Projects

JLand signs with Mitsui to develop hyperscale data centre

JLand Group has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Mitsui to jointly explore prospective business opportunities and strategic project developments in Ibrahim Technopolis (IBTEC), including Sedenak Tech Park (STeP), over the next two to three years. Within the immediate term of the MOU, JLG and Mitsui will conduct a joint feasibility study on the development of a hyperscale data centre, as well as a renewable energy (RE) facility in the form of a captive solar farm to power the data centres in STeP. Following the completion of the study, JLG and Mitsui and its co-developers will form a joint venture partnership to invest, develop and operate these projects. Syed Mohamed Syed Ibrahim, President and Chief Executive of JCorp and Chairman of JLG says, “This strategic collaboration with Mitsui is a testament to our sustainability-driven projects and dedicated focus on enabling corporations to meet their ESG goals. In an increasingly data-dependent digital economy, we are proactively identifying and implementing renewable energy sources for the future of decarbonising data centres. This initiative is one of the major milestones for JCorp’s vision of a sustainable future, while ensuring the state and country meets its decarbonisation aspirations.” Akmal Ahmad, Director, Real Estate and Infrastructure Division, JCorp says, “The MOU between JLG and Mitsui reflects the commitment displayed by responsible corporates to shift towards cleaner energy sources to power their businesses. Our strategic partnership to develop these high value sustainable projects brings together collective industry knowledge and technical expertise to further transform the energy industry. JLG is proud to reinforce our contribution to Johor’s renewable energy goals, while catering to the growing needs of industrial customers in STeP that requires green and clean energy as secondary power supply.” “The positive boom of the data centre sector over the past years has brought the importance of sustainability and renewable energy to the fore, as data centre operators explore cleaner technologies to turn operations green. We are proud to be among the pioneers in hyperscale green data centres in Johor and are excited to partner with Mitsui and RE co-developer to advance the decarbonisation of data centres through clean power procurement,” adds Akmal. Under this strategic collaboration, STeP - the flagship 700-acre data centre hub - is poised to attract the global hyperscale data centres, not only by offering future availability of RE, but also with comprehensive supporting packages including competitive green project financing from the market. This will provide excellent opportunities for regional customers seeking green data centres to meet their needs. The collaboration will also involve other industry partners as co-developers, who will contribute sector expertise and knowledge transfer throughout the project investment, design, development, and maintenance phases.

Understanding intelligent buildings

By Inderpall Sall, Technical Operations Director at NG Bailey IT Services Smart buildings are often at the centre of discussion these days. Dare to search the term ‘smart building’ and you’ll be confronted by 305 million results, most of which will daze and confuse all but the most technical and IT-minded amongst us. Combine this ‘bleeding edge’ terminology with the aging buildings across most estates, and the resulting gap appears both expensive and complex to navigate. In fact, the gap deepens when different terminology is used, with everyday consumers now more used to always connected devices and believing a smart building is just one which features the ability for you to control it from your smart phone. We need to reset our view on smart and intelligent buildings. Is a building smart just because it is chock-full of technology? Well, sadly not. A building is smart if it contains appropriate levels of monitoring, control, and visibility of systems to maximise performance, optimise user comfort and support a journey - which in the current climate is most commonly a net zero one. It becomes intelligent when this data then allows it to have some autonomous control. Behind both smart and intelligent buildings is not just technology the consistent creation of millions of points of real time data. This data is what sits at the heart this smart and intelligent revolution and gives a building owner, landlord or facilities manager a new weapon in their arsenal. However, collecting the data is not enough alone, users must think about what they do with it, after all it’s no good just sitting in the cloud, on a database or even a spreadsheet, it needs to be understood and utilised in decision making. NG Bailey IT Services has been working with clients on such systems but also to develop ways for them to understand the millions of data points and automated activity easily and in one place. This has meant creating solutions which allow a user whether that be a MD, FD or facilities manager to look at a dashboard and understand the trends, interrogate the statistics and use the information to make real time dynamic decisions that can have a real impact. This approach to visualising data and sharing it across function is not new, however, the company firmly believes that it plays a pivotal role in the UK not only having better buildings but better businesses too. The opportunities offered by smart and intelligent buildings, however, aren’t restricted to those built in the years since the digital revolution. As a country with a heritage that spans centuries and a plethora of buildings which can span similar time periods it’s critical that smart and intelligent systems can be integrated no matter the age. We regularly hear it said, “The building’s old, it’s design means there are black spots of connectivity, it can’t be smart” - this isn’t the barrier many perceive it to be. Through NG Bailey IT Services' work with network partners and clients, the company has been developing solutions that transform connectivity, unlocking the potential of the existing built environment. Using the latest technologies from 5G to private wireless networks and other systems, the company has been able to retrofit older buildings to improve their connectivity further. The ability to continually upgrade connectivity is going to remain at the forefront of the industry moving in to 2023, as the whole of the UK prepares for the great Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN) and Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN) switch off in 2025. This change will bring to an end the traditional landline telephone system, which despite decades of updates is essentially the same setup and design as the original phone lines of the 1800s. Replacing it with a system designed to meet the needs and uses of modern digital technology. The challenge of adapting traditional systems such as lifts and door controls to a new infrastructure will also present an opportunity for them to embrace smarter and more intelligent solutions. NG Bailey IT Services says that it is clear from the work it's seeing with clients that embracing automation and intelligent buildings and systems will continue to be at the heart of this decade’s advancements as businesses continue to embrace Industry 4.0 and capitalise on the resilience and efficiencies this brings.

Decarbonising data centres with green construction technology

In the last several decades, society’s relationship with digital technology has infiltrated nearly every aspect of our daily routines. The world’s economic and social activities are continuing to accelerate towards increasingly digital interfaces and, as a result, the demand for hyperscale data centres is growing exponentially. According to the IDC and Statista, the number of data centres worldwide has grown from 500,000 in 2012 to over 7 million in 2022 and it is showing no signs of slowing down - in fact, it’s picking up speed. This upward trajectory takes its toll on the climate as data centres are extremely carbon intensive - now accounting for 3.7% of all GHG emissions. Data centres require an enormous amount of energy to operate and involve the implementation of servers, storage, and management platforms that contribute to the carbon footprint of these buildings. Currently, 37% of global emissions are directly linked to the building and construction industry. As e-commerce and data centre construction picks up speed, experts predict that data centres will account for 14% of the world’s carbon emissions by 2040. It is vital that the design and construction of these structures reduce waste and carbon emissions. Operational energy use - primarily to heat and cool data centres - is a considerable portion of whole life carbon emissions, but the embodied carbon in building materials is often ignored. As data centres become more energy efficient, the embodied carbon will become the most significant carbon source - one that can only be tackled prior to construction. The increasing demand for data storage capacity is an urgent priority, but so is the need for businesses to meet their collective ESG goals. Forward thinking, green construction companies are key to facilitating the production of data centres while decarbonising and driving us towards net zero emissions. The sustainable construction of data centres benefits businesses, the economy, and the planet. It’s a win-win and non-negotiable in order for the planet to avoid warming above the limit of 1.5 degrees set by the Paris Agreement. Technology leaders that can facilitate the global transition to clean energy without disrupting progress are integral to impactful change and a net zero economy. Founded in late 2018, Nexii Building Solutions is a green construction company that designs and manufactures low carbon buildings. Nexii’s innovative technology reduces construction waste to near zero while lowering the embodied and operational carbon emissions of buildings, directly tackling the impact our built environment has on the climate. As businesses struggle to transition to net zero practices, Nexii streamlines the assembly process, producing buildings that have a longer lifespan, lower environmental footprint, and shorter build time. At the core of this innovation is Nexii’s assembly process and proprietary building material Nexiite - a sustainable alternative to concrete with approximately 36% less embodied carbon. Nexii’s panels are precision manufactured offsite and rapidly assembled onsite with build times finishing in as little as six days. The panels fit together to create an energy efficient envelope which reduces energy consumption and carbon emissions. Air quality improvement is an added bonus with industry-leading air change rates of Nexii buildings approximately 40% cleaner than conventional buildings. High-profile brands such as Starbucks, Marriott, Scotiabank, and Popeyes operate in Nexii buildings. Data centres are at the heart of the economy and modern civilisation, and construction practices need to change to keep up with the demand while delivering sustainable, quality buildings. Building data centres using technology like Nexii’s yields many benefits, quicker build times, lower energy and financial costs, and a dramatically reduced impact on our planet. It is not only about building structures that are sustainable, it’s also about building a sustainable future.

Four big ways AI will disrupt software testing in intelligent buildings

By Emily Newton, Editor-in-Chief, Revolutionized AI in software testing is growing more common, and for good reason. While today’s artificial intelligence is primarily used for automation and convenience, the technology grows smarter and more efficient every day. In software testing, AI can be used to augment many repetitive tasks to speed up the involved processes and improve accuracy. Regression testing is one example. Any time software code changes, regression tests are performed to ensure the applications are still functioning as intended. This is often done manually, but AI can automate this entire process by checking at various intervals for issues with an application after code changes. AI won’t be taking over completely, but it will certainly disrupt traditional software testing. Here’s how. Regression testing automation Normally, manual regression testing requires a lot of time and effort from testers and developers. Every time software code changes, tests must be carried out on the resulting application. It warrants a back and forth between the developers and testers - or, if there are no testers, it calls for developers to wear many hats. AI solutions can completely automate this process, carrying out the tests almost immediately after any code is altered. Provided it’s trained correctly, the AI is always going to be faster, more efficient, and more accurate than manual testers. Moreover, developers will get the testing results and related data sooner, allowing them to begin working on necessary fixes instantly. Or, if no issues are detected, they can move on to other areas of development faster. Adding another layer to this, AI can make regression testing better over time as it grows smarter. The regression testing cycle becomes much more reliable as a result. Early fault and bug detection A major element of software testing is making sure the code or the applications themselves are up to par and perform at expected levels. So, a large part of testing is seeking out bugs and other software issues and fixing them. Even the most skilled developers can miss syntax or coding errors, especially in large-scale projects. But while modern programming tools can pinpoint basic mistakes, natural language issues are often ignored until they’re discovered at runtime. AI in software testing can be used to detect these errors by finding faults and bugs. Machine learning (ML) relies on natural language processing (NLP), training data, and pre-programmed scanning tools to locate potential issues and flag them for review. Better yet, the AI can be used to directly inject new code if and when the fixes are more obvious. It saves time, money, and a lot of headaches. Productivity boons With early fault and bug detection and more supportive regression testing, developers and testers can expect some serious productivity boons across the board. With the help of AI and machine learning systems, many of the rote tasks associated with development can be sped up, augmented, or taken on directly by automation solutions. This is not unlike what we see in other industries, where AI is increasingly used to power robotic process automation (RPA), intelligent automation (IA), and more. For instance, communication between teams and departments - usually administered in the wake of application tests - can be handled by automated solutions. Rather than manually sending the information, taking however long the related contacts would, the information can be shared immediately with all parties. That same benefit is extended to just about all processes and solutions that AI touches. Self-healing code AI and ML enable what’s called ‘self-healing technology’ or self-healing code. Not only can AI identify and detect language issues faster than humans, but when empowered by the appropriate resources, it can also fix that code faster than ever. Early bug and fault detection is just the start. AI solutions can actually inject code fixes for common issues, or they can be directed to fix more complex problems when they know what to look for and how to react. Better yet, as we generally see with ML, the self-healing algorithms become more accurate and more representative of working code, over time, merely through the ingestion of more information. This means that when developers change code and it breaks the software, the AI would immediately take over and fix the problem. It reduces the amount of time developers and testers have to spend looking for those problems, but also it significantly cuts down on general troubleshooting. It can also flag common issues for review later to ensure repeated mistakes are not being made and issues don’t compound throughout the development phase. Good disruption is coming Thanks to productivity enhancements from smarter and more efficient processes, AI in software testing has the potential to disrupt the field. Manual tasks that require lots of time and effort can be spearheaded almost entirely by automation through AI. Also, early bug detection can be handled by NLP tools, while self-healing code ensures software applications always work at runtime. All of this reduces time spent on troubleshooting and manual bug detection. These benefits will positively disrupt software testing, and we couldn’t be happier about it.

The pathway to unlocking sustainable data centre design

By Guy D’Hauwers, Director, HPC and AI, atNorth It has been estimated that the digital carbon footprint accounts for nearly 3.7% of all greenhouse gas emissions, with current estimates stating that data storage and transmission from data centres uses 1% of total global electricity. As organisations across Europe, the UK and US face increasingly tough targets to reduce their carbon footprints and provide a better pathway to sustainability in the coming years, many have begun to take a very deep look at their processes and infrastructures in order to accelerate sustainability across their operations. The IT department is no stranger to this, where innovative approaches to the underlying technology and assets are crucial, given the significant impact IT can have on the environment. Research points to data centres as an extremely carbon hungry digital ecosystem - in 2019, it was estimated that data centres worldwide used more than 2% of the world’s electricity, generating the same volume of carbon emissions (in terms of fuel consumption) as the global airline industry. As data hungry digitalisation continues at break-neck speed, organisations must pay more attention to the environmental footprint they are creating - the design, development and management of today’s data centre operations is critical to this success. atNorth uses its recently launched SWE01 Data Centre in Sweden as an example of how data centre design continues to innovate with sustainability at the core, while providing insights into the everyday challenges, opportunities and key factors that have helped to shape this next generation, state-of-the-art facility. Next generation data centre design for HPC workloads and energy efficiency With sustainability at the heart of all its operations, atNorth’s data centres run on 100% renewable energy resources and support circular economy principles. All sites leverage innovative design, power efficiency, and intelligent cluster operations to provide long-term infrastructure deployments with tailor-made solutions that enable businesses to calculate, simulate, train, and visualise data workloads in an efficient, cost-optimised way. In undertaking the design, development, and build of the newest data centre facility in Stockholm, Sweden, atNorth wanted to ensure it was going one step further in its mission to be a leading net zero partner for sustainable IT data centre solutions. The SWE01 site’s strategic location in Stockholm was two-fold. First, there is a growing need to provide European customers with a scalable next-generation data centre specifically designed to accommodate high infrastructure density for computationally heavy applications such as simulations, risk calculations, and artificial intelligence. Secondly, Sweden is renowned for its renewable infrastructure and, as such, was best placed to be home to an innovative project like this, which would not only be the first data centre in Europe to support heavy HPC workloads, but that would also draw on heat outputs from the data centre to support the surrounding community. Innovation is never without its challenges Understanding the goal to address the changing needs of today’s modern business, this build needed to ensure shorter lead times for customer facilities to serve their needs and help them accelerate time to market. atNorth’s Stockholm data centre needed to have a modular build approach to do just this, allowing customers to meet the capacity demanded by the market with the option to scale and expand over time. With increasing focus on sustainability, the SWE01 centre has also been designed to operate with the lowest carbon footprint possible. The Nordics are an ideal location for data centre builds due to its mild climate and abundance of renewable energy. And, Sweden is well poised to provide the right infrastructure and government commitment to help deliver both sustainability and circular economy principles in the data centre industry. This is critical to the future design and development of today and tomorrow’s data centre. Designed from the ground up as a heat recovery site, this facility is unique in its use of efficient heat recovery for both air cooled and liquid cooled IT infrastructures. All the residual heat from the data centre is recycled in collaboration with Stockholm Exergi, whose district heating plant is in proximity, where the excess heat generated from the new data centre could heat up to 20,000 apartments. The new site operates on 100% renewable energy, making it extremely energy efficient. Innovation does not come without challenges - the build design required a new approach to be adopted in order to facilitate the transportation and supply the heat from the data halls towards the heat recovery modules. With the heat recovery design, the exact location of the site and its proximity to the central heating station was also a key consideration to allow for heat to be transported from the centre to the recovery station in the most optimal way. This ability to recycle and reuse heat outputs from the data centre facility has been instrumental in paving the way for better, more sustainably-minded data centre design in future. The construction of the build, using local experts in partnership with atNorth’s design and project management team, allowed for rapid buildout time as well as the ability to accommodate for atNorth’s modular approach and phased build plan. The key to the future of data centre design Don’t underestimate the power of collaboration and agility. The team at atNorth had this dream to design and build one of the largest, most sustainable HPC data centres in Europe. However, no truly innovative design or build comes without challenges. The company had to undertake this project and all its complexities remotely throughout COVID-19. Its success is credited to its teams and partners alike who have been flexible, adaptable and agile in every way to help the atNorth deliver this state-of-the-art facility that puts sustainability square at the heart of IT and sets a real benchmark for the future.

Schneider Electric helps Landsec create net zero building

The Forge, Landsec’s first net zero carbon commercial development, is to feature smart energy management solutions from Schneider Electric. Landsec and Schneider have worked closely from the early concept stages of this first-of-its-kind development, which is set to complete at the end of 2022 and is aligned with Landsec’s commitment to become a net zero carbon business and reduce absolute carbon emissions by 70% by 2030. A smart approach to net zero The Forge is two new-build commercial office buildings of nine storeys each, Bronze and Phosphor, which together provide circa 140,000ft² of net internal space. The Forge aspires to be the first commercial office development constructed and operated in line with the UKGBC’s net zero carbon buildings framework. It is also the first office scheme to be built using the highly sustainable platform approach to design for manufacture and assembly (P-DfMA). Schneider Electric has contributed to promoting the offsite construction process, which included producing package units for the Building Management System controls. The project will benefit from the full breadth of Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure for Buildings to enable smart building and energy management solutions, including: EcoStruxure Building Operation: Offering enhanced control for facilities managers, optimising building management operations EcoStruxure Power Monitoring Expert: Designed to help maximise uptime and operational efficiency, giving insight into electrical system health and energy consumption EcoStruxure Power Advisor and EcoStruxure Building Advisor: Providing relevant data for actionable insights by constantly monitoring systems and identifying faults to proactively address a building's inefficiencies Low-voltage and Medium-voltage Smart Products and Components: Allowing for the full monitoring of energy usage and real-time infrastructure status updates “Access to Schneider Electric’s expertise and innovation early in the design process has undoubtedly helped to support our net zero ambitions for this project,” says Neil Pennell, Head of Design Innovation and Property Solutions at Landsec. “The breadth of the offering will enable us to enhance the occupant experience, operational efficiency, and sustainability credentials of the buildings, which will adapt to the changes in climate and use over time minimising whole life carbon. It is essential that new builds continue to meet climate-related targets at the operational stage, which is why Schneider's smart building solutions are so critical.” “The Forge is proof that net zero buildings are possible. Landsec is creating buildings of the future, today. A key element of this is taking intelligent technologies and leveraging the power of smart, clean, and digital electricity - something we call Electricity 4.0 - right from the start,” says Kas Mohammed, VP Digital Energy at Schneider Electric UK and Ireland. “With many companies rapidly running out of time when it comes to net zero targets, I hope the work done by Landsec will provide an inspiration and a path forward for many who are uncertain of where to start.” The Forge has been selected by Innovate UK as a demonstrator project for the Transforming Construction Challenge initiative, in recognition of its pioneering design and ground-breaking construction techniques, which have contributed to a circa 25% reduction, to date, in embodied carbon from the initial design stage. Schneider Electric’s technology will also help the buildings meet Landsec’s Design for Performance (DfP) target. The in-use energy rating is derived using an industry-backed initiative that aims to close the performance gap by establishing a method for ensuring new office complexes meet its predicted design performance level, during the operational phase. The full suite of EcoStruxure dashboards will help Landsec to monitor progress against its NZC roadmap and to obtain its targeted 5* NABERS UK rating.

Extending connectivity in MDUs using MoCA Access technology

By Helge Tiainen, Head of Product Management, Marketing and Sales at InCoax Consumers are becoming more expectant, and in turn, unforgiving when it comes to broadband experience. They expect a high quality of experience (QoE) regardless of their location, whether that be connecting to the internet while at a coffee shop, at an airport, or at work or home. The latter has become the most important location for ubiquitous and reliable connectivity, as homes now act as a place of residence and office following the global pandemic. As end users stream Over-The-Top (OTT) services, game online, and undertake video conferencing, these applications bring more demanding requirements for lower latency and delay, and higher bandwidth. Fibre-To-The-Home/Premises (FTTH/P) deployments have rolled out at pace over the last half a decade, bringing ultra fast connectivity to the end user’s doorstep. Governments across the globe have expressed and outlined their goals to connect as many consumers as possible with fibre technology, regardless of location or building type. MDUs - a focus area While a single-family unit (SFU) can be easier in terms of installing fibre and the respective approvals and cost, operators are turning their attention to addressing the challenge of multi-dwelling unit (MDU) connectivity. MDUs are apartment blocks, hotels or offices within one building. For MDU building owners, renters or hotel guests residing in such settings are there for more of a temporary period as opposed to SFUs. Therefore, it is imperative that they can provide connectivity that is good enough to keep hotel guests returning and apartment tenants satisfied. With legacy technologies such as cable or DSL not having the ability to support new applications, fibre is being universally deployed by operators. But fibre technology may only serve a small number of customers and brings a raft of issues that need addressing, including receiving approvals from both building owners and tenants, and the local government for the respective civil works. Only then can work begin on installation of cabling to multiple units from the ground floor of the building upwards. FTTep over coax, phoneline or radio Fibre-To-The-extension-point (FTTep) is an architecture that can deliver multi-gigabit broadband and ensure fibre connectivity is rolled out quicker and more cost effectively over existing coaxial cabling, phone wires or radio for the last hundred metres up to the customer premises and inside the building. An FTTep architecture involves an optical signal being converted to an electrical signal travelling over these complementary technologies and enables fibre to be shared across an increased number of customers. Large brownfield multi-tenant environments have existing coaxial networks and operators are armed with an alternative to installing expensive and labour-intensive fibre. FTTep deployments within an MDU building involve fibre running from the optical line terminal to a distribution point unit (DPU) in the building basement or outside the building, and optical signals are transmitted over existing wires at the premises using copper-based technologies such as G.fast, G.hn Access and MoCA Access. The integration of these complementary access technologies can allow operators to extend fibre networks and cost-effectively roll out fibre-grade symmetric and asymmetric multi-gigabit services. This is opposed to FTTP deployments that involve an ethernet signal travelling from an optical network unit (located on the outside wall of a building) to the residential gateway inside the home. FTTep can easily complement operators’ existing FTTP offerings and by using the existing coaxial or phoneline infrastructure, it provides reliable connectivity from the DPU to each floor of the building. No technician visits are required at the premises to install cabling and equipment inside or near the building for the multiple apartments within. FCC ruling to aid US tenants Operators have already exploited the potential of the locations that could be seamlessly deployed with fibre, but for underserved locations, FTTep could be a viable solution as it negates the need to dig up roads or pull cables to each home as FTTP requires. It can be economically or physically impractical to deliver fibre all the way to the premises for MDUs, and by utilising broadband access using existing copper or coaxial wiring inside the premises, the same QoE can be provided as achieved by fibre. These wire-based technologies can also provide sub-millisecond one-way latency and low jitter at high speeds. Therefore, the customer experience is not neglected. Earlier this year, the FCC adopted rules that are designed to provide tenants in apartments with more transparency and choice for broadband services. The FCC’s ruling is a great opportunity to open up the choice of operators to empower millions of US tenants as they weigh up their options. This more combative approach from the FCC addresses deals between building owners and providers that leave tenants with no or limited alternative options. It therefore enables operators to offer gigabit and multigigabit services at affordable pricing by harnessing FTTep architecture. MoCA Access – the smart choice Many US multi-tenant environments have a home-run coaxial network reachable from the entry point located in a basement, wall cabinet or pedestal close to the building. These cables are usually utilised by cable TV operators but can be used by rival operators in co-existence, by deploying fibre access extension nodes at the entry point. InCoax Networks reuses the existing in-building infrastructure and its fibre access extension technology is based on the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) standard, providing a viable alternative to G.fast DPUs for fibre deployments. The MoCA Access standard provides management capabilities and low latency with multi-gigabit speeds that help operators cost-effectively deploy their fibre extension networks. MoCA Access provides users with broadband access at the heart of the apartment, in the living room or bedroom media hub. Deploying other wired technologies such as G.fast, in or close to the building may improve data speeds, but it does not meet the multi-gigabit requirements. MoCA Access is currently considered the most future-proof alternative, providing greater throughput and stability, and with MoCA technology being widely used in the US, it has greater adoption than G.hn technology.  By reusing existing in-building infrastructure for broadband access, operators can combat the connectivity complexities for residents and businesses, and finally relieve the MDU broadband headache.

Comcast Business expands offering with H5 Data Centers

H5 Data Centers and Comcast Business have announced the expansion of their national collaboration at 505 Marquette, a 225,000ft² carrier hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Comcast Business now offers a redundant, 100G capable point-of-presence (PoP) at the carrier hotel in support of H5 Data Centers’ customers and tenants. This latest collaboration in Albuquerque builds upon the parties’ broader national relationship in markets such as Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Minneapolis, Nashville, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Seattle. Companies in Albuquerque can benefit from a suite of network solutions offered by Comcast Business, including Metro Ethernet Forum-compliant data connectivity offerings such as Ethernet Network Service (ENS), Ethernet Private Line (EPL), Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) and Ethernet Dedicated Internet (EDI). In addition, Comcast Business can provide advanced offerings such as direct cloud on-ramp services, DDoS mitigation and ActiveCore based software-defined networking offerings like SD-WAN with Unified Threat Management (UTM) services enabled. “505 Marquette has long served as one of Albuquerque’s most interconnected access points,” says Josh Simms, Founder and CEO of H5 Data Centers. “Comcast Business manages one of the most important networks in New Mexico and can greatly contribute to the communications service ecosystem at 505 Marquette.” “As business demand for cloud and data storage solutions continues to rise, it is critical for network solution providers to pursue partnerships with data centres, both to bolster network redundancy and support, as well as to help ensure that assets critical to a business’ operations are appropriately managed,” says Robert Thompson, Vice President of Comcast Business in the Mountain West. “We believe that our deepened collaboration with H5 Data Centers will further enable companies to focus on and optimise the security, performance and availability of their network operations across several markets.”

Marist College Canberra unlocks IT autonomy with Nutanix

Nutanix helped Marist College Canberra simplify its IT infrastructure and enhance the learning experience of its students and educators. Established in 1968, Marist College Canberra is a Catholic school for boys from years four to 12. The school’s 200 teachers and staff provide a diversity of academic, spiritual, cultural, and personal development opportunities to its 1,800 students.            Sam Walton, ICT Systems and Operations manager, and his five-strong team are responsible for providing the IT infrastructure and rolling out new projects that keep students connected and continue to improve their learning experiences. “From an IT perspective, schools are always a complex environment,” Sam says. “Not only are we a relatively large school with more than 2,000 end-users including students and teachers, but we also offer many extracurricular activities. The role of IT is to support all the different departments and all the applications they want to run in a single environment.” Sam says that maintaining such a complex environment with legacy three-tier data centre architecture including servers, storage and networking - a system created decades ago - would be a resource-intensive challenge. A recent investment in Nutanix hyperconverged infrastructure, however, freed Walton and his team to deliver greater value to the school. Sam adds, “Nutanix is the heart of our digital learning experience. We went from a full rack of SANs (storage area networks) and hosts which were much more complicated and required a lot more maintenance just to keep running, to Nutanix which is essentially ‘set up and forget’. “In our IT team, we have to know so much about everything, so the really good thing about Nutanix is that it just works - I can’t be dedicating resources to maintaining the environment every week. The infrastructure we have now means my team can focus on more strategic projects for the college.” Another benefit, according to Sam, has been the reduced hardware footprint which has in turn reduced the college’s energy consumption. “IT infrastructure, particularly outdated infrastructure, can be a major energy burden,” he says. “Instead of a full rack, we’ve gone down to six RU (rack units) in our production environment. This has reduced power consumption to the point we’re now downsizing our UPS, which provides emergency power if the main power source fails.” Marist is also using three Nutanix nodes for its on-campus Disaster Recovery (DR) environment which keeps systems going in the event of an outage, and another three nodes for object storage, which enables greater data scalability for the school. “DR is now instant,” Sam says. “For example, late last year I had to move everything to the DR site and performance wasn’t impacted at all. No one noticed any difference. This has enabled me to sleep at night because I know now if something ever goes wrong, we can seamlessly switch over to DR.” Jim Steed, Managing Director - ANZ at Nutanix, says Marist College Canberra has ensured the best learning experience for its students, both today and into the future. “With its IT team liberated from having to keep the lights on, Walton and the Marist IT team can focus on the things that matter - like improving the student and educator experience - rather than putting out fires and constant maintenance. At Nutanix, we believe IT infrastructure should be invisible so organisations like Marist can focus on what they do best - educating the next generation of Australian leaders,” Jim concludes.      

AirTrunk announces renewable energy solution for Microsoft

AirTrunk and CLP Power have announced a first-of-its-kind renewable energy solution in Hong Kong that will match Microsoft’s data centre electricity consumption with local renewable energy certificates (RECs). Under the agreement, AirTrunk will source hourly RECs from CLP Power to provide renewable energy matching at its HKG1 data centre for Microsoft, setting a number of industry benchmarks, including being: • The first-of-its-kind in the APJ region to feature hourly matching of renewable generation to data centre electricity consumption • The first RECs solution linked to an identifiable renewable energy project in Hong Kong • The biggest RECs agreement for a data centre since the launch of the CLP RECs programme in 2019 The solution will be directly linked to the West New Territories (WENT) Landfill Gas Power Generation Units of CLP Power, namely WE Station. WE Station is a renewable energy project making use of landfill gas, that is locally produced at the landfill site, for power generation and converting waste to energy. AirTrunk Chief Technology Officer, Damien Spillane, says, “As we continue to power the cloud for the world’s largest technology companies, we need to manage our impact on grid stability, reliability and resilience, sustainably. Hourly renewable supply and demand matching strategies play an important role in laying the foundation for a fully decarbonised grid across the region, while setting new standards for climate action.” CLP Power Senior Director Customer Success and Experience, Lena Low, says, “We are pleased to pioneer a brand-new hourly renewable energy certificate in support of AirTrunk’s commitment to source clean energy for data centre operations on an hour-by-hour basis. “CLP Power is committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain by 2050 and will continue to work with our customers to create more innovative ways of bundling our carbon offset products, to match customers’ needs so that they can achieve their decarbonisation targets.” Each unit of electricity in a CLP Hourly Renewable Energy Certificate represents the hourly environmental attributes of electricity produced by dedicated renewable energy sources in Hong Kong generated by CLP Power. With CLP Hourly RECs, customers can match their electricity consumption with the renewable energy generated on an hour-by-hour basis, moving forward to zero carbon operations. Throughout its facilities, AirTrunk is collaborating with its customers to offer renewable energy options to help meet their ambitious sustainability targets. Microsoft worked with AirTrunk to source the RECs in Hong Kong, with the overall solution contributing towards Microsoft’s 100/100/0 by 2030 goal. Microsoft General Manager Energy and Renewables, Brian Janous says, "By leveraging AirTrunk's capability and presence in the Hong Kong market, we are able to both secure additional renewable supply in support of meeting our commitment to use 100% renewable energy by 2025, and also take a meaningful step toward having 100% of our electricity matched by zero carbon resources all of the time in the region. We believe innovative commercial structures like this with AirTrunk will be key as we continue to move toward our 100/100/0 commitment."