Events

Crestchic returns to Data Centre World exhibition

With the data centre market ever changing, and our reliance on data increasing, live exhibitions have become essential in dictating what’s next for the industry going forward. This is why Crestchic Loadbanks will be returning to Data Centre World London to discuss the importance of loadbank technology and its role in ensuring that data centres can remain up and running. Crestchic will be participating in London’s Data Centre World exhibition in March 2023. The Crestchic team will be on hand to answer any questions visitors may have about renting or buying a variety of backup power testing and heat load testing systems. Joining over 10,000 like-minded professionals, decision-makers, pioneers, experts and suppliers who are collectively working towards achieving next-generation data centre capabilities, the Crestchic team will be on stand for the two-day event on 8-9 March 2023 to showcase our product offering, including: • Resistive-only load banks typically up to 300kW for heat load testing. • Rack mounted server emulators for heat load-testing. • Capacitive load banks to test with the leading power factor often associated with servers. • Large multi-megawatt, medium voltage load bank packages to test and synchronise multi genset systems on a common bus with a lagging power factor. • DC load banks to test UPS systems for close battery analysis and discharge performance. • Resistive-reactive load banks for testing the whole system operation in an emergency change-over scenario. Paul Brickman, Group Commercial Director for Crestchic comments, “As our reliance on data increases, it is more important than ever that data centres can test their facilities under real working conditions to ensure power supplies cannot be interrupted. “Preventing power outages and maintaining productivity is key for these mission-critical environments. Load banks are a key part of both the data centre commissioning and ongoing testing of backup power solutions, as well as for heat load testing to mitigate risk during operation. “As always, we are keen to meet decision-makers from the data centre market, who are looking to improve how they manage power for new and existing data centre campuses.” Building on past successes, this event is for anyone looking to develop their understanding of the data centre market, and source solutions and service providers that can support them in cost management and risk mitigation.

Schneider Electric to bring data centres of the future to DCW

Energy security, infrastructure resiliency and sustainability have all become focal points for the data centre sector and at Data Centre World 2023, Schneider Electric will showcase its EcoStruxure for Data Centres solutions portfolio - combining connected products, apps, and analytics to deliver a new vision for the data centres of the future. On stand D530, Schneider Electric will demonstrate end-to-end solutions from across its secure power, power products, power systems and services businesses to share how it can support customers as a digital partner for sustainability and efficiency. Critical power and cooling Schneider Electric’s dedicated critical power zone will feature its Galaxy VS and Easy Modular UPS range. Schneider Electric Galaxy UPS includes its patented eConversion technology, offering 99% efficiency, without compromising availability for increased availability and reduced operating costs. Easy Modular UPS is the company’s new medium UPS offer, providing an easy to use, easy to service and easy to maintain critical power protection solution, with optimum reliability. Furthermore, the critical power zone will host Schneider Electric’s Power Systems offers, including its medium voltage (MV) SMAirSeT, an SF6-free Modular MV Switchboard. This green and digital modular air-insulated switchgear solution combines pure air and vacuum technology to replace greenhouse or alternative gases. Data centres at the edge As part of its stand, Schneider Electric has also created an edge computing zone, which will showcase its edge infrastructure solutions alongside its alliance partners. This will include its EcoStruxure micro data centre’s with Stratus ftServer for industrial manufacturing environments. The zone will also showcase Schneider Electric’s APC Smart-UPS Ultra - the industry’s first 3kW and 5kW 1U single-phase UPS, which are designed to deliver more power, flexibility, and intelligent monitoring in the smallest footprint. Smart-UPS Ultra enables IT and data centre professionals to address many of the challenges with deploying infrastructure in distributed IT and edge computing environments, enabling efficiency and uptime for critical applications everywhere. The power of DCIM 3.0 At Data Centre World, Schenider Electric will demonstrate its data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) software capabilities, including its open and vendor-agnostic EcoStruxure IT platform. EcoStruxure's IT Expert goes beyond incident solving and prevention, providing advanced remote monitoring, visibility and alarms, predictive maintenance, and data-driven recommendations to mitigate security and failure risks in data centres. It will also share its Digital Twin capabilities including its Aveva Software Solutions and ETAP simulation platform. The company says that its ETAP’s integrated digital twin platform offers the world’s most comprehensive suite of enterprise solutions and specialises in the simulation, design, monitoring, control, operator training, optimising, and automating of power systems. The stand will also host an Augmented Reality (AR) experience for visitors, showcasing its other software, sustainability, and service capabilities alongside virtual demos of its complete portfolio of technologies for sustainable, efficient, and resilient data centres, including its Uniflair cooling Direct Expansion portfolio. Empowering sustainability and efficiency During Data Centre World 2023, Schneider Electric will share its sustainability, efficiency, and data centre services expertise in three different speaking sessions. The first, led by Schneider Electric Account Manager, Elite Partners, Sophie Wilson, takes place on 8 March from 10:10am-10:35am in the Design and Build Theatre. This fireside chat will bring together data centre design and build consultancies from across the UK and Ireland including Advanced Power Technology, EfficiencyIT, and Total Power Solutions, to explore customer use cases within the defence, life sciences, healthcare, and enterprise sectors, and answer the question, ‘How do we engineer the future of data centre efficiency?’ At 10:45am on 8 March, Schneider Electric will deliver its first keynote speech at the event exploring the convergence of electrification and digitisation, and how the company’s vision for Electricity 4.0 will build the sustainable, resilient data centres of the future. Taking place in the Keynote Theatre and led by Steven Brown, Segment Director, Schneider Electric, the keynote will look at the impacts of energy volatility and share best practices on how to mitigate risk by leveraging sustainability services, software, and resilient infrastructure. Its third speaking session will be led by the services business on 9 March from 10:40am-11:05am in the Keynote Theatre, looking at the role of services in extending the lifecycle of your data centre.

Atkore heads to Data Centre World 2023

The new Atkore Unistrut Aisle Containment System - the latest concept in modular aisle containment for data centres - will be unveiled at Data Centre World (stand D40, ExCel, London) on 8-9 March. Exhibiting for the first time at the show, Atkore will also be showcasing a broad range of metal framing, cable management and flexible conduit systems from its brands including Unistrut, Flexicon and Vergokan and Marco. The Atkore Unistrut Aisle Containment System provides a fast and efficient means to manage heat dissipation, according to the maker. Benefitting from off-site manufacturing, every component part is precision cut and undergoes rigorous quality control to deliver a simple on-site installation. The bespoke-design system comprises the containment enclosure and all cable management components, including cable ladders (welded and pre-galvanised), cable trays, cable baskets, and trunking. Finite element analysis, alongside consistent reproduction of all component parts in a controlled factory environment provides data centre managers with the additional assurance of reliability and dependability. Mark Halsey, Global Product Director for Cable Management and Protection at Atkore , will be discussing the many benefits of this combined containment and cable management solutions’ approach during the show. His talk, on the 8th of March 2023 in the energy efficiency, cost management and DCIM theatre will focus on the growing trend for offsite construction and how this can help data centre operators meet the custom needs of their project. Modular, off-site construction The modular design, as opposed to traditional on-site stick build, cuts installation time and complexity. This can reduce congestion with other trades and increases the safety of the installation. For example, all component parts arrive pre-cut and require no onsite preparation or welding, eliminating the hazards of hot works. The design can be configured to accommodate the needs of any project, with predictable and consistent costs. This includes adjustable bottom columns that account for variances in the slope of the floor and cantilever arm assemblies that enable quick, in-unison height adjustments. To further improve the ease of installation, the new solution can be integrated with the Unistrut celling grid. This enables the system to be suspended from the ceiling, with cable management added or adjusted to suit. High quality and repeatability All products incorporated into the Atkore Unistrut Aisle Containment System meet global data centre specification and are designed according to DfMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly) and FEA (Finite Element Analysis) methods. Daniel Tew, UK and Ireland Sales Director for Atkore Unistrut, comments, “Operators are facing increasing pressures to meet the global demand for data and need every advantage they can get to build at speed, without compromising on quality or increasing cost. That’s why we’re launching the Atkore Unistrut Aisle Containment System. “Our engineers have purpose-designed the system to be fast and efficient to install and to reduce complexity on-site. Built in our quality-controlled manufacturing facility, every component is cut to the desired length in a controlled environment and is therefore of a proven standard. “All components will be manufactured in the UK or Europe and stamped with a batch number. This acts as a guarantee of their quality and enables them to be traced back to the steel manufacturer in the event of any issues. “We’re excited to be bringing our new Atkore Unistrut Aisle Containment System to Data Centre World 2023 and look forward to discussing its benefits with data centre professionals from across the globe on stand D40.”

RMS to showcase cabling expertise at Data Centre World

RMS is set to showcase its specialist cable management systems at Data Centre World on 8-9 March 2023. The team will be exhibiting a range of products designed to boost efficiency and quality for those responsible for building data centres. On display will be modular solutions, such as corridor frames comprising pre-installed cable containment, as well as the Dataline EMT system, which securely transports fibreoptic cabling. Peter Willsher, Managing Director at RMS, says, “Data storage is becoming increasingly more complex, driving the need for more innovative cable management systems when constructing data centres. Data Centre World is an opportunity for us to demonstrate how RMS is responding to this demand. “Visitors to the stand will be able to see our latest data centre products and how we can tailor solutions to meet specific design criteria. This bespoke offering is essential for many data centre projects, ensuring clients achieve more certainty in terms of costs, materials, installation times and carbon content.” Part of Tech Show London, Data Centre World takes place from 8-9 March 2023 at Excel in London. The RMS team can be found on stand D1050.

Holistic solutions on show at Data Centre World 2023

CP Automation will be showcasing a range of metering and mitigation devices at Data Centre World 2023, held on 8-9 March at the ExCel London. Visitors to Stand D962 will have the chance to explore how they can maximise the uptime of their data centres by recording and responding to irregular power inputs. Keeping data centres online means combatting irregular power supplies and electrical surges by detecting power issues and correcting them in real time. To see how CP Automation can help attendees achieve this, visitors to the stand will be able to see metering equipment from Janitza and Chauvin Arnoux, alongside SineTamer voltage surge suppression devices and harmonic filters from COMSYS and Revcon. As well experiencing the technology on show, attendees can learn how CP Automation builds unique power quality solutions for customers. The company can install power quality solutions that meet the requirements of individual data centres, to ensure power at the input terminals remains safe, secure, clean and continuous. “Power quality is often thought of at the granular level,” explains John Mitchell, CP Automation’s Global Sales and Marketing Director. “Taking a step back and considering a holistic approach across the entire system can bring data centre operators greater piece of mind. Once the relevant power quality devices are installed in a facility, any issues detected can then be solved by the supporting mitigation equipment - it’s the whole package in terms of ensuring power quality. “Data Centre World is an exciting opportunity to connect with the wider industry,” continues John. “We’re fairly new to this space, but already have some big customers under our belt who are really seeing the benefits of what we have to offer.”

Green data centres for Thailand’s sustainable economic growth

Under the theme ‘Open. Connect. Balance’, Thailand recently hosted ASEAN leaders at the 2022 APEC Summit, and among many current unprecedented challenges discussed, helping the region regain its balance seemed to be a common thread, with the Bangkok Goals on Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy set as one of the roadmaps. As one of the fastest growing regions in the world - and one of the most vulnerable to climate change - Southeast Asia is trying to strike a balance between performance and sustainability: prioritising recovery and growth, while keeping the eyes on a consistent sustainable development that will allow the country to thrive for many years to come. Digital transformation, integrated across all aspects of society, has already been identified as one of the key components to driving the country’s overall economic competitiveness, and many already understand that there is only one way to embrace Thailand 4.0 sustainably. Many industries are gradually ‘going green’, including green finance, green transportation powered by EVs and green hotel standards. Now comes the turn for one of the most valuable assets that this revolution will bring - data. Thailand is leading the way, not only by having the region’s most advanced data centre for colocation and cloud services, but also by having one that generates its own renewable energy. SUPERNAP (Thailand), a joint venture between leading Thai companies, is the only Tier IV colocation and cloud data centre in the country to have implemented a solar panel farm. This move contributes to the development of the green digital infrastructure of the region, while also supporting Thailand’s long term sustainable economic development. Every year, the volume and value of data generated and collected by organisations in Thailand grows exponentially, as many recognise its strategic value for business decisions. The more data collected and stored, the more knowledge, opportunities and competitive advantage businesses gain. More data, on the other hand, requires larger spaces and more energy to keep the ecosystem running, which, in most cases, comes from electricity from fossil fuels. If no action is taken, this could not only lead to a problematic increase of greenhouse gas emissions, but to dangerous price fluctuations, as there have been recent electricity price increases influenced by geopolitical challenges and increasing demand. Thai businesses are looking for secure, scalable, resilient, and now sustainable, data centres to fully realise the potential of data while reducing costs. “As a regional digital infrastructure leader, SUPERNAP (Thailand)’s transition to renewable energy was already an urgent priority, and we are now extremely proud to have reinforced our position as Thailand’s most sustainable commercial data centre. Powering operations by solar panel farm will not only help us reduce carbon footprint on behalf of our colocation and cloud clients but will also minimise the impact of energy price fluctuations. While we are not immune to rising electricity costs, solar green energy from the solar panel farm is significantly cheaper than retail rates, which will allow us keep prices as low as possible, an ultimately enable customer's success stories with highly secure, scalable, resilient and now sustainable digital IT infrastructure,” shares Yap Jin Yi, CEO of SUPERNAP (Thailand). SUPERNAP (Thailand) has partnered with WHA Utilities and Power to build its solar panel farm, recognising WHA’s leadership in maximising innovation and technology to create long term sustainable value in the country. Thailand’s economy will leverage emerging digital technologies to solve the most pressing problems and drive growth, whether in finance, retail, healthcare, manufacturing or tourism. Data-driven technology has the potential to shape the future in new and unimaginable ways, but first, businesses and individuals must ensure that there is a future to look forward to. Embracing sustainability is a pressing matter, and change must begin immediately.

Your complementary invitation to DataCentres Ireland

Data centres are the most critical of critical environments…as such, the approach, ideas, technology products, services and solutions deployed in creating and maintaining these facilities are at the forefront of the engineering solutions needed when creating any critical facility/environment, where continuity of service is a must. This year’s DataCentres Ireland Conference & Exhibition is the largest in the events history with more speakers, more exhibitors, and more solutions on display. It’s an opportunity not to be missed – Click here and register online now The Conference This year, the conference features over 80 industry leaders and experts in their field discussing both strategic and practical issues affecting the sector and the challenges of the day. Themes addressed include: Power and standby generation Diesel vs gas vs biofuel vs hydrogen Cooling and HVAC solutions Continuity of supply, demand response, microgrids and grid flexibility Decarbonisation and sustainability Recruitment challenges and staff retention Click here to view the full Conference Programme The Exhibition Featuring over 120 exhibitors, the exhibition is your opportunity to see the latest products and services for the sector, whilst giving you the chance to network and discuss your challenges and source solutions that can assist you. Click here to view the complete Exhibitor List and company descriptions New for 2022 - CPD Accredited Workshops In conjunction with some of the exhibitors, the organisers say they are pleased to offer a CPD Accredited programme of workshops, discussing fire damping, security, ark flashover, etc. Attendance to these workshops is like the rest of DataCentres Ireland – free. Click here to view the Workshop Programme Datacentres Ireland is a targeted engineering event and has unique opportunity from which to network and learn… So, invest the time…and benefit from the experience. Click Here and register Online Now

Data Summit signals new hope for data sector

Six-hundred delegates at the biggest ever Data Summit heard how data has the power to unlock a brighter future as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic - but only if it’s used ethically and organisations can improve public trust surrounding it. Data Summit, The Data Lab’s flagship conference which took place at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre over 3-4 November, welcomed a diverse range of speakers that included quantum computing professors, nanotechnologists, entrepreneurs, data ethicists, philosophers, musicians and artists. The overarching theme across the two-day event centred on ‘Data: a new hope’, focused on how data and AI can be used to create a better world and society. Data trust and ethics were also strong threads across the various sessions, with several speakers alluding to the need to balance the societal benefits of data sharing, which were particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic, with public concerns around privacy and what their data is being used for. The predominantly female line up of keynote speakers on day one of the summit included: Researcher and technology ethicist, Stephanie Hare, whose book Technology is Not Neutral was named by the Financial Times as one of its tech books of the year. She discussed how technological innovation overwhelmingly ignores women, and the embedded bias within AI. Elinor Samuelsson and Sofie Wahlström, Founders of Swedish start-up BrightAct, talked about their trial of a new platform that uses data to combat domestic violence, which costs the EU £185bn annually. NASA’s Chief Science Data Officer, Kevin Murphy, who discussed NASA’s Earth System Observatory and the value of open access data. Science broadcaster, Professor Hannah Fry, who brings numbers and data to life on various TV and radio programmes. She told the audience how data which isn’t collected carefully can have the potential to exclude and discriminate.  Devi Sridhar, a Professor at the University of Edinburgh Medical School and a Personal Chair in Global Public Health, who talked about the use of data during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what problems a lack of trust in data could cause in terms of public health. In his keynote speech, Tom Arthur MSP, Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth, told the audience about the enthusiasm the Scottish Government has for data and its potential to secure a better future for society, but added that it must be used ethically, or it won’t gain public support. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says, “Data is central to the Scottish Government’s vision for our economic future. It is an area where Scotland already excels, where we are ambitious to do better, and which has potential for significant economic opportunities and important social benefits. “Data is absolutely crucial to tackling social and economic challenges, creating jobs and wealth, and to improve people’s health and wellbeing. The talent, innovation and energy on display at an event like Data Summit demonstrates that the data sector here in Scotland is in good health.” Brian Hills, CEO of The Data Lab, says, “The popularity of this year’s Data Summit demonstrates the value that organisations are increasingly placing on AI and data and their desire to maximise its use. “We know that there is a significant amount of untapped potential. While more businesses adopted digital technology during the pandemic and have lots of fantastic data, many still need to understand how to use it, and know they must get it right in terms of the ethics. “I hope that the event has inspired delegates to believe that Scotland can become home to the world’s most impactful data community, nurturing companies that will change the world for the better through a greater understanding of data and its implementation.” Delegates attended the Summit from across Scotland, including a group of students from Stirling High School studying National Five, Higher and Advanced Highers in Computer Science.

The UK’s largest project data hackathon is set to return

Project:Hack is the UK’s largest project data hackathon, founded by Projecting Success and delivered by the Project Data Analytics Community in collaboration with the Association for Project Management (APM), HS2, Gleeds, KBR and other key sponsors. Taking place at the Tottenham Hotspur Football Stadium on 28-29 November, this event aims to bring together project and data professionals alongside students to push new boundaries, develop innovative solutions and transform how projects are delivered. Projecting Success wants to inspire and build a positive data culture within organisations to help them understand the potential data has to significantly improve their projecting by optimising how decisions are made. Through the Hackathon, they are able to subject people and data to new ideas and ways of thinking. It inspires people to know they can turn their ideas into working models over the course of just a couple of days. The Hackathon has now been delivered 16 times with over 1,600 attendees and £11,000 in charity donations. For this event, the community are donating their ticket sales to the Wildlife Trust in support of the natural environment. Projects have a substantial impact on the environment, and this donation aims to help protect the habitat of wildlife across the country. With environmental change a core focus of the hack, the Wildlife Trust is a no brainer. Martin Paver, CEO and Founder of Projecting Success, says: “Sponsoring the hackathons position organisations as forward thinking and innovative. We are driven to make our projects safer, more productive, environmentally friendly and less expensive, especially within the current financial climate. “We have built an ambitious vision alongside the Project Data Analytics Task force on how we bring data to the forefront to support these key objectives. A fundamental part of that vision is to convert innovation into tools and practices, making them easily accessible and deployable. Sponsorship enables the hackathons to continuously provide an accelerated platform to fulfil this vision collaboratively, connecting people and organisations. “Although there are many cross-sector digital initiatives driving change, at a macro level there is a lack of ambition to truly transform how projects are managed and delivered. We aspire to change this by showing the art of the possible with data and building real solutions to real project challenges.” As a warm-up to the Hackathon, Projecting Success are hosting a ‘meet-up’ session on 3 November. This session will provide a brief on the visions for 2025, its roadmap and how the hack plays into it. Within the session you will hear from key figures across the task force as they share their journey with project data analytics and how you can make tangible steps to transform the profession.

OADC wins Best Data Centre award at Global Carrier Awards 2022

Open Access Data Centres (OADC) won the Best Data Centre/Edge Service Innovation award at the Global Carrier Awards 2022 for its OADC EDGE offering, underpinning Africa’s digital transformation. OADC EDGE combines pan-African digital infrastructure - a network of inter-connected, open access, core and edge data centres - in a core-to-edge architecture which is extending data storage, processing and content delivery to point of consumption at the network edge, supporting improved application performance and enabling critical data to be processed locally. OADC CEO, Dr Ayotunde Coker, comments: “For a company which secured its initial funding less than a year ago to win such an award is testament to the impact our innovative OADC EDGE offering is having in transforming the data centre market in Africa. No other data centre service provider offers a similar value proposition to the continent.” Ayotunde continues: “Our converged open digital infrastructure enables OADC clients to quickly and easily connect across Africa - either via its established pan-African open hyperscale network infrastructure or using other operators’ networks.” OADC’s core-to-edge architecture supports: • Broadband operators, ISPs, ‘eyeball networks’ and MNOs, cost-effectively extending network reach • The cloud community, migrating content closer to the network edge • The enterprise market, implementing disaster recovery to third-party sites, processing large data sets close to their point of consumption and rolling out new applications for market differentiation • Consumers - benefiting from expedited deployment of life-enhancing social, educational, well-being and entertainment services