News

Huawei named a leader for container management

Chinese multinational technology company Huawei has been positioned in the 'Leaders' quadrant of American IT research and advisory company Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Container Management 2025, recognising its capabilities in cloud-native infrastructure and container management. The company’s Huawei Cloud portfolio includes products such as CCE Turbo, CCE Autopilot, Cloud Container Instance (CCI), and the distributed cloud-native service UCS. These are designed to support large-scale containerised workloads across public, distributed, hybrid, and edge cloud environments. Huawei Cloud’s offerings cover a range of use cases, including new cloud-native applications, containerisation of existing applications, AI container deployments, edge computing, and hybrid cloud scenarios. Gartner’s assessment also highlighted Huawei Cloud’s position in the AI container domain. Huawei is an active contributor to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), having participated in 82 CNCF projects and holding more than 20 maintainer roles. It is currently the only Chinese cloud provider with a vice-chair position on the CNCF Technical Oversight Committee. The company says it has donated multiple projects to the CNCF, including KubeEdge, Karmada, Volcano, and Kuasar, and contributed other projects such as Kmesh, openGemini, and Sermant in 2024. Use cases and deployments Huawei Cloud container services are deployed globally in sectors such as finance, manufacturing, energy, transport, and e-commerce. Examples include: • Starzplay, an OTT platform in the Middle East and Central Asia, used Huawei Cloud CCI to transition to a serverless architecture, handling millions of access requests during the 2024 Cricket World Cup whilst reducing resource costs by 20%. • Ninja Van, a Singapore-based logistics provider, containerised its services using Huawei Cloud CCE, enabling uninterrupted operations during peak periods and improving order processing efficiency by 40%. • Chilquinta Energía, a Chilean energy provider, migrated its big data platform to Huawei Cloud CCE Turbo, achieving a 90% performance improvement. • Konga, a Nigerian e-commerce platform, adopted CCE Turbo to support millions of monthly active users. • Meitu, a Chinese visual creation platform, uses CCE and Ascend cloud services to manage AI computing resources for model training and deployment. Cloud Native 2.0 and AI integration Huawei Cloud has incorporated AI into its cloud-native strategy through three main areas: 1. Cloud for AI – CCE AI clusters form the infrastructure for CloudMatrix384 supernodes, offering topology-aware scheduling, workload-aware scaling, and faster container startup for AI workloads. 2. AI for Cloud – The CCE Doer feature integrates AI into container lifecycle management, offering diagnostics, recommendations, and Q&A capabilities. Huawei reports over 200 diagnosable exception scenarios with a root cause accuracy rate above 80%. 3. Serverless containers – Products include CCE Autopilot and CCI, designed to reduce operational overhead and improve scalability. New serverless container options aim to improve computing cost-effectiveness by up to 40%. Huawei Cloud states it will continue working with global operators to develop cloud-native technologies and broaden adoption across industries. For more from Huawei, click here.

GNM completes 400G infrastructure upgrade in Sofia

GNM (Global Network Management), a backbone internet provider and telecom operator, has completed the modernisation of its point of presence in Sofia, Bulgaria, deploying the Arista 7800R3 - a modular, carrier-grade platform with native 400G capability. The upgrade is part of GNM’s ongoing strategy to strengthen its optical backbone and meet increasing interconnection demands across south-eastern Europe. The Sofia node now plays a key role in supporting high-throughput transit traffic from the Balkans, Turkey, the Middle East, and the Caucasus. With two fully independent DWDM paths - routed via Belgrade and a diverse route through Romania - the site has been engineered to provide path diversity, automated failover, and consistent low-latency performance. It is fully integrated into GNM’s meshed DWDM backbone, which provides onward connectivity to major European hubs including Bratislava, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Vienna, Prague, Warsaw, and Stockholm. The node also offers access to a full range of services, including high-capacity 100G and 400G DWDM transport, direct and remote access to GNM-IX, IP Transit with BGP community-based policy control, and Layer 2 services backed by strict service-level guarantees. “The Sofia upgrade is an important step in the ongoing development of GNM’s core infrastructure in the region," comments Alex Surkov, Head of Development at GNM. "One of the first customers to use the new platform was a European network operator that provisioned a 100G DWDM service over both available paths, along with a GNM-IX peering connection. "The deployment delivered a measurable reduction in latency to Frankfurt, around 18%, and significantly improved recovery times during incidents. It’s a clear example of how infrastructure investment directly enhances service performance for our clients.”

Trane adds CRAH units to DC cooling portfolio

Trane, an American manufacturer of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, has expanded its data centre thermal management range with the addition of a Computer Room Air Handler (CRAH) system. The unit is designed to maintain airflow and temperature conditions for servers and other electronic equipment, aiming to support operational uptime while reducing energy use. The CRAH system is equipped with Trane’s Symbio controller, which provides a broad capacity range and customisable configurations. The controller enables leader designation and dynamic reassignment for up to 32 units, allowing continuous operation and access to digital tools for lifecycle management. According to Trane, the new airside system is intended for both colocation and hyperscale data centre operators seeking flexible integration into existing or new-build facilities. Steve Obstein, Vice President and General Manager, Data Centres, Trane Technologies, says, “Expansion of our airside offer gives our colo and hyperscale customers greater flexibility for configuring custom systems and addresses the growing trend toward a single-source solutions provider.” Integration and lifecycle support The CRAH addition is part of Trane’s wider approach to unifying and integrating thermal management systems through smart controls. The company offers local service teams across North America and remote monitoring capabilities for predictive maintenance and operational oversight. Recent updates to Trane’s thermal management portfolio include: • Scalable liquid cooling platforms• A fan coil wall platform• Larger capacity and higher ambient temperature air-cooled chillers The CRAH system has been developed to operate alongside these technologies as part of a consolidated data centre cooling strategy, with the aim of improving efficiency, reliability, and sustainability. For more from Trane, click here.

DC BLOX secures $1.15bn for Atlanta data centre

DC BLOX, a provider of connected data centres and fibre networks, has announced that it has closed $1.15 billion (£858 million) in green loan financing for the construction of a data centre campus in Douglas County, Georgia, USA. The funds will support the development of a 120 MW data centre and include campus expansion to support an additional 80 MW, available in 2027. “Securing this capital confirms confidence in our execution track record,” comments Melih Ileri, SVP of Capital Markets & Strategy at DC BLOX. “Continuing to deliver our projects on time and with excellence has earned us the trust of our customers and investors, leading to this historic growth in our business.” This project comes on the heels of recently announced DC BLOX projects including multiple hyperscale edge nodes across the US Southeast. With additional hyperscale-ready data centre capacity available in Conyers and Douglasville, Georgia, DC BLOX believes it is set to rapidly expand its presence around Atlanta. “With this latest project announcement, DC BLOX continues to deliver on its mission to build the foundational digital infrastructure needed to drive the Southeast’s growing economy,” claims Jeff Uphues, CEO of DC BLOX. “Atlanta is the fastest-growing data centre market in the US today and we are proud to enable our customers to expand their footprint in our region.” This financing follows the prior $265 million (£197.5 million) green loan secured from industry lenders, as well as the growth equity that was committed by Post Road Group in the fourth quarter of 2024. “The DC BLOX management team has done a terrific job positioning the business for success in the Southeast, with a consistent focus on serving the customer and community,” says Michael Bogdan, Managing Partner at Post Road Group. “We are thankful to all our capital partners who have helped capitalise the company to meet the tremendous hyperscale and edge growth the company has experienced.” Those involved in the deal • ING Capital served as Structuring and Administrative Agent• ING, Mizuho Bank, and Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking (Natixis CIB) served as Initial Coordinating Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners• First Citizens Bank served as Coordinating Lead Arranger• CoBank ACB, LBBW New York Branch, The Toronto-Dominion Bank New York Branch, and KeyBank National Association served as Joint Lead Arrangers• The Huntington National Bank served as Mandated Lead Arranger• ING and Natixis CIB also served as Joint Green Loan Coordinators• A&O Shearman served as counsel to DC BLOX• Milbank served as counsel to the lenders For more from DC BLOX, click here.

Cresa launches DC capital markets platform

Cresa, a US-based commercial real estate advisory firm, has launched a new Data Center Capital Markets and Advisory platform following the appointment of Michael Morris, Sumner Putnam, and Matt Deutsch, previously of Newmark. The team, which has led data centre transactions across more than 50 global markets, will expand Cresa’s service offering to include advisory, transaction structuring, and capital markets services focused on major data centre projects. Michael Morris, who will lead the new platform as President, has been involved in more than 1,000 data centre real estate transactions and brings decades of experience to the role. He will be based in Cresa’s New York City office and supported by colleagues across the United States. “The data centre infrastructure expansion underway is one of the most important technological challenges of our time,” says Tod Lickerman, CEO of Cresa. “Michael and his team are true data centre leaders and provide significant, unique advantages to our clients with strong insight, advocacy, and the ability to get deals done.” Michael previously served as Vice Chairman at Newmark and established the firm’s data centre practice almost two decades ago. His past client list includes Digital Realty Trust, Verizon, CyrusOne, Memorial Sloan Kettering, CoreSite, New York University, Landmark Dividend, Chevron, and multiple hyperscale providers. He holds data centre design qualifications including Certified Power Quality Professional (CPQ) and Data Center Dynamics Cooling Professional, and an MBA in Finance from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College. “I am pleased to be joining Cresa to build a global practice,” comments Michael. “I was drawn to the firm’s shared vision, and I’m looking forward to serving as a board advisor to help shape its future.” Sumner Putnam joins as Managing Principal. He was also part of Newmark’s data centre team and previously worked at JLL. His expertise includes site selection, lease negotiation, and colocation agreements, with experience supporting clients such as CyrusOne, NYU, HSBC, Bank of America, Tumi, and Mapletree. The team also includes Cresa Senior Analyst Mackensey Gawne, and will collaborate with global data centre specialists from Cresa’s international partner, Knight Frank, with whom Morris has worked for nearly 25 years. The group will support a range of client types, including landlords, tenants, buyers, and sellers. In addition to its focus on data centre and mission-critical environments, the team will continue to support office sector clients with broader real estate requirements.

Sabey's Ashburn campus opening for tours

Sabey Data Centers, a data centre developer, owner, and operator, has announced that its Ashburn campus in Virginia, USA, will be featured as an exclusive tour stop during the 2025 Data Center Frontier Trends Summit. The off-site tour will take place on Thursday, 28 August 2025, offering attendees an up-close look at the infrastructure and sustainable design powering mission-critical IT environments. Located in in the centre of Loudoun County’s Data Center Alley, Sabey’s 38-acre campus includes two completed buildings providing more than 36 MW of power. The site features flexible colocation and powered shell space, along with access to multiple Tier 1 connectivity providers. The campus is Energy Star Certified and equipped with low PUE design and advanced cooling technologies. Attendees will tour Sabey’s secure facility and view key IT and critical infrastructure equipment. Tour details When:Thursday, 28 August 2025 | 1:30pm(Transportation departs from Hyatt Regency Reston at 12:30pm)Duration: Approximately 1.5 hours Where:Sabey Data Centers - Ashburn21741 Red Rum DriveAshburn, Virginia 20147 The tour has limited space and pre-registration is required via the Data Center Frontier Trends Summit website. For more from Sabey, click here.

Cloudera is bringing Private AI to data centres

Cloudera, a hybrid platform for data, analytics, and AI, today announced the latest release of Cloudera Data Services, bringing Private AI on premises and aiming to give enterprises secure, GPU-accelerated generative AI capabilities behind their firewall. With built-in governance and hybrid portability, Cloudera says organisations can now build and scale their own sovereign data cloud in their own data centre, "eliminating security concerns." The company claims it is the only vendor that delivers the full data lifecycle with the same cloud-native services on premises and in the public cloud. Concerns about keeping sensitive data and intellectual property secure is a key factor in what holds back AI adoption for enterprises across industries. According to Accenture, 77% of organisations lack the foundational data and AI security practices needed to safeguard critical models, data pipelines, and cloud infrastructure. Cloudera argues that it directly addresses the biggest security and intellectual property risks of enterprise AI, allowing customers to "accelerate their journey from prototype to production from months to weeks." Through this release, the company claims users could reduce infrastructure costs and streamline data lifecycles, boosting data team productivity, as well as accelerating workload deployment, enhancing security by automating complex tasks, and achieving faster time-to-value for AI deployment. As part of this release, both Cloudera AI Inference Service and AI Studios are now available in data centres. Both of these tools are designed to tackle the barriers to enterprise AI adoption and have previously been available in cloud only. Details of the products • Cloudera AI Inference services, accelerated by NVIDIA: The company says this is one of the industry’s first AI inference services to provide embedded NVIDIA NIM microservice capabilities and it is streamlining the deployment and management of large-scale AI models to data centres. It continues to suggest the engine helps deploy and manage the AI production lifecycle, right in the data centre, where data already securely resides. • Cloudera AI Studios: The company claims this offering democratises the entire AI application lifecycle, offering "low-code templates that empower teams to build and deploy GenAI applications and agents." Data and comments According to an independent Total Economic Impact (TEI) study - conducted by Forrester Consulting and commissioned by Cloudera - a composite organisation representative of interviewed customers who adopted Cloudera Data Services on premises saw: • An 80% faster time-to-value for workload deployment• A 20% increase in productivity for data practitioners and platform teams• Overall savings of 35% from the modern cloud-native architecture The study also highlighted operational efficiency gains, with some organisations improving hardware utilisation from 30% to 70% and reporting they needed between 25% to 50% less capacity after modernising. “Historically, enterprises have been forced to cobble together complex, fragile DIY solutions to run their AI on premises,” comments Sanjeev Mohan, an industry analyst. “Today, the urgency to adopt AI is undeniable, but so are the concerns around data security. What enterprises need are solutions that streamline AI adoption, boost productivity, and do so without compromising on security.” Leo Brunnick, Cloudera’s Chief Product Officer, claims, “Cloudera Data Services On-Premises delivers a true cloud-native experience, providing agility and efficiency without sacrificing security or control. “This release is a significant step forward in data modernisation, moving from monolithic clusters to a suite of agile, containerised applications.” Toto Prasetio, Chief Information Officer of BNI, states, "BNI is proud to be an early adopter of Cloudera’s AI Inference service. "This technology provides the essential infrastructure to securely and efficiently expand our generative AI initiatives, all while adhering to Indonesia's dynamic regulatory environment. "It marks a significant advancement in our mission to offer smarter, quicker, and more dependable digital banking solutions to the people of Indonesia." This product is being demonstrated at Cloudera’s annual series of data and AI conferences, EVOLVE25, starting this week in Singapore.

Comnet releases 720W industrial PoE switch

Comnet, a manufacturer of mission-critical industrial networking systems, has just announced the release of an "ultra-resilient," high-power PoE switch. As the first in Comnet’s new line of IEEE802.3bt-compliant ethernet switches, the CNGE10FX2TX8MSBT switch has been designed to power next-generation devices in extreme environments. With 8 RJ45 ports delivering 90W simultaneously and a total PoE budget of 720W, plus 2 SFP ports supporting up to 2.5 Gbps, the new system has been engineered for high-capacity, high-performance applications like advanced IP cameras, edge sensors, digital signage, and intelligence-driven systems. The switch’s power architecture allows users to install a smaller power supply today and scale up later, aiming to eliminate the need for costly hardware replacements as demands grow. Built for resilience and bandwidth intensive applications, the switch maintains full power output across a -40°C to +70°C temperature range, while ruggedised housing and redundant power inputs intend to ensure maximum uptime. It is designed for mission-critical sectors, including transportation, security, energy, and manufacturing, and features Comnet’s Port Guardian technology, which automatically locks down ports in case of tampering to guard against unauthorised access. “We are proud to introduce our latest product innovation, designed and built in the United States, for harsh environments with high bandwidth and high-power requirements,” says Sergio Resendiz, President, Comnet. “We built this new switch to deliver full 90W power on every port, even in harsh conditions. "Whether you need that level of power today or are planning for tomorrow, the new switch provides the flexibility to scale without compromising reliability or security. It’s built to keep your network connected, no matter the circumstances.” Designed, manufactured, and supported in the United States, the switch meets BABA, NDAA, and TAA compliance standards.

Microchip launches Adaptec SmartRAID 4300 accelerators

Semiconductor manufacturer Microchip Technology has introduced the Adaptec SmartRAID 4300 series, a new family of NVMe RAID storage accelerators designed for use in server OEM platforms, storage systems, data centres, and enterprise environments. The series aims to support scalable, software-defined storage (SDS) solutions, particularly for high-performance workloads in AI-focused data centres. The SmartRAID 4300 series uses a disaggregated architecture, separating software and hardware elements to improve efficiency. The accelerators integrate with Microchip’s PCIe-based storage controllers to offload key RAID processes from the host CPU, while the main storage software stack runs directly on the host system. This approach allows data to flow at native PCIe speeds, while offloading parity-based functions such as XOR to dedicated accelerator hardware. According to internal testing by Microchip, the new architecture has delivered input/output (I/O) performance gains of up to seven times compared with the company’s previous generation products. Architecture and capabilities The SmartRAID 4300 accelerators are designed to work with Gen 4 and Gen 5 PCIe host CPUs and can support up to 32 CPU-attached x4 NVMe devices and 64 logical drives or RAID arrays. This is intended to help address data bottlenecks common in conventional in-line storage solutions by taking advantage of expanded host PCIe infrastructure. By removing the reliance on a single PCIe slot for all data traffic, Microchip aims to deliver greater performance and system scalability. Storage operations such as writes now occur directly between the host CPU and the NVMe endpoints, while the accelerator handles redundancy tasks. Brian McCarson, Corporate Vice President of Microchip’s Data Centre Solutions Business Unit, says, “Our innovative solution with separate software and hardware addresses the limitations of traditional architectures that rely on a PCIe host interface slot for all data flows. "The SmartRAID 4300 series allows us to enhance performance, efficiency, and adaptability to better support modern enterprise infrastructure systems.” Power efficiency and security Power optimisation features include automatic idling of processor cores and autonomous power reduction mechanisms. To help maintain data integrity and system security, the SmartRAID 4300 series incorporates features such as secure boot and update, hardware root of trust, attestation, and Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) support. Management tools and compatibility The series is supported by Microchip’s Adaptec maxView management software, which includes an HTML5-based web interface, the ARCCONF command line tool, and plug-ins for both local and remote management. The tools are accessible through standard desktop and mobile browsers and are designed to remain compatible with existing Adaptec SmartRAID utilities. For out-of-band management via Baseboard Management Controllers (BMCs), the series supports Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) standards, including Platform-Level Data Model (PLDM) and Redfish Device Enablement (RDE), using MCTP protocol. For more from Microchip, click here.

72% of organisations faced IT disruption in past year

New research released today uncovers a worrying truth: despite years of digital transformation, IT resilience remains a critical vulnerability for UK enterprises. According to the latest research commissioned by Asanti, a UK colocation data centre provider, 72% of senior IT decision makers reported experiencing significant disruption or downtime in the past year due to IT resilience issues, with only 31% expressing extreme confidence in their current disaster recovery and business continuity plans. The research, conducted by Vanson Bourne, surveyed 100 senior IT leaders across public and private sector organisations. The findings reveal a concerning disconnect between perceived and actual resilience performance. Key highlights from the study • Gaps in recovery preparedness — Only 56% of organisations surveyed have fully defined and regularly tested Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs), and just 36% say the same for Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs), which are the core thresholds set for acceptable downtime and data loss. • Significant operational fallout — 60% of businesses struggled to return to normal operations after a major resilience disruption, while 58% admitted to suffering substantial financial losses. • Confidence crisis in risk recovery — Over half of respondents report only low or medium confidence in handling major risks like cybersecurity breaches (54%), data centre outages (61%), or unauthorised physical access (62%). The research also identifies a “resilience competency gap,” where critical planning, testing, and investment decisions are lagging behind the complexity and frequency of modern IT threats. Despite widespread cloud adoption, 51% still view cloud service outages as one of the top risks to operations - surpassing even traditional IT system failures (49%). “Too many organisations assume they’re more resilient than they actually are,” comments Stewart Laing, CEO of Asanti. “This research makes clear that real resilience isn’t about where your systems live, it’s about how well you’ve prepared to keep them running. "Without clearly defined recovery objectives, rigorous testing, and a culture of proactive risk management, even the most advanced infrastructure can fail. Business leaders must move beyond surface-level confidence and embed resilience into every layer of operations.” The human factor remains a weak link The study found that 89% of respondents believe human oversight is a critical vulnerability in their resilience strategy, while 91% agreed that operational failures due to human error could compromise backup power capabilities. While 59% of those respondents said that they test their business continuity and disaster recovery plans at least every six months, these exercises often lack the depth required to reveal systemic resilience weaknesses. Only 31% of respondents felt extremely confident in their current business continuity and disaster recovery plans - a sobering indicator of widespread fragility. Businesses are not measuring the true impact of downtime Although most firms track downtime (77%) and financial impact (73%) of resilience incidents, softer yet critical indicators like reputational impact (54%) and impact on digital transformation goals (57%) are often overlooked. “Measurement is the foundation of resilience,” continues Stewart. “If you’re only tracking outages and costs, you’re missing the true business impact. "Resilience must be strategic, tested, and integrated across infrastructure, operations, and leadership thinking.” For more from Asanti, click here.