Hyperscale Data Centres: Scale, Speed & Strategy

SoftwareOne joins Console Connect PartnerConnect programme

Console Connect has announced that SoftwareOne has joined its PartnerConnect programme, helping SoftwareOne customers in the Asia Pacific region to improve their access to cloud services globally. As digital transformation and cloud adoption accelerates globally, Console Connect provides SoftwareOne’s customers in Asia Pacific with a more flexible, secure and efficient way to connect to major cloud providers across the world. SoftwareOne helps businesses in Hong Kong and the wider Asia Pacific region identify the right software, services and cloud platforms to optimise their business and effectively compete, scale and innovate. Through Console Connect’s PartnerConnect programme, SoftwareOne will introduce its customers to the benefits of network automation, enabling them to manage their connectivity to clouds and critical digital infrastructure in real-time and on-demand. Using the global Console Connect NaaS platform, SoftwareOne customers can click and connect to clouds using a high-performance global network, which delivers greater levels of speed, security and performance for mission-critical workloads and applications. Console Connect provides direct and on-demand access to all the world’s largest cloud platforms, including AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud, Alibaba Cloud and more. This enhanced cloud connectivity offering will support SoftwareOne customers on their digital transformation journey, and further position SoftwareOne as a one stop solution provider. Michael Glynn, SVP, Digital Automated Innovation, Console Connect, says, “We are excited to begin this collaboration with SoftwareOne to help more local businesses in Asia Pacific access the Console Connect NaaS platform and turbocharge their journey to the cloud. Cloud connectivity is an important consideration for today’s businesses, and Console Connect makes it easier from them to setup and manage direct cloud connect services with leading hyperscale cloud providers.” Patrick Lam, General Manager, SoftwareOne Hong Kong, says, “The move to the cloud presents new connectivity challenges for businesses. Console Connect provides a more flexible and faster way for our customers to directly connect with cloud providers worldwide using a familiar cloud-like consumption-based model. We look forward to growing our collaboration with Console Connect.” Through a single Access Port at their data centre or office location, businesses can access a range of on-demand services, including Layer 2 and 3 interconnections between a global footprint of over 900 data centres, remote peering at some of the world’s largest Internet Exchanges and premium business Internet services that leverage an IP network ranked in the top 10 globally.

Vertiv to showcase innovations at Datacloud Global Congress 2023

Vertiv will showcase its latest innovations at Datacloud Global Congress, on April 25-27 2023 at Grimaldi Forum, Monaco. Vertiv will be presenting advancements in power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions for data centres at its stand #42, offering visitors the opportunity to discuss challenges with its team of experts and experience its innovative technology first-hand. At the Vertiv booth, attendees will be able to experience guided virtual reality tours of Vertiv’s data centre solutions and enter a competition to win a Meta Quest 2 Headset. Visitors can also demo the new Vertiv XR app, a first-of-its-kind tool that allows data centre operators, IT managers and channel partners to visualise Vertiv products in the location they would occupy in any given facility. The virtual representation helps today’s data centre decision-makers by providing a convenient tool to plan their space and provide support after installation, with the intent of improving understanding of how the infrastructure will support their compute and impact the physical footprint. Karsten Winther, EMEA President for Vertiv says, “We’re proud to be patron sponsors and look forward to showcasing Vertiv’s latest infrastructure solutions at Datacloud 2023. At our booth, visitors will have the chance to get hands-on with our products and explore their capabilities, thanks to our virtual and augmented reality experiences. We’re also excited to be partnering with MEEZA to share a success story that highlights how our integrated modular solutions can greatly benefit rapid data centre deployments.” Vertiv speakers will contribute to these key sessions: Keynote panel: what headwinds will challenge market growth in the next 3-5 years - 26 April, 09:20-10:00 CET, Genois Theatre, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco. Join Stephen Liang, Chief Technology Officer and EVP, Infrastructure and Solutions at Vertiv, and other industry leaders for this must-attend session focusing on how to ride the wave in this fast growth market. This panel will discuss: How are we keeping up with growing demand with supply chain and inflation challenges? How do we manage our cost base against economic headwinds? Does sustainability matter if you’re not hitting revenue targets? Rapid data centre deployment: MEEZA’s 4.9MW success in Qatar with Vertiv - 26 April, 15:40-15:55 CET, Guelfe Theatre, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco. Karsten Winther, President EMEA, Vertiv Fadi Nasser, Chief Commercial Officer, MEEZA Gareth McElroy, Director of Technical Facilities, MEEZA When a leading hyperscaler needed 4.9MW of computing power within 14 months, MEEZA relied on Vertiv’s prefabricated modular data centre solutions for fast and scalable deployment to support the tight timeline. Vertiv provided design, build, and installation services for 100 fully equipped prefabricated modules integrating critical power, thermal management, monitoring and control technologies - systems that are designed to work together. Now the largest hyperscale-compliant data centre in Qatar, it is a testament to MEEZA’s continued contribution toward connectivity and growth in the region.

SUNeVision celebrates the opening of MEGA Gateway

SUNeVision has opened its hyperscale data centre, MEGA Gateway, located in Tsuen Wan, the seventh data centre on its portfolio. MEGA Gateway is the latest state-of-the-art addition to SUNeVision’s interconnected MEGA Campus. Featuring high power density and connectivity with robust fibre coverage, MEGA Gateway is built to support mission-critical IT workloads with its future-proof infrastructure. MEGA Gateway has achieved 65% pre-commitments from several major customers, with some customers having gained early access to the data centre facilities. An extension of MEGA-i to be the next connectivity hub MEGA Gateway is positioned as the next connectivity hub extended from MEGA-i through a dedicated dark fibre network. This enables MEGA Gateway customers to interconnect with major cloud gateways and hundreds of global and local IT service providers in MEGA-i through SUNeVision’s inter-data centre MEGA Connect. With diversified telecom lead-ins, MEGA Gateway features carrier and cloud-neutral interconnections with high-speed access, providing customers with extra resiliency and redundancy in today’s highly dynamic business environment. Future-proof design for high power-density customers MEGA Gateway is an en-bloc data centre purpose-built for customisation and flexibility, providing unrivalled power density, connectivity and strategic importance for hyperscalers. Certified for LEED Gold Building Design and Construction, MEGA Gateway features 200,000ft² GFA and 20MW power capacity with on-premise and dedicated-use 132kV substation, ensuring adequate and timely power supply. The modular design with optimal floor height and high floor loading are all designed to meet today and future needs of cloud services, telco carriers, ISP and high power-density customers. Strategic location in Tsuen Wan Hong Kong remains a prime location for data centre development with enduring attraction among Asia-Pacific and global regions. Strategically located in Tsuen Wan, MEGA Gateway is well positioned as a strategic springboard - connecting customers to mainland China from the rest of the world, vice versa. Unveiling SUNeVision’s next chapter Riding on Sun Hung Kai Properties’ strong technical know-how and expertise, SUNeVision has completed the construction of MEGA Gateway amid pandemic headwinds. The joint team from Sun Hung Kai Properties and SUNeVision has managed the entire lifecycle from design, construction to operation. MEGA Gateway is one of the first movers in new hyperscale projects in the Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung districts, with a world-class facility to meet the ever-increasing connectivity demands in the region. As part of SUNeVision’s ever-expanding footprints, MEGA Gateway is a critical addition to the interconnected MEGA Campus, advancing the company to the next chapter of sustainable growth. Allen Fung, Vice Chairman and Executive Director of SUNeVision says, “At SUNeVision, we carry the spirit of our parent company Sun Hung Kai Properties. We are committed to building superior infrastructure and providing exceptional services with a long-term view. We have developed MEGA Gateway to supplement MEGA-i and provide customers opportunities for expansion and upgrades. SUNeVision aspires to support Hong Kong and further enhance its position as a regional data hub, and this is important for Hong Kong in becoming an international innovation and technology centre in line with the National 14th Five-Year Plan.” Raymond Tong, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of SUNeVision, says, “We are happy to announce the birth of our hyperscale data centre MEGA Gateway. We are witnessing a strong momentum and are proud to expand our data centre footprints in Hong Kong. Backed by Sun Hung Kai Properties, we have unique competitiveness in the Hong Kong market. SUNeVision is well positioned to ride on the upcoming wave of data explosion. As the number one connectivity hub in Asia, our MEGA-i is second to none to provide unmatched connectivity solutions to our customers. MEGA Gateway is the natural extension of our MEGA-i and is a strategic springboard connecting our customers to anywhere they need to be, whether internationally or to mainland China. The new development is not only a significant milestone on our business roadmap, but also a demonstration of our firm belief in Hong Kong as a regional technology hub.”

Are nuclear powered data centres on the horizon?

By Ed Ansett, Founder and Chairman, i3 Solutions Group Small Modular Reactor maker seeks large data centre partner? Across the globe, activity in the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) space is gathering pace. Governments, regulators, atomic agencies and authorities, global power manufacturers, research bodies and new market entrants are busy. For the data centre industry, the question is whether SMRs are applicable to the sector, could they change how data centres are powered? A look at the output ranges and the different models under development, and the different nuclear technologies being proposed as suitable for the sector will tell us more. The first thing to consider about an SMR is its power output. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) defines 'small' as under 300MWe, and up to about 700MWe as 'medium.' So, a large data centre deployment is at the small end of the SMR market. There are also developments in the micro modular reactor category. However, most of the recent activity in terms of regulations, licenses and investments has been in the SMR category. SMRs under development and being built tell a story Rolls Royce says its SMR will generate 470MWe. A single Rolls-Royce SMR power station will occupy a space the size of two football pitches and power approximately one million homes, supporting on-grid electricity and a range of off-grid clean energy solutions. In January 2023, GE Hitachi announced a contract for its BWRX-300 - a 300MWe water-cooled SMR. According to the company, this is the first commercial contract for a grid-scale SMR in north America. A Danish outfit called Seaborg is planning floating SMRs using barges that can accommodate four 200MWe reactors. It plans to use existing shipyards in which to create a production line for the barges. In the UK, the Office of Nuclear Regulation is assessing submissions from several firms for the licensing of their technologies. These include US-based Holtec, which submitted its 160MWe pressurised water reactor SMR-160 design developed in collaboration with Mitsubishi Electric of Japan and Hyundai Engineering and Construction of South Korea. X-Energy, a nuclear reactor and fuel design engineering company, wants to deploy its high-temperature gas reactor in the UK, saying it wants to tackle industrial decarbonisation as well as electricity generation. 'The Xe-100 can deliver reliable ‘always-on’ electricity,' it says, 'as well as increase or decrease power levels safely within minutes to respond to varying demand or supply.' UK Atomics is a subsidiary of Danish start-up Copenhagen Atomics, which is developing a containerised thorium molten salt reactor. It says its technology is 'progressing swiftly with the first non-radioactive full-size reactor prototype to be tested in the UK in 2023.' The company expects deployment by 2028. For future large data centre developments, anyone seeking a clean, reliable, low-carbon producing power generation supply, these systems could be applicable. Current options to fuel SMRs The World Nuclear Association (WNA) says there are four main SMR technology options being pursued; 'light water reactors, fast neutron reactors, graphite-moderated high-temperature reactors and various kinds of molten salt reactors (MSRs).' WNA says that, ‘Light Water Reactors are moderated and cooled by ordinary water and have the lowest technological risk, being similar to most operating power and naval reactors today.’’ Fast neutron reactors (FNR) are smaller and simpler than light water types, they have better fuel performance and can have a longer refuelling interval (up to 20 years), but a new safety case needs to be made for them.' 'High-temperature gas-cooled reactors use graphite as a moderator (unless fast neutron type) and either helium, carbon dioxide or nitrogen as primary coolant.' 'Molten salt reactors mostly use molten fluoride salts as primary coolant, at low pressure. Lithium-beryllium fluoride and lithium fluoride salts remain liquid without pressurization up to 1400°C, in marked contrast to a PWR which operates at about 315°C under 150 atmospheres pressure. Fast-spectrum MSRs use chloride salt coolant. In most designs, the fuel is dissolved in the primary coolant, but in some, the fuel is a pebble bed.' WNA also states many small reactors are being designed for industrial heat applications as well as power generation. Light water reactors are constrained by pressure limitations and operate in the 300-400°C range. Liquid metal fast reactors are in the 400-600°C range, molten salt reactors are around 600-700°C, and high-temperature reactors are 600-900°C. Possible use cases for SMRs 2022 and 2023 saw a number of large data centre development projects in the 200MWe range, many of them in South East Asia. Last year, Yondr Group said it would develop a 200MWe hyperscale campus in Malaysia. The company announced a plan to develop 72.8 acres of land in Johor’s Sedenak Tech Park. T5 Data Centres announced the planned development of a 140-acre, 200MWe government and enterprise cloud data centre campus in Augusta, Georgia, which it described as the South East US cyber security hub. In South Korea, energy and construction firm Bosung Group said it is to build a 200Mwe data centre campus in SolaSeaDo, in Jeonnam Province. The company has partnered with The Green Korea (TGK), a joint venture between South Korean energy investment firm Energy Innovation Partners (EIP) and Diode Ventures. None of these developments has made any announcement on the potential use of nuclear power as a primary power source. Today, the timeframes for SMR production and licensing stretch to 2028 and beyond, so it could be that none of the currently publicised projects can wait that long. However, things could change quickly.

AirTrunk links its $5bn financing platforms to ESG

AirTrunk has linked 100% of its debt funding platforms to sustainability commitments following the raising of a $650 million Sustainability Linked Loan (SLL) in Japan. Across its financing platforms, AirTrunk has raised $5 billion in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) financing, making the company one of the largest issuers of sustainable financing in the data centre industry globally. The incremental Japan SLL will finance a major expansion of AirTrunk TOK1 (TOK1) and is the first SLL for a data centre in Japan, and the first in APJ to combine operating energy and water efficiency as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Energy and water are critical and interdependent resources that impact a data centre’s environmental footprint. As part of its commitment to accountability and transparency, AirTrunk continues to focus its financing KPIs on actual energy usage through operating power usage effectiveness (PUE) as opposed to design PUE. AirTrunk plans to invest any margin incentives from the Japan SLL into social impact initiatives within Japan. Plans are underway to expand the program across APJ to support long term initiatives aligned to AirTrunk’s purpose of scaling and sustaining the region’s digital future. This will include supporting initiatives across four focus areas: equal digital access, STEM education, biodiversity and conservation, and innovation and research and development. AirTrunk Chief Financial Officer, Prashant Murthy says, “By driving innovation in sustainable financing and creating a lasting impact in our communities, we are committed to powering positive industry change. We have now linked all our debt platforms to sustainability commitments, more than doubling our sustainable financing since our inaugural SLL launched in 2021. Our sustainable finance platform complements our recent commitment to net zero emissions by 2030.”

Vertiv introduces new chilled water thermal wall

Vertiv has introduced the Vertiv Liebert CWA, a new generation of thermal management system for slab floor data centres. For decades, hyperscale and colocation providers have used raised floor environments to cool their IT equipment. Simplifying data centre design with slab floors enables the construction of new white space more efficiently and cost-effectively, but also introduces new cooling challenges. The Liebert CWA was designed to provide uniform air distribution to the larger surface area which comes with a slab floor application, while also allowing more space for rack installation and compute density. Developed in the United States, the Liebert CWA chilled water thermal wall cooling unit is available in 250kW, 350kW and 500kW capacities across EMEA, as well as the Americas. Liebert CWA technology utilises integrated state-of-the-art controls to facilitate improved airflow management and provide an efficient solution for infrastructures facing the challenges of modern IT applications. The Liebert CWA can also be integrated with the data centre’s chilled water system to improve the operating conditions of the entire cooling network. Furthermore, the Liebert CWA is installed outside the IT space to allow more floor space in the data centre, increase accessibility for maintenance personnel, and also increase the security of the IT space itself. “The launch of the Liebert CWA reinforces our mission to provide innovative, state-of-the-art technologies for our customers that allow them to optimise the design and operation of their data centres” says Roberto Felisi, Senior Global Director, thermal core offering and EMEA business leader at Vertiv. “As the Liebert CWA can be quickly integrated with existing cooling systems, customers can leverage all the benefits of a slab floor layout, such as lower installation and maintenance costs, and a greater availability of white space.” Air handling units have been used in the past to cool raised-floor data centres but there is now an opportunity in the market to drive more innovative thermal management solutions for slab floor data centres. The Vertiv Liebert CWA provides Vertiv’s customers with a standardised thermal wall built specifically for data centre applications, therefore minimising installation costs of custom-made solutions on site. The product's layout is engineered to maximise the cooling density and to meet the requirements for cooling continuity set by the most trusted and established certification authorities for data centre design and operation. Vertiv has developed the Liebert CWA in close consultation with experienced data centre operators. With data centres having a myriad of layouts and equipment configurations, Vertiv has defined a strategic roadmap to enhance standardised thermal management solutions for slab floor applications. Vertiv also provides consulting and design expertise to create the right solution for their customers’ specific data centre white space requirements.

Stellium Datacentres selects Schneider Electric’s Galaxy VM UPS

Stellium Datacentres has partnered with Schneider Electric to help drive data centre resilience and efficiency. Stellium selected Schneider Electric’s Galaxy VM UPS with lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries to provide energy efficient, resilient, and sustainable power protection at its data centre in Newcastle. Stellium’s location in Newcastle has emerged as a major UK connectivity hub, and the meeting place for high frequency data-transfer across local, national and international borders. CBRE, for example, recently cited its 80MW (scalable to 180MW) colocation facility, as the largest in the north of England region - offering hyperscalers and enterprises a viable, alternative wholesale location compared to operators in London and the south of England. Powered by REGO certified 100% renewable energy, Stellium provides Tier 3+ mission-critical infrastructure and diverse connectivity services for a multitude of businesses including fintech and high frequency trading, energy, healthcare and pharmaceutical research and public sector. The company also positions itself as the new Data Meridian - where east meets west in data transfer - being the UK’s only data centre landing station for the Altibox/NO-UK Nordic subsea cables and Aqua Comms North Sea Connect cable, as well as the home of the UK’s newest Internet Exchange Point NCL-IX. An international gateway One of Stellium’s clients is Aqua Comms, a provider of international undersea fibre connectivity, which provides major connectivity linking the USA with Ireland, the UK and the Nordics. The America Europe Connect 2 (AEC-2) project is a dual diverse trans-Atlantic fibre connection comprising two legs, one directly from the US to Denmark and the other passing through Ireland, the Isle of Man and England, where it terminates at the Stellium Campus before continuing to Denmark. The overriding requirement for Aqua Comms’ landing station is guaranteed, 100% uptime, reinforced by a stringent service level agreement (SLA). Several factors make the Stellium Campus a good fit, including ample utility power via the UK’s Super Grid, which provides dual 11kVA feeds into the site, as well as backup power systems that offer defence in depth. Its features include 2N levels of redundancy offered by Schneider Electric’s Galaxy VM UPS and 6MVA standby generators arranged in an N+1 configuration. Stellium selected Schneider Electric’s Galaxy VM UPS due to its high levels of reliability, strong technical and energy efficiency capabilities, and because the company’s sustainable approach to its product strategy matched Stellium’s approach to life cycle management. Galaxy VM UPS Designed to provide highly efficient data centre power continuity, Schneider Electric’s Galaxy VM is a scalable, three-phase UPS for data centres and industrial environments. Powered by lithium-ion batteries, Galaxy UPS delivers the highest levels of backup power protection in a smaller footprint, offering advantageous space saving capabilities for colocation businesses. Furthermore, Galaxy VM utilises Schneider Electric’s patented eConversion mode as standard, offering up-to 99% energy efficiency alongside Class-1 (UL certified) power protection level for critical loads, without compromising availability. “Today, businesses have come to the realisation that through high quality fibre connections and access to 100% sustainable power, it is possible to have major data centres built to Tier 3 standards, in almost any location,” says Paul Mellon, Operations Director, Stellium Datacentres. “By partnering with Schneider Electric and using its UPSs to build the highest levels of redundancy and resiliency into our Newcastle data centre, we’re safeguarding the provision of our customers critical equipment, and ensuring their applications are powered both efficiently and sustainably.” “Stellium Datacentres truly defines what it means to be a northern powerhouse and has built a campus primed to create hyperscale levels of growth in the north of England,” says Marc Garner, SVP, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric, Europe. “We’re delighted that Stellium has selected our Galaxy VM technology to power its mission-critical workloads, and help it deliver industry-leading levels of resilience and efficiency.”

Increasing data centre power consumption in an energy crisis

Paul Brickman, Commercial Director, for Crestchic Loadbanks, explores the often-overlooked necessity of loadbank testing in securing data centre power in an energy crisis. Hiked power prices as a result of Russia’s fuel sanctions, and the threat of planned blackouts or power rationing to better manage an unstable grid, are forcing data centres to redistribute investment away from key business functions like training and recruitment, and towards improving energy efficiency and securing power resilience. The current geopolitical challenges and their far-reaching implications are recognised in the 2023 Uptime Institute report, Five Data Centre Predictions for 2023, in which the authors acknowledge that the Russian fuel sanctions, along with technological challenges 'will make the planning of data centre development and operations more difficult.' Powering next-generation data centres According to the Uptime Institute, IT hardware has been fairly standard in terms of its draw on mainstream server capacity for a few decades now, creating technical stability and relatively constant power and cooling requirement. This has enabled data centre designers to accommodate several IT refreshes without major upgrades to server technology and the associated hike in power consumption that would come with it. Essentially, offering the latest technologies, without an increase in energy requirement. This grace period is now over. Power requirements for next-generation IT hardware are far higher, rack power density is increasing, and 'hotter' processors are putting pressure on the performance parameters of existing infrastructure. This rapid rise in IT power density means server power consumption is on a steep climb, creating a need for more power, at a time when the grid is unstable, and energy prices are at their highest in decades. Extreme-density racks are now commonplace in technical computing too, as well as high-performance analytics and artificial intelligence training. If data centre operators want to successfully penetrate these niche markets, they will need to foot the heightened energy bill and maintain a robust power resilience regime until the situation stabilises. Data centres take action The demand for next-generation IT technologies will not slow. As a result, data centres are forging ahead with the essential upgrades required to UPS, batteries, switchgear and generators to accommodate increased power density. This is a risk. With an unstable grid and planned blackouts still on the agenda for many governments, upgrades will need to be bolstered with a watertight energy resilience plan to protect against power fluctuations and total outages. The importance of a power resilience strategy in an energy crisis According to research from the Ponemon Institute, in its third Cost of Data Centre Outages report, the total cost of downtime has continued to rise over the last six years - rising a staggering 38% to $740,357 per incident. That equates to nearly $9,000 per minute - a figure that many data centres will have to swallow if the grid becomes too unstable to sustain their increasing power consumption. Many data centres will already have a robust generator testing and maintenance regime in place, but the use of loadbanks is often overlooked, especially when budgets are stretched. At a time when power outages are more likely, loadbank testing should play an integral role in a data centre’s energy resilience strategy and it would be prudent to evaluate your strategy in line with the current landscape to ensure it is robust enough. With this in mind, what would be considered best practice for testing a backup power system? Best practice loadbank testing in times of crisis Ideally, as a minimum, all generators should be tested annually for real-world emergency conditions by using a resistive-reactive 0.8pf loadbank. Best practice dictates that all gensets (where there are multiple) should be run in a synchronised state, ideally for eight hours but for a minimum of three. Where a resistive-only loadbank is used, testing should be increased to two to four times per year at three hours per test. In carrying out this testing and maintenance, fuel, exhaust and cooling systems are effectively tested and system issues can be uncovered in a safe, controlled manner without the cost of major failure or unplanned downtime. The alternator is not thoroughly tested though, with a resistive-only test and therefore a resistive-reactive test would always be recommended. It may be advisable to test more frequently during times of crisis for added peace of mind. Why is resistive-reactive the best approach? Capable of testing both resistive and reactive loads, this type of loadbank provides a much clearer picture of how well an entire system will withstand changes in load patterns while experiencing the level of power that would typically be encountered under real operational conditions. Furthermore, the inductive loads used in resistive/reactive testing will show how a system will cope with a voltage drop in its regulator. This is particularly important in any application which requires generators to be operated in parallel (prevalent in larger business infrastructures such as hyperscale data centres) where a problem with one generator could prevent other system generators from working properly or even failing to operate entirely. This is something which is simply not achievable with resistive-only testing. Navigating growth when power is scarce No matter the geopolitical challenges and the effect it is having on power availability, data centres have no choice but to grow. Demand will not cease, and power-intensive next-generation technologies are unavoidable. Ensuring power resilience via a watertight backup power supply and a robust testing and maintenance regime will enable data centre designers and operators to grow, safe in the knowledge that, should planned blackouts, power rationing or grid fluctuations happen, the power will always remain on.

Lunar Digital enters the Manchester data centre market

Lunar Digital has embarked on a new venture in the Manchester data centre industry. Lunar Digital has announced that it has completed the acquisition of the Equinix facility in Manchester, formerly known as MA2. Equinix has 240 data centres spanning 27 countries, and had previously announced the closure of MA2 in December 2021. The acquisition of the 22,500ft² 3MVA (expansion to 4MVA) facility is highly strategic for Lunar Digital to bolster its data centre footprint in the UK. The business also has an existing Tier 3 European facility in Norway. Robin Garbutt says, “We’re very excited to announce that we’ve completed the acquisition of the Equinix data centre in Reynolds House. The acquisition will ensure client colocation capacity in the most highly demanded markets within the UK. The demand for premium data centre capacity in Manchester continues to be highlighted and we are proud to be playing our part in supporting its continued growth.” Lunar Digital will be able to offer services immediately within the facility, providing stability and peace of mind to existing clients who had previously been informed that the site was due to close. The acquisition also adds notable additional capacity to Lunar Digital’s current data centre network which will also allow them to strengthen their private and virtual cloud solutions. The facility will be rebranded as Lunar1 and Lunar2 due to the fact there are two self-contained facilities within the site, offering highly connected, carrier neutral data centre capabilities in Manchester. The Lunar Digital team is passionate about Manchester as a data centre location, with the city already establishing itself as a key location for data centre space in the UK, attracting large hyperscale operators like AWS, Azure and Facebook in recent years. Manchester has a rich history in innovation and being able to continue supporting some of the incredible businesses that require dependable data centre services in the city is something that Lunar Digital says it is proud to do. The Lunar1 and Lunar2 facilities in Reynolds House are carrier rich, boasting some of the largest global internet services providers able to provide resilient, low latency connectivity to clients. Lunar Digital will also be one of the last remaining independent data centre operators in the city. The Lunar Digital team says it is looking forward to becoming a key operator in the city and continuing to support existing and new clients.

DCI Data Centres appoints group CEO

DCI Data Centres (DCI) has announced the appointment of Nicholas Toh as the group Chief Executive Officer. Nicholas is an industry veteran with more than 20 years’ experience across data centres, finance and real estate investments. He joins DCI from STT Global Data Centres, where he was one of the key founding team members, having been instrumental in the growth and development of the business, most recently as CEO, North-East Asia. During his time with STT GDC, he led market entry into the mature markets of UK and Japan as well as strategic investments and partnerships into India, South Korea, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Prior to joining STT, he was Senior Vice President at Securus Data Property Fund. An Australian national, Nicholas has also worked for Macquarie Group within the Banking and Financial Services group, as well as within Macquarie’s Real Estate group. DCI Chair and Brookfield Global CEO Data Centres, Udhay Mathialagan says Nicholas brings an impressive track record in building data centre businesses across multiple geographies, marking a strategic milestone as DCI enters an accelerated growth phase. “Nicholas’s appointment strengthens DCI’s growth trajectory as we look to build on our rapid growth in Australia and New Zealand by deepening our geographic and product strength in these markets in addition to targeted expansion across Asia. I am delighted to welcome Nicholas to the team,” adds Udhay. “DCI’s growth and commitment to scale makes it an exciting time to join the company. DCI’s customer centric approach and ability to provide innovative solutions has enabled them to be a trusted partner, and I look forward to continuing to build the business and usher in new successes for our hyperscale customers,” Nicholas says.