes and failures of their espionage. Here are a few agenda highlights: Nicola Whiting MBE, co-owner of Titania Group, will reveal why diversity and inclusion efforts might be stalling and provide a new framework. Theresa Deumchen, Tech Policy Associate at Global Counsel, will examine the regulatory landscape concerning generative AI. Alexsander Gorkowienko, SecurityLabs’ Senior Managing Consultant at Spirent Communications, will explain how EU security regulations, such as the NIS 2 Directive, might affect businesses across the region. Jake Moore, Global Cyber Security Advisor at ESET, will shed light on his attempt to manipulate recruitment staff, land a job inside a company and gain full access to their data. Stewart Bertram, Head of Cyber Threat Intelligence at Elemendar, will utilise a mix of case studies and theories to expose the crossover between misinformation and cyber threat operations. Rashik Parmar, Group CEO of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, and Dr Saritha Arunkumar, IBM Public Cloud Worldwide Technical Leader - Security, will sit together on a panel to address the question: What does the rise of AI and quantum computing mean for the future of cyber security? Charlotte Hooper, Helpline Manager at The Cyber Helpline, will highlight the impact of cybercrime on individuals and what can be done to support them. Attendees can also take advantage of scheduled talks at the collocated International Security Expo. In fact, Joel Aleburu at Microsoft, will be speaking here about the role of cyber espionage in terrorist activities on the first day of the event, while Joe Wrieden, Intelligence Analyst at Cyjax, will assess the key role of Advanced Persistent Threats(APTs) in serious and organised crime on the second day. All sessions are CPD Certified. To register for free as a visitor: https://ice-2023.reg.buzz/dcnnAs press: https://www.internationalcyberexpo.com/press-pass-registration Click here for latest data centre news.

The Data Lab Community grows its online ecosystem

The Data Lab Community has expanded with AI and data skills in more demand than ever and interest in the sector growing internationally.   As part of its continued evolution, and to provide further value to its members, Scotland’s innovation centre for data and AI has launched a new premium membership subscription. The offering includes additional benefits without removing existing features that will remain freely available to both new and existing members.  Members who sign up for the premium tier will receive additional benefits, including discounts for The Data Lab’s flagship events, professional development opportunities and the ability to share job vacancies with thousands of students and professionals. Originally launched as a response to the quickly evolving and extremely challenging pandemic landscape, its growing community recently reached a significant milestone, surpassing 3,000 members. It has become a forum for academics, students and professionals to connect and collaborate on data and AI related projects. It has subsequently provided fertile territory for those looking to start or develop careers in this industry.   The focus on online collaboration has proven particularly attractive to the international audience, with members from 67 countries. This growth has seen the company become a central part of the innovation centre’s strategy to engage and inspire Scotland’s AI and data sector internationally.  Additionally, it has helped to facilitate more than 1,300 job opportunities for its members, the equivalent of almost 60 roles every month, since September 2021. The latest figures cover job opportunities that have been shared on a job forum to which members have exclusive access. The online community has helped to bridge the widening AI and data skills gap that threatens to restrict the growth of a burgeoning Scottish success story.  Click here for latest data centre news.

Panasas helps drive academic research initiatives

Panasas has announced that a number of leading academic research institutions are using storage solutions from the Panasas’ ActiveStor portfolio to support their modern high-performance computing (HPC) environments. Along with many university research institutions, the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI), the UC San Diego Centre for Microbiome Innovation (CMI), and LES MINES ParisTech, have trusted it to deliver the necessary data storage and management capabilities to support the HPC and AI workloads fuelling their research advancement. Modern HPC environments fast tracking academic research According to Hyperion Research, total HPC spending in 2022 reached $37bn and is projected to exceed $52bn in 2026. A key growth driver is that an increasing number of organisations and countries see the value of innovation and investing in R&D to advance society, grow revenues, reduce costs and remain competitive. High-performance data storage is the lifeblood of an academic research infrastructure. These research institutions cannot afford lost data, as it could set back the research program by months or even years. As these organisations simultaneously run and analyse data sets across multiple HPC and AI/ML applications with varied IO patterns and file sizes, they require an always-on storage solution that can manage the capacity of these bandwidth-intensive and mixed workloads while scaling to support growth. The Panasas’ ActiveStor portfolio of modern HPC storage solutions provides the reliability research teams need to keep their projects on track while eliminating the management burdens associated with roll-your-own and open-source storage systems. Its solutions currently power innovative research in agriculture, astrophysics, bioinformatics, climate research, computational chemistry, genome analysis, geophysics, high energy physics, machine learning, materials science, molecular biology and more. Here are a few examples of how Panasas is helping advance research within some of the most prestigious academic institutions across the globe: The Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI) has relied on its storage for many years to support its growing HPC and AI research initiatives. Recently adding 10PB of additional storage, the institute leverages the company’s ActiveStor Ultra appliances running the Panasas PanFS parallel file system for a single-tier architecture that enables it to easily manage the unique set of mixed workloads that multiple research groups carry out every day. The UC San Diego Centre for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) has used it to build the data foundation it needed for continued research excellence, including the power to expedite data exploration and discovery with better control, usability and optimal uptime. The TU Freiberg is utilising Panasas as its parallel scratch file system. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) team consolidated its storage onto Panasas ActiveStor and gained the scalability, performance and manageability that its workflows demanded, freeing up researchers’ time to spend time working on the data rather than managing and moving it. Today, a single IT manager spends half their time supporting 1,500 nodes. Click here for latest data centre news.