Cloud Computing & Storage

UAE-IX now powered by DE-CIX

DE-CIX, an Internet Exchange (IX) operator, and partner Datamena, Du’s carrier neutral data centre and connectivity platform based in the UAE and serving the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, today announced the upgrade of the UAE-IX to offer 400 GE access. Connected customer capacity on the exchange has soared over the last year, growing two terabits, or 30%, in twelve months. The UAE-IX is the largest IX in the Middle East, based on both connected networks and peak traffic, and is now the only IX in the region to offer 400 GE access. Established in 2012 and operated by DE-CIX on behalf of partner Datamena, the IX today has over six terabits of connected capacity and connects close to 110 internet service providers (ISPs), carriers, cloud, content, and application providers, and global enterprises. It also provides enterprise-grade interconnection services, such as a Cloud Exchange, cloud routing, and application connectivity like the Microsoft Azure Peering Service (MAPS). “The UAE-IX today stands as a global internet hub, bringing together the network operators, content, applications, and cloud services to serve the entire GCC region with resilient and low latency connectivity,” claims Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX. “This upgrade further reinforces the importance of the UAE-IX, now ready to serve the rising demand for everything digital. The excellent collaboration with our partner Datamena has enabled the UAE-IX powered by DE-CIX to shine as the most important aggregation point for network interconnection in the Middle East. I look forward to a bright future working together for the next decade of digital development.” Karim Benkirane, Chief Commercial Officer, Du, comments, "We are proud to partner with DE-CIX in leading digital growth in the Middle East with the upgrade of the UAE-IX powered by DE-CIX to 400 GE access. It is our vision to foster a seamlessly interconnected landscape where businesses and consumers alike can benefit from unparalleled internet exchange capabilities, heightened performance, and robust security. This milestone aligns with our commitment to maintaining the UAE-IX as a pioneer in interconnection and marks a transformative leap for regional digital ecosystems." DE-CIX has been active in the Middle East for over a decade, and now operates IXs in multiple countries in the region: Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, and Turkey. The UAE-IX in Dubai is operated under the DE-CIX as a Service (DaaS) model. The DaaS program includes a set of services – such as installation, maintenance, provisioning, and marketing and sales support – designed for carriers, data centre operators, or other third parties to create their own IX and interconnection platform operated by DE-CIX. For more from DE-CIX, click here.

AMD processors now power Nokia cloud infrastructure

AMD, an American multinational semiconductor company specialising in computer processors and graphics cards, has announced that Nokia has included 5th Gen AMD EPYC processors to power the Nokia Cloud Platform. “Telecom operators are looking for infrastructure solutions that combine performance, scalability, and power efficiency to manage the growing complexity and scale of 5G networks,” says Dan McNamara, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Server Business, AMD. “Working together with Nokia, we’re using the leadership performance and energy efficiency of the 5th Gen AMD EPYC processors to help our customers build and operate high-performance and efficient networks.” “This expanded collaboration between Nokia and AMD brings a multitude of benefits and underscores Nokia's commitment to innovation through diverse chip partnerships in 5G network infrastructure. The new 5th Gen AMD EPYC processors offer high performance and impressive energy efficiency, enabling Nokia to meet the demanding needs of its 5G customers while contributing to the industry's sustainability goals,” adds Kal De, Senior Vice President, Product and Engineering, Cloud and Network Services, Nokia. The processors will be deployed within Nokia Cloud Platform, a component that supports containerised workloads foundational to 5G core, edge, and enterprise applications. By integrating the AMD EPYC 9005 Series processors into Nokia Cloud Platform, Nokia hopes to deliver good performance per watt and meet growing data demands whilst minimising environmental impact. For more from AMD, click here.

Hitachi Vantara launches Virtual Storage Platform 360

Hitachi Vantara, the data storage, infrastructure, and hybrid cloud management subsidiary of Hitachi, today announced the launch of Virtual Storage Platform 360 (VSP 360), a unified management software solution designed to help customers simplify data infrastructure management operations, improve decision-making, and the delivery of data services. With support for block, file, object, and software-defined storage, VSP 360 consolidates multiple management tools and aims to enable IT teams, including those with limited storage expertise, to more efficiently control hybrid cloud deployments, gain AIOps predictive insights, and simplify data lifecycle governance. Organisations today are struggling to manage sprawling data environments spread across disparate storage systems, fragmented data silos, and complex application workloads, all while grappling with overextended IT teams and rising demands for compliance and AI readiness. A recent survey showed AI has led to a dramatic increase in the amount of data storage that businesses require, with the amount of data expected to increase 122% by 2026. The survey also revealed that many IT leaders are being forced to implement AI before their data infrastructure is ready to handle it, with many embarking on a journey of experimentation, hoping to find additional ways to recover some of the cost of their investments. VSP 360 seeks to address these obstacles by integrating data management tools across enterprise storage to monitor key performance indicators, including storage capacity utilisation and overall system health, helping to deliver optimal performance and efficient resource management. It intends to improve end-to-end visibility, leveraging AIOps observability to break down data silos, as well as streamlining the deployment of VSP One data services. “VSP 360 represents a bold step forward in unifying the way enterprises manage their data,” says Octavian Tanase, Chief Product Officer, Hitachi Vantara. “It’s not just a new management tool—it’s a strategic approach to modern data infrastructure that gives IT teams complete command over their data, wherever it resides. With built-in AI and automation and by making it available via SaaS, Private, or via your mobile phone, we're empowering our customers to make faster, smarter decisions and eliminate the traditional silos that slow innovation.” “VSP 360 gives our customers the unified visibility and control they’ve been asking for,” claims Dan Pittet, Senior Solutions Architect, Stoneworks Technologies. “The ability to manage block, file, object, and software-defined storage from a single AI-driven platform helps streamline operations and reduce complexity across hybrid environments. It’s especially valuable for IT teams with limited resources who need to respond quickly to evolving data demands without compromising performance or governance.” "VSP 360 hits the mark for what modern enterprises need," states Ashish Nadkarni, Group Vice President and General Manager, Worldwide Infrastructure Research, IDC. "It goes beyond monitoring to deliver true intelligence across the storage lifecycle. The solution's robust data resiliency helps businesses maintain continuous operations and protect their critical assets, even in the face of unexpected disruptions. By integrating advanced analytics, automation, and policy enforcement, Hitachi Vantara is giving customers the agility and resilience needed to thrive in a data-driven economy.” For more from Hitachi, click here.

Nokia partners with atNorth to support cloud services in Finland

atNorth, a Nordic colocation, high-performance computing and AI service provider, has announced plans to support Nokia’s cloud infrastructure with a multi megawatt deployment at its FIN02 site in Finland (pictured above). The contract spans over 12 years and includes potential extensions totalling over 10MW. Nokia, one of the world’s leading telecommunications and networking technology companies, is headquartered in Finland and has long utilised Finnish data centres, leveraging the country’s cool climate and renewable energy sources to ensure the sustainability of its workloads. In fact, the business was ranked as the most sustainable telecoms and communications company in the world earlier this year. Nokia and atNorth have built a long-standing relationship through atNorth’s use of Nokia data centre switches that power its HPCaaS offering, which currently runs from its data centres in Iceland and Sweden. Well versed in the evolving data centre landscape, Nokia was looking for a data centre partner that could accommodate its high-density infrastructure needs without compromising its environmental credentials. The business required capacity suitable for high-density workloads of more than 130kw per rack, available at speed and with the potential for future scalability. Located in Espoo, Greater Helsinki, atNorth’s newest data centre, FIN02, runs on renewable energy and features robust power and liquid cooling capabilities. Built for scalability, its modular design supports high-performance workloads. A collaboration with Kesko Corporation enables waste heat recycling to heat a nearby store, further lowering its carbon footprint. “atNorth was able to meet our complex technical requirements at speed without compromising on our sustainability goals,” says Marika Mentula, Vice President for Network Infrastructure North Europe at Nokia. “By helping support our cloud infrastructure at atNorth’s FIN02 data center, we can deliver high-performance infrastructure that supports our most demanding applications.” Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, CEO of atNorth, adds, “As the data centre industry continues to grow at record speed, it’s clear that businesses are increasingly seeking the full package - sustainable, secure, infrastructure that can scale rapidly. Our longstanding partnership with Nokia, rooted in the hardware demands of our HPCaaS offering and built on a shared commitment to sustainability, is a testament to that. It adds to a growing list of globally recognized companies that trust atNorth with their mission-critical data and rely on us to deliver best-in-class service.” The news follows atNorth’s recent announcement of its heat reuse partnership with retail giant, Kesko Corporation at its FIN02 data centre in Finland. The business has two other metro sites near Helsinki, and a fourth ‘mega’ site - which is currently in development in Kouvola - is expected to be operational by the end of 2025. For more from atNorth, click here.

Juniper and Google Cloud enhance branch deployments

Juniper Networks has announced its collaboration with Google Cloud to accelerate new enterprise campus and branch deployments and optimise user experiences. With just a few clicks in the Google Cloud Marketplace, customers can subscribe to Google’s Cloud WAN solution alongside Juniper Mist wired, wireless, NAC, firewalls and secure SD-WAN solutions. Unveiled at Google Cloud Next 25, the solution is designed to simply, securely and reliably connect users to critical applications and AI workloads whether on the internet, across clouds or within data centres. “At Google Cloud, we’re committed to providing our customers with the most advanced and innovative networking solutions. Our expanded collaboration with Juniper Networks and the integration of its AI-native networking capabilities with Google’s Cloud WAN represent a significant step forward,” says Muninder Singh Sambi, VP/GM, Networking, Google Cloud. “By combining the power of Google Cloud’s global infrastructure with Juniper’s expertise in AI for networking, we’re empowering enterprises to build more agile, secure and automated networks that can meet the demands of today’s dynamic business environment.” AIOps key to GenAI application growth As the cloud expands and GenAI applications grow, reliable connectivity, enhanced application performance and low latency are paramount. Businesses are turning to cloud-based network services to meet these demands. However, many face challenges with operational complexity, high costs, security gaps and inconsistent application performance. Assuring the best user experience through AI-native operations (AIOps) is essential to overcoming these challenges and maximising efficiency.  Powered by Juniper’s Mist AI-Native Networking platform, Google’s Cloud WAN, a new solution from Google Cloud, delivers a fully managed, reliable and secure enterprise backbone for branch transformation. Mist is purpose-built to leverage AIOps for optimised campus and branch experiences, assuring that connections are reliable, measurable and secure for every device, user, application and asset. “Mist has become synonymous with AI and cloud-native operations that optimise user experiences while minimising operator costs,” says Sujai Hajela, EVP, Campus and Branch, Juniper Networks. “Juniper’s AI-Native Networking Platform is a perfect complement to Google’s Cloud WAN solution, enabling enterprises to overcome campus and branch management complexity and optimise application performance through low latency connectivity, self-driving automation and proactive insights.” Google’s Cloud WAN delivers high-performance connections for campus and branch The campus and branch services on Google’s Cloud WAN driven by Mist provide a single, secure and high-performance connection point for all branch traffic. A variety of wired, wireless, NAC and WAN services can be hosted on Google Cloud Platform, enabling businesses to eliminate on-premises hardware, dramatically simplifying branch operations and reducing operational costs. By natively integrating Juniper and other strategic partners with Google Cloud, Google’s Cloud WAN solution enhances agility, enabling rapid deployment of new branches and services, while improving security through consistent policies and cloud-delivered threat protection. 

Raxio lands $100m to expand sub-Saharan African data centres

Raxio Group has signed an agreement for $100 million in financing from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to accelerate Raxio’s expansion of data centres to power key technologies like AI, cloud computing and digital financial services – critical enablers of African economic growth and digital inclusion. The debt funding from IFC will help Raxio double its deployment of high-quality colocation data centres within three years, addressing growing demand in underserved markets across the continent. The company is developing a Sub-Saharan African regional data centre platform in countries including Ethiopia, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania and Angola. Raxio is committed to bridging Africa’s digital divide by introducing Tier III-certified, carrier-neutral, and secure data services to markets that have been overlooked by other providers. With a focus on high-growth areas, the company is tapping into regions with significant economic potential to unlock new opportunities across the continent. “Raxio’s business model shows how digital infrastructure can empower businesses, governments and communities to thrive in the digital economy,” says Sarvesh Suri, IFC Regional Industry Director, Infrastructure and Natural Resources in Africa. “This partnership between Raxio and IFC is set to strengthen Africa’s digital ecosystem and catalyse further investments and regional integration, building a more inclusive and sustainable future.” “This funding from IFC is a powerful endorsement of Raxio’s vision and operational excellence,” says Robert Skjødt, CEO of Raxio Group. “It will allow us to bring critical infrastructure to the regions that need it most and attract further investment as we continue to grow. Together with our other partners, we’re building the foundation for Africa’s digital future and setting new benchmarks for sustainability.” Raxio’s facilities are designed for 24/7 reliability, ensuring uninterrupted service even during maintenance or unforeseen disruptions. The company integrates renewable energy solutions to minimise its environmental footprint and uses innovative energy-efficient equipment to reduce electricity and water consumption for cooling in several of its countries of operation. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Raxio’s Kinshasa facility is poised to meet growing demand for data services in one of Africa’s largest and fastest-growing urban centres. In Côte d’Ivoire, Raxio is establishing a digital hub to serve Francophone West Africa, connecting regional markets and facilitating cross-border trade. These efforts are empowering local businesses and integrating them into the global digital economy.

Google Cloud appoints new regional Vice President

Google Cloud has announced the appointment of Maureen Costello as Vice President, United Kingdom and Ireland (UKI) and Sub-Saharan Africa. In this role, Maureen will oversee the company's sales strategy and operations across both regions. Maureen brings nearly three decades of industry experience to Google Cloud, having previously served as Corporate Vice President for Industry Solutions Delivery at Microsoft. Prior to her role at Microsoft, she held several leadership positions during her 25-year tenure at Accenture, including Senior Managing Director and Resources Lead for UKI. "It’s an honour to join Google Cloud at such a pivotal time in its journey," Maureen comments. "We have a tremendous opportunity to help businesses across the UKI and Sub-Saharan Africa harness the full potential of the cloud, from AI and data analytics to cyber security and sustainability. I am eager to build on the strong foundation already in place." Maureen joins Google Cloud at a key stage in its growth trajectory. The company has recently announced major relationships in the UK with organisations including BT, John Lewis & Partners, Vodafone, and WPP. In Africa, Google Cloud opened its first region in Johannesburg, South Africa, in January 2024, and has committed $1 billion to support digital transformation initiatives across the continent. "Maureen is a proven leader with an exceptional track record of driving growth and building high-performing teams," notes Tara Brady, President, EMEA, Google Cloud. "Her deep industry expertise and understanding of the unique needs of customers will be invaluable as we continue to expand Google Cloud's presence in these key markets. We are thrilled to welcome her to the Google Cloud EMEA leadership team." Google Cloud is a new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. It offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimised AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organisations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories use Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner. For more from Google Cloud, click here.

AWS Direct Connect Location available at Telehouse Osaka

KDDI Corporation, parent company to Telehouse, has announced today the availability of an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect Location at its Telehouse Osaka data centre in Japan. Telehouse Osaka customers can now directly access over 240 AWS cloud services, including AWS's generative AI via AWS Direct Connect, a cloud service that links customer networks directly to AWS Regions (data centres) through a dedicated network from Telehouse Osaka. This enables low-latency and secure connections to their own cloud environments. Telehouse Osaka will reportedly be the first data centre in Japan operated by a Japanese telecommunications company to provide a dedicated connection point to AWS Direct Connect. Globally, this will be the third AWS Direct Connect site to implement the service, following Telehouse PARIS Voltaire and Telehouse London Docklands. Takeyuki Yanagisawa, General Manager, Connectivity DC Planning Department at KDDI, comments, “The AWS Direct Connect Location at Telehouse Osaka allows for the creation of a secure and private link between AWS cloud services and our customers’ IT systems within the data centre. This setup significantly enhances throughput and ensures stability of our customers’ networks.” “Additionally, by using the fibre core-based data centre interconnection service in the Osaka Business Park, customers can also access their IT infrastructure from other data centres.” For more from KDDI, click here.

Alibaba named 'leader' in Public Cloud Platforms report

Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, has been named a 'Leader' in The Forrester Wave: Public Cloud Platforms Q4 2024 report. Alibaba Cloud believes this designation recognises its depth of its cloud and AI offerings and strategy, its significant global presence, as well as the ability to provide its global customers with a wide range of products and services. This is the first time Alibaba Cloud has been recognised as a Leader among other significant public cloud platform providers in this report. Alibaba Cloud is named one of four leaders among nine global vendors evaluated in Forrester’s report, with the second highest scores in the current offering and strategy categories. The report states that Alibaba Cloud showed its capacity for AI innovation with homegrown AI models, breadth of foundation model choices and model-as-a-service (MaaS) innovation. The report also states that the core infrastructure and model-as-a-service capabilities enable Alibaba Cloud to provide a major model repository for AI across China. “Alibaba has upped the ante on serverless beyond AI, packaging its powerful cloud-native infrastructure into more accessible offerings for both developers and operators, with data and analytics as a stand out,” Forrester notes in the report. “Alibaba is a good fit for Chinese-based enterprises or international corporations requiring cloud scale across APAC and parts of Africa, Europe, and Latin America.” The Forrester report is a 30-criterion evaluation of the nine most significant public cloud platform providers. Each provider is evaluated on the strengths of their current offerings, strategy and market presence. Alibaba Cloud has achieved the highest possible assessment score (5.0 out of 5.0) in 17 criteria, including database, data integration and governance services, container and Kubernetes services, serverless/FaaS services, compute, IoT, storage services, as well as AI development services. Jingren Zhou, Chief Technology Officer of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, comments, “Expanding our cloud-native infrastructure and AI capabilities in the public cloud space to better support our clients is a top priority. We are honoured to be recognised by Forrester for our efforts in this critical area. To address the increasing demands of AI, we are dedicated to continuously enhancing our ability to provide accessible, scalable, and reliable cloud products and AI applications to our customers.” At Apsara Conference 2024, Alibaba Cloud’s annual flagship event hosted in September, Alibaba Cloud unveiled a revamped full-stack infrastructure designed to meet the growing demands for robust AI computing. It also released over 100 of its newly-launched large language models, Qwen 2.5, to the global open-source community. Qwen, Alibaba Cloud’s proprietary large language model, has seen significant adoption since its introduction in April 2023. The Qwen models have been downloaded over 40 million times on open-source platforms such as Hugging Face and ModelScope, and have inspired the creation of more than 78,000 derivative models. As a creator of the MaaS concept and an advocate of open source, Alibaba Cloud also built ModelScope, China’s biggest AI model community. It hosts over 10,000 models and serves more than 8 million developers. Alibaba Cloud continues to expand its global reach, currently operating 85 data centres in 28 regions globally. In May 2024, Alibaba Cloud announced plans to launch its first cloud region in Mexico, and to establish additional data centres in its key markets including Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and South Korea in the next three years. For more from Alibaba Cloud, click here.

Nationwide migrates IT estate to HPE GreenLake cloud

Hewlett Packard Enterprise today announced that Nationwide Building Society has selected HPE GreenLake cloud for its private cloud deployment, enabling it to accelerate its hybrid cloud journey. With the addition of HPE GreenLake Management Services as a strategic cloud services provider, Nationwide is now using the power of cloud technology to support the evolving needs of its customers. In 2018, Nationwide kick-started an ambitious journey to ensure it was primed for the next generation of digital innovation, with its hybrid cloud strategy being driven by the need for different cloud environments for various types of data and workloads. Leveraging the comprehensive capabilities of HPE GreenLake, Nationwide is creating an agile, scalable, secure, resilient, and efficient technology platform. “In today’s world our customers expect us to deliver an always-on service whilst providing new, innovative features that help them better manage their finances,” says Paul Walsh, Director of Infrastructure & Service Delivery, at Nationwide Building Society. “Nationwide’s hybrid cloud strategy is vital to our ability to compete and means we can continue to meet the needs and expectations of our customers. HPE GreenLake cloud is a core component of our hybrid cloud strategy. With them we’re building a cloud platform that will further improve our resilience and agility, enabling us to provide even better levels of service and deliver new capabilities to our developers faster than ever before.” With HPE GreenLake Management Services, Nationwide’s IT team will automate and orchestrate infrastructure management and deliver infrastructure as code. This enables them to focus on innovation, value-add activities and gain better control over application builds and security. Faster release cycles will accelerate the time to market, providing consistent customer experiences across all digital platforms. At the same time, Nationwide can ensure that sufficient controls are in place to manage risk, protect their customers and meet the demands of regulators, while unlocking the value of cloud technology. Nationwide’s hybrid cloud strategy fully embraces cloud economics, enabling efficient monitoring and management of consumption. HPE GreenLake's consumption-based model prevents overprovisioning and allows Nationwide to only pay for capacity that it is using. This is expected to support Nationwide in reducing its IT cost base by at least 30%. Furthermore, a dedicated service within HPE GreenLake cloud gives the building society a clear overview of their energy consumption and emissions, enabling Nationwide to manage its infrastructure more efficiently and reduce the environmental impact. The impact will be further reduced by upcycling and recycling of decommissioned assets, such as the end-of-use compute and storage infrastructure that GreenLake has replaced. “We are proud to support Nationwide with their cloud vision, providing them with enhanced control and security and the reliability and flexibility for growth,” says Matt Harris, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, UK, Ireland, Middle East and Africa at HPE. “Nationwide’s modernisation journey showcases the effectiveness of HPE GreenLake cloud, with the storied institution transitioning from complex, legacy technology to a modern, future-proofed hybrid cloud operating model, where a one-size-fits all public cloud could never be the only answer." For more from HPE, click here.