Data Centre Magazine - October 2020

T H E E V O L U T I O N O F D ATA C E N T R E M A N A G E M E N T OC T OB E R 2 0 2 0

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SIMPLIFYING CLOUD TRANSFORMATION

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW + VIDEO - JEFF UPHUES, CEO OF DC BLOX

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FOREWORD

W

elcome to the October issue of Data Centre Magazine, the industry’s leading community and resource for executives and leaders in the data centre and cloud industries.

This month’s edition is all about managing data centres. From servers and networking hardware to facilities management and data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) solutions, we’re exploring what makes data centres tick, from top to bottom. We’ll also be bringing you exclusive interviews with thought leaders from Serverfarm, Green Datacentre AG and DC Blox.

As enterprises around the world become increasingly digitalised, interconnected and agile, the value of eliminating silos in favour of more holistic approaches has become a widely recognised strategy. As the data centre industry shifts towards cloud and managed services, DCIM technology is enjoying a renaissance. This month, we explore the developing relationship between data centre operators and the new wave of DCIM solutions.

We’re also bringing you two reports on the hardware that supports a data cen-

tre’s operations. Our deep dive into the world of servers investigates the engines that drive the modern data centre. We take a look at physical servers versus virtual servers, and explore some of the latest innovations driving the sector forward into Industry 4.0.

Networking hardware is also evolving.

Our second hardware report focuses on the changing landscape in the networking hardware industry, as data centre operators everywhere prepare for global data traffic to increase exponentially over the next decade.

Also in this month’s issue of Data Centre Magazine, we’re examining the industry best practices in the field of facilities management, based on industry leading expertise from Schneider Electric and Virtus Data Centres.

Lastly, this month’s top 10 breaks down the best data centre conferences in a year which presented radical challenges for event managers. We hope you enjoy the issue.

If you have a story to tell, email me at h.menear@bizclikmedia.com to become a part of the conversation.

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PUBLISHED BY

Daniela Kianickovรก Owen Martin DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCERS

DIGITAL MEDIA DIRECTOR

PRODUCTION MANAGER

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Harry Menear EDITORAL DIRECTOR

Scott Birch CREATIVE TEAM

Oscar Hathaway Erin Hancox Sophia Forte Sophie-Ann Pinnell Hector Penrose PRODUCTION DIRECTORS

Georgia Allen

PROJECT DIRECTORS

Andrew Stubbings Jordan Hubbard Stuart Irving

Kieran Waite Sam Kemp

Jason Westgate

MARKETING DIRECTOR

Stacy Norman

CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

Leigh Manning DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER

Shirin Sadr

PRESIDENT & CEO

Glen White

DIGITAL MARKETING EXECUTIVE

Daisy Slater MEDIA SALES DIRECTOR

James White

da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

CONTENTS

10 DC Blox

10

24 The Next Generation of Data Centre Infrastructure Management

36 THE NETWORKING HARDWARE EVOLUTION SERVERS: THE DATA CENTRE ENGINE

44

THE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL DATA CENTRE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

54

Data Centre Conferences

66

Digital Transformation.

Made real every day.

Find out how big advances in AI have made it easier than ever to unlock the power of data, create value, insights and a new level of intelligent security. From Individuals, to small organizations, to the Global Fortune 100, AI and machine learning are improving businesses and lives everywhere.

Learn More

84 Serverfarm

104 Green Datacenter AG

10

OCTOBER 2020

11

CONNECTED DATA CENTRES FOR EDGE MARKETS WRITTEN BY

SEAN GALEA-PACE PRODUCED BY

LEWIS VAUGHAN

da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

DC BLOX

JEFF UPHUES, CEO OF DC BLOX, DISCUSSES HIS ORGANISATION’S EXPANSION IN UNDERSERVED MARKETS AND HOW IT INTRODUCES ITS DATA CENTRES LOCALLY WHILE SERVING GLOBALLY

F

ounded in 2014, DC BLOX develops core infrastructure that empowers businesses in smaller growing cities to achieve their

digital transformation goals, and enables local governments to accelerate economic growth by attracting technology-dependent companies and 12

jobs to their regions.

Jeff Uphues has been the CEO at DC BLOX since 2017. He is responsible for setting and leading the company’s strategy in building and operating a fabric of edge connected, cloudenabled data centres and driving the growth and profitability of best-in-class infrastructure for digital services. “My background has primarily been in the communications sector, both from a cloud, data centre and communications perspective,” says Uphues. “I’ve got around 30 years experience of increasing responsibility across various areas of the communications sector from fiber to network services to cloud-based hosting services to data centres. It feels like I’ve come full circle.”

DC BLOX currently has four data centres: Atlanta, Georgia, Chattanooga, Tennessee, OCTOBER 2020

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da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

DC BLOX

“ WE’RE REALLY FOCUSED ON OUR ABILITY TO SERVE LOCALLY AND CONNECT GLOBALLY ON BEHALF OF OUR CUSTOMERS”

14

on behalf of our customers,” explains Uphues. “We bring a Tier 3 or higher rated facility, which is the industry standard for reliable data centres, according to The Uptime Institute.

When we look at these markets, we ask ourselves whether there is a Tier 3 data centre already there. Would the market benefit from us delivering

— Jeff Uphues, CEO, DC BLOX

a service that serves them locally, is

Huntsville and Birmingham, Alabama,

society? It’s key that there’s a value.”

a part of that community, and connects them as we live in a global

all built with a high level of security,

Uphues affirms that his company’s

reliability and connectivity. Uphues

data centres all have rich connectivity

believes the challenge is to find a mar-

built-in and must be resilient in terms

ket that is underserved while ensuring

of its network architecture and qual-

there is a demand to gain benefit.

ity of equipment. “We use premium

“We’re really focused on our ability

products, driven by premium service

to serve locally and connect globally

level agreements. We engineer and operate our own private data network across the Southeastern US between our data centres and then

OCTOBER 2020

DC Blox’s Views on the networking challenges that companies are facing with Covid19 CLICK TO WATCH

|

2:27

15 we connect them privately to core

and the type of vendors that we use.

Internet exchanges and to the public

It’s in the architecture for how we con-

cloud providers. We really look at that

nect them together.”

connectivity and the uptime of our

Bill Thomson, VP, Marketing and

facilities as a key value that we bring

Product Management at DC BLOX,

to our markets.” Achieving DC BLOX’s

affirms there is a significant amount

high standards also requires a high

of evaluation performed when decid-

standard of construction. “Beyond the

ing on the location of a data centre.

connectivity, it’s a question of how we

“We do a considerable amount of quan-

build these facilities to be Tier 3-rated.

titative analysis of these markets. We

It comes down to being concurrently

first look for markets that have limited

maintainable, meaning that if any one

access to secure, reliable data centre

system in the building fails, there is a

facilities. We don’t just look at the mar-

backup system that can take over. It’s

ket size but also their growth potential.

part of the design, it’s in the materials

We look at the amount of fiber access da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

DC BLOX

16

in the markets, IP traffic, and land and power costs. These are all big indicators of potential business growth and

2014

Year founded

value. We also consider state, county and city tax incentives.” Currently, Uphues’s focus is on accelerating growth in edge markets. “It’s all in how you define the edge,” he explains. “DC BLOX defines the edge as where the application meets the network. And some would look at our markets as edge data centre markets, while others might look at it as a hub that then connects to an edge device where OCTOBER 2020

HQ

Atlanta, Georgia USA

35

Number of employees

E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :

Jeff Uphues Title: Chief Executive Officer

Location: Atlanta

Industry: Information Technology & Services Jeff Uphues has been the CEO at DC BLOX since 2017. He is responsible for setting and leading the company’s strategy in building and operating a fabric of edge connected, cloud enabled data centres and driving the growth and profitability of best-in-class infrastructure for digital services. “My background has primarily been in the communications sector, both from a cloud, data centre and communications perspective,” says Uphues. “I’ve got around 30 years’ experience of increasing responsibility across various areas of the communications sector from fiber to network services to cloud-based hosting services to data centres. It feels like I’ve come full circle.”

Uphues previously served as Executive Vice President for Liquid Web, a global managed hosting and data centre operator that serves over 30,000 customers in over 150 countries. Having been in the communications industry for almost 30 years, he is a tireless tech-savvy executive and business strategist, having held several C-suite leadership positions in sales, marketing and operations for Cbeyond, Bandwidth, ACSI Network Technologies and MCI. He serves as an active board member at several technology firms and has also co-chaired the SE New Venture Competition for Harvard Business School to select the regions’ best start-up ventures. Uphues graduated from the Harvard Business School, Rice University’s Jones School of Business Executive Education program in Finance and Accounting and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Having initially joined DC BLOX in 2016 as an Advisory Board Member, Uphues stepped into his current role as CEO in March 2017 and he affirms that together with employees and investors “we’ve built a really great company” during his tenure.

da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

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“ WE DO A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THESE MARKETS. WE DON’T JUST LOOK AT THE MARKET SIZE BUT ALSO THEIR GROWTH POTENTIAL” — Bill Thomson, VP, Marketing and Product Management, DC BLOX

As a result, DC BLOX has become

that local hub where a significant amount of data traffic can pass through its facilities. “We like to think we’re

that network meets the application,

the centralised place in our markets

like a cell phone or a cell tower. We

where content, carrier, cloud, wire-

find that many people consider DC

less and network enterprise traffic

BLOX locations as edge markets out-

passes through our data centres,”

side of the larger core market areas

explains Uphues. “We’ve become the

where large hyperscale or larger data

Grand Central Station where con-

centres are located.”

nectivity originates and terminates

Do local business’s need local connectivity, DC blox explains why CLICK TO WATCH

|

2:18

da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

19

DC BLOX

C O V ID- 19 CHALLEN GE

20

With the challenge of COVID-19 impacting organizations worldwide, Uphues acknowledges that the network has shifted. “Pre-COVID-19, the network used to be delivered at people’s offices,” he says. “However, people are now working in lots of remote environments, it’s changed the way that people connect to VPNs and driven a more hybrid type world.

This means that some of the things you’re connecting and working on are in your office and in a data centre that’s close to you, whereas, there’s also companies embracing cloud computing at a faster rate. That’s

OCTOBER 2020

a hybrid environment to us.” Uphues understands the network challenges that have resulted from the pandemic and stresses the importance of customer-centricity. “At DC BLOX, we have access through how we’ve created our network and pulled things together to give our customers immediate access and connect to over 50 carriers globally from one of our facilities,” says Uphues. “We provide it to the fingertips of our customers. If you’re a customer at one of our centres, you have access to change to whatever business demand you require.”

“ IT’S NO LONGER JUST A FACILITY DECISION ABOUT WHERE MY IT INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS TO GO. IT’S A STRATEGIC IT DECISION ABOUT WHO TO PARTNER WITH IN ORDER TO PROVIDE AGILITY AND FLEXIBILITY” — Bill Thomson, VP, Marketing and Product Management, DC BLOX

with larger markets. For example, in the state of Alabama, we have two of the most connected sites where computing, internet and cloud services traffic can be connected, managed and exchanged.” Thomson adds that although DC BLOX is building in what could be considered an edge market, it doesn’t mean that these are traditional edge data centres. “Edge data centres have lots of different meanings. We’re building a full-service 21

E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :

Bill Thomson Title: VP, Marketing and Product Management

Location: Atlanta

Industry: Information Technology & Services Bill Thomson joined DC BLOX in 2018 and heads marketing and product management for the company. He is a technology industry veteran having developed and marketed a considerable number of enterprise software, SaaS applications and cloud services products geared to SMB and enterprise markets.

Thomson has led strategic product planning, marketing and product growth for many leading technology companies including AT&T, Citrix, Unisys, NTT, Cbeyond and Vonage. He has served on the Technology Association of Georgia Product Management Society Board, holds a Master of Science degree from Stevens Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Rutgers University. da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

DC BLOX

An insight to DCBlox’s approach to new market selection CLICK TO WATCH

|

2:06

22

“ PRE-COVID-19, THE NETWORK USED TO BE DELIVERED AT PEOPLE’S OFFICES” — Jeff Uphues, CEO, DC BLOX

With an eye on the future, Thomson believes it’s important to recognise that data centres aren’t what they

multi-tenant data centre built to Tier

used to be. “It’s no longer just a facility

3 standards in these markets. The

decision about where my IT infra-

business needs aren’t any different

structure needs to go. It’s a strategic

in these edge cities than the major

IT decision about who to partner with

markets, so they don’t consider them-

in order to provide agility and flexibil-

selves edge markets and are looking

ity,” explains Thomson. “You need to

for the same quality of services that

be able to follow your digital transfor-

they could get in the major cities.”

mation goals, you need to connect

OCTOBER 2020

23

to the cloud, you need to move data

and growing markets,” he explains.

to and from devices, and it’s difficult

“We want to be the centralised

to do it on your own in the old-fashioned

exchange point for all cloud, content,

way. A new modern, highly connected

carrier, wireless and enterprise traf-

data centre is an important tool and

fic in our markets as we extend the

DC BLOX is a great partner for those

network edge. We’re continuously

types of relationships.” Uphues adds

seeking to expand that a bit further

that the future is bright for DC BLOX

and really accelerate our footprint.”

and the company has a plan to continue to serve underserved markets.

“Today, we have four data centres.

But with the future in mind, we want more than a dozen over the next three to five years within many underserved da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

D ATA C E N T R E S

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OCTOBER 2020

The Next Generation of Data Centre Infrastructure Management WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR

da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

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D ATA C E N T R E S

Data Centre Magazine explores the developing relationship between data centre operators and DCIM strategies As enterprises around the world become increasingly digitalised, interconnected and agile, the value of eliminating silos in favour of more holistic approaches has become a widely recognised strategy. Supply chain and procurement functions, once confined to a weekly meeting by the accounting 26

departments, now extend into almost every aspect of the modern company. Agile strategies like Tribes and Squads have allowed companies like Spotify to reassess the way they spend money and time on projects, as well as bringing together interdisciplinary teams to work towards the same goal.

The data centre industry is undergoing constant, seismic change itself. From the shift towards managed services, cloud and colocation, to the ongoing balancing act between the hyperscale and the edge, this is a demanding time, data centre operators find themselves facing new challenges on a regular basis.

One of the most important approaches to data centre management, which has the potential to safeguard many operators against inefficiency and disruption, is Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM). The phrase describes OCTOBER 2020

27

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D ATA C E N T R E S

“ We came to the conclusion that a lot of the DCIM vendors, us included, had been focusing on the wrong things” — Kevin Brown, SVP, CMO, Schneider Electric

a methodology in which a more holistic approach is taken to the discrete components of data centre systems.

This month, Data Centre Magazine explores the developing relationship between data centre operators and DCIM strategies, as well as some of the companies that are emerging as leaders in this space.

FROM THE SILOED TO THE HOLISTIC Back in the mid-to-late 2000s, data centres were typically overseen by a

28

facilities manager and an IT manager.

The facilities manager looked after the cooling and power supply, and made sure people walking through the front door had the proper access, among other duties. The IT manager oversaw server rooms, and made sure all the software was ticking over. These two arms of data centre management were typically siloed, with each relying on their own specialised software platforms.

Around 2007, solutions began appearing on the market (to much fanfare and hype) that promised to combine tools for overseeing every aspect of a data centre’s operation, from cooling to the locks on the front door. This first wave of DCIM OCTOBER 2020

S U N BI RD SO FT WARE Founded in 2015, Sunbird Software has spent the last five years establishing itself as a leader in the new generation of DCIM providers. The company spun off from Raritan Inc, bringing with it a wealth of expertise and hard-learned lessons from the first wave of DCIM. “Sunbird Software will build on our seven years of successes to advance DCIM, helping customers use data centre resources more efficiently and enabling them to shift resources to meet new and changing business demands,” said Ching-I Hsu, Sunbird Software Chairman, back in 2015.

Today, the company is helping data centre operators prepare for the age of 5G. Its dcTrack platform provides users with powerful tools to visualise and monitor complex data centre operations at scale. “Data centre devices and soon Edge and 5G sites will generate a massive volume and variety of data,

but many data centre managers don’t have the time or training to be able to collect that data, analyse it, gain insights from it, and ultimately derive value from it,” notes Chan. “We listened to our customers for what Key Performance Indicators matter most to them, and with Release 7.1, Sunbird provides those metrics out of the box in zero-configuration dashboard widgets that make it fast and easy for data centre managers to access the most important information on their data centre resources and capacities.”

Tim Healy, a Senior Director of Data Centre Reliability and Engineering at Comcast, speaks highly of the service. “With dcTrack, it has never been easier to see and analyse all the data being collected in our data centre,” he said in a recent press release. “The solution provides dashboard widgets for everything I need to monitor, right out of the box.”

da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

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D ATA C E N T R E S

was a very exciting prospect. Its advocates (including early DCIM software providers like Rackwise) claimed their software would solve all the pain points caused by siloed management structures, while automating lots of expensive and time-consuming processes. It was going to boil the ocean.

Unfortunately, the results didn’t exactly live up to the hype. In an interview last year, Kevin Brown, SVP or EcoStruxure Solutions and CMO of the Secure Power Division at Schneider 30

Electric, spoke about the early frustrations that the DCIM industry encountered. “We came to the conclusion that a lot of the DCIM vendors, us included, had been focusing on the wrong things,” he explained. “We were all chasing very high-end features, so tools were over-designed and difficult to use so it was hard to get started. It was difficult to scale and maintain and it was expensive, so these were all pain points we had to solve. We were also focusing heavily on enterprise data centres, and ultimately all these features started driving us and driving the market.” Any market that defines its trajectory by its bells and whistles, OCTOBER 2020

“ The value of DCIM was apparent, but the broad and scattered definitions caused problems for early adopters” — Herman Chan, President, Sunbird Software

rather than the problems it solves or the money it generates, isn’t destined to be a market for very long.

A large contributor to the less-thanstellar debut of DCIM services was, according to Herman Chan, President of DCIM company Sunbird Software, a lack of clarity when it came to the nature of those services. “When DCIM hit the market as a new concept, industry analysts were quick to hype it, but they lacked a single unified definition.

Did DCIM integrate IT and Facilities?

Did it replace BMS and ITSM? Did it include computational fluid dynamics analysis? Where do Electrical Power Management Systems fit in? Are IT and Network Systems Management/ Monitoring tools part of the mix? Who in an organisation should own DCIM?” he recalled in an article from August of last year. “Questions such as these were answered by the multitude of vendors and analysts, all putting their own spin on it. The value of DCIM was apparent, but the broad and scattered definitions caused problems for early adopters.”

The resultant confusion hamstrung the DCIM industry for almost a decade. Today, new technologies, new da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

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D ATA C E N T R E S

I B M A N D N LY T E : S U PER SM ART DCI M WI T H WAT SO N

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IBM Watson is probably the most well known - and certainly one of the most formidable - supercomputers in operation today. Its AI has proven itself up to the most challenging of tasks - including beating 74-time-straight Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings in a human-vs.machine showdown on primetime

cognitive DCIM solution. The Nlyte Energy Optimiser (NEO) provides real-time monitoring, alarming, trending, and power systems analysis of both IT and facilities infrastructure. This platform is then combined with IBM Watson’s AI capabilities, to provide customers with a new level of operational com-

television. Slightly more relevant to this month’s topic is the ongoing project between Nlyte Software and IBM Watson that has seen the two companies launch the world’s first

prehensiveness, according to IBM. It is in the form of a cognitive solution that provides current analysis of total operations and also future insights into device failures.

OCTOBER 2020

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“ There [are] new technologies available that were not available when we originally started DCIM… We wanted to rebuild from the ground up for the cloud” — Kevin Brown, SVP, CMO, Schneider Electric

competitors, and a twice-shy customer base, all mean that DCIM is ready for a resurgence.

THE NEXT GENERATION Festooned with marketing differentiators like ‘2.0’ and ‘next-gen’, a second generation of DCIM tools and services are hitting the market. Brown believes that, as usual, the focus belongs, not with the hype over new capabilities, but with the problems that this new wave of DCIM can solve. da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

D ATA C E N T R E S

“We… realised that the DCIM market really is no longer enterprise data centres, it’s this hybrid environment. Our theory was to focus on, ‘how do I get visibility everywhere as well as mitigating the pain points from before?’ We also recognised the need for service and support and that the ecosystem had a much greater role to play in this hybrid environment than maybe you would’ve thought in the traditional enterprise,” he explains, noting that Schneider’s reevaluation of its position in the DCIM 34

space had almost seen it exit the market entirely. Instead, he continued, the company completely scrapped its existing DCIM services and built a new architecture from scratch. “Firstly, we concluded that in this hybrid environment there are always going to be challenges that customers are facing, and we needed to help them address those challenges.

Secondly, there were new technologies available that were not available when we originally started DCIM. Namely, we wanted to rebuild from the ground up for the cloud.”

The result is EcoStruxure, Schneider’s cloud-based, vendor-neutral monitoring, management and planning platform.

OCTOBER 2020

“ It has never been easier to see and analyse all the data being collected in our data centre” — Tom Healy, Comcast

35

According to Kim Povlsen, Vice President

Hewlett Packard, Siemens, Delta

and General Manager, Digital Services

Electronics and Huawei are all pow-

and Software, Schneider Electric,

ering the market’s growth. A recent

“EcoStruxure IT Advisor addresses this

report found that, as the growing

need by offering customers a powerful

adoption of social networking, stream-

cloud-based or on-premise data cen-

ing video and internet searches, along

tre planning and modelling software,

with business applications, such as

accessible from anywhere.”

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP),

Schneider isn’t the only company

collaboration, and digital analytics

driving a new wave of DCIM solutions

applications, increase data generation,

centred around the cloud. Large scale

the DCIM market will grow past $4.5bn

enterprise software companies like

by 2026. The DCIM future is bright. da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

N E T WO R K I N G H A R DWA R E

THE NETWORKING HARDWARE EVOLUTION WRITTEN BY

36

HARRY MENE AR

Data Centre Magazine examines the ways that the data centre networking hardware industry is changing to deal with increased global data traffic

T

he data centre industry is bracing

zettabytes, meaning there will be 40

itself for a massive change. As

times more bytes of information on the

the rise of 5G and the internet of

internet than there are stars in the

things (IoT) begin to generate a growing tsunami of data - churned out by

observable universe.

“Every interaction with your computer

everything from RFID chips to water

or phone creates data. Every interac-

meters - the amount of information that

tion on social media creates data. Every

data centres are being routinely

time you walk down the street with a

expected to handle is mind-boggling. In

phone in your pocket, it’s tracking your

2018, the world was creating 2.5

location through GPS sensors – more

quintillion bytes of data every day. By the

data. Every time you buy something

end of this year, the total digital sphere is

with your contactless debit card? Data.

expected to be bigger than 44

Every time you read an article online?

OCTOBER 2020

37

da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

The Department of Defense trusts the cloud with the most tools, technology, and accessibility at the tactical edge.

www.BuildOn.aws

By the end of this year, the total digital sphere is expected to be bigger than 44 zettabytes, meaning there will be 40 times more bytes of information on the internet than there are stars in the observable universe

growing the demand for scalable monitoring and management software solutions, these ongoing trends are prompting a significant change in the data centre hardware space. This month, Data Centre Magazine examines the ways that data centre networking hardware is evolving to deal with increased global data traffic.

Data. Every time you stream a song,

THE CHIP AND SWITCH CHALLENGERS

movie or podcast? Data, data, data,”

Every few years, fiber optic networks

Forbes writer and business analyst

are upgraded to accommodate

Bernard Marr wrote in a recent article.

increased traffic. Around 2016, a wave

As you read this, you’re creating more

of upgrades saw the average capacity

data. In particular, rising social media

of a high-speed fiber optic link rise

usage, smartphone ownership and IoT

to about 100GB-per-second. Now,

are all massive drivers of growth. As

the next generation is here. According

smart sensors, embedded technology

to Amit Sanyal, Head of Marketing at

and wearables constantly interact with

Innovium, the industry is preparing for

and record data from their surroundings.

the significant jump to an average fibre

Wearable tech is expected to account for 28 petabytes of data every single day by the end of 2020. For context, a petabyte of storage can accommodate roughly 20,000 Blu-Ray copies of Blade

Runner (and I mean the Director’s Cut, not the anemic theatrical release).

In addition to motivating more hyperscale construction, mass expansion of Edge data centre networks and da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

39

N E T WO R K I N G H A R DWA R E

“ Switches essentially work like modernised versions of the giant phone switch boards from decades ago” — Digital Realty link speed of 400GB-per-second. This upgrade, according to Sanyal, is going to place more demand on the hardware that makes up a data centre’s servers - something that his company, Silicon Valley-based Innovium, is 40

hoping to capitalise on.

Innovium was founded in 2015 with an ambitious goal in mind: to take a bite out of data centre chip goliath Broadcom. Headquartered just a few miles away from its challenger, Innovium, Broadcom is a $170bn tech

another $170mn in venture capital

monolith that has more or less

funding, pushing its valuation past the

cornered the market making chips that

unicorn threshold - a first for a startup

power the networking switches made

making data centre hardware. Innovi-

by companies like Arista Networks

um is reportedly the only challenger to

and Cisco. Now, Innovium is coming

take a bite out of Broadcom’s market

for a piece of that pie. “We have

share so far. Rajiv Khemani, Cofounder

established ourselves as the only

and CEO of Innovium, commented in a

compelling silicon diversity option,”

press release that, “We are delighted

said Sanyal in a recent interview. The

at the strong adoption at leading OEM,

upstart chipmaker recently secured

Cloud and ODM customers ... which

OCTOBER 2020

or context, a petabyte of F storage can accommodate roughly 20,000 Blu-Ray copies of Blade Runner TERALYNX products,” said Sandesh Patnam, Partner at DFJ Growth, one of the companies that invested in Innovium. “We are excited to invest in Innovium as they continue to make strong progress in customer deployments and expand in a large, highgrowth market.” Innovium’s success points to an incoming sea change in the data centre networking hardware market. We may be about to see other small challengers and big tech firms descend on the space, as chipsets and switches become even more important resulted in over 20% market share for

to sustained growth across the industry.

50G SerDes switch silicon in our first year of shipments.”

“Developing highly robust switch

HARNESSING THE POWER OF DARK FIBRE Fibre optics are the connective tissue

silicon from the ground up and power-

that holds the modern world together.

ing mission-critical networks at the

They form the backbone of the modern

world’s largest data center customers

internet, carrying 99% of all data sent

with a first product line is truly remark-

around the world.

able. The team at Innovium has

Back in 2017, it was estimated that

successfully executed on their vision to

there were more than 1.1mn kilometres

provide breakthrough solutions with

of fibre optic cable around the world da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

41

N E T WO R K I N G H A R DWA R E

“ Developing highly robust switch silicon from the ground up and powering mission-critical networks at the world’s largest data center customers with a first product line is truly remarkable” — Sandesh Patnam, Partner, DFJ Growth

Recently, several companies have emerged in this field, deploying new dark fibre routes to link up major data centre hubs. Hyperscale players are also building out their own networks; just last year, Facebook began selling unused capacity to other companies, effectively entering the wholesale fibre business.

Data centre investors and operators,

42

around three times the distance

forever seeking to improve the

between Earth and the Moon. As the

efficiency and capacity with which

planet becomes increasingly intercon-

their facilities can reach network hubs,

nected (to itself, not to the Moon) and

have been readily investing in and

the volume of data being created

acquiring companies that specialise in

swells past 2.5 quintillion bytes every

providing dark fibre network access.

single day, Earth’s fibre optic nervous

Currently, the dark fibre network

system is an increasingly critical piece

operating industry brings in around

of infrastructure.

$4.5bn in the US alone each year, and

As the need for capacity to connect

is expected to grow as a CAGR of

more and more hyperscale data

around 12.2% going forward as

centre facilities to the net increases,

investment continues to rise and the

dark fiber is becoming one of the most

industry continues to mature.

important commodities in the industry.

Dark fibre is unused or unlit fibre

In 2019, SDC Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in Summit

optic cable, often laid alongside

Infrastructure Group, a Northern

connected lines, that isn’t hooked up

Virginia dark fibre provider, with

to allow the passage of data traffic.

access to about 700 kilometres of

Dark fiber is typically leased to

cable. “Summit has built a highly

third-party companies by the network

differentiated network infrastruc-

operator to allow for increased traffic.

ture in the world’s largest data

OCTOBER 2020

43 center market,” said Todd Aaron,

Phoenix I data center in Goodyear

Managing Partner of SDC Capital

would become a part of the growing

in a press release.

Cox Business fiber network. The

Also last year, colocation company

partnership will allow Stream custom-

Cologix purchased Montreal-based

ers to interconnect their Stream

dark fiber company Metro Optic. “This

services with other data centers or to

acquisition allows us to maximise the

their local offices using either dark

value and efficiency of our Montreal

fiber or internet transport services

footprint by offering Hyperscale

with speeds up to 100Gbps. “Stream’s

capacity, access to robust intercon-

customer base is made up of Fortune

nection hubs and now also the underly-

500 and hyperscale cloud providers,

ing infrastructure to connect those

which makes Cox Business’ ability to

entities,” said Bill Fathers, Chairman

deliver low latency, diverse dark fiber

and CEO of Cologix, at the time.

route options to the most demanding

Last week, Stream Data Centers announced that its near-complete

of customers highly complementary,” added the company in a press release. da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

TECHNOLOGY

SERVERS: THE DATA CENTRE ENGINE WRITTEN BY

44

OCTOBER 2020

HARRY MENE AR

This month, Data Centre Magazine is taking a closer look at servers, exploring their applications and role as the engine powering the modern data centre Servers are the lifeblood of a data centre. They provide the processing power, memory, local storage and network connectivity that drive applications, supporting every aspect of the modern digital enterprise and underpinning the capabilities of every enterprise in every industry around the world. This month, Data Centre Magazine is taking a deep dive into the past, present and future of the server, exploring its applications and role as the engine powering the modern data centre. We’ll also be taking a look at physical servers versus virtual servers, and exploring some of the latest innovations driving the sector forward into Industry 4.0.

At face value, a server is a piece of computing hardware, similar to any personal desktop computer, laptop or smartphone. However, they have a very different function to personal computers.

Servers are designed to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, with as little downtime as possible. Unlike personal computers that run operating systems and applications, a server’s computing power is dedicated to storing and providing data, applications and other services to other computers, bolstering their memory and da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

45

“As organisations rapidly keep pace with growing sets of information and data, they’re also adopting more advanced applications to generate greater insights with digital transformation efforts” — Ashley Gorakhpurwalla, Dell

a report by Verdict, “Two key technologies were critical to the first formations of data centres as we think of them today. Both occurred in the early 1980s; the first was the advent of personal computers (PCs), which proliferated as Microsoft’s Windows operating software became the global standard. The second was the development of the network system protocol

processing capabilities. There are

by Sun Microsystems, which enabled

many different types of servers,

PC users to access network files.

from mail servers and web servers

Thereafter, microcomputers begin

to virtual and cloud servers, each

to fill out mainframe rooms as

performing different functions with

servers, and the rooms become

their own advantages, drawbacks

known as data centres.” Since then,

and specialisations.

quantum leaps in processing power,

If steel and steam were the

an explosion of data generation

backbone of the first industrial revolution, data and the servers that house it are the driving force behind the ongoing evolution of Industry 4.0.

The evolution of the data centre, and the servers that comprise them, began back in the 1970s and 80s, when a single computer typically had significantly less processing power than a 2009 Toyota Prius and took up an entire room. According to da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

47

TECHNOLOGY

“HPE is committed to bringing new infrastructure innovations to the market that enable organisations to derive more value from their data” — Peter Schrady, HPE around the world and the rise of the public cloud have all had profound impacts on the way that data centres approach server architecture.

48

For example, the modern hyperscale data centre uses a much more bare bones approach to server design.

According to Bill Carter, CTO of the Open Compute Project, “You had the opportunity to strip things down to just what you need, and make it specific to your application. We stripped out video connectors, because there’s no video monitor. There’s no blinking lights because there’s no one walking the racks. There’s no screws.” Carter explained in an interview that, on average, one server in a hyperscale centre takes up the same amount of space as 3.75 servers in a conventional data centre.

OCTOBER 2020

The modern data centre can be home to tens of thousands of servers, and there are reportedly more than 7mn data centres worldwide, with that figure growing at a dizzying pace.

Every enterprise - from SMEs to global conglomerates - and government entity needs access to its own servers. Some build their own, some colocate in carrier neutral facilities (renting rackspace as a service) and some entrust their data to cloud providers like AWS and Microsoft. This year, a report found that the global Data Center Rack Server Market size is expected to grow from $52.1bn in 2019 to $102.5bn by 2024, at a CAGR of 14.5% during the forecast period.

PHYSICAL VS VIRTUAL SERVERS With advances in software, data centre customers now have a much greater range of choice when it comes to where to put their data. The traditional option is a physical server (also known as a bare metal server), which da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

49

TECHNOLOGY

“The constant change in information and ever evolving needs of customers means there must be faster and more efficient solutions to turn data into information that empowers businesses” — Kamran Amini, Lenovo Data Center Group

software that provides the ability for a single server to run multiple computing workloads as though they were running on multiple servers.

These virtual machines have become the industry standard upon which the majority of companies host their virtual environments. There are several benefits to using virtual servers instead of physical hardware, from provisioning, management and

50

has a physical presence, a CPU,

configuration to scalability and

some RAM, and some sort of internal

automation. Purchasing, installing

storage from which the operating

and setting up a physical server can

system is loaded and is booted.

take days or even weeks. By contrast,

There are several types of physical

allotting space in a virtual server

server, including towers (low cost,

theoretically takes a few seconds,

low power systems used in edge

and when that space isn’t needed

networks or when the operator

any more, the company just stops

can’t justify building a full rack),

paying for the rackspace.

rackmount servers (the typical

That’s not to say that virtual

building blocks of a data centre,

servers aren’t without their draw-

usually placed together in groups

backs. Your own IT staff won’t have

and organised in rows), and blade

access to any physical resources,

servers (easily the coolest sounding

making problem solving a potentially

type, these units designed to be

complicated process. Also, since

super modular, allowing operators

servers are typically billed by usage

to scale quickly and easily).

over time, they can end up costing

On the other hand, virtual servers work by installing a Hypervisor, OCTOBER 2020

more in the long run than installing owned hardware. Virtual servers also

LE NOVO - S E RV E R S F O R T HE AI AN D DEEP LE ARN I N G ER A

“The constant change in information and ever evolving needs of customers means there must be faster and more efficient solutions to turn data into information that empowers businesses,” said Kamran Amini, Vice President and General Manager of Server, Storage and Software Defined Infrastructure, Lenovo Data Center Group, in a recent press release. In response to the growing need for the massive amounts of processing power that allows AI and machine learning applications to dissect and analyse gigantic datasets, Lenovo recently launched a new line of servers. The ThinkSystem SR860 V2 and SR850 V2 servers are built using 3rd Gen Intel

Xeon Scalable processors with enhanced support for SAP HANA based on Intel Optane persistent memory 200 series.

In short, these two units are uniquely suited to navigate complex data management needs to deliver actionable business intelligence through artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics. “Our new ThinkSystem servers are designed to enhance missioncritical applications like SAP HANA and accelerate nextgeneration workloads like AI, analytics and machine learning, enabling mission critical performance and reliability for all data centres and maximum business value for our customers,” added Amini.

da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

51

TECHNOLOGY

“Miners must pay to build ever increasing bigger rigs capable of vast amounts of processing power, and then the rigs themselves must be powered with large quantities of electricity” — Financial News Media 52

place the security of the client’s data

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE),

in the hands of the operator, which

with market shares of 18.7% and

can be less than ideal if the data in

15.5%, respectively.

question is particularly sensitive.

Dell’s PowerEdge range of servers are an industry standard, favoured

DELL AND HPE - THE BIG PLAYERS

for their impressive power and

The global server market had a tough

scalability contained within a

first quarter this year (who didn’t?),

remarkably small package. “As

but nevertheless reported Q1

organisations rapidly keep pace with

revenue figures in excess of $18.5bn.

growing sets of information and data,

While Lenovo, IBM and Cisco are all

they’re also adopting more advanced

significant players in the space, the

applications to generate greater

market remains dominated by two

insights with digital transformation

companies: Dell Technologies and

efforts,” said Ashley Gorakhpurwalla,

OCTOBER 2020

53

President, Server Solutions Division

enable organisations to derive more

at Dell EMC. “Our modern infrastruc-

value from their data,” said Peter

ture solutions are a game changer in

Schrady, SVP and general manager

today’s digital economy. With our

HPE ProLiant Servers and Enterprise

cyber-resilient architecture and

& SMB Segments. “We are delivering

performance innovations, we will

on that commitment by delivering a

enable our customers to unleash

complete persistent memory hard-

their business potential.”

ware and software ecosystem into our

HPE’s ProLiant range of servers are

server portfolio, as well as delivering

described as the industry workhorse,

enhancements that will allow custom-

built for reliable affordability with the

ers to increase agility, protect critical

potential to easily scale. “HPE is

information and deliver new applica-

committed to bringing new infrastruc-

tions and services more quickly than

ture innovations to the market that

ever before.” da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTS

54

THE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL DATA CENTRE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT WRITTEN BY

OCTOBER 2020

HARRY MENE AR

55

da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTS

DATA CENTRE MAGAZINE LOOKS AT SEVERAL FACILITIES MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES, AND SOME OF THE COMPANIES THAT SET THE BAR FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE FIELD The modern data centre is an essential piece of infrastructure in the modern enterprise. Data centres store, process and redirect the information that is critical to the operation of hospitals, governments, IT services, financial institutions and virtually every aspect of an organisation doing 56

business in Industry 4.0. From cooling and power usage efficiency (PUE) to disaster planning and security, managing these facilities is a complex and ever-evolving task.

“The data centre is seen as a mission-critical facility worldwide. The sensitivity of data storage and availability continues to increase as data centres support many mission critical verticals ranging from hospitals, to Internet-based services such as banking and financial, to healthcare and industrial markets,” asserts Anu Cherian, a Senior Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “However, reliability is the single most critical factor that has driven an increase in data centre complexity, beginning with high power consuming IT equipment such as servers, to the equipment that comes under the purview of facilities management.”

OCTOBER 2020

57

da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

“ For most data centres, failure is not an option” — Schneider Electric

POLICIES AND PROTOCOLS FOR EVERY EVENTUALITY A data centre is a complex, finely tuned instrument. Ensuring reliability, agility and resilience is a top priority for industry operators if they want

This mission critical mindset is

their facilities to function efficiently

becoming an increasingly essential

and with as little disruption as

approach for data centre facilities

possible. In order to best pursue

managers and their teams. In a recent

this goal, data centre operators

whitepaper, Robert Wooley, SVP of

can benefit from clearly established

Critical Environment Services, and

policies and protocols.

Patrick Donovan, a Senior Research

“Policy and protocols must be

Analyst for the Data Center Science

drafted that govern access control,

Center at Schneider Electric, wrote

change management and general

that “Managing and operating a mission critical facility is very different from managing a commercial office building or a factory. For most data centres, failure is not an option. Some liken it to ‘maintaining an airplane while flying it.’ Today, businesses are often either wholly dependent on their data centre or the data centre is the business.” This month, Data Centre Magazine looks at the current state of data centre facilities management, examining operational best practices, and some of the companies that set the bar for excellence in the field. da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

59

CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTS

operating practices related to the critical environment,” notes John Rimer, President of FM360 Consulting. First, facilities managers handle access control, determining clear guidelines and permissions for who is allowed to access the physical (and digital) space, allowing facilities management operatives to better understand who is accessing the data centre, when they are doing it and for what reasons.

Rimer adds that “Access control 60

feeds into change management, which provides a clear communication channel for informing affected parties of planned (and unplanned)

install),” he continues. “This level

maintenance, upgrades, moves, and

of communication helps to prevent

alterations.” This change manage-

mishaps, overbooking activity in a

ment process keeps relevant parties

space, and stepping on each other’s

informed of disruptions, as well as

toes. While this adds an administra-

planned and unplanned maintenance.

tive burden, any pain it creates is

“The change management process

considerably less than the pain that

identifies potential risks and related

would be felt from an incident that

mitigation strategies, coordinates

could have been avoided if protocol

access, and provides an opportunity

and process were in place.” He

for stakeholders to ask questions to

concludes by noting that critical envi-

ensure bases are covered (e.g.,

ronments require handling with great

placing the fire suppression system

diligence and dedication if the facility

in bypass during an underfloor cable

is to avoid disruption.

OCTOBER 2020

61

EFFICIENCY IN ALL THINGS

the importance of proactive mainte-

As data centre operators find them-

nance and data centre infrastructure

selves increasingly pressured to

management.� As such, facilities

reduce waste and environmental

managers need to have a totally

impact, while also catering to an

transparent view of their operation,

ever-expanding customer base, the

and utilise that depth of vision to

margins for error between a well-

constantly strive for greater efficien-

managed data centre and one that

cy in areas like cooling, PUE and

could be accused of gross inefficien-

network architecture. They add that:

cy are growing narrower by the day.

“Accurate and consistent tracking

Wooley and Donovan note that

of all critical facility assets is the

“[The] drive for energy efficiency is

foundation of a good maintenance

reducing capacity safety margins

program. While a well maintained

and system redundancy, increasing

asset database provides the building da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTS

“ As the UK accelerates the adoption of digital technologies, all employees will require continuous training and retraining in order to build the skills needed by their organisations and apply them effectively” — Virtus Data Centres

A CULTURE OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT Even in a time where remote work is

62

blocks for effective maintenance, an

more common than ever, and automa-

inaccurate one will result in ineffi-

tion is minimising the need for human

ciency or even equipment failures.”

interaction with facilities, relatively few

A good solution is to, paradoxi-

data centres are fully ‘lights out’ opera-

cally, schedule equipment replace-

tions. “Humans are still required to

ments and upgrades before said

install, maintain, and operate data

equipment has broken down. The

centre facility systems,” note Wooley

pace of innovation in the data centre

and Donovan. “Eliminating human error

industry means that, for the time

as the number one cause of system

being, the operational lifetime of a

interruptions requires the hiring and

piece of equipment - be it a network

development of competent, team-ori-

switch, a cooling fan or an air handler

ented people who embody the

- is longer than its effective lifecycle.

mission critical mentality.” Facilities

In short, new technology is increas-

management companies need to

ing in efficiency at a rate that means

instil a culture of continuous im-

regularly upgrading data centre

provement and education through-

components produces a net efficien-

out their teams and executives if

cy that is greater than simply letting

they are to successfully continue

old parts run themselves into the

operating without disruption.

ground before buying new ones.

“Maximising availability and minimising

OCTOBER 2020

R E M O T E M O N I TO RI N G DU RI N G COVI D-19

As the current pandemic wears on, many data centres are having to continue operations with reduced onsite teams, which has the potential to lead to oversights, system malfunctions and even up-time loss. In these times, ensuring that facilities management teams have remote access to status reports from critical systems is essential.

In a recent article, Michael Fluegeman, Principal and Data Center Support Systems Manager at PlanNet Consulting, assessed the state of remote systems monitoring as the Pandemic continues to disrupt industry players. “Newer equipment can push status, loading, and alarms

to the building automation system and directly to PCs and smartphones when they are networked. Many devices provide too much information, which needs to be winnowed down to what is important. Getting remote status on older equipment can be more challenging; upgrades may be available, but it may be more cost effective to refresh the equipment at the early range of reliable life expectancy,” he explains, adding that, “if you are going to rely more heavily on remote monitoring, find out whether there is enough bandwidth to allow for remote access and whether effective security protocols are in place.”

human error in the critical systems

to work on developing existing staff,

environment depends, in large part,

while fighting even harder to attract

on well trained staff,” they note.

new talent. “This has engendered a

Unfortunately, the US and the UK

culture where businesses must fight

are experiencing a well-documented

to attract and retain the best talent,

skills shortage in the tech sector

leading to inflated salaries, longer

(the data centre industry is no

recruitment times, higher training

exception), so companies may need

costs and a rise in temporary staff da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

63

CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTS

CGI

Based in Quebec, Canadian IT services and facilities management company CGI provides its clients with a full range of suite of offerings to manage the entire lifecycle of a data centre. They include

innovations covering areas such as design, development, green IT, and service management, and give CGI’s clients a competitive edge in environmental sustainability, network security and compliance.

BCS 64

Based in Dallas, Texas, BCS is the United States’ only facilities management firm focused entirely on data centres. Founded in 2015, the company serves the needs of Fortune 500 companies coast-to-coast with 28 data centres, 5.7mn square feet (1.8mn

OCTOBER 2020

of raised f loor), and 150MW of data centre critical power under contract. The company has clients in the financial, technology, healthcare, manufacturing, real estate investment, and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) sectors.

“ While this [level of communication] adds an administrative burden, any pain it creates is considerably less than the pain that would be felt from an incident that could have been avoided if protocol and process were in place” — John Rimer, President, FM360

65

as a short-term solution,” notes a recent report by UK-based Virtus Data Centres. The report goes on to add that Virtus itself is “a strong advocate of ongoing employee development - and we believe that is what is needed here. As the UK accelerates the adoption of digital technologies, all employees will require continuous training and retraining in order to build the skills needed by their organisations and apply them effectively, and this is also true in infrastructure management.” da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

Data Centre Conferences

66

Data Centre Magazine takes a look at the top 10 data centre conferences from this year, as well as those yet to come WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR

OCTOBER 2020

67

da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

T O P 10

10

ata Centre D Sustainability Series: Every Watt Counts

In this ongoing series of webinars, Swiss tech and robotics multinational ABB explores ways in which data centre companies are leading the way in terms of sustainability. The free series sees speakers like Dave Sterlace, Global Head of Technology, and CiarĂĄn Flanagan, Head of Global Data Centre Solutions at ABB discuss topics from scalable and sustainable design to microgrids and how a reevaluation of service 68

strategy can help deliver on operators’ sustainability goals. Now, at a time when tech leaders like Apple and Microsoft are pushing towards carbon neutrality and zero emissions throughout the whole of their supply chains, data centre operators need to engage and drive change in their own organisations, or face being left behind.

Key Speaker: Dave Sterlace, Global Head of Technology, ABB

Dates

APRIL 22-JUNE 17 2020

Hosted by ABB

Location ONLINE

OCTOBER 2020

Dates AUGUST 4-5 2020

Hosted by DCD

Location ONLINE

09 Keeping it Cool Bringing together some of the leading experts in the field of data centre cooling, DCD’s August event provided a virtual deep dive into the world of IT thermodynamics as the industry approaches the 100KW rack.

The virtual event was held across 18 free on demand expert sessions through DCD’s interactive platform, which allowed virtual attendees to ask questions, participate in polls and webinars pertaining to freecooling, evaporative cooling, immersion, direct-to-chip, GPUs, TPUs and more. The event also included the ability for attendees to participate in post-panel round tables and arrange one-on-one sessions with experts.

Key Speakers: Dr Rabih Bashroush, Uptime Institute; Dustin Demetriou, IBM da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

69

Between hope and possible there’s a bridge.

There from the beginning to where we stand today. And to where we will go from here. One company. One promise.

If you can imagine it, we will build the bridge to get you there.

Dates

AUGUST 24-27 2020

Hosted by CLOSERSTILL MEDIA

Location ONLINE

08

ata Centre D World: A Virtual Experience

Data Centre World is one of the premier events in the industry. Every year, the event brings together experts from every corner of the field of data centre design and operation to discuss the issues and opportunities facing the industry at that time. This year, of course, things have turned out a little differently. “No matter how well prepared you may have been with your data centre business continuity plans earlier this year, it’s unlikely you were prepared for a global pandemic,” wrote the event organisers. The virtual event, hosted in conjunction with analyst firm Omdia, provided more than 50 sessions and panels with live discussions, as well as numerous networking opportunities, all focused on surviving and thriving in these uncertain times.

Key Speakers: Bill Kleyman, EVP Digital Solutions, Switch; Latane Garetson, Head of Data Centre Physical Infrastructure, Dropbox da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

71

T O P 10

Dates

NOVEMBER 10-12 2020

Hosted by DCD

Location LONDON, ONLINE

72

07 DCD London With an anticipated audience of more than 2,500 data centre professionals, DCD’s London conference is going virtual this year.

Produced in partnership with Schneider Electric, the Uptime Institute and Sunbird, the event will focus on data centre innovation in the European market, as operators, clients and manufacturers deal with the ongoing pandemic, climate change and emerging technologies.

Specifically, the conference’s themes will include: How will future capacity requirements fit with the European Green Deal and the transition to a low carbon economy? Will the COVID-19 pandemic precipitate a rapid expansion of the edge across Europe? And are the economics of the data centre industry shifting and if so, where to?

Key Speakers: Noelle Walsh, VP, Cloud Operations and Innovation, Microsoft; Jim Smith, Managing Director, Hyperscale, Equinix OCTOBER 2020

06

CP Virtual O Summit

Originally slated for March, the Open Compute Project’s in-person event is the largest annual event for the open hardware community. This year’s summit was cancelled due to the pandemic and, in its place, the organisation held a virtual summit in May. Designed to be a rich, interactive experience, the OCP Virtual Summit included keynote sessions, executive tracks, an expo hall with expo hall talks, engineering workshops, the OCP Experience Centre and the OCP Future Technologies Symposium - all in a digital format. In order to pull off the event, over 350 speakers migrated over 250 sessions into a virtual, online, on-demand experience. At the end of the event, more than 7,000 industry professionals had attended. That number is expected to grow even more, since footage of all the talks, webinars and booth content will remain available for free until March 2021.

Key Speakers: Richard Hanley, Senior Software Engineer, Google; Javier Gonzales, Principal Software Engineer, Samsung; Xin Liu, Principal Product Manager, Microsoft Azure

Dates MAY 12-15 2020

Hosted by THE OPEN COMPUTE PROJECT

Location ONLINE

da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

73

Pack the essentials for your business trip: Laptop Charger Business insights Payment solutions

From T&E expertise to business insights to payment solutions, the American Express Corporate Program gives you all the tools and services you need, so you’re fully prepared for business wherever you are.

To learn more about the American Express Corporate Program, visit www.americanexpress.com.

Dates

OCTOBER 6-22 2020

Hosted by 451 RESEARCH

Location ONLINE

05

osting & Cloud H Transformation Summit 75

Scheduled to be held over a three week period in October, 451 Research’s flagship event is a series of virtual events aimed at helping cloud industry professionals deliver more valuable IT-driven business outcomes in an era of unprecedented change and disruption. The focus of this year’s virtual events will be on helping IT professionals use the power of the cloud to increase agility and resilience as the industry enters the broad production phase of cloud deployment. Day Two of the event, currently slated for October 8, will focus on the data centre industry, with keynotes and roundtables covering industry trends like data centre misalignment and the future of networking and interconnection. The event agenda has largely been crafted around the expertise of event organiser, 451 Research (now a part of S&P Global), which is providing the lion’s share of thought leaders and expert speakers for the event, including 451 Research co-founder and Research Director, William Fellows.

Key Speakers: Brett Azuma, SVP, 451 Research; Ciaran Flanagan, Head of Global Data Centre Solutions, ABB da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

T O P 10

04

loud Expo Asia C 2021

Cloud Expo Asia is one of the leading events for connecting technologists and business leaders with experts, solutions and services to help accelerate digital transformation plans. Hosted at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, last year’s event attracted more than 21,000 industry attendees, and 450 leading international technology exhibitors like Huawei, Citrix, Equinix, Telstra, Tencent Cloud, Adobe, Nokia, Digital Realty, Oracle and Silver Peak participated in the event.

Unfortunately, due to the global pandemic, the event has now been rescheduled for October of 2021. CloserStill Media Asia’s Managing 76

Director, Andy Kiwanuka, commented: “The new dates give the health authorities and all involved parties including us the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape caused by the pandemic.”

Key Speakers (2019): Chang Foo, COO, Tencent Thailand; Dr Meri Rosich, CDO, VP/Head of Data Science, Visa

Dates

OCTOBER 20-21 2021

Hosted by CLOSERSTILL MEDIA

Location SINGAPORE

OCTOBER 2020

Dates

DECEMBER 7-10 2020

Hosted by GARTNER

Location ONLINE

03

artner IT G Infrastructure, Operations and Cloud Strategies Conference

Leading analytics firm Gartner has also taken its annual IT Infrastructure, Operations and Cloud Strategies Conference online for 2020.

Appropriately, key topics to be explored over the three day event will include ways for infrastructure managers and operations leaders to change plans rapidly to adjust to remote workforces and cost pressures, as well as to keep core systems operational and resilient. “In these turbulent times, we know that IT Leaders are eager for insights on how to best prepare for the next normal. We look forward to sharing our latest research and recommendations in the virtual conference format,� said Distinguished Gartner VP and conference chair, David Cappuccio.

Key Speakers: David Cappuccio, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner; Katherine Lord, VP Analyst, Gartner. da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

77

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T O P 10

02

AWS re:invent 2020 Every year, tens of thousands of attendees, speakers and tech exhibitors descend upon Amazon Web Services’ re:invent conference.

The event gives industry professionals, particularly in the cloud and enterprise data centre solutions market, the chance to network with and learn from

80

Amazon and third-party vendors. This year, it should come as no surprise that the event is going virtual. Rather than the usual time frame of a few days, this year’s online expo will take place over three weeks, playing host to keynotes, product launches and webinars, all of which will be free.

OCTOBER 2020

Dates

NOVEMBER 30DECEMBER 18, 2020

Hosted by Location AWS

ONLINE

What is AWS? CLICK TO WATCH

|

3:11

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81

T O P 10

01

Data Centre World London Slated to herald the true return of in-person events to the industry at the start of next year, Data Centre World 2021 will be held at the ExCel conference centre in London in March. The event will be the 13th edition of Data Centre World and will play host to the first ever Data Centre World

82

Awards. This is the largest free exhibition and conference for data centre professionals in the UK, and regularly attracts large delegations of professionals and exhibitors from overseas.

The inaugural awards will recognise leading companies in categories like Special Contribution to Improving Energy Efficiency, Green Data Centre of the Year, and Best Talent Developer.

OCTOBER 2020

Dates

MARCH 24-25 2021

Hosted by Location CLOSERSTILL MEDIA

LONDON, UK

Data Centre World 2019 Event Highlights CLICK TO WATCH

|

2:54

da t a c e nt re ma ga z in e. com

83

84

The Evolution of Data Centre Management WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY

LEWIS VAUGHAN

OCTOBER 2020

85

da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

SERVERFARM

Arun Shenoy, SVP Global Sales & Marketing at Serverfarm, discusses the history of Serverfarm, how the sector has evolved and current industry trends

I

n a digitally-driven world led by automation and optimisation, the critical infrastructure powering such innovation is

undergoing its own transformation. A perfect storm is pushing the business community to embrace new ways of streamlining IT and data centre operations – in order to keep pace with unprecedented capacity 86

demands while minimising costs.

As a company that’s been at the forefront of the sector for the past 20+ years, Serverfarm is at the heart of that effort, helping service providers and enterprises digitally transform their IT and data centre environments. In an often challenging business climate, Serverfarm sees automation, efficiency and sustainability as the path forward.

“Quite early on in our life as a company, we identified two things,” explained Arun Shenoy, SVP Global Sales and Marketing. “The first thing that we spotted towards the end of the nineties is that the real estate part of data centres - the buildings, the land and the locations that they reside in - are actually very inefficient. In fact, in terms of real estate assets, data centres are probably the least efficient.”

OCTOBER 2020

87

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SERVERFARM

“ We spotted towards the end of the nineties that the real estate part of data centres — the buildings, the land and the locations that they reside in — are actually very inefficient” 88

— Arun Shenoy, SVP Global Sales & Marketing, Serverfarm

Shenoy explains that the reason behind this is because most data centres have much more capacity than is, or can be, utilised. “We saw this as an opportunity in that market to really help customers become more efficient. We would buy data centres from customers and lease back just the portion that they needed. For us as a company, this marked our first change in our operating model from being a real estate acquirer into a real estate operational company. As a result, we started to run these environments for companies.”

In the 10 proceeding years, Serverfarm came to its second conclusion: that the same inefficiencies in the real estate space were beginning to emerge in the infrastructure space.

“The way that people deployed physical infrastructure, mechanical and electrical systems, IT, and network and storage environments was also inefficient. Again, most companies were building more capacity than they needed. The end result for us as a company meant that we started to become a much broader operating company in terms of the sorts of services that we were providing to our customers.”

OCTOBER 2020

As a result of these changes to

Serverfarm developed its award-win-

its operating model, Serverfarm has

ning InCommand Services to achieve

moved further into the IT environ-

this goal for customers. InCommand

ment over the years, helping with

is an integrated service platform

capacity planning, asset management

that brings together people and pro-

and change management so that it

cesses into a portal-based solution

can bring together the three main

for maximum data centre operational

elements that make up a data centre —

efficiency – creating a cloud-like expe-

the real estate, the facility environ-

rience for data centres.

ment and the IT environment. “When

When it comes to digital innovation

you bring those three together, that’s

at Serverfarm, Shenoy believes that

when you can really make data cen-

in the last 10 years there has been a

tres reliable and efficient. You cannot

relatively big shift in the market.

make a data centre efficient by simply

“Firstly, the large hyper-scale cloud

focusing on one of these elements.”

providers have come into the market

E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :

Arun Shenoy Title: SVP Global Sales and Marketing

Location: London

Industry: Information Technology & Services Arun Shenoy is responsible for developing the success of Serverfarm’s Data Centre colocation and InCommand Services business globally. He joined Serverfarm from Schneider Electric where he was Vice President of the IT and Data Centre business in the UK & Ireland. Arun has previously worked at major companies including Intel, ABB, IBM and Romonet in general management, sales and marketing roles with over 20 years in software, services and technology markets. da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

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SERVERFARM

90

OCTOBER 2020

91

“ Simply buying and deploying a platform isn’t enough, you have to change and refine the processes and ensure that you have the right people” — Arun Shenoy, SVP Global Sales & Marketing, Serverfarm

da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

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Changes in the Industry CLICK TO WATCH

|

1:16

93 to solve a very important problem -

Other trends Shenoy has seen in the

increasing efficiency and agility when

industry include the need for capac-

it comes to building and deploying

ity. “In the last six months, the need for

applications that their businesses

capacity has been continuing to grow,

needed. Cloud became a very obvious

and with the industry becoming much

solution for that.” However, Shenoy

more mature and industrialised, it is

doesn’t expect the data centre indus-

interesting to see the shape and size

try to be completely cloud based for

of this change. The industry isn’t just

at least seven to ten years. “Most will

building faster and bigger, but also dis-

adopt a hybrid approach. As a result,

tributed. This evolution is driving these

in order for companies to maintain

hyper-scale environments.” In parallel,

reliability and efficiency when it comes

another trend Shenoy has seen in the

to physical infrastructure, I believe our

industry is edge computing - “the idea

role in the industry is to help custom-

of creating a much more distributed

ers solve these challenges.”

internet and network of data centres,” da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

SERVERFARM

Serverfarm Partnerships

i3

94

When it comes to collaborative partnerships li ke i3 and Serverfarm, Ansett explains that “respecting each other and what the other person does, avoiding situations where people become dogmatic, and a general sense of just wanting to do a good job,” are essential.

“Serverfarm finds data centre assets and develops their potential in ways that others can’t see. We are the engineering side to this – that is we provide consulting and engineering services purely in mechanical, electrical and power.

Their approach is different and the reason it is a successful partnership is because we understand what they are trying to achieve,” adds Ansett.

“Collaborations like this are vital.

Together, we get on with it. In order to do good work – which is why i3 exists - you need OCTOBER 2020

collaboration, you need skill and you need motivation. This partnership provides all three.”

“ In order to create enormous benefits and value opportunities for our customers, we require a selection of strategic partners.”

— Arun Shenoy, SVP Global Sales & Marketing, Serverfarm

Serverfarm & NYI Webinar: Our New Disrupted Reality: The Future of Internet Infrastructure CLICK TO WATCH

|

1:02:15

NYI Phillip Koblence, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of NYI co-founded the company in 1996. “At NYI we run mission critical data centres, offering customisable hybrid solutions and high-touch managed services across the United States (US). We focus on optimising infrastructure and providing a seamless client experience by cutting through complexity and hype.”

When it comes to NYI’s partnership with Serverfarm, Koblence explains that “the unique thing about Serverfarm is that they fill the gap in the industry when it comes to data centres and critical infrastructure. You have this large multinational organisation that has a culture and customer experience focus that aligns almost perfectly with what we have been preaching to our customers for over 20 years.”

Salute When developing a successful partnership, Jason Okroy, Co-Founder and CEO at Salute Mission Critical explains that, “highly tuned processes executed by disciplined staff enabled by technology produces world class results. Seldom do you see all three of these come together and with Salute Mission Critical and Serverfarm’s combined strength we become unique and set apart from all other providers.”

For its partners Salute Mission Critical supports IT infrastructures.

“We support the day to day operation of the business – security, remote hands, engineering,” adds Okroy. da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

95

SERVERFARM

96

OCTOBER 2020

“ The industry isn’t just building faster and bigger, but distributed too. This evolution is driving hyper-scale environments” — Arun Shenoy, SVP Global Sales & Marketing, Serverfarm

he explains. “As a result, anything that is IoT related - smart homes, smart cities, smart government, digital transformation - has driven the market to really grow in parallel in these two areas. So very large hyper-scale facilities, but also a much greater deployment of distributed edge environments. Which, in turn, makes data centre management a much bigger challenge, and the processes and people much more important.”

Running in tandem to these trends is the data centre sustainability question: how can the industry do its part to fight

da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

97

SERVERFARM

climate change while still delivering the capacity that the world needs? The answer, for Serverfarm, is in repurposing existing facilities instead of building new ones.

To analyse the carbon savings potential from the reuse of an existing facility, Serverfarm asked an independent consultant, HKS, to calculate the carbon cost of using an existing data centre compared with a new build of the same scale. Buildings and construction directly represent around 98

39% of all annual global greenhouse gas emissions, according to HKS. HKS analysed Serverfarm’s completed Chicago facility, a six-story building of just under 150,000 square feet with a capacity for housing more than 4,000 server cabinets. Reusing this building eliminates the carbon emissions for a standard new construction building, resulting in a modeled 88% embodied carbon emission reduction.

More and more, enterprises and service providers look to data centre professionals to make their IT operations more sustainable – and, therefore, efficient. When it comes to helping their customers, Serverfarm OCTOBER 2020

99

“ Modernisation versus new build means reduced greenhouse gas emissions now, which is our greatest urgency” — Arun Shenoy, SVP Global Sales & Marketing, Serverfarm da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

Why react to change when you can drive it?

As specialists in data center MEP consulting engineering, i3 Solutions Group has achieved global recognition for its design expertise, future thinking and innovative approach.

Find out why companies and countries choose i3 Solutions Group for more responsive, reliable and efficient data centers.

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i3.solutions

NYI, a trusted global managed infrastructure partner, offers flexible, hybrid datacenter solutions across cloud, colocation and bare metal with powerful connectivity capabillities to support the growing demands of a digital world.

Learn More

Ed Ansett @ i3 Solutions CLICK TO WATCH

|

5:00

101

explains that their data centre man­

With customers striving to discover

agement as a service (DMaaS) is

the right way to deploy technology,

more than just a platform, it’s the

software and hardware tools, Shenoy

people and processes too. “DMaaS

believes that, “most organisations find

is the ability for any organisation to

this challenging because they are only

truly understand what they have,

solving one part of the problem - the

where it is, how it is being used, and

technology. Simply buying and deploy-

how useful, reliable and efficient it is.

ing a platform isn’t enough, you have to

In other words, having an overall view

change and refine the processes and

of the entire infrastructure coming

ensure that you have the right people.”

together in one environment. To do

In order to help its customers, part-

that in the most effective way possible,

nerships with other companies such

organisations need to bring together

as i3, NYI and Salute are incredibly

the people, processes and platforms.”

important, and a big part of its strategy. da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

SERVERFARM

102

NYI Partner Video CLICK TO WATCH

OCTOBER 2020

|

7:43

“Part of that is down to the complexity of the work that we do for our customers, which requires an ecosystem to come together. In order to create enormous benefits and value opportunities for our customers, we require a selection of strategic partners. This is not something that we can do on our own. In fact, it’s not something that any company can do on its own. Bringing together the right partners is critical.”

By teaming up with some of the most experienced, cutting-edge partners in the industry and listening closely to evolving customer needs over the past 20+ years, Serverfarm has emerged as an innovator and disruptor in the data centre management as a service (DMaaS) space. Serverfarm is now delivering DMaaS at over 100 locations across 40 countries. DMaaS, to Serverfarm, goes much deeper than simply offering DCIM software in the cloud; it delivers a fully managed service for busy C-suites who want to focus on their core business. It’s the answer to the latest demand from enterprises and service providers alike.

da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

103

104

OCTOBER 2020

105

SIMPLIFYING CLOUD TRANSFORMATION WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH

PRODUCED BY

JAMES BERRY da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

GREEN DATACENTER AG

Roger Sueess, CEO of Green Datacenter, discusses the company’s cloud transformation and hyperscale capabilities alongside its commitment to sustainability

A

ccording to Gartner, by 2025, 80% of enterprises are set to migrate away from on-premise data centres, instead out-

sourcing to third party data centres and in clouds.

Colocation represents, therefore, an unstoppable trend in the market.

106

Given this trend, increasingly companies are wanting to move away from CAPEX-heavy onpremise solutions and find new, more flexible methods to benefit from the cloud while accommodating legacy systems. Many are therefore seeking a hybrid cloud solution, utilising both private and public cloud, along with a provider to host their systems.

It is precisely this market which Green Datacenter, a leading Swiss provider of data centre services, caters to. Defining itself as the leading data hub for enterprises, integrators, and cloud providers, the company is rated as a leading provider by the independent market research company ISG. So far, Green has three data centre locations in Switzerland: Zurich West, a colocation campus

OCTOBER 2020

107

da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

GREEN DATACENTER AG

“ YOU HAVE TO COMBINE ECOLOGICALLY SOUND SUSTAINABILITY WITH WELL THOUGHT OUT ECONOMICS” — Roger Sueess, CEO, Green Datacenter

a hyperscale campus. Just last year we opened the first Swiss hyperscale data centre. We implemented the design principles and the type

108

with three data centres, Zurich City,

of efficiency that those types of

designed for the finance sector, and

clients are looking for.” Green is

Zurich North. Currently, the company

in the process of opening a fourth

is preparing to open a fourth location.

location, which will be another fully-

Green is also expanding one of the

fledged hyperscale campus. “We’re

existing sites. “Two of the locations

very excited about that, because it

are data centres within the urban area,”

will give us geo-redundant capabili-

says CEO Roger Sueess. “The third is

ties beyond what we have today.”

This is an exciting time for data centres as their importance keeps growing. The economy is becoming more digital every day and the data volume is increasing. “You might not think that there’s much behind data

OCTOBER 2020

Roger Sueess explains how sustainable Green’s data centres really are CLICK TO WATCH

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3:16

109 centres, but actually there’s a lot of

geographically diverse and ‘capacity

innovation – particularly when it comes

pinched’, Green is unlike its competi-

to sustainability and efficiency,” says

tion. While some data centre providers

Sueess. While efficiency reduces

are focusing on hyperscalers, smaller

costs for providers and custom-

ones only focus on colocation. Sueess

ers, Green also wants to reduce the

emphasises that Green combines

ecological impact by developing sus-

both and offers the ramp up to the

tainable solutions. Suess believes that

public cloud with connectivity and

ecological sustainability and economic

hybrid-platforms – especially on an

success do go together. It takes expe-

international level. “We’ve been invest-

rienced staff, he says, as well an open

ing to become the enabler for our

and creative work culture to achieve

clients to connect to the Far East.

ambitious goals.

We pride ourselves on having the

In Switzerland, where the data centre market is fragmented,

fastest connections to several other locations across Asia.” da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

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Green will keep a strong focus on

with a very different growth paradigm.

colocation and hybrid IT architecture

A smaller, colocation-type business

for mid-sized firms, yet it also has

may require a couple of kilowatts in

the ambition to significantly grow its

power. Mid-size companies might

data hub for hyperscale businesses

require a couple of hundred kilowatts,

and companies, with the Zurich West

maybe a room to themselves. At the

campus’ configuration enabling organ-

hyperscale level, you’re talking mega-

isations to benefit from short paths

watts, and they’re extremely precise

for the networking of their IT infra-

in how they want to have things set up.

structures – a key advantage for future

Uptime is the highest priority because

hybrid IT architectures. “Hyperscalers

their services are so broadly used,

are a very different type of clientele,”

and then there’s expansion capability.

says Sueess. “The way they look at

That’s why we’re investing further and

consuming capacity is in big volumes

will build an additional Metro campus.”

E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :

Roger Sueess Title: CEO

Location: Switzerland

Industry: Information Technology & Services Roger Sueess is the CEO of Green Datacenter, a Switzerland-based company providing data centres and colocation services. “I started back in the day doing a computer science and electrical engineering baccalaureate at university. My background in development, starting as a consultant and freelancing, was quite helpful because I started to learn how to leave an impact on people.

I spent around 20 years within the banking industry in different roles, at two of the biggest Swiss banks. And then last year I joined Green as CEO.” da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

111

GREEN DATACENTER AG

Sueess is passionate about the imperative for cloud transformation, which Green is well placed to assist with.

He explains that, especially for the bigger companies, moving to the cloud means having to change their culture, the way they develop and the way they consume services, all while remaining secure.

Accordingly, the company has created the Green Cloud Ecosystem, which involves the company and assembled partners offering a unique proposition that allows them to harness legacy sys112

tems, using private cloud offerings, while also having direct access to a variety of public clouds. “Usually, there’s a danger of diluting yourself if you try to do everything,” he adds, “but we’ve assembled the right team of like minded partners to get that done for our clients.”

While the Green in the name originally referred more to bringing connectivity into more suburban and rural areas, the company has fully embraced its more modern connotations. This includes undergoing a transformation that has seen additional emphasis placed on its core values. Green, Sueess notes, is a part of the company’s DNA and drives its focus on sustainability.

OCTOBER 2020

113 DI D Y O U K N O W?

• 5 data centres around Zurich • Currently operating 15,000 m2 of data centres space • 48 carriers connected • Expansion plans for further 3 data centres in Lupig, plus several additional data centres on a new Metro-Campus • Realised the 1st data centre for hyperscalers in Switzerland • Last completed data centre in Sept. 2019 (investment: 70 million CHF)

da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

GREEN DATACENTER AG

“ WE PRIDE OURSELVES ON HAVING THE FASTEST CONNECTIONS TO SEVERAL LOCATIONS ACROSS ASIA” — Roger Sueess, CEO, Green Datacenter

114

OCTOBER 2020

That commitment has led to sev-

the beginning, affecting everything

eral concrete achievements. “Since

from building design to rack arrange-

the beginning of the year our data

ment – a complex task considering the

centres are powered entirely by sus-

interplay of different parameters, and

tainable energy. We encourage our

something in which Green has gained

customers to choose their energy

considerable expertise. As a result, its

mix accordingly.” Sueess is also clear

data centres achieve a power usage

that sustainability and profitability are

effectiveness of 1.19 when working at

not mutually exclusive. “It’s impor-

maximum capacity, an achievement

tant to get that balance between the

essentially impossible to match in

profitability that you still need as a

companies’ in-house data centres.

business with the right solutions from

As with all companies around the

a sustainability perspective.” Green

globe, Green has had to reckon

therefore builds sustainability con-

with the ongoing COVID-19 pan-

siderations into its data centres from

demic. Effectively dealing with it

Roger Sueess explains Green Datacenter’s role in the industry CLICK TO WATCH

|

3:31

da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

115

GREEN DATACENTER AG

Ihr Partner im Datencenter fĂźr Elektrotechnik.

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117 was especially critical for Green, as

very digitally and flexibly, the fact that

Sueess explains: “For us, being criti-

it’s pushed 95% of our staff out of the

cal infrastructure, it was important to

office and into their homes now lets

let people know they could rely on

us say quite confidently that we can

us. We had to keep the business run-

push that envelope even further.” That

ning, so we very quickly switched to

approach has borne fruit, for instance

digital channels.” Instead of simply

in the 24 hour switch to home working

weathering the storm, Green has

for the company’s support centre.

found the pandemic to have increased

With the proliferation of technolo-

the pace of pre-existing plans. “It cer-

gies requiring more and more powerful

tainly accelerated some of the things

levels of connectivity, Sueess is con-

we wanted to do. Roadmap-wise, it

fident that Green is perfectly placed

hasn’t really changed. I think what it

to thrive going forward. “The whole of

changed for us as a company is that,

society is adopting Big Data, 5G, gam-

while we have had the ability to work

ing, streaming, even IoT and the edge. da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

GREEN DATACENTER AG

“ GREEN IS A PART OF OUR DNA AND IT STANDS FOR SUSTAINABILITY” — Roger Sueess, CEO, Green Datacenter

118

OCTOBER 2020

119

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GREEN DATACENTER AG

120

“ WE’RE EXCITED TO MAKE THE JOURNEY AS EASY AS POSSIBLE FOR PEOPLE TO CONSUME DIGITISED SERVICES AND THE CLOUD” — Roger Sueess, CEO, Green Datacenter OCTOBER 2020

Roger Sueess: leadership adaptation during the COVID-19 pandemic CLICK TO WATCH

|

2:22

121 We’re excited to make the journey as

Swiss business, connecting compa-

easy as possible for people to become

nies across all industries with ultra-fast

digital and get to the cloud.”

speeds and low latencies. As the only

That mission statement reflects

carrier-neutral Swiss data centre pro-

the breadth of Green’s offering and

vider with over 25 years of experience,

why it attracts the customers it does.

Green will continue to be trusted and

With step-by step cloud solutions

respected for both its connectivity and

and broad partner ecosystems, its

commitment to sustainability.

tailored solutions include data centreas-a-service, private cloud and public cloud. Operating five data centres across three sites for geo-redundancy, Green’s high density data centre (the first in Switzerland) is a lynchpin for international cloud providers to access da t a c e nt re ma ga z i n e. com

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