Data Centre Magazine - June 2022 by datacentremagazine

JUNE 2022 | datacentremagazine.com

Innovative Data Centre CEOs

eSTRUXTURE DATA CENTERS

GOING FULL THROTTLE

Todd Coleman, CEO of eStruxture talks strategy, speed, risk, and becoming the frontrunning data center operator in Canada

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The DataCentre Team CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER

SCOTT BIRCH

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

SAM STEERS

PRODUCTION DIRECTORS

GEORGIA ALLEN DANIELA KIANICKOVÁ PRODUCTION MANAGERS

PHILLINE VICENTE JANE ARNETA ELLA CHADNEY

CREATIVE TEAM

OSCAR HATHAWAY SOPHIE-ANN PINNELL HECTOR PENROSE SAM HUBBARD MIMI GUNN JUSTIN SMITH REBEKAH BIRLESON JORDAN WOOD CALLUM HOOD VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGER

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FOREWORD

The data centre liquid cooling market is hotting up The latest analysis by Future Market Insights (FMI) shows that the data centre liquid cooling market will grow by a CAGR of 19.4% in the next decade

COVER IMAGE: Todd Coleman Founder, President & CEO at eStruxture. Photo courtesy of The Concours Club

Thanks to the increased use of GPUs, the data centre liquid cooling market is on track for substantial growth over the next ten years. This is according to a recent analysis by Future Market Insights, which expects data centre liquid cooling to rise at a “prodigious” CAGR of 19.4% between 2022 and 2032, reaching a final valuation of US$12.7bn. To give you an idea of just how fast that growth is, FMI states that the 2022 market value stands at US$2.2bn. At the start of the pandemic in 2020, the market halted altogether due to the effects of multiple lockdowns on data centre development projects, prompting a fall in demand for new data centre liquid cooling systems. However, current IT infrastructure has diversified meaning that, now, operators and service providers of telecom data centres and services will have the chance to develop new technology.

SAM STEERS DATACENTRE MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY

sam.steers@bizclikmedia.com

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CONTENTS

Our Regular Upfront Section: 10 Big Picture 12 The Brief 14 Timeline: The evolution of data centres 16 Trailblazer: Guy Willner

Sustainability

Building data centres for a more sustainable future

eStruxture Data Centers

Going full throttle in Canada

MiCiM Ltd

Data centre construction led by engineers

SoCs

Cloud & Edge

Securing the industry's future with a hybrid cloud

102

Technology

SOCs are making an appearance In the data centre industry

110

Telehouse France

Telehouse France puts Marseille on the global comms hub map

Norwegian Data Centre Association Promoting Norway’s DC credentials through members’ skills

126 Top 10

Innovative Data Centre CEOs

138

Master Power Technologies and Digital Parks Africa

Transforming the Data Centre environment through data and regional development

182

atNorth Pan-Nordic

Magnús Kristinsson, CEO of atNorth DCs, on Investment and Growth

152

Gulf Data Hub

Establishing sustainable data centres in the Middle East

194 Ark Data Centres

Ark Data Centres delves into an emissions reduction strategy

206

Kao Data

Industrial-scale data centres, inspired by hyperscale

166

DataCenter United Going beyond Belgium, with eyes on FLAP

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BIG PICTURE

Image: Microsoft

June 2022

Unusual data centres – Project Natick Scotland, Orkney Island

Testing the feasibility of subsea data centre applications, a unique deployment of such technology can only come from Microsoft. Seeking to understand the benefits and difficulties of subsea data centre deployment, Microsoft has completed its two-year research project – Project Natick – and is now analysing the data. Initial findings conclude that such applications can be reliable, practical and sustainable, able to operate for up to five years without the need for maintenance.

datacentremagazine.com

THE BRIEF “ We want a countrywide network of well-connected, wellestablished, high-quality and efficient DCs that offer multiple services to our customers”

The tale of Equinix and its Chilean data centre expansion

FRISO HARINGSMA Managing Director, DataCenter United (DCU) READ MORE

“ We assure customers so they know their data is 100% protected. There will be no downtime, and the equipment will always be taken care of with the utmost care” HIMMATH MOHAMMED Head of Sales and Strategies, Gulf Data Hub READ MORE

“ Today, if you're an African enterprise placed, let's say, in Ghana or Nigeria and you need some cloud usage, you will go to those highprofile hubs serving Africa, such as London, Frankfurt or Paris. That comes at a cost” SAMI SLIM CEO, Telehouse France READ MORE

June 2022

Equinix has a decade-long history in Latin America and currently operates 11 International Business Exchange (IBX) data centres across Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Its most recent addition of four new data centres in the growing data centre and technology hub of Santiago, Chile, through Entel, provides an opportunity for local businesses and multinational companies to accelerate their digital transformation, while also solidifying Equinix's position

as the largest provider of digital infrastructure services in the region. The new data centres offer significant expansion capacity for future growth in Santiago, allowing Equinix to support both immediate and future customer needs. As a market, Chile also has access to nonconventional renewable energy (NCRE), such as solar, hydro and wind, which not only offsets data centre operating costs, but significantly contributes toward carbon neutrality.

BY THE NUMBERS What is the top data storage concern?

76%

Data Security

48% Data Loss

EDITOR'S CHOICE NETIX ENTERS CANADIAN MARKET VIA ESTRUXTURE PARTNERSHIP Bulgarian global platform NetIX has formed a partnership with data centre company eStruxture to provide global connectivity solutions in Canada LEADING EDGE DC SECURES AU$30MN DIGITAL BRIDGE INVESTMENT Australian firm Leading Edge Data Centres is accelerating its regional expansion plans after securing AU$30mn in funding from investor Digital Bridge EXA INVESTS US$200MN IN EUROPEAN NETWORK CAPACITY EXA Infrastructure is extending and enhancing network capacity in Europe with a US$200mn investment programme from Capex

 CYRUSONE US colocation giant CyrusOne recently released its latest sustainability report, claiming its European facilities have hit their 2030 carbon reduction commitments already – eight years early.  SWITCH Data centre company Switch has been acquired by investors Digital Bridge and IFM in a transaction valued at US$11bn. Switch’s CEO Rob Roy described it as an “important step” in the company’s growth.  SKILLED STAFF As digital transformation continues to accelerate, there is an increased demand for data centre capacity. This in turn is leading to a demand for more data centre staff, but, with widespread skills shortages, companies are struggling to fill the gap.  META On Tuesday, the Dutch Senate passed a motion calling on the government to "use its powers" to temporarily block the construction of Facebook owner Meta's planned giant data centre in the Netherlands.

U P JUNE

2022

D O W N

datacentremagazine.com

TIMELINE

THE EVOLUTIO OF DATA CENT Walk through time to discover the history and evolution of data centres, from ENIAC to modern day applications

1946

1950s

1960s -70s

ENIAC

The first ENIAC data centre

Data centres branch out from the military

Designed for the US army, crude data centres can be traced back to the late 1940s, when the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was the height of computational technology. The US poured significant funds into the innovation of ENIAC technology at the start of the Cold War.

Developed in secret, the first ENIAC data centre was created by engineers at the University of Pennsylvania. Innovations during this decade saw an increase in the use of the technology in several locations in the US. By 1951, the Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC) was developed – the first to store data on magnetic tapes.

June 2022

During the 1960s and 70s, investment in computational technology increased. By 1960, large size machines in separate rooms were used in controlled environments. IBM released its first transistorised computer (TRADIC) in the same decade – equipment that helped the concept of data centres branch out from military use into commercial use.

ON TRES 1980s

1990s

2000s

The introduction of the PC

The birth of modern day data centres

The need for fast connectivity drives data centre growth

By the 1980s, modernisations and improvements in design made by the likes of IBM and Intel led to the development of personal computing (PC). Information technology started to become a significant economic contributor, globally.

PCs had advanced the use of data-driven technology by the dawn of 1990. laying down the groundwork for the modern day data centre concept. Users began to interact with data centre servers located around the world via the internet. The dot-com era rendered data centres critical for national security, internet infrastructure and economic output.

Since the early 2000s, the increasing need for speedy internet connections and 24/7 operations has carved out a significant market niche for data centres and internet structure. To this day, multinational corporations like Amazon, Google, Intel and IBM continue to innovate in this space, with trends such as cloud computing, IoT and AI lighting the spark.

datacentremagazine.com

TRAILBLAZER

The journey of IXcellera

and what it’s like to be a CE

NA ME : Guy Willner ROLE : Chairman and Co-Founder CO MP AN Y : IXEurope

s the Co-Founder of IXEurope, which was sold to Equinix for US$555mn to form Equinix Europe, and with over 20 years leadership experience in high-tech companies, Guy Willner has taken his nonpareil expertise to emerging economies, and is leading the IXcellerate team with his exceptional charisma, ‘outof-the-box’ thinking, international market insights and comprehensive industry knowledge. In 1998, he co-founded IXEurope, a market leader in high-end data centre services. He raised approximately US$100mn in venture capital as CEO of IXEurope as the company’s revenues grew over 600% in its first 3 years. IXEurope was listed as the UK’s fastest growing company in the 2002 Sunday Times Tech Track 100, and Wilner received personal recognition as semi-finalist in the UK’s Entrepreneur of the Year (2003).

June 2022

ate

datacentremagazine.com

TRAILBLAZER

IXEurope was acquired by Equinix in 2007 for US$555mn. Prior to founding IXEurope, Wilner worked for CompagnieGenerale des Eaux (now Vivendi Group) between 1992 and 1998, both in the UK and in Hungary, to establish a telecommunications operator culminating in a US$210mn EBRD funding. Willner is also the Chairman of IXAfrica, which, last year, built a 42.5MW, hyperscale-ready data centre in Nairobi. The data centre began its operations this year. Discussing the data centre at the time, he said: “It's a smaller project than IXcellerate (a leading operator of commercial data centres in Russia), but a lot of fun because you transpose all the same skills, technology and customer base into a totally different culture. “But Kenya is very dynamic with a high speed rail link from Nairobi to Mombasa. There's a lot of investment in Africa, which I find exciting, with entrepreneurs building companies, attracting serious finance and yielding good returns. This route to growth is preferable to aid in my opinion. Foreign aid is often a driver of corruption,” he said. IXAfrica data centres are designed to accommodate modern high-load servers and infrastructure for ultradense computing in accordance with the latest global standards. During his time at Teraco, Willner first met his counterpart in the foundation of IXAfrica, Clement Martineau, a relationship which continued throughout the years he spent developing IXcellerate into Russia’s leading private data centre operator. 20

June 2022

“An entrepreneur is helped by having a degree of naivety”

The life of a CEO: Managing workloads and problems with a degree of simplicity In an interview we conducted with him, Willner also shedded light on what it's like to be a CEO. “An entrepreneur is helped by having a degree of naivety, of simplicity,” he said. “If you think too much and anticipate all possible problems you may decide not to go ahead: if you instinctively charge ahead all those problems will

doubtless be waiting for you, but at least you have the chance that you might pull through. In addition, if you isolate yourself and try to carry everyone's load you will soon burn out, which I think is one of the biggest problems facing an entrepreneur. “So I believe in surrounding myself with teams of people who are far cleverer than me – and I have succeeded in doing that. I believe in delegation: if you can do that it's a fun ride.” datacentremagazine.com

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eSTRUXTURE

eStruxture Data Centers: FULL-THROTTLE APPROACH TO DATA CENTRES IN CANADA WRITTEN BY: SAM STEERS PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

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Todd Coleman Founder, President & CEO at eStruxture. Photo courtesy of The Concours Club

June 2022

eSTRUXTURE

Todd Coleman, CEO of eStruxture talks strategy, speed, risk, and becoming the frontrunning data centre operator in Canada in under five years

ave you ever had a front tire blow out at 178mph (286 kph) and then got back in the car to try it again a few minutes later? That’s what entrepreneurs seemingly do every day through trials and tribulations, successes and failures as they climb their way to the front of the competition. It’s not surprising that entrepreneurs who are calculated risk takers in the business world are often thrill seekers in their personal lives, in both cases understanding the riskreturn tradeoff, the sacrifices required, learning from theirs and others’ successes and failures, and constantly analysing data and trends with a strong sense of gut feel to push themselves to be the best. One of those calculated risk-taking entrepreneurs is Todd Coleman, Founder, President and CEO of eStruxture Data Centers. He founded eStruxture in 2017 and in less than five drove it to become the single largest Canadian data centre platform. And, as it turns out, he is also an accomplished racecar driver. Which begs the question: is there a common thread between success at the track and success in business?

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eSTRUXTURE

“ It comes down to balancing speed and risk. From a speed perspective, I’m impatient. I like things to go fast” TODD COLEMAN

FOUNDER, PRESIDENT & CEO, ESTRUXTURE

Todd may spend the majority of his time leading his company, but when he’s not, you’ll find him racing in the Ferrari Challenge series in a Ferrari 488 28

June 2022

Challenge racecar or the GT America and GT4 America Championships in a Toyota GR Supra. It’s a passion fueled by risk and speed - two factors that, as we’re about to learn, relate to eStruxture’s accelerated Canadian expansion. “It comes down to balancing speed and risk,” he said. “From a speed perspective, I’m impatient. I like things to go fast. Even when I drive to the grocery store or a

TODD COLEMAN TITLE: FOUNDER, PRESIDENT AND CEO INDUSTRY: DATA CENTRES

friendly Sunday drive, I'm still in a hurry. And I think that describes what we've done in five years at eStruxture. We're always going to be pushing at full speed.” Then there’s the question of risk, explains Coleman: “It's not that unusual for an entrepreneur to have a personal risk profile that's different from others. I believe in calculated risks; investing in areas where a return might not be guaranteed, but the probability analysis weighs in our favour.”

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: DENVER, COLORADO, US Todd Coleman is the Founder, President and CEO of eStruxture. Todd brings over 25 years of experience in the IT, data center and telecommunications industries. Previously, Todd was the COO and Co-Founder of Cologix. He has also held several senior positions at Level 3 Communications, a global telecommunications company, including Senior Vice President of Data Centers, Senior Vice President of Media Operations, and President of Level 3 Communications Europe. Todd holds a juris doctorate and a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems. Todd is a sought-after industry speaker and an advocate for DE&I and sustainability in the digital infrastructure industry. At the same time, Todd is an accomplished race car driver, competing in the Ferrari Challenge and the GT America and GT4 America Championships.

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eSTRUXTURE

“ I believe in calculated risks; investing in areas where a return might not be guaranteed, but the probability analysis weighs in our favour” TODD COLEMAN

FOUNDER, PRESIDENT & CEO, ESTRUXTURE

“For example, we went into the Calgary market at a time when the Alberta economy was in a downturn. That was a risk as the Alberta market had been hit by weakness in the Canadian dollar and the low cost of oil. Jobs were leaving, mortgages were in default. However, that was a calculated risk. We had been studying the market for some time to determine which side of the economic downturn trough it was in – the beginning, the peak low or on its way back up,” Coleman said.

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eSTRUXTURE

Now, however, Calgary is starting to take off as a data centre market. eStruxture has already largely sold out at its first Calgary data centre (CAL-1) and is building out its second data centre with significant presales activity. Coleman revels in being one step ahead of the game. He said: “We've landed some strategic customers when no one else was there. I guarantee the competition is going to jump on that trend line, but they're 18 to 24 months behind. We love that position; that's an example of calculated risk.” Coleman relates his propensity to accept calculated risk in his business to experiences in a racecar. Coleman tells a story from when he last raced at Daytona International Speedway in Florida. He said: “I was on the road course and my right front tire blew out going into a corner at 178mph. I did five pirouettes missing walls on both sides and shot through from turn 1 to what is turn six. We were in a night time practice session and there were headlights coming towards me from on-coming cars, but I didn’t hit anything. Like in business, we quickly inspected the car and analysed data to understand what happened and why, replaced the tire and we were back out on the track within twenty minutes. That’s calculated risk.” 32

June 2022

“As a driver, just like a business leader, we find ourselves looking for and testing out new driving lines around the track looking for the slightest bit more grip and tire traction in hopes of getting back to full throttle just that fraction of a second ahead of the competition” TODD COLEMAN

FOUNDER, PRESIDENT & CEO, ESTRUXTURE

Coleman racing the Toyota GR Supra at the Firestone Grand Prix in St. Petersburg. datacentremagazine.com

EXPERTISE AT THE HEART OF YOUR PROJECTS You can count on a multidisciplinary team with over 25 years of experience in mechanical and electrical engineering that has several highly specialized projects, in Canada from coast to-coast-to coast and on the international market.

UNE EXPERTISE AU COEUR DE VOS PROJETS Vous pouvez compter sur une équipe multidisciplinaire ayant plus de 20 ans d’expérience dans le génie mécanique et électrique qui a mené de front plusieurs projets hautement spécialisés, partout au Canada et sur le marché international.

LEARN MORE

eSTRUXTURE

It’s a team sport Much like racing, where a whole team of engineers, mechanics, and support crew come together to ensure the racing team’s success, evolving eStruxture into the Canadian market leader that it is today would not have been possible without the trust, loyalty, and support of customers, employees, investors, partners, and suppliers. To describe eStruxture’s growth journey, Coleman uses the metaphor of a hockey stick, with a small plateau turning into a steep rise in growth. Over the last five years, eStruxture has completed more than six acquisitions and has grown both organically and inorganically. “We’ve acquired real estate and built greenfield data centres; we’ve acquired competitors and driven market consolidation in Canada. Five years later, we are the single largest carrier-neutral, privately-held data centre company in Canada,” he said.

“ We are very loyal to those that saw something in us when we were just starting out. It's easy to bet on a winner when they are leading the race, but I don't forget those who believed in us when we weren't in the position where we are today” TODD COLEMAN

FOUNDER, PRESIDENT & CEO, ESTRUXTURE

Coleman says the company is rewarded by both the market in which it operates and the customers it serves, adding that “Canadians like doing business with Canadians.” The reason for this, according to Coleman, is that the company plays a “trusted advisor role” with deep localised knowledge. Since its inception in February 2017, eStruxture has completed a total of four separate funding rounds from largely the same investors who believe in and support the company’s vision. The company has also completed four bank lending agreements over the course of its five-year life span, the majority of which were with the same syndicate of banks. He’s also grateful for the support of the companies that helped eStruxture find its feet in the highly competitive data center market. “We are very loyal to those that saw datacentremagazine.com

eSTRUXTURE

“ eStruxture is about creating a legacy that all those involved can be proud of, that has a positive impact on our social fabric and the communities that we are involved in” TODD COLEMAN

FOUNDER, PRESIDENT & CEO, ESTRUXTURE

something in us when we were just starting out. It's easy to bet on a winner when they are leading the race, but I don't forget those who believed in us when we weren't in the position we are in today.” eStruxture’s Canadian data center fleet Today, eStruxture has 15 data centres spread across Canada: 5 in Montreal, where the company is headquartered, 5 in Toronto, 3 in Vancouver, and 2 in Calgary. Sustainability is one of eStruxture’s fundamental, non-negotiable tenets and plays a vital role in its data centres. According to Coleman, none of their new data centre builds use any water for cooling as part of their standard basis of design. As Coleman states: "the only water we consume in our new data center builds is for sinks, toilets, and humidification.” Importantly, eStruxture also leverages the geographic distribution of their facilities in key regions with abundant renewable energy supplies, to further drive sustainability. “We’re also capable of offering power density at a rack level that is far higher than the average data centre,” said Coleman. “We 36

June 2022

Todd Coleman Founder, President & CEO at eStruxture. Photo courtesy of The Concours Club

datacentremagazine.com

eSTRUXTURE

Coleman getting ready to go out onto the track at a recent race in Watkins Glen, NY

“ eStruxture’s employees live by the company’s core value: customers are at the heart of everything we do” TODD COLEMAN

FOUNDER, PRESIDENT & CEO, ESTRUXTURE

can offer up to 30kW per rack without doing anything Herculean with the mechanical engineering, and without stranding valuable white space within our facility,” he added. Due to the importance of power density and protecting the environment, eStruxture is also working with various customer industry segments, including high performance computing, AI, and cloud providers, to look at how it can sustainably increase power densities utilising submerged cooling technologies while making eStruxture’s facilities more efficient and producing a smaller carbon footprint.

Going the extra mile for the customers “It may sound a bit trite, but customers are everything to us. Even when we’re not selling to them, we are always looking for ways to support them. That may be as simple as making an introduction to another partner or supplier, for which we don’t take any economic advantage whatsoever. We fundamentally believe that if it’s good for our customer, it's good for us. And so, our relationship with our customers is essential,” says Coleman. “Customer centricity may sound like a simple strategy in theory, but taking the time to truly understand our customers’ particular needs, their business, growth plans, challenges and opportunities, takes time, effort, and the right kind of mindset. Which is why eStruxture’s employees live by the company’s core value: Customers are at the heart of everything we do.” datacentremagazine.com

eSTRUXTURE

Driving forces Having built the business from the ground up in Canada, Coleman’s plan for the future is to continue to be a consolidator in the market as well as invest and deploy resources across the country. “We continue to be a job creator both directly because our facilities run 24/7 and require a level of expertise and thus create high paying jobs, but also indirectly because every one of our customers brings high paying high-tech jobs with it to the markets in which we operate. So, there's a certain level of pride for us in the level of job creation that we're ultimately responsible for,” said Coleman. 40

June 2022

Lastly, eStruxture will continue to focus on its tenets of sustainability and diversity, with the latter relating to its workforce. Coleman said: “57% of our workforce is considered diverse, with 29% being female. 40% of my executive team is also female. You won't find that in the broader telecommunications infrastructure industry, just because it attracts predominantly white males. And so, we want to change that. For me, eStruxture is about creating a legacy that all those involved can be proud of, that has a positive impact on the social fabric and the communities that we operate in.”

2017 Year founded

129 + Number of Employees

1.5k+

eStruxture provides access to an ecosystem of approximately 1,500 customers that trust and depend on eStruxture’s mission-critical infrastructure

Going full throttle in Canada

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eSTRUXTURE

Belden offers a Collaborative Approach to Colocation Data Center Solutions Watch how Belden helps eStruxture manage high ber density while saving space with the new DCX Optical Distribution Frame (ODF) System.

Speak to Sales

June 2022

“ Racing and business have a lot more in common than one would think, and I take learnings from both and apply them every day” TODD COLEMAN

FOUNDER, PRESIDENT & CEO, ESTRUXTURE

Coleman sums it all up this way: “Racing and business have a lot more in common than one would think, and I take learnings from both and apply them every day. Just like in business, we don’t simply re-invent the wheel every time we show up at a different race track. We analyse data, watch video of prior races, practise on simulators and do track walks, all to determine the best racing

line, and throttle and brake inputs with the ultimate goal of determining the fastest path around the track. And just like in business, we have to be prepared to blaze our own path when the race day environment changes. If, for example, we find ourselves racing in the rain, everything we knew and believed about that race track has changed and we need to quickly adjust our strategy in real time. As a driver, just like a business leader, we find ourselves looking for and testing out new driving lines in the wet around the track looking for the slightest bit more grip and tire traction in hopes of getting back to full throttle just a fraction of a second ahead of the competition.”

datacentremagazine.com

SUSTAINABILITY

DATA

SUSTA

June 2022

BUILDING A CENTRES

AINABLE FUTURE FOR A MORE

As our demand for data continues to increase, the data centre industry is expanding – all whilst countries commit to either carbon neutrality or net zero WRITTEN BY: TILLY KENYON datacentremagazine.com

SUSTAINABILITY

he demand for connectivity over the globe has increased rapidly over the past few years, but even more so over the last two years. There has been an accelerated need for data services such as streaming, online shopping and more, which is causing a spike in the power that the technology industry consumes. Where there is a surge in data use on this scale, there is also an increased demand for space to store this data, leading to a demand for data centre space. Power consumption is only set to grow further as data demands increase. According to the International Energy Agency, data 46

June 2022

centres accounted for around 1% of the world’s total electricity use in 2019. This is set to rise to around 3-13% by 2030 as the digital world grows, according to research conducted by Huawei Technologies’ Life Cycle Assessment Senior Expert Anders Andrae. With sustainability on the agenda of many organisations globally, data centre providers and operators are joining the fray with their own strategies for reducing emissions and reaching net zero. Many are working to get ahead of the game and be as efficient as possible to mitigate their environmental impact and prove their sustainability credentials.

“ Our goal is to create a decarbonising platform for high-density IT workloads” EYJÓLFUR MAGNÚS KRISTINSSON CEO, ATNORTH

Building 100% renewable facilities that are equipped for highcapacity computing needs Founded in 2010, atNorth is a leading Nordic data centre services company offering environmentally responsible, powerefficient, cost-optimised data centre hosting facilities and high-performance computing services. But how exactly does the company offer all of those capabilities and remain committed to sustainability? Well, first of all, the electricity that powers its data centres comes from 100% renewable sources of energy, utilising natural air-cooling systems to keep the data centre facilities at the optimal temperature and datacentremagazine.com

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“ To keep pace with seismic shifts, organisations must innovate – again and again. But innovating sustainably at scale is no easy feat” MCKINSEY humidity – all while ensuring that energy use is minimised across its campuses. Any excess heat generated in its data centre facilities is then used to heat houses, effectively passing on a significant by-product of the electric energy used to power technology infrastructure as hot water to be used in home central heating systems.

Image credit: Schneider Electric

Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, CEO at atNorth, said: “Our goal is to create a decarbonising platform for high-density IT workloads by operating data centres throughout all the Nordic countries, with the possibility of expanding into Northern Europe. We are growing to be the largest Nordic data centre operator. “All of this means that we are now searching for new sites to build in the Nordics. As sustainability is at the very core of our business and strategy, we envision building data centres where we can contribute to the circular economy by reusing heat. This is important for the environment and also to the communities nearest to our centres – we want to have a general positive impact. datacentremagazine.com

“ The rapid growth and projected growth of data centres make energy consumption and efficiency an important focus in a data centre’s sustainability journey” SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC 50

June 2022

“The exponential growth of data-driven business requires a new type of data centre – we want to be the driving force in 100% renewable facilities that are equipped for these high-density, high-capacity computing needs in a way that also gives back to both the surrounding communities and the environment as a whole.” Meeting climate change commitments early US colocation giant, CyrusOne, has recently published its latest sustainability report, which looks at its progress in making its global data centre operations climate-neutral and water-positive.

SUSTAINABILITY

Image credit: Schneider Electric

The company operates more than 50 data centres around the world, with five in London and Frankfurt, as well as additional facilities sited in Paris, Dublin, Madrid and Amsterdam. As of June 2021, CyrusOne’s European facilities met their 2030 carbon reduction commitments to the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact 8 years early, achieving 100% renewable electricity and offsetting the small amount of diesel used for backup generation. “The future is coming quickly, and we are doing our best to make it a more just and sustainable one. To respond to ongoing changes and achieve the future we hope for, the world requires resilience – a practice

we in the data centre industry pursue daily,” said David Ferdman, President and CEO of CyrusOne. The company achieved a seven-fold, year-on-year increase in the amount of renewable energy it purchased in 2021, while also achieving net positive water status at its growing data centre in Allen, Texas – the third data centre in its net positive water portfolio. Initially, this began with water-free cooling at the facility and then developed into restoring water using BEF Water Restoration Certificates to exceed the remaining consumption, providing benefits to regional wildlife and the local community. datacentremagazine.com

Climate-Neutral Data Centre Pact Data centre operators are committed to the European Green Deal, achieving the ambitious greenhouse gas reductions of the climate law, and leveraging technology and digitalisation to achieve the goal of making Europe climate neutral by 2050. To ensure data centres are part of the sustainable future of Europe, data centre operators and trade associations agreed to ensure that all data centres are climate neutral by 2030.

June 2022

SUSTAINABILITY Based in Brazil, Scala Data Centres is a hyper-scale data centre platform with the aim of enabling the positive future and progress of Latin American countries through the development of digital infrastructure in the region. Scala Data Centres announced in November 2020 the migration of 100% of its energy consumption to renewable and certified sources, becoming the first data centre company in Latin America to reach this ambitious milestone. In May 2021, Scala received the CarbonNeutral certification. Issued by Natural Capital Partners, the leading experts in carbon neutrality with more than 20 years in the game and over 300 global clients, this is the first certification granted to a Latin American company in the data centre sector that already operates with 100% renewable energy. Creating a greener future With their own environmental targets to reach, governments around the world have set environmental targets for various industries and so have enacted many schemes and initiatives encouraging transparency and change for a more sustainable future. As such, this increasing environmental awareness among businesses means that the sustainability credentials of data centres are more under the microscope than ever before – so it pays to invest in solutions and offsets. Today, thankfully, most data centres are built on commitments to innovative green and renewable strategies that include green power, water reclamation, zero water cooling systems, recycling and waste management, and more. Eventually, this will mean an end to traditional legacy facilities – which will soon be obsolete – and the dawn of a new era for the data centre industry. datacentremagazine.com

Martin Butcher Project Manager, MiCiM 54

June 2022

MiCiM

Using vast industry experience and bespoke customer processes to build data centres WRITTEN BY: SAM STEERS

PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

datacentremagazine.com

MiCiM

MiCiM - Focused, End-to End, Hands-on Mission Critical Management

anaging Director Marc Beattie, Construction Director Chris Jarman, and Commercial Director Daniel Potter founded MiCiM Ltd in 2016. At the time they were working on a data centre in the UK for a wellknown major construction company, but began looking for alternatives as their UK data centre work was coming to an end. Beattie, Jarman, and Potter knew they wanted to set up a business focused within

the data centre sector and considered several DC service-oriented entry options before settling on data centre construction within MiCiM. “In the end, we decided to just go and do what we know best and build data centres,” said Beattie. They entered the market and approached Richard Herrington, a former Director of their previous company, who agreed to join them and MiCiM was born.

MiCiM's Collaborative Approach

June 2022

MARC BEATTIE

MANAGING DIRECTOR, MiCiM

Marc Beattie TITLE: MANAGING DIRECTOR INDUSTRY: CONSTRUCTION/ DATA CENTRES Marc has been working in the engineering and construction industry for nearly 30 years. Having originally started out as an apprentice in the heavy engineering environment of nuclear submarines, he progressed through the ranks to MEP management. He joined Mace Technology upon their inception in 2007 to focus fully on Data Centre projects. After 10 years with Mace Technology, he formed MiCiM with his fellow directors, starting as the Technical Director, Marc became the Managing Director in 2021. Hard working, pragmatic and enthusiastic, Marc is a highly competent professional who focuses on project leadership and processes throughout the RIBA Project lifecycle.

EXECUTIVE BIO

“ You have to be able to make decisions. You have to be pragmatic, you have to be able to evaluate risk and you have to be a good people person”

Example of an image caption datacentremagazine.com

“ The leaders I know are the people I've worked with - the people in my team - and I never had a plan to be a leader if I’m honest” MARC BEATTIE

MANAGING DIRECTOR, MiCiM

June 2022

“We were very open with our previous employer about what we were doing and they wished us well. We looked at our client base, talked to them and advised them what we were doing,” said Beattie. In the beginning, Beattie and the team were looking to build “everything they could'' but later realised this would be difficult as the business was new and as a result would not pass the required financial checks. This saw its operations shift more towards Project Management, and they soon secured an opportunity with Gyron. Subsequently, after some hard work and initial success on a project, more appointments were negotiated and the company doubled in size after six

MiCiM

2016

MiCiM Ltd was formed, offering construction management and project management services with a focus on the data centre industry.

months. The next stage of growth occurred shortly after MiCiM’s one year anniversary when Gyron asked Beattie and his team to manage the construction of its next project – a hyperscale data centre called NTT Dagenham. According to Beattie, the new opportunity increased MiCiM’s staff by another five or six, and the company continued its growth. “We received further calls from a wellknown Singaporean client whom we went over to help finish a project in Dublin, and that led to a construction management role on a hyperscale data centre that we're working on now,” said Beattie. “We were also undertaking smaller construction projects and our reputation grew.”

This led the company to work with Cyxtera on a project in Slough, which it was able to complete quickly. “We won and delivered it in a very short time frame. It was nineteen weeks for a 2.4-megawatt fit-out,” Beattie said. The company has subsequently negotiated the next phase with Cyxtera which they are currently working on. “The early successes, coupled with a growing reputation within the sector allowed us to expand the board two years ago with the appointment of Jeff Hunter as Engineering Director. Jeff completed the current board setup and has provided further impetus to drive us on to the next evolution of MiCiM.” datacentremagazine.com

“The philosophy is that, as opposed to being a contractor with an adversarial relationship with a client, you provide a professional support team, to work with the client and successfully deliver a project” Richard Herrington TITLE: CHAIRMAN

EXECUTIVE BIO

INDUSTRY: CONSTRUCTION/ DATA CENTRES

Richard has 49 years’ experience covering many sectors of the UK construction industry. Starting in 1973 as a trainee quantity surveyor with Costain working on both commercial development and public-sector projects he achieved MRICS status in 1977. Subsequently he developed his career with Bovis working on hospitals, commercial offices and LA housing schemes. He has since held Commercial Director positions with several national contractors. From the early ’90s he specialised in interior fit out projects with ISG and since 2006 has been involved exclusively with Data Centre and critical engineeringbased projects as a founding Director of Mace Technology and since 2016 as a founder of MiCiM.

RICHARD HERRINGTON CHAIRMAN, MiCiM

MiCiM The Construction Management process - MiCiM’s USP With extensive experience in delivering projects using this form of contract, the construction management approach, part of MiCiM’s ISO accredited processes, allows the company to deliver its products on time, safely and economically. The programme, as well as commercial design development, and commissioning processes are managed by an in-house team of experts. These processes are integrated by MiCiM into the client’s team. The company also offers a hybrid integration service between Project and Construction Management, which involves MiCiM providing the client with preconstruction advice, procurement assistance and value engineering. “I've been a great fan of construction management for a long time, since my days with Bovis who were one of the first companies to do it in the UK,” said Chairman Richard Herrington. “The philosophy is that, as opposed to being a contractor with an adversarial relationship with a client, you provide a professional support team, to work with the client as part of an integrated team to successfully deliver a project. “The Construction Management approach to construction embraces the entire ethos of MiCiM and the philosophy under which we operate. In my experience of nearly 50 years in the construction industry the most successful projects are those where everyone is engaged with the same like-minded approach to solving problems and achieving the best outcome,” he added. Herrington attributes the success of CM to a reliance on an “open and collaborative integrated teamwork approach from all parties to the project from the client down to the trade contractor’s operatives on site. In my experience that style of operation is rarely found under more traditional contracting

“ The Construction Management approach to construction embraces the entire ethos of MiCiM and the philosophy under which we operate” RICHARD HERRINGTON CHAIRMAN, MiCiM

models where the parties are by nature adversarial and protective of their own interests. “In the current, fast-changing data centre market - mostly brought about by the development of technology and user demand in response to the growing demands of 5G, A.I, autonomous vehicles, video and music streaming, hybrid home working, online meetings, and online shopping - we are finding that clients who have always operated under a traditional fixed price contracting model such as JCT design and build are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their project outcomes and are looking for new ways to approach projects. “They are looking for alternatives which will give them a better degree of project control, more certainty of delivery, the ability to select the suppliers and contractors with whom they wish to work and to develop long term relationships”. Technical Expertise and MiCiM Culture MiCiM are an engineering, technically led business that has an enormous wealth of young and experienced talent in the business. Bolstered by the senior leaderships’ own experience and their very stringent

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recruitment process they’re able to hand pick the right candidates for the business needs. Hunter says: “Just being good technically is not enough’’ The attitude of our employees is the all-important differentiator for our business. He continues: “I am getting to the end of my career I was taught by some really great people and now have a real passion to pass on my experience to others. By creating the right environment and operating a real ‘no blame culture’ enables us to highlight the passion, dedication and ambition exuded by the younger generation.” With this great attitude comes a continued need for self-improvement and

at MiCiM we all strive hard to create an environment where anything is possible for everyone, and continued learning is actively encouraged. To be achieve our business aims there are seven key areas we have identified to focus on for our staff continual learning: • Safety management • Technical management • Risk management • Program management • Quality management • Package cost management • Client stake holder management datacentremagazine.com

MiCiM

The Real Aim of this is to give the skills and understanding to ensure we create True Business leaders for the future. MiCiM awareness about the current imbalance and lack of female representation within the industry and how the construction 64

June 2022

industry is perceived as a male dominated industry. Opened up a challenge for MiCiM to help to create more gender equality within our organisation with the hope that this extends to the entire industry in time. MiCiM have launched the Women in Construction

Jeff Hunter TITLE: ENGINEERING DIRECTOR INDUSTRY: CONSTRUCTION/ DATA CENTRES

EXECUTIVE BIO

Jeff has a 44 year career in engineering, he considers himself so lucky as during the 1970s he was trained by some of the very best in the industry. He has worked across the world in many different countries delivering vast engineering projects from Car Engine block assembly lines, sewage treatment plants, food production facilities, office facilities and for the last 22 years Data Centres. Jeff has built businesses from scratch recruiting and training hundreds of engineers over the years and has delivered some of the most challenging Data Centres projects and Campuses in Europe. Jeff has an incomparable work ethic and the ability to work very effectively under pressure. He provides strategic thinking, guidance and leadership to project delivery teams and other team members.

“ Our approach has always been to study the detail to inform the project delivery strategy. This optimises our chances of success” JEFF HUNTER ENGINEERING DIRECTOR, MiCiM

MiCiM

“ In the end, we decided to just go and do what we know and build data centres” MARC BEATTIE

MANAGING DIRECTOR, MiCiM

Initiative organised by Lisa Taylor, Kerry Haynes and Alison Newell it’s fully supported by the MiCiM board of directors and championed by Managing Director, Marc Beattie. Beattie says: “We want to support the ambition of creating gender equality within the construction industry and our commitment in doing is at the core of our values.” MiCiM plan to achieve this by supporting, promoting and championing the women in their workplace, providing equal opportunities for all. MiCiM promotes a culture of inclusion, respect, opportunity and dignity, as part of their vision in becoming the employer of choice for females looking for a challenging and rewarding career in the construction industry. Project protocols for efficiency At the project commencement MiCiM work with our clients to develop a risk adverse and efficient project protocols document. This is easily tailored between very large Campus CM projects to small internal fit our projects it includes such items as document control and storage, project reporting, and record keeping. It is shared with all parties and is 66

June 2022

used to ensure the correct process are being followed to achieve the desired outcomes. With a very detailed knowledge of how to effectively manage projects. The MiCiM board from their collective experience recognise the need for efficiency in all aspects of project delivery. They have all worked on projects over the years experiencing firsthand the demoralising effect, time wasting and inefficiency by use of multiple incompatible systems.

350+

Number of years MiCiM have in combined Data Centre Experience

Number of employees in 2016

85+

Number of employees in 2022

In a drive for better efficiency and to add even more value they are currently actively developing a cloud based system with their software partners that will provide real time updates on every aspect of project delivery which will generate real time project reports giving all stake holders total visibility of the project status in real time. We are part way through this process led by Sian Straw our PMO Lead which they anticipate will be completed Q3 2022.

Lisa Taylor Commercial Manager, MiCiM

datacentremagazine.com

MiCiM

Sustainability, digital transformation, and modular design From experience, MiCiM has proven that modelling reduces waste, time and improves quality all of which contributes to sustainability. Giving an example of digital modularisation and modular design at work. Modularisation can mean totally different things to different people. At MiCiM the team and staff have been involved with Modularisation since 1999, they have designed and built government projects using these principles. MiCiM have designed and constructed whole Data Centres in Kit form or taken an existing design in a built environment and extended the facility using Modular techniques. Jeff Hunter, Engineering Director at MiCiM, said: “Over the last 20 odd years, we've championed it continuously and it's helped us to secure project delivery for our clients.” Whilst every project is not suitable to employ these techniques and you have to

“ When we start a project and we approach it from the end user perspective... We verify the programme by inputting real detail and by working back from the project end to the start” JEFF HUNTER ENGINEERING DIRECTOR, MiCiM

really understand the methods to be used. It is recognised wherever possible they should be used as there are obvious and huge advantages to this approach. Hunter says: “We can achieve better quality, less staff to install on site, no revisits for snagging, environmental benefits for transport and staff travel is reduced, less site staff is safer as they are easier to manage, site logistics can be improved, on site construction can be faster.” “In our open honest and collaborative way we can also share adopting this approach requires a change of thinking as it attracts pressure to complete the design sooner, and relies on upfront orders being placed for key elements. If this can be accommodated the benefits overall way exceed the negatives.” From a sustainability viewpoint, MiCiM’s championing of modular design is also very datacentremagazine.com

MiCiM

effective. This approach allows each job to be assembled rather than built. Hunter explains that this means “you haven't got as many lorries transporting equipment to the site. You haven't got as much waste, which means you haven't got as many lorries carting waste away, and efficiency is increased, in addition to quality and surety of delivery. “What it does do is change the cost profile on a project and it changes the design mindset,” said Hunter. “You spend more time offsite to provide better results onsite.” “Data centres are a processing facility, and the product, in this case, is data. So we start a project and we approach it from the end-user perspective. We consider what needs to be achieved to deliver the facility

June 2022

to enable the process to work, we then effectively work a programme and project controls backwards to the start. And then that develops into a detailed programme which feeds into programme project controls and programme management,” Hunter said. An important part of MiCiM is its modular design process and how it affects sustainability and digital transformation. Discussing it in more detail and how it relates to sustainability, Beattie commented: “Digital modularisation is probably slightly different to sustainability.” Chris Jarman added that the two are “very closely related” but pointed out that the early engagement of project management and engineers to produce models is an important part of the process.

“All of our supply chain specialists are selected because of their experience working with the MiCiM team in a live data centre environment” CHRIS JARMAN

CONSTRUCTION DIRECTOR, MiCiM

Chris Jarman TITLE: CONSTRUCTION DIRECTOR

Chris has 38 years of experience in construction covering many sectors of the industry. Being qualified in both Building and Building services he has always fostered a collaborative and coordinated approach to the delivery of projects that bring construction and technical services together rather than the historic them and us attitude. This approach is particularly useful and successful in the delivery of critical services projects where communication, co-ordination and clear make ready needs are key to the success of the venture. From the late ’90s he has specialised in Data Centre and critical services projects. His philosophy has always been to create a “joined up” team approach from clients, consultants, disciplines and trades to deliver what the client expects.

EXECUTIVE BIO

INDUSTRY: CONSTRUCTION/ DATA CENTRES

Traditional Build and Supply Chain Partnerships MiCiM adopts the same approach and processes for critical fit-out in an occupied building as it does when providing constructing a new facility, adding more detail on handover and inspection measures. There is an increased requirement for communication on a day to day basis with the client team and the programme is generally predicated on available shutdown windows for maintenance and critical works which are utilised, integrated and optimised within the construction programmes. “Whilst MICiM is a strong advocate of the Construction Management approach to data centre delivery, it also carries out traditional build projects for some of our clients where we act as principal contractor and have subcontractors delivering specialist services. “Our philosophy however does not change,” Jarman said. “We need a like-minded team focused on the delivery and to that end we have developed supply chain partners who also have the necessary experience within our market to deliver the client’s vision and what the designers have presented. 72

June 2022

MiCiM’s suppliers are prequalified using all the usual capability, experience, commercial, health & safety, and environmental measures but crucially we want to work with companies who are open and honest and work with us as a team to deliver and so we have built up these relationships, some of which started long before the company’s inception. “We work collaboratively with these partners to provide the right programme and most efficient environment for them to achieve a quality product to the benefit of all parties.” “Our ISO accredited processes are understood by our supply partners and employed by us throughout the project to deliver customer satisfaction. We focus on risk whether that be external as in long lead equipment, or internal such as business risk working in live facilities, these are properly managed and mitigated to ensure the best outcome on the projects,” Jarman said. He added that “all of the company’s supply chain specialists are selected because of their experience working with the MiCiM team in a live data centre environment. For example, we are currently working with ESG, on a data

MiCiM

Daniel Potter TITLE: COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR INDUSTRY: CONSTRUCTION/ DATA CENTRES

EXECUTIVE BIO

Daniel has 20 years’ experience in the construction industry having trained in both commercial and construction aspects. He has worked on a wide variety of projects ranging from high end residential, commercial offices, hotels and leisure sector, ultimately specialising in Mission Critical facilities. Daniel co-founded MiCiM in June 2016 following 10 years at one of the UK’s leading Data Centre delivery specialists. He develops long standing relationships with end user clients, consultants and supply chain partners that have spanned the many projects he has been involved in. In partnership with Richard Herrington, Daniel leads the commercial delivery of MiCiM’s service offerings, both are committed to the company’s core values of a Forward thinking, Client Focused, Collaborative approach to doing business, with an aim to ensuring the customer experience reaches the highest possible standards.

“ Creating a strong team bond is paramount to a united delivery” DANIEL POTTER

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR, MiCiM

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MiCiM centre project in a live environment in Slough. Working closely with the client project and operational teams we have been able to manage any operational issues that have arisen and completed our intrusive works without incident. Taking this approach we have achieved success on all of our projects working in occupied facilities without issue.”

“ We also have a Project Management offering which historically has grown organically with the workload”

MiCiM’s plans for the future: Growth and design and build opportunities In terms of MiCiM’s future plans over the next 12 months, growth is certainly on the cards. Talking through the company’s next steps in more detail, Beattie said: “Currently we’ve got two UK-based teams and an international CM team. Which we’re looking to expand to take on more work in Europe. “We also have a Project Management offering which historically has grown organically with the workload.” According to Beattie, the company’s strategy for 2022-23 for hyperscale clients is to engage in more major projects using the construction management process. This is due to ongoing demand and the fact that the company has a strong client base, Beattie said. In addition, MiCiM also has other more traditional construction opportunities lined up. “These will be serviced by the UK teams,” Beattie said, adding that he and Hunter are “predominantly focused” on MiCiM’s Ireland division and the international sector of the business. Beattie added that MiCiM would like to share the benefits of construction management with clients, adding that it is “the way ahead for fast development of data centres by a company with the delivery expertise.”

MARC BEATTIE

MANAGING DIRECTOR, MiCiM datacentremagazine.com

CLOUD & EDGE

June 2022

WRITTEN BY: CATHERINE GRAY

ata centres have evolved considerably since their initial inception. Adapting in sync with the evolution of business needs, the data centre industry itself – and its importance – has grown exponentially. Remote working, a phenomenon that has picked up pace in recent years, has led to advancement of the Internet of Things (IoT), escalating data requirements, and ongoing cloud adoption, all of which have contributed to a shift away from traditional enterprise data centre facilities to ones that are more adaptive to the needs of the user. Cloud technologies have become essential to colocation services, particularly with the emergence of this global remote workforce. The push towards the cloud continues as more and more companies are utilising cloud software services to secure and back up their IT infrastructure. Decentralised workforces

mean companies now need to diversify how they store data to ensure workers can still perform their roles effectively while retaining a high level of security – any delay or issues with either performance or security could lead to a negative impact on the business. As cloud computing is essential for business, it comes as no surprise that colocation providers have responded to this and now provide a simple answer for this shift. Through such provisions, data centres can support businesses as they move legacy applications and environments to a high-quality connected environment that’s cross-connected into the cloud.

“ The cloud is evolving” ACCENTURE datacentremagazine.com

Sustainability Performance

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CLOUD & EDGE Responding to the changing needs of businesses As the technology space evolves, however, cloud technologies only serve certain sections of business needs, so companies are developing robust hybrid cloud strategies to create opportunities allowing for quicker decision making, cost reductions, enhanced customer engagement and the assurance of privacy. Accenture says: “The cloud is evolving. It’s becoming a dynamic continuum of capabilities: private options are booming; hardware manufacturers are launching publiclike offerings; and edge computing is set to grow exponentially over the next five years. “The cloud is no longer a single, static destination – it’s the operating model of the future. As a result, more companies are turning to a hybrid approach. In fact, experts say 90% of organisations will soon opt for these multicloud architectures to avoid over-reliance on a single public cloud provider.” The Global Hybrid Cloud Market is expected to grow by registering a CAGR of 21.06% between 2021 and 2026. The growth of cloud and industrialised services in conjunction with the decline of traditional data centre outsourcing indicates a notable shift toward hybrid infrastructure services.

“ The cloud is no longer a single, static destination. It’s the operating model of the future” ACCENTURE

To meet this shift, data centre providers need to secure their future by transforming once again to meet the hybrid needs of businesses. A hybrid data centre offers a combination of cloud-based and on-premises infrastructures that enable the sharing of applications and data between the data centres using a network. Not only do colocation providers need to respond to this change to support businesses, but they also need to protect their own; it’s no secret that the industry has been facing an increasing amount of challenges from public cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure and AWS. By supporting hybrid clouds with infrastructure within the data centres themselves, colocation providers can begin to compete with public cloud providers, even if the solutions themselves involve customers leveraging public cloud services as part of hybrid architectures.

datacentremagazine.com

CLOUD & EDGE

The benefits of a hybrid cloud data centre Ease of use: With a hybrid data centre, businesses can simply move processes from their on-premises environment to the cloud one at a time, whenever they are ready. Supporting the remote workforce: It is easier to meet the needs of a remote workforce with a hybrid data centre. Processes that need to be deployed and managed in the cloud can be migrated there, and, as a result, it is simpler to make them available to a remote workforce and support them as they work away from the office. Business resilience: As hybrid data centres execute periodic backups, the amount of downtime businesses may experience is less than they would experience with pure-cloud architectures. It is also more resilient when it comes to dealing with situations where demand for resources suddenly spikes and, therefore, more reliable. Improved options for scalability and control: In the event that you need more resources to handle demand – which for many businesses is highly likely, particularly in light of the growing significance of data

“ Experts say 90% of organisations will soon opt for these multicloud architectures to avoid over-reliance on a single public cloud provider” ACCENTURE

June 2022

analysis for business success – a hybrid data centre can scale up by taking advantage of resources in the public cloud portion of a business' data centre architecture. In this way, organisations benefit from one of the primary advantages of cloud computing. Reducing business costs: With a hybrid data centre, there is no need for organisations to pay extra for hardware they may not need or even use: companies buy what they need and scale up when necessary – if at all – saving costs on unnecessary hardware and enabling businesses to instead use that money on other, more critical assets. Securing the colocation industry’s future All of these benefits, and the growing popularity of public cloud services,

A hybrid data centre combines on-prem and cloud-based infrastructure with orchestration that allows data and applications to be shared between them over the network. This allows an organisation to achieve a balance between the capabilities and benefits provided by public and private clouds, alongside on-prem infrastructure.

mean colocation providers need to offer value that extends beyond convenient server space. The ability to extend public cloud resources into private infrastructure is highly valuable. It means that businesses can keep the workloads they already have running in public clouds, but a hybrid facility doesn’t require the compliance and cost that surface from having to host workloads on public cloud infrastructure. Despite this, building a hybrid cloud infrastructure presents its own challenges. Fully-managed solutions like AWS Outposts are costly, while alternatives like Azure Arc and Google Anthos require users to acquire, provide and manage their own hardware. This can be challenging for many businesses as a huge proportion of

organisations are so dependent on the public cloud that they are not accustomed to managing their own infrastructure. However, this again could help colocation providers as they look to secure their own future and compete with public clouds. As such, data centres could begin to support customers with services that help manage hybrid cloud infrastructure inside colocation data centres. Those services could be the help that many businesses need to make the jump from using the public cloud alone to going hybrid. Additionally, it can remove challenges around poorly integrated IT strategies that involve private infrastructure and public cloud resources running simultaneously, without a unified control plane. datacentremagazine.com

June 2022

PROMOTING NORWAY’S DC CREDENTIALS THROUGH MEMBERS’ SKILLS WRITTEN BY: SAM STEERS PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

datacentremagazine.com

NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

Bjørn Rønning, General Manager of The Norwegian Data Center Industry, explains the company’s work in promoting the industry through its members

he Norwegian Data Center Industry is an association formed of seven data centre operators and power providers. Known as the ‘founding fathers’, these include Green Mountain, Stack Infrastructure, Lefdal Mine Datacenter, Bulk, Basefarm, Ringerikskraft and Statkraft. The association also noticed that there was significant interest from other areas of the ecosystem and today it consists of around 35 members – from power providers to hardware suppliers. Its aim is to promote the country’s data centre sector through its members and working groups. “What really made us pull this together was the joining of forces on addressing the tax barriers that kept us from being competitive with our neighbouring countries,” Bjørn Rønning, General Manager of The Norwegian Data Center Industry said. The need for an association like the Norwegian Data Centre Industry increased during the height of the pandemic, which accelerated the company’s growth further and allowed it to identify the main issues the Norwegian sector is experiencing and how best to tackle them. According to an analysis conducted by Implement Economics – part of the Implement Consulting Group – data centre capacity in Norway has increased by 17% per year since 2010. In 2020,

June 2022

datacentremagazine.com

NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

Promoting Norway’s Data Centre Credentials

“ It’s essential for us to grow as an organisation, to recruit more members, and expand the already quite large ecosystem” BJØRN RØNNING

“I think one of the key themes here is the energy situation and the total cost of ownership – the TCO – of energy,” says Rønning. “It’s all about turning around the perception of Norway that it is, in inverted commas, ‘not open for business’. Norway is absolutely open for business. We have a very mature digital population; we have a government that’s really backing the data centre strategy; and we have a vibrant data centre ecosystem that is led by five large data centre operators.”

approximately 145 MW of capacity was installed, and this capacity is expected to grow sharply in the years to come. In the period 2019-2020, at least NOK 2.7bn (US$3.06bn) was invested in new data centres in Norway. The investments are driven by both Norwegian and international demand.

Working groups address key areas of the data centre sector In addition to reducing tax and improving framework conditions, the Data Center Industry association looks to advertise and promote the industry. It achieves this through its working groups. Based on requirements from the association’s members, there are four working groups categorised into Sustainability,

CEO, NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

June 2022

NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

centre industry in Norway today that is open for business to take in new clients who are looking for cost-effective and sustainable solutions,” Rønning says. Norway’s unique position as a sustainable data centre location Sustainability also plays an important part in the association’s strategy, as the industry Continues page 12 

BJØRN RØNNING TITLE: CEO INDUSTRY: DATA CENTRES LOCATION: OSLO, NORWAY Bjørn Rønning is the CEO of Norwegian Data Center Industry, a trade association, and the voice of the data center industry in Norway. Mr. Ronning is a telecom professional and has through his career worked as an advisor in the national and international digital infrastructure space, including terrestrial and subsea fiber optic networks, data centres and related digital infrastructure.

EXECUTIVE BIO

International Marketing, Power & Grid and Skills Development. Each of the groups is working on different projects. The Sustainability working group, for example, is focused on heat reuse projects. As the Norwegian operators already tick the box for renewable energy and worldleading power-efficiency, heat reuse is the next step on the road to carbon neutrality. “We are also looking at how we can get consistent and transparent reporting on climate factors, so we can compare apples with apples in terms of other markets or other countries,” Rønning explains. Rønning says that the global data centre industry is in short supply of personnel such as electricians and people who work with cooling and heating technology. Although the situation in Norway is not as critical, the Skills Development group aims to spur development of skilled resources to the DC industry. “We are actively working with schools to develop apprenticeship programmes to encourage more young people into the business,” he says. Then there’s what Rønning refers to as the working group for power-related issues. He wholeheartedly believes that Norway is equal to other countries when it comes to building grids, launching projects, and having on-site power availability. This is, however, cumbersome work as Rønning points out. “You’re working with large, monopolistic organisations like grid providers and so forth, and we are actively working to see how we make the permit processes for power grid construction more effective.” The last of the four groups is International Marketing, which aims to promote Norway as a sustainable data centre destination. “We have so many sites, so much renewable power and so much connectivity and competence to offer. We have a vibrant data

NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

TAKING SUSTAINABILITY TO THE NEXT LEVEL WITH HEAT REUSE

SUSTAINABILITY...

In Norway, we are fortunate to have access to 100% renewable hydropower to operate and cool our data centres. This also means that we are in a good position to take sustainability to the next level, exploring new solutions to support the green shift. An area with huge potential is reuse of waste heat from data centres. Several operators in Norway have initiated pilot projects to address this challenge and, below, we present a few examples:

1. Greenhouse plants – Bulk Data Centers has signed letters of intent on the recovery of heat across all its data centres, to ensure any excess is utilised in the district heating network. This will provide heat for several energy intensive processes and ventures, including Bulk’s first step to realise its circular industry cluster vision at its N01 campus in Kristiansand with Kristiansen Gartneri (Greenhouse Plant). In this instance, the heat provided will power Kristiansen Gartneri’s greenhouse vegetable operations – keeping vegetables sufficiently warm and reducing the greenhouse’s power needs – making food production more costeffective and sustainable.

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2. Land-based lobster farm – The company, Norwegian Lobster Farm, will use the waste heat from Green Mountain’s DC1 data centre. To grow optimally, the lobster needs a temperature of 20°C in the seawater. This is exactly the temperature of the seawater that has been used to cool the IT equipment. In a production facility adjacent to the data centre, this heated seawater can be used directly in the breeding of lobsters. As a result, the energy is reused, and Green Mountain is one step closer to making the facility climate positive. More info

3. Land-based trout farm - Hima Seafood is going to establish a land-based trout farm 800m from Green Mountain's DC2Telemark data centre. By connecting the two facilities together by a pipe system, we will deliver heated water to Hima. Heat exchange technology will then ensure that the Hima facility can use the energy from the water. The same water is subsequently returned to Green Mountain. The water now holds a lower temperature that can be used in the

NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

cooling of the data centre. In other words, a truly circular project. The farm is estimated to be operational in 2023. More info 4. Smolt production – Lefdal Mine Datacenter cooperates with Sjomatstaden, a future-oriented seafood centre nearby their facility. They will use the waste heat from the data centre to produce smolt (a young salmon ready to live in saltwater.) Production with heated water is twice as fast, compared to using original ocean temperature. Estimated production in phase 1 is 6 million smolts/year, which in turn will result in 15.000 tonnes of salmon annually. This will also save the seafood centre an annual power capacity equal to 12MW. More info

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DATA CENTRES IN NORWAY SUSTAINABILITY WITH A COST BENEFIT Electricity Generation in Norway

Thermal power - 11.9% Wind power - 1.0%

From 4 cent / kWh Incl.

grid fee

Hydro power - 87.1% Source: SSB

Lowest Energy Prices in Europe Lowest electricity prices in Europe Competitive grid fees Lowest energy tax in Europe

Green Energy Electricity production in Norway is 98,9% renewable Consecutive annual energy surplus

• •

• • •

Read more on TCO on p.06

Source: government.no

Sustainability to the next level Heat Reuse projects Average PUE: < 1.2 Cold and wet climate

Carbon footprint of electricity: Norway average: 34.02 gCO2eq/kWh

• • •

• • F LAP-D average: 260.35 gCO2eq/kWh

Source: PUE numbers from operators

Source: Average in 2021 Electricity Map.org

Carbon Intensity - Europe 2021 Germany: 329.70 gCO2eq/kWh France: 59.03 gCO2eq/kWh United Kingdom: 246.55 gCO2eq/kWh Ireland: 363.42 gCO2eq/kWh Netherlands: 329.7 gCO2eq/kWh Denmark: 190.36 gCO2eq/kWh Norway: 34.02 gCO2eq/kWh 400

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EXCELLENT CONNECTIVITY Fibre Routes Recent investments in subsea fibre infrastructure have improved Norway’s connectivity. List of routes:

< 15ms

• Skagenfiber West • Skagerak 4 • Havsil

< 20ms

• Havfrue/AEC-2 • NO-UK Cable • Celtic Norse • Leif Erikson • Tampnet

< 30ms

Latency Examples from Oslo, the Norwegian capital and Stavanger, on the west coast of Norway. RTD IN MS

FRANKFURT

LONDON

AMSTERDAM

PARIS

DUBLIN

OSLO

14.4

14.9

12.6

19.9

18.2

STAVANGER

14.1

11.6

16.3

17.4

12.1

Source: Invest in Norway

STRONG ECO SYSTEM Digital mature and skilled workforce High competence, independence, high efficiency Flat hierarchies

• •

Political Commitment The Norwegian Government issued the world’s first data centre strategy in 2018 and updated it in 2021. This is a strong political commitment to continuously work to improve the framework conditions (taxes, energy, fibre) for the data centre ecosystem.

Norwegian Datacenter Industry Members of the association represent the whole data centre ecosystem, form site developers, designers, builders, suppliers, fibre operation, power providers to data centre operators. Currently there are 30+ members, the number is steadily growing. Member of the European Single Market Norway is fully integrated in the European Single Market through the EEA and Schengen Agreement.

Source: government.no datacentremagazine.com

NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

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NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

itself has always been beleaguered by the difficulties sustainability poses. “I think that the data centre industry has always been challenged on the sustainability issue. That has, however, also led us to be in the forefront of developing and integrating sustainable solutions in the data centre industry,” Rønning says.

“We are also looking at how we can get consistent and transparent reporting on climate factors so we can compare apples with apples in terms of other markets or other countries” BJØRN RØNNING

CEO, NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

In short, the long-term strategy for the Norwegian Data Centre Industry is quite simple, according to Rønning. “It's promoting the existing data centre industry in Norway, which is welcoming all kinds of business because we have ample space and ample access to power. In addition, we have a fantastic connectivity infrastructure that had a heavy uplift during the last five, six years.” A partner ecosystem represented by its members The Norwegian Data Centre Industry’s partner ecosystem within the association is represented by its members. Our current members include Norwegian and international data centre operators, the MEP supplier industry, construction companies, HW/SW suppliers, communications datacentremagazine.com

AUTOMOTIVE DATA GOING NORTH Automotive data going north The focus on the Nordics as the ideal data centre location has increased over the last few years, especially in light of the region's plentiful access to renewable power and beneficial climate for efficient cooling. An industry that has certainly set its eyes on the Nordics is the automotive industry. Their HighPerformance Computing (HPC) workloads are a perfect fit for colocation providers in Norway.

The automotive industry is going through a massive transition. Electrical vehicles, autonomous driving, new business models and the race towards carbon neutrality are driving this industry through massive changes. This also means that automotive companies are having to store and process enormous amounts of data to make this transition. An increasing share of this data now finds its way to Norway. Here are two examples of international automotive companies who have made the move to the Nordics.

Crash Tests Using the Power of Water In 2019, Volkswagen group moved its HPC operations to Green Mountain’s data center in Rjukan, Telemark. Two new data halls were constructed on the Green Mountain premises in only six months. These halls are supplied with up to 2,75 MW of power – that generates plenty of computing capability that Volkswagen and Audi will apply to run HPC projects like simulated crash tests and virtual wind tunnel trials. In comparison to a conventionally operated computer center, the facility in Rjukan saves Volkswagen Group more than 5,800 tons of CO2 annually. Read full story Photo credit: Volkswagen Group

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NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

Photo credit: Lefdal Mine

Lefdal Mine Datacenter welcomes MercedesBenz to its underground facilities In 2021, Lefdal cooperated with Infosys to sign a large data center agreement with MercedesBenz. The company moved its High-Performance Computing (HPC) cluster to Lefdal Mine Datacenter and was then one step closer to becoming a carbon-neutral company. MercedesBenz uses the global IT giant Infosys to operate its IT infrastructure. Infosys delivers “Green Data Center as a Service” to Mercedes-Benz from the facility in Nordfjord. Read full story

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NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

“ You’re working with large, monopolistic organisations like grid providers and so forth, and we are actively working to see how we make the permit processes for power grid construction more effective” BJØRN RØNNING

CEO, NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

operators, power companies, and companies in the consulting industry. “If you start at the very bottom of the ecosystem, you have the site providers. You have several companies also owned by local municipalities that offer sites for data centre projects. “We are working with them to really adapt the site to be even more attractive for new data centre projects,” Rønning says. The company also works with both designers and suppliers of plumbing, mechanical, and electrical equipment, as well as operators and their subcontractors. “The ecosystem is complete, in terms of covering the entire value chain.” Rønning also adds that the Norwegian Datacenter Industry also welcomes new data centre operators to Norway. 96

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“Our well established supply chain network can assist foreign data centre operators wanting to establish new data centre operations in Norway.” Discussing the working relationship with the ecosystem, he says: “My organisation is created by my members and it's basically meant to serve my members. So, I think that one of my most important tasks is to listen to my members, hear them out, understand what their concerns are and the opportunities they want to develop, and that's why we have established these four working groups.”

- The Norwegian Data Centre Industry was founded to provide solutions to challenges faced in the data centre sector and to promote the country of Norway as an attractive market. - It was founded in 2021.

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NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

DC BYTE...

INTERVIEW WITH DC BYTE ON THE NORWEGIAN DC MARKET 1. In your view, what are the growth projections for the Nordic market? And what are the drivers behind this growth? The data centre market in the Nordics is 5 times the size it was a decade ago. With over 1.3GW of total capacity added between 2016 to 2021 and average yearly growth of 17.5%, it has the potential to grow by more than 60% of its current live capacity rate over the next 3-5 years. The region has become a relatively attractive location for hyperscale public cloud operators, with around 58% of the live capacity in the region coming from selfbuilt public cloud deployments. The key drivers for the popularity of the Nordics

Jovita Januskeviciute

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are the area’s cool climate, an established infrastructure, good network connections and a plentiful supply of renewable energy. 2. Does Norway stand out in any way compared to the other Nordic countries? Each of the countries within the Nordic region has unique features. Some factors are more common across the region, whilst others are country-specific. Increasing global concern about climate change and the signing of the Paris Agreement is driving businesses to look for more environmentally sustainable ways in which to operate. As an industry that

NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

is heavily reliant on power, data centre operators are continually seeking more sustainable and efficient solutions. Norway has great potential in this regard due to an abundant supply of green energy. Almost all electricity produced by the country emanates from green energy sources. In addition, Norway has an industry-supportive government that favourably impacts national industry growth. In the last 4-year period, Oslo’s data centre market has grown at an average of 42% annually. In 2021, planned capacity in Norway alone doubled the 2020 figure, representing the second largest planned capacity across the Nordics after Denmark. 3. How do you think the Nordic market will develop compared to the FLAP-Ds? Will

there be a “migration up north” movement in the market? Especially in light of the energy situation in Europe, would this expedite any migration projects? Nordic national markets are on an upwards growth trajectory. The increase of technological integration in recent years, particularly during the pandemic, led to a significant rise in IT capacity of newly built facilities. This resulted in power constraints, particularly in the larger markets such as London, Amsterdam and Dublin. Whilst it is too early to say which particular markets will become more dominant, considering what the region has on immediate offer, the Nordics are well-placed to be potential front runners in attracting foreign investment and development.

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HOW TO ESTABLISH A DATA CENTRE IN NORWAY

INNOVATION NORWAY...

Interview with Benedicte Fasmer Waaler from Invest in Norway

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Q: Norway is one of the few countries with its own data centre strategy. How important is this for the industry and potential clients? A: A national data centre strategy shows an overall commitment from the government to develop and promote the data centre industry. Our experience is that this is appreciated – both by investors and players in the data centre industry – at home and abroad. The existence of a data centre strategy is a strong signal that there is a will to establish and maintain a favourable business climate, including a stable regulatory landscape for the industry, in the years to come. This stability is important both from an investment and from an operational perspective. The new government continues to support the previous government’s strategy. Q: What are the different entry strategies when looking to move your data centre capacity to Norway? A: The Norwegian data centre market offers different solutions to suit different requirements. Whether it means leasing capacity from the Norwegian data centre operators, setting up your own data centre as a service, build-to-suit, ready-to-build,

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or even build your own data centre. The Norwegian government is committed to making this process as smooth as possible and has provided an introduction guide with references to more detailed resources when needed. More Info Q: How does Invest in Norway cooperate with The Norwegian Datacenter Industry? A: We welcomed the formation of the business association Norwegian Data Center Industry in June last year and are pleased to see that it already represents the voice of the industry towards the public authorities and the market as such. In our view, it is valuable that the association rooms the whole data centre ecosystem, from site developers, power providers, communication service providers, and equipment suppliers to the data centre operators themselves. We cooperate with the association in the international marketing of Norway as a favourable and sustainable data centre nation, either by sponsoring marketing activities or by joint marketing efforts towards an international market. We also work with the association to identify and market beneficial locations in Norway for developing new and energy intensive data centre projects.

NORWEGIAN DATA CENTRE INDUSTRY

Monitoring the international market and industry trends The Norwegian Data Center Industry has several plans lined up for the next 12 to 18 months. According to Rønning, “the most important of these is to closely monitor the international market to determine how it can benefit the data centre operators already located in Norway. It’s also to see if it can create opportunities for new projects to commit to the Norwegian Market,” Rønning says. “It’s essential to grow as an organisation, to recruit more members, and expand the already quite large ecosystem.” Moving forward, his goal is to be the voice of the Norwegian data centre sector that public authorities listen to. Looking toward future trends in the industry, Rønning highlighted one in particular: energy efficiency. “I would expect to see many technical solutions that would address this issue. That would include everything from exploring liquid cooling to having a more effective solution for heat reuse. In rural areas, the DC operators are already working actively with projects like heating greenhouses and fish farming projects. We would see huge developments on the sustainability side in terms of embedding it in the total project how you operate sustainably throughout the data centre’s whole lifecycle. Rønning also expects to see growth in hyperscale installation, both in Norway and other Nordic countries. “I think you will see even more energy-efficient technology and even larger installations because we need to digitalise more, which, in the end, is the key to becoming more sustainable.”

ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION Norwegian Data Center Industry is a neutral business association and the voice of the industry towards the market and public authorities. We provide the most prominent meeting place for the industry to network, influence and promote the members of the association. We are passionate on spearheading sustainability and low TCO among the key reasons why you should establish your data centre or move your workloads to Norway. Our members represent the whole range of players in the data centre ecosystem, from site developers, builders, designers, power providers, communication service providers, equipment providers and data centre operators. Links to resources: National Data Center Strategy How to establish a data center in Norway How Norway produces hydropower with a minimal carbon footprint Data Centers in Norway (in Norwegian) Connectivity in Norway Contact info: Bjørn Rønning Norwegian Data Center Industry Oscarsgate 20, 0352 Oslo Norway Mobile: +4792242657 Mail: bjorn@datasenterindustrien.no

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Consultant research shows that chips – more commonly seen in the tech and automotive industries – will soon be making their way into data centres WRITTEN BY: SAM STEERS 102

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TECHNOLOGY

f you’ve been following the technology or automotive industries lately, you’ll have most likely heard of the 2021 chip shortage, when businesses globally were struggling to order SoCs due to the ongoing fallout of COVID-19. Thankfully, chip production is (somewhat) returning to normal, although it’s not all guns blazing quite yet. Other industries have been taking note of the advantages of using SoCs, including the data centre sector, with some companies now offering bespoke chips and circuitry. According to Mckinsey, though, if data centres are going to reap the benefits of this, it’s important to understand the use cases first.

Stephen Simpson, Senior Principal at QuantumBlack, a McKinsey company, points out that “hardware architectures have used a combination of central processing units (CPUs), memory, external storage, and network in a uniform way”, adding that the result of this has been restrictive commodisation due to the “substantial investment” that such innovation requires. This has meant chip manufacturers lack the incentives necessary to provide custommade solutions, nor do they have the ability to outline specific use cases. Simpson notes: “By taking a systemson-a-chip (SoC) approach, data centre datacentremagazine.com

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Kuul Evolution FirePro® Evaporative Cooling Media Keeping data centers at optimal temperatures using U.S. sourced, inorganic materials with innovative technology. Durable and sustainable evaporative media designed to keep the cloud going.

™

TECHNOLOGY

as Simpson explains, the process requires the identification, assembly, and licensing of all the patented technologies needed for a composite design, which means care needs to be taken to ensure that the integration of hardware across different vendors’ intellectual property does not significantly hinder performance.

“ Organisations must carefully evaluate their current clouddeployment architecture and evaluate how to best harness new setups proposed by cloud vendors”

computer manufacturers can now optimise performance, cost, and power consumption simultaneously by tailoring the STEPHEN SIMPSON electronics to the needs of the FORMER PRINCIPAL DATA ARCHITECT AT QUANTUM BLACK business and optimising the design for specific calculations. Several industries, such as Today, however, these lower-cost design the data centre sector, have improved performance by 15 to 20% while alternatives are licensed predominantly significantly reducing cost and production on the ARM architecture, with the RISC-V time for the fabrication of bespoke chips.” open-standard instruction set emerging as a viable alternative. Both cloud vendors and specialised CPU and computer-hardware The challenges of commissioning chips Like all forays into new industries, there providers are taking advantage of this SoC are challenges to overcome – namely, a approach for their traditional servers; by legal one in the case of the companies innovating quickly, they are starting to commissioning the chips. This is because, enjoy significant success. datacentremagazine.com

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TECHNOLOGY

“ By taking a systemson-a-chip (SoC) approach, data centre computer manufacturers can now optimise performance, cost, and power consumption simultaneously” STEPHEN SIMPSON

FORMER PRINCIPAL DATA ARCHITECT AT QUANTUM BLACK

SoCs are the new motherboard According to Analytics India Magazine (AIM), the majority of cloud providers are turning to customised chips – including Google Cloud, which referred to SoCs as the ‘new motherboard’. In 2015, the company developed TPUs or Tensor Processing Units, AI accelerator application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) designed for neural network machine learning, which became available to third-party use in 2018. Google also sold smaller versions of the chip. Google’s TPUs have become a powerhouse for a range of services including real-time voice search, photo object recognition, and interactive language 106

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translation. According to Amin Vahdat from Google Cloud, the tech giant prefers to focus more on SoC designs where multiple functions sit on the same chip or on multiple chips inside one package, instead of integrating components on a motherboard. The company even claims that the ‘Systemon-Chips’ is the modern-day motherboard. AWS is another cloud provider expressing interest in the chip market. Last year, the company launched custom-built AWS Inferentia chips for the hardware specialisation department. Inferentia’s performance convinced AWS to deploy them for their popular Alexa services, which require machine learning to enable functions such as speech processing.

Amazon’s EC2 instances are now powered by AWS Inferentia chips that can deliver up to 30% higher throughput and up to 45% lower cost per inference. By contrast, Amazon EC2 F1 instances use FPGAs to enable delivery of custom hardware accelerations, according to Analytics India Magazine. Nevertheless, Stephen Simpson argues that it is also important to address dataintensive network communication latency, in spite of promising innovation currently being seen in the core data centre servers. He says that the emerging trend is to “offload these responsibilities – including encryption and data loading – to a dedicated processing unit that also provides advanced security and accelerated data-movement capabilities”. datacentremagazine.com

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A range of companies offer technologies that differ considerably in terms of sophistication and price points. These technologies are usually positioned as SmartNICs (wired networking and computational resources on the same card to offload tasks from server CPUs) and may be based on field programmable gate array (FPGA), application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or SoC technology, and a dataprocessing unit (DPU) – a specific type of SoC – has also been employed in several new chip designs.

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Simpson goes on to say: “Some products go significantly further and offer important capabilities in data-pipeline management to significantly reduce network latency, support inline crypto acceleration, enable the highly secure ‘enclave’ isolation of different organisations’ data sets, and provide the ability to feed network data directly into graphics processing units (GPUs) for machine learning predictions. Of course, the capabilities of these devices need to match those of the nextgeneration servers.

How is the semiconductor industry coping with the chip shortage? Whilst semiconductor companies have managed to increase throughput of chips following the pandemic, production levels are still not out of the woods. Current lead times can exceed four months, which can soon become ten months if said product is moved to another manufacturing site. Changing manufacturer altogether can add another 12 months at least, and some chips contain manufacturer-specific intellectual property that may require alterations or licensing.

“ Hardware architectures have used a combination of central processing units (CPUs), memory, external storage, and network in a uniform way” STEPHEN SIMPSON

FORMER PRINCIPAL DATA ARCHITECT AT QUANTUM BLACK

“Organisations must carefully evaluate their current cloud-deployment architecture and evaluate how to best harness new setups proposed by cloud vendors based on proprietary hardware. In addition, they

should assess the cost and timeline of these contracts to optimise new technologies. Since the hardware and possible efficient solution of the aforementioned use cases now become available as a service, leveraging these new services when encountering specific optimisation problems will be key,” he said. In short, the cloud infrastructure industry is changing everyday;it’s up to data centre companies and cloud providers to make use of the advantages offered by SoCs so that they can keep up for years to come. datacentremagazine.com

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TELEHOUSE FRANCE

MARSEILLE ON THE GLOBAL

PUTS

COMMS HUB MAP WRITTEN BY: SIMON HOWSON-GREEN PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

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TELEHOUSE FRANCE

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Sami Slim CEO of Telehouse France explains the business case behind the company's new strategic implementation as digital migration surges and prices increase

he surge in digital migration across the globe in the aftermath of the pandemic comes at a price, as well as a benefit. Sami Slim, CEO of Telehouse France, explains the business case behind his company’s new data centre in Marseille and why close collaboration with its partner, Elco Systems, will mitigate its risks and exploit its benefits. Data centres are blossoming across the globe; where you plant those blooms is vital. It’s all about location, so you must get it right. Here’s why: Let’s assume you are a software designer for a Munich-based German engineering company, and you need to send information to a client in Brazil about its mining operation in the middle of a remote quarry miles from anywhere. That information will travel across the internet hubs in - let's say - Frankfurt, then up to the U.S., down through Miami and then to Sao Paulo. So far, so good. That little packet of data left home and arrived at its destination faster than your eye moved from one word to the next in this sentence. But… every little packet of data costs money. That round trip from Bavaria to Southwestern Brazil. It would probably have more than 250 milliseconds of latency. It arrived late. That latency, according to Sami Slim, CEO of Telehouse France, makes the software those two companies are using “less useful and less powerful”. datacentremagazine.com

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“However,” says Sami, “By exploiting internet routes off the coast of France around Marseille, you can reduce this latency. Opening up this route means you can have a latency between Frankfurt and Sao Paulo, for example, of fewer than one hundred milliseconds — which is half the existing speed from the U.S.” The faster the speed of travelling data, the more cost savings to your bottom line. Sami has another compelling example he uses to define the cost savings made when connectivity is sped up – even by mere milliseconds. “Today, if you're an African enterprise placed, let's say, in Ghana or Nigeria and you need some cloud usage, you will go to those high-profile hubs serving Africa, such as London, Frankfurt or Paris. That comes at a cost. “But if you bring that location closer – to Marseille – you will be saving 15% simply because you are localising your cloud traffic

Telehouse France puts Marseille on the global comms hub map

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SAMI SLIM TITLE: CEO INDUSTRY: TELECOMMUNICATIONS/ DATA CENTRES/HUBS

and bypassing that journey to those cities in Northern Europe.” Sami stresses that all businesses know how expensive it is to move data across the cloud. He claims some companies could even have their data carriage costs once Marseille comes on stream. According to Sami, the potential unlocked by those saved milliseconds changes the way we use the internet. More online trading, video, OTT streaming, gaming and real-time

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: FRANCE Engineer, graduate of Telecom SudParis and the University of Michigan, Sami joined Telehouse in 2010 as a technical sales engineer. For 3 years, he was at the heart of Telehouse's data centre and connectivity growth in France, before joining the Telehouse Europe Strategy Department in 2013. In 2014, he became head of the sales department in France before being appointed CEO in 2022. In this role, his mission is to accelerate Telehouse's growth, helping the Group's customers and prospects to improve their interconnection capabilities. Sami Slim brings to Telehouse a passion for a free, neutral and open Internet. His deep knowledge of the IT market and his proximity to the Internet players contribute to consolidate Telehouse's results, and to earn him the renewal of the Group's confidence.

DATA CENTER MONITORING Gain real-time insights about your data center environment! Learn more

Data Center Monitoring redefined by Elco and Telehouse Small is beautiful and far more effective. This philosophy from Telehouse France is driving its partnership programme. Elco Solutions is one of its most favoured collaborators.

Telehouse France and the German based Elco Solutions have joined forces to design and develop a new data centre hub in Paris, France. Both companies say this will be a ‘game changer’ in terms of global connectivity. The ‘Leon Frot’ Data Centre in the capital is the latest collaboration between Telehouse France and Elco. Elco Solutions is an innovator in the Data Centre Vendor and Integration space. Elco is also in the process of upgrading the existing Telehouse France infrastructure at its hubs. This partnership will allow Elco Solutions to provide its specially adapted power and environmental monitoring solution for Telehouse France. “Our focus alongside Telehouse France is all about data centre co-location and data centre management,’ says Wajdi Darmoul, Founder and Managing Director of Elco Solutions. “This collaboration helped us tremendously to improve the way we work together, the way we develop high quality software – especially customer specific software for monitoring all aspects of a data centre. We developed a system that will help the data centre managers to monitor their infrastructure in real time. With this software we can instantly aggregate data across

several dimensions in the data centre. This provides real time insights into power monitoring systems, power efficiency, temperature, and humidity and so on. “This allows us to quickly access the status of the data centre. This is vital as it allows all the stakeholders to see that the data centre is moving towards its optimum operational efficiency. According to Sami Slim, Director at Telehouse France the two companies have been working closely together since 2020 and the arrangement is at the ‘sharp end’ of Tele House France’s declared intention to work with smaller, nimbler technology partners in its expansion programme. “Elco fits the requirement perfectly,” says Slim. “With its focus on high-quality measurement equipment, compact branch circuits monitoring systems and intuitive customer specific user interface, Elco Solutions is a reliable partner to meet the challenges in a rapidly changing and dynamic data centre market,” says Darmoul.

Learn more

data transfer, VR, AI — all become more plausible to a greater number of people and businesses. “When you bridge that gap, reduce that distance, you unlock new visitors that are creating value, creating jobs and creating companies,” says Sami. This is why Telehouse France is building its latest data centre in collaboration 118

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with partners such as Elco Systems in Marseille. Sami says that Telehouse France, which already has a significant presence in Marseille, sees the city as one of the most important data hubs in Europe, in terms of location and its business infrastructure. This, the company predicts, will grow in importance over the next five-to-ten years.

TELEHOUSE FRANCE

“ BY EXPLOITING INTERNET ROUTES OFF THE COAST OF FRANCE AROUND MARSEILLE YOU CAN REDUCE THIS LATENCY” SAMI SLIM

CEO, TELEHOUSE FRANCE

Why the South of France? So, why is Marseille so well placed as a data hub to spread out North, East, South and West? “Marseille is one of the fastest-growing cities. Our mission is to build a new platform that will open up access between countries in Africa and the Middle East, and between Asia and Europe.

“We see Marseille as being uniquely positioned in Europe to attract traffic between Europe and a huge area of the rest of the world.” Telehouse France deemed Marseille as the best-placed location to complement the data traffic already running through cities such as Frankfurt, London, Paris and Amsterdam. Sami explains it in very simple and logical terms: “The position of Marseille offers it direct access to some key undersea systems coming not only from Asia and Africa, but also from Latin America,” he says, referring to these underwater ‘pipes’ as “submarine systems”. "The most important thing is that this location is opening up channels between Europe and the rest of the world, offering the region new routes that didn't previously exist," he says."And, of course, the benefits of these new channels of communications are two-way.” “These routes are now the backbone of the internet for billions of people because of Marseille. 4.5 billion people connected with faster and more reliable internet through Marseille via fifteen submarine cables.” Sami is very keen to make sure we all understand that, when we speak of the cloud and data storage, what we really mean datacentremagazine.com

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“ WHEN YOU BRIDGE THAT GAP, REDUCE THAT DISTANCE, YOU UNLOCK NEW VISITORS THAT ARE CREATING VALUE, CREATING JOBS AND CREATING COMPANIES” SAMI SLIM

CEO, TELEHOUSE FRANCE

is physical buildings and cables — which are very definitely earthbound. “What most of us are missing is that 99% of the Internet today is not in the cloud. It is under the sea. This is what we call the submarine system that is powering the Internet today. “Our traffic is in there, and most of the Internet routes are deep in the ocean. This is where cities such as Marseille have a great geographic advantage in attracting that traffic, with ‘breeding’ hubs to bring content and users closer to each other.” Put even more simply, this was an opportunity Telehouse France could not let slip through its fingers. Monetising with a difference Sami is keen to stress that the opportunities for Telehouse France in this venture are in no small part down to the way his company is monetising its data centres in Marseille. Although location is a huge factor in Telehouse France’s strategy, property acquisition is not. “The difference between Telehouse France and the rest of the big players in this industry is our approach. We are not monetising our data centre based on the number of square metres. 120

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TELEHOUSE FRANCE

“We are monetising our business based on the value we create for our customers within their traffic strategy, and ensuring they get close to their users and to their customers with our technology. That's a fundamental difference, we are not a real-estate player, we are a connectivity player.” And this, says Sami, is the blueprint for the future when it comes to data centre development. Telehouse France was already reshaping the data centre and connectivity business back in the 1990s. It established large data hubs in Paris and in London’s famous Docklands. “This created data hubs that attracted the most traffic, the largest number of cables and the widest variety of ecosystems,’ Sami says. This is what he calls the company’s ‘Connectivity Strategy’: “It is making those data centres really prominent on the map of the internet today.” “Today, London Docklands is the most connected data centre in the world, and Paris Voltaire is the fourth most connected hub on the planet, routing more than 50% of all the internet traffic in the country. “This is our connectivity strategy – to make our centres the heart of the telecoms world.” Sami says his company is fundamentally convinced that Europe will be the backbone of the global Internet. “Europe is in a perfect position,” he says. “Geographically, for hosting both the Southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere junction in terms of data. Europe can connect the Nordic countries, the US, Russia, China in the north, Africa, the Middle East, and the countries of Latin America from the south. “That value can happen with a ‘backbone’ coming from Marseille, going up to Paris and then diverting with two branches, East and datacentremagazine.com

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“ THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TELEHOUSE FRANCE AND THE REST OF THE BIG PLAYERS IN THIS INDUSTRY IS OUR APPROACH. WE ARE NOT A REAL-ESTATE PLAYER. WE ARE NOT MONETISING OUR DATA CENTRE BASED ON THE NUMBER OF SQUARE METRES” SAMI SLIM

CEO, TELEHOUSE FRANCE

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West: one to London and the other one to Frankfurt. “That is the map of the future of the Internet, and that’s why we think Europe will be fundamental for the future of the Internet, and that is also why we're investing heavily.” Data Centres are a hot topic However, things have been moving fast since Telehouse France first built its data centres in the 1990s. Data traffic grows exponentially day-by-day and, with that explosion in usage,

comes potential risks and consequences that need to be monitored and managed. This is where Telehouse France’s strong partnership with the German-based Elco Systems comes in. Sami says he is committed to working with smaller, nimbler, and highlyresponsive partners; Elco more than met those requirements. “We are determined to remove our dependency on large vendors in our strategy. Using a range of smaller vendors means we datacentremagazine.com

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have far greater control over the end-user or customer experience. This is important to us. Elco is a perfect example of this,” says Sami. “Elco is exactly the kind of vendor we like to have around us when we build our data centres. In designing our European business, we wanted European players around us.

Why? Because that gives our company and our customers a sense of security that we will deliver. “Elco hardware and software business. This allows us to be far more modular in terms of choice and that gives us the control over the customer experience.”

TELEHOUSE FRANCE

“Elco is an innovative solution that enables our data centre managers to monitor the health and energy of each branch circuit, gaining gain real-time insights about our data centre environment conditions,” says Sami. Elco monitors the way Telehouse France’s data centres are running. In these worrying

times, when cyber-attack is a greater threat than ever, anticipating unusual activity is vital. There is, however, another byproduct of powerful data centres that Elco monitors for Telehouse France, which also explains why the Telehouse team is so keen on working with Elco. “Data storage, data traffic, data transfer … all these processes equal heat.” Sami explains: “So, usually, when you choose an electrical or cooling component of a data centre, it comes with its own measurement and efficiency control through hardware and software. The downside is that it locks you in with that particular vendor, preventing you from developing your own customer experience in terms of portal or usage. “The great gain, when we chose Elco, is that we got the liberty of having our own software for a customer experience on the one side, but also we could choose any type of hardware on the downside of the chain. Elco sits neatly into the more open option for us,” Sami says choosing Elco was not just about its technology. It also needed to be a cultural fit. “We are in the business of ‘speed to market’,” says Sami. “So, the faster you can get the data centre up and running, the better off you are. To do that, you need to build a team with your vendor. So the spirit, the culture, the way they work with your own team is a key component in which vendor you choose. “Elco has been excellent with us in our teams. They have joined forces with us and have understood all of our constraints country by country. This is so valuable.”

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Innovative Data Centre CEOs Who are the strategic leaders of these centralised repositories of information; that store, process, and distribute huge volumes of data for clients?

WRITTEN BY: ALEX TUCK

ata centre CEOs are all heavily invested in reducing carbon in digital infrastructure materials, products and power, but there are many other priorities that require a culture of innovation to tackle. Those on this list are leading the charge as they look to protect critical information and data, stay reliable and available at all times and create adaptable physical infrastructure to ready their organisations for the rise of IoT. As the volume, scale and complexity of the data centre environment continues to pose a challenge at every turn, these CEOs are at the forefront of an increasingly connected world.

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Rob Roy

CEO & Founder

Switch

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Dr. Béla Waldhauser

A recognised world leader in data centre ecosystem design, development, and missioncritical CDC (change data capture) operations, Rob Roy is the CEO and Founder of Switch. Roy has not only designed the largest, most advanced technology ecosystems in the world, but his stamp of innovation and attention to detail can be witnessed across many sectors including robotics, storage, software development, architecture and design. Roy’s standard of excellence and leadership is visible throughout Switch and the technology industry.

CEO

KDDI

Dr. Béla Waldhauser is Chief Executive Officer of Telehouse Deutschland GmbH. Since April 2014, he has been responsible for the operational business of KDDI and Telehouse in Germany. KDDI, a Fortune Global 500 company and one of Asia's largest telecommunications providers, has a proven global track record of high-quality service delivery. KDDI provides a multitude of services, including mobile phone services, fixed-line communication, and data centres.

Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson CEO

atNorth

Jun Sawada

Icelandic high-density computing firm atNorth is leading the charge for carbon-neutral data centres. CEO Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson says: “We specialise in energyhungry workloads that require a lot of cooling – typically these workloads include things like highperformance computing, artificial intelligence, deep learning, big data and so on. We take care of everything within the highperformance computing and artificial intelligence (AI) arena with on-demand computational resources.”

President and CEO

NTT Global Data Centres

Jun Sawada is a Japanese businessman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, the third largest telecommunications company in the world in terms of revenue, since June 2018. As a top 5 global technology and business solutions provider, NTT’s diverse teams operate in 80+ countries and regions, delivering services to over 190 of them. They serve over 80% of Fortune Global 100 companies, as well as thousands of other clients and communities around the world. datacentremagazine.com

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Modular Design for a Diverse World eStruxture Delivers Flexibility Vertiv solutions, including the Vertiv™ Liebert® DSE economization system, allow eStruxture to bring equipment online faster and support the unique service level requirements of its customers. Read the Case Study

TOP 10

Jean-Pascal Tricoire

Chairman and CEO

Schneider Electric

Marcos Peigo CEO

Scala Data Centers

A seasoned leader, Marcos Peigo is the current CEO of Scala Data Centers, a hyperscale data centre platform based in the region of Latin America. Peigo is also the Operating Partner for Digital Bridge, the parent company of Scala. His previous experience includes Chairman of the Board at Modular Data Centers, and Founder and Partner of Lemniscata Ventures. He holds three degrees: Telecommunications Engineering from the Universidade São Francisco, and Electrical Engineering and Economics from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo.

Jean-Pascal Tricoire has been with Schneider Electric since 1986 when he joined the company as Project Manager. Since then, he has held other roles in the company, such as Commercial Director China, Executive Vice President of the Asia Pacific, Middle East Africa, and South America regions. He became the company’s Chairman and CEO in 2006. Schneider Electric was named as the world's most sustainable corporation by Corporate Knights, out of more than 8,000 other companies assessed for the 2021 Global 100.

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“At my first board meeting with Ark, I simply said, ‘Look guys, why don't we – as a joint ambition – set about creating the company we all always wanted to work for?’”

Huw Owen CEO

Ark Data Centres

Todd Coleman

Huw Owen joined Ark Data Centres in 2012, following a yearlong stint as President of BT Global Health. He has also been the CEO of the Atlas Consortium and a United Nations advisor for Central Asia. “At my first board meeting with Ark, I simply said, ‘Look guys, why don't we – as a joint ambition – set about creating the company we all always wanted to work for?’,” reveals Owen. “It has proved to be the best way of finding our true north.”

Founder, President & CEO

eStruxture Data Centers

With 25+ years experience in the IT, data centre and telecommunications industries, Todd Coleman is proud of a workforce that’s more than 50% diverse in some way, something that leadership at eStruxture continues to strive towards to best serve 1500+ customers that depend on their infrastructure and customer support. “That culture shift starts at the top and if you start showing that your actions and words align, the rest of the organisation embraces it and it begins to take a life of itself,” said Coleman.

TOP 10

Bill Stein

CEO & Director

Digital Realty Trust

Before being named CEO in 2014, Stein served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer. He has over 30 years of leadership experience at a wide variety of companies.

A. William Stein (Bill) is not only Digital Realty’s CEO, but also serves on its Board of Directors. Under Stein’s leadership, Digital Realty has executed a series of transformational transactions that have sharpened the company’s strategic focus and significantly enhanced its product offerings. Stein has overseen a quadrupling of the company’s total enterprise value, as well as its inclusion in the S&P 500 Index. Digital Realty states: “The most important currency exchanged between enterprises and their customers is digital trust. As the on-going surge of information accelerates, so too does the need for secure data exchange across the world.” First established in 2004, Digital Realty Trust is built on the foundation of digital trust with core values shaped by Customer Focus, Teamwork, and Results.

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Charles J. Meyers President & CEO

Equinix

eyers is responsible for leading Equinix’s strategy and innovation, with a continued track record of growth, execution and service excellence. He partners with more than 10,000 Equinix colleagues around the world to be in service to one another as well as the customers, partners, shareholders and communities in which Equinix operates. Meyers has shaped the company’s strategy and continued industry leadership, including doubling the number of global IBX data centres, evolving the

capabilities of Platform Equinix, building ecosystems with thousands of the world’s leading businesses as customers, and quadrupling revenues during his tenure. Equinix recently added four new data centres in the growing technology hub of Santiago in Chile. Through Entel, it provides an opportunity for local businesses and multinational companies to accelerate their digital transformation, while solidifying Equinix's position as the largest provider of digital infrastructure services in the region.

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MASTER POWER TECHNOLOGIES AND DIGITAL PARKS AFRICA AD FEATURE WRITTEN BY: İLKHAN ÖZSEVIM PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

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Master Power Technologies (Africa) and Digital Parks Africa (South Africa) are transforming the Data Centre environment through data and regional development.

here is something important happening in the Africa Data Centre world. “We are the biggest Data Centre (DC) support company in Africa for overall turnkey solutions,” establishes Menno Parsons, CEO of Master Power Technologies. “No other company on the African continent offers what we do in such a true turnkey fashion. Our offerings range from UPS, generators, boards, automation, modular DCs, monitoring & control systems and their hardware, Tier III & IV DCs and all their support services (such as site engineers and technicians) in one business service offering. “This is why we’re successful; this is why our clients stay with us.” Menno Parsons studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Port Elizabeth and worked for Siemens before establishing Master Power Technologies (MPT) in 1999. Since then, he has created and been at the helm of MPT — a company recognised for its effective, comprehensive DC services across the entire African continent. MPT is “in Africa, for Africa”. As one of the most extensive and most successful turnkey DC providers on the continent specialising in design, build and managed services, MPT believes that data drives the digital economy and that access to data should be a basic human right.

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Originally, MPT began as a UPS company that grew into a complete DC solutions provider. They intend to play a key role in enabling African economies through scalable DC solutions, where data can be economically distributed to drive sustainable growth. They have already won four Frost & Sullivan awards, demonstrating their ability to provide industryleading solutions to the African continent.

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“Besides just generating local revenue, we are committed to local skills development. For this reason, when we build a DC in any African country, we incorporate and empower as many locals as possible throughout the journey, which may potentially lead to permanent employment of local content,” says Rory Reid, Head of Department for Data Centres at MPT. “Our DC handover extends

MASTER POWER TECHNOLOGIES

MENNO PARSONS TITLE: CEO INDUSTRY:TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: SOUTH AFRICA Menno Parsons founded Master Power Technologies in 1999, a critical power and Data Centre solutions provider that brings innovative and quality solutions to the market. Menno has led the company to evolve from an entity selling solely UPS systems to the largest turnkey Data Centre solutions provider on the continent. Master Power Technologies has a footprint in 16 African countries and provides critical infrastructure remote monitoring solutions to over 150 sites. The company received 4 Frost and Sullivan Data Centre Leadership Awards, a testimony of its excellence in Africa's Data Centre market. Menno has a deep understanding of client’s often harsh working environments and matches those conditions to world leading products to give customers the competitive edge needed to succeed in their markets. He is Proudly South African and dedicated to developing the continent with local content and resources. In addition, he is known for his passion for empowering and developing young individuals and professionals.

MASTER POWER TECHNOLOGIES

beyond delivering only a site; we continue to support our clients in areas such as operations, maintenance, remote monitoring or whatever it may be, for that DC.” Reid has a lengthy electrical industry background where he has witnessed the invariable link between economic growth and data. He now leads the DC business as Head of Department to support the massive increase in demand on the continent. MPT provides brick-and-mortar, modular, and prefabricated data centre solutions. They are a trusted, true turnkey provider, supplying clients with the best-in-class solutions to suit their needs and environments. MPT is not a one-size-fits-all operation; their priority is to work closely with clients and ensure that they are provided with the best, redundant and most reliable

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solutions explicitly catered to their unique requirements. In addition, MPT has forged strong partnerships with the big critical power OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and is the sole supplier for many in the region. “We do not just deliver a site and then disappear,” says MPT’s Parsons. “We provide exceptional after-sales support, particularly because we intimately understand the particular challenges of the DC environments in Africa. Many global players adapt and design their DCs specifically to the environments they are accustomed to, but that which works for one environment doesn’t necessarily translate into being fit for another. It’s a question of familiarity and expertise.” says MPT’s Reid. “With over 20 years of experience in the region, we understand the issues distinctive to

MASTER POWER TECHNOLOGIES

OUR DC HANDOVER EXTENDS BEYOND DELIVERING ONLY A SITE RORY REID TITLE: HOD: DATA CENTRES INDUSTRY:TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: SOUTH AFRICA Rory Reid joined Master Power Technologies in 2014 as the Sales and Marketing Manager and has over 7 years' experience in the Data Centre industry. Rory delivers best-in-class data centre solutions to a portfolio of global clients and is involved with site audits to assist clients to identify improvements which could be made around reliability, efficiency, and redundancy of the complete system. Prior to joining Master Power Technologies, Rory spent over 16 years leading sales and project management teams within the electrical and power industry. He successfully completed his Uptime Institute Tier Designer Accreditation in December 2020.

DIGITAL PARKS AFRICA

JACQUES DE JAGER TITLE: CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER INDUSTRY: IT SERVICES LOCATION: SOUTH AFRICA

EXECUTIVE BIO

Jacques has a strong technical background and is currently responsible for all Data Centre operation at Digital Parks Africa. Prior to joining Digital Parks Africa, Jacques spent nine years in IT management for the electrical engineering and telecommunications industries. Armed with over a decade of Enterprise Networking, Information Technology Security, and Data Centre Infrastructure Management experience, Jacques successfully fulfils the role of Chief Information Officer at Digital Parks Africa.

AFRICA CAN’T GROW WITHOUT DC TECHNOLOGY

Africa and the environment. We treat each client on a case-by-case basis, making for successful projects and satisfied clients.” Alongside providing end-to-end solutions from site inspection to planning, design and construction to onsite-commissioning, remote monitoring, and after-delivery services, MPT probably has the largest Uptime accredited team on the continent, including 10 Uptime Accredited Tier Design engineers — of which their CEO, Menno Parsons, is one. In terms of their reach, MPT is building and providing turnkey data centres solutions across the entire continent — including in South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Madagascar, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Senegal, Ghana, Congo, DRC, Angola, and Namibia to name a few. The Data Centre market in Africa is snowballing, and the necessity of reliable and resilient DC services and solutions has become critical to the continent’s digital development. MPT supports the evergrowing demands and is the most prominent DC builder in Africa. One of its most recent projects was designing and building Africa’s largest modular DC, Digital Parks Africa (DPA). DPA is one of South Africa’s most resilient, carrier-neutral hyperscale DCs, that targets colocation, enterprise and hyperscale clients. It provides world-class DC services

with unrestricted interconnection between clients, thus, offering better value, lower latency, and higher resilience DC solutions. MPT and DPA are two distinct companies that work in close collaboration to meet the growing demands for large-scale data services, hosting, and DC operations. Both are effective operators in the DC world, and they contend with similar considerations and have common problems for which to offer solutions, albeit in different ways. When most clients hear the term ‘DC Flexibility’, they tend to only think about redundancy and tier classifications, but true flexibility should also be reflected in a business model strategy. True business flexibility is a holistic attribute, and Menno Parsons clearly has it in abundance and is recognised for it across Africa and beyond its borders. On this very point, Parsons says: “For some of our projects across Africa, our Telco clients noted that they would rather operationalise some of their expenses than investing further Capex. This was a big turning point and marked the establishment of Digital Parks Africa.” “In a developed world, you don’t notice the massive impact of technology challenges,” says Jacques de Jager, Chief Operations Officer at Digital Parks Africa (DPA). “Nevertheless, Africa has its challenges, and datacentremagazine.com

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DIGITAL PARKS AFRICA

they are not all, obviously technology-related.” Speaking from DPA, de Jager says: “Unfortunately, many parts in South Africa are underdeveloped, leading to various challenges such as increased cost of living, unusual power outages and transportation issues. Luckily, the digital world’s empowerment through connectivity solves many of these problems. “At DPA, digitally, we are on the move, and our goal is to bring content to and educate consumers at high speeds. We are involved in many social development programs, as the link between development and data, is inseparable. I believe that this will be a big differentiator for the African continent. We want to make an impact in South Africa, both technologically and socio-economically, and we are already well on our way — living our slogan ‘The Digital Heartbeat of Africa’.” Jacques de Jager‘s career started in the

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WE ARE IN AFRICA, FOR AFRICA MENNO PARSONS

CEO, MASTER POWER TECHNOLOGIES & DIGITAL PARKS AFRICA

information and communications field, focusing on Enterprise and IT-space type deployments and management thereof. He moved on to work for enterprise companies, managing their IT environments in the DC space. De Jager is currently Chief Operations Officer at Digital Parks Africa (DPA) which is now one of South Africa’s fastest growing DCs. MPT and DPA play very important roles in

developing and connecting Africa. “There’s a lot of talent in Africa,” says DPA’s de Jager. “I think that DPA can play a big role in developing both the local regions and the community and providing opportunities to share insights and visions while adding value to the industry.” De Jager believes that “Africa can’t grow without DC technology”. Simply stated, digitisation directly translates into economic growth, and the more digital services and operations that are channelled towards this goal, the more likely it is to be achieved. DPA might be the new kid on the block, but it brings about a scalable environment and a bona fide ability to grow alongside rapid technological changes and advancements. With reliable infrastructure in place, it is no surprise that DPA is already one of the most resilient DCs on the continent. Offering a remarkable, secure, and sustainable ecosystem for data-hungry technologies and ICT infrastructure, DPA provides flexible, high-power-density, ranging from 3-15kW per rack - which is phenomenal for South Africa. DPA is the perfect solution for companies who want to convert their Capex into OPEX (Operating Expense). The facility is Uptime Tier III Design (level 1) Certified and offers concurrent maintainability and fault tolerance, with 2(N+1) redundancy. datacentremagazine.com

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99.999% Uptime and our capacity Utility is

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DPA is currently undergoing Uptime Tier IV construct certification for its first of three phases (in Level 3) to guarantee the highest level of reliability. DPA is built around best business practices, compliance, and maintains an internationally certified infrastructure. Certifications include ISO 9001:2015, ISO 27001:2013, PCI-DSS and data privacy compliance. Furthermore, DPA is equipped with armed guards, 24/7 CCTV coverage, biometric access, vehicle trap, on-andoffsite Network Operating Centre managed

MASTER POWER TECHNOLOGIES

WE ARE THE BIGGEST DATA CENTRE (DC) SUPPORT COMPANY IN AFRICA FOR OVERALL TURNKEY SOLUTIONS MENNO PARSONS

CEO, MASTER POWER TECHNOLOGIES & DIGITAL PARKS AFRICA

to provide clients with enhanced security and reliability. “DPA adopts modern technologies and energy-efficient backup power infrastructure that guarantees an uptime of 99.999%. The facility, which has a Utility capacity of 24MVA, has been purposedesigned to quickly scale up to meet customer demands, in line with its commitment to grow the South Africa Data Centre market. Besides the obvious needs of the digital economy, Industry 4.0 also requires a robust technological

communications infrastructure, which DPA can provide,” concludes de Jager. “DPA is a proudly South African company, backed by an exceptional team of experts, including six Uptime Accredited Operations Specialists. We are privileged to play a part in the digital economy enabling companies to succeed in their digital transformation programmes," says Menno Parsons.

MASTER POWER TECHNOLOGIES DIGITAL PARKS AFRICA

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WRITTEN BY: CATHERINE GRAY PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

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Establishing sustainable data centres in the Middle East datacentremagazine.com

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Himmath Mohammed Head of Sales and Strategies, Gulf Data Hub

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As the data centre market continues to grow in the Middle East, Himmath Mohammed explains how GDH are leading the way for colocation providers

ffering first-of-its-kind Data Centres in the Middle East, Gulf Data Hub (GDH) is looking to transform the region with innovative data hubs as the market continues going from strength-to-strength. Expanding its worldwide presence, GDH provides purposefully built centres that offer customers a resilient environment from hosting, disaster and workplace recovery, cloud platforms, and connectivity to its core colocation. In the eight years since its founding, GDH has grown massively, competing with some of the largest names and biggest brands in the industry. Himmath Mohammed, who is Head of Sales and Strategies, as well as being a key member of the company, is dedicated to ensuring that customers know GDH offer best-in-class services. “We assure customers as they know their data is 100% protected. There will be no downtime, the equipment will be always taken care of with the utmost care, with all power cooling and all international standards of connectivity. Since 2014 until today GDH has 100% SLA compliance which itself is a major achievement.” Differing from the data centre market in the West, the Middle East is not as large or mature as its Western counterpart. Mohammed explains that, as GDH looks to lead the market while it continues to

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Establishing sustainable data Titleinof the video East centres the Middle

East, you have only one source and one grid. So, you have to optimise your operations in such a way as to compensate for these shortfalls of availability; you have to compensate with your design, with your operations so that they should not interfere in the provision of your services.” “After maturing into eight years in this field and in this market, we see that there are a lot of shortfalls in the different ecosystems of data centres. One of the major challenges is international connectivity and exchange hubs, which are not available in the way they are in the mature markets,” he adds. With this lack of resources, GDH could potentially have its capital expenditure affected, but Mohammed outlines the innovative ways GDH looks to avoid this, while also providing its customers with the

“ WE ASSURE CUSTOMERS, AS THEY KNOW THEIR DATA IS 100% PROTECTED. THERE WILL BE NO DOWNTIME, THE EQUIPMENT WILL BE ALWAYS TAKEN CARE OF WITH THE UTMOST CARE, WITH ALL POWER COOLING AND ALL INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS OF CONNECTIVITY” HIMMATH MOHAMMED

HEAD OF SALES & STRATEGIES, GULF DATA HUB

grow, there are a number of obstacles that the organisation faces – particularly as the resources are more limited: “The major challenges are around measuring the performance of data centres, ensuring that the data centre uptime is always available, and complying with the SLAs of our customers. These are the major challenges we foresee, especially as this region isn't as mature as Europe or the US. In the Middle 156

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TAREK AL ASHRAM TITLE: CEO COMPANY: GULF DATA HUB INDUSTRY: DATA CENTRES LOCATION: DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

EXECUTIVE BIO

Tarek is the pioneer of launching and introducing Interactive TV services across MENA way back in 2002. Tarek has launched leading Media and voice over services for many TV channel productions. Self-made and self-funded, he has launched many innovative services in Middle East . As a man of vision he foresaw the Data Center Market in 2012 and launched Gulf Data Hub which has todate delivered world class services in Middle East Market.

“OUR GOAL IS TO PROVIDE A WORLD CLASS CARRIER AND VENDOR-NEUTRAL DATA CENTRE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. MAINTAINING NEUTRALITY WILL INCREASE THE CUSTOMER SPECTRUM, ALLOWING GULF DATA HUB TO BECOME THE REGION’S FIRST-CHOICE FACILITY TO STORE COMPANIES’ MISSION CRITICAL EQUIPMENT” TAREK AL ASHRAM

CEO, GULF DATA HUB

solutions they need: “We have to be prepared at a design level and the MEP/Operations level. Even though there isn't a dual power supply, in-house we have prime generators, with both diesel and fuel available so that our generators – even if there is downtime from a utility – are capable of operating 24/7, 365 days. So, we have built such a system that we are not dependent on one source. Now, we provide a one-stop-shop where customers can host and interconnect their primary and DR sites or any multiple locations, giving them connectivity within the region and across the globe.” Driving forward sustainable data centres in the Middle East Not only is GDH innovating in a less developed market to ensure it provides the best possible colocation services, but it is also exploring the world of renewable energy to align itself with global sustainability targets. Mohammed explains: “Especially with international regulations of carbon footprints and net-zero coming into law, everybody's looking for sustainable alternatives – this is even one of the requirements from some of our major customers, who ask, ‘How are you planning for sustainable data centres?’ So, we always look for new opportunities. Yes, renewable energy is still in the initial stages in the Middle East. Yes, there are solar and other renewable energy plants coming up but they are not yet available for commercial use. GDH always explore innovative energy solutions like immersion cooling. All that stuff is being discussed but is not yet available in the market on a commercial level.” On top of the exploration into renewables with sources such as solar and nuclear power, GHD also looks to implement low-level sustainable solutions, which is already part of the company’s portfolio. datacentremagazine.com

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GULF DATA HUB

“ NOW, WE PROVIDE A ONESTOP-SHOP WHERE CUSTOMERS CAN HOST AND THEY CAN INTERCONNECT THEIR PRIMARY AND DR SITES OR ANY MULTIPLE LOCATIONS, WHICH GIVES THEM CONNECTIVITY WITHIN THE REGION AND ACROSS THE GLOBE” HIMMATH MOHAMMED

HEAD OF SALES & STRATEGIES, GULF DATA HUB

One solution that GDH is pushing to become commercially viable is immersion cooling, which would result in a significant reduction in energy consumption, with some predicting it will account for a 25% overall reduction in a data centre's carbon footprint. By redesigning data centre air management, GDH will be able to prevent re-circulation of hot air from IT systems. “This is still in the testing phase in the region; it's not commercially rolled out. So,

immersion cooling is for sure coming in to stay here, and it will drastically change power consumption and dependency on fossil fuels in the data centre business,” adds the Head of Sales and Strategies. Another key solution GDH are looking into is artificial intelligence (AI), which will support the organisation with the cooling solutions it is keen to put in place, as Mohammed explains: “We want to create effective cooling methods that use the air outside. This reduces energy costs by 40 percent! Maybe unknowingly, we are cooling certain equipment that doesn’t require much cooling, but AI can identify this for us. So this AI system, once deployed in our data centres, will give us a lot of data where we can efficiently manage our power consumption and can efficiently manage our cooling systems, which will help our overall efficiency.” datacentremagazine.com

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Aiming to implement this at different levels, GDH is looking to AI to support the company with preventive and corrective maintenance. Using data collected from its centres and machinery, GDH will be able to be more proactive with its maintenance activities, ultimately reducing expenditure. “On top of that, we are looking towards AI that can give you the failure rate of certain equipment. We hope this will help us predict if and when there will be a failure in our chiller or a failure in our transformer. There are a lot of different ways data will help us in optimising facility management,” says Mohammed. GDH’s ambitious expansion plans Not only do GDH have ambitious technological and sustainability goals, 162

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but the company is also embarking upon a significant expansion plan. There’s no doubt that the pandemic caused a rapid uptake in the need for data centre facilities. Data centre growth has been driven by increased company awareness of the benefits that cloud services can provide and increased pressure from the boards to provide more secure, robust IT environments, along with the setup of local data centres across the world. According to Deloitte, the need for colocation facilities will only grow as more and more companies look to bolster their IT capabilities; for GDH, the uptake was more than ten times what it predicted.

“ WE ARE LOOKING TOWARDS AI THAT CAN GIVE YOU THE FAILURE RATE OF CERTAIN EQUIPMENT. WE HOPE THIS WILL ENABLE US TO PREDICT IF AND WHEN THERE WILL BE A FAILURE IN OUR CHILLER OR A FAILURE IN OUR TRANSFORMER” HIMMATH MOHAMMED

“High availability of IT is required for the businesses to keep on running. So obviously, it can't be on-prem because if it is on-prem, the IT team has to be there, they have to monitor. So, everybody is going colocation or on the cloud. And again, the cloud has to reside somewhere, which is often in the data centre. All the cloud platforms, whether it's Microsoft or AWS or Google, have to reside somewhere in a facility. That's what we provide,” says Mohammed.

EXECUTIVE BIO

HEAD OF SALES & STRATEGIES, GULF DATA HUB

HIMMATH MOHAMMED TITLE: HEAD OF SALES & STRATEGIES COMPANY: GULF DATA HUB INDUSTRY: DATA CENTRES LOCATION: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Himmath Mohammed is a versatile and comprehensive leader with experience in managing and delivering ICT solutions. Throughout his career, Mohammed has delivered sustainable revenue gains in emerging and mature business markets. The Head of Sales and Strategy has demonstrated success in managing, planning, programme leadership, product strategies, and alliances. Mohammed has hands-on experience in a full range of business operations, including: sales, marketing, engineering, quality assurance, training and support. He has also established strategy, methodologies, product, support, & service offerings. Mohammed is an enthusiastic team professional with a passion and dedication for customer care, identifying trends and solving business opportunities through bespoke solutions and strategic partnerships.

GULF DATA HUB

“ OUR PLAN IN THE NEXT 12 TO 18 MONTHS IS TO AT LEAST MULTIPLY OUR CAPACITIES BY THREE- OR FOUR-FOLD, WHICH IS ALREADY IN THE PIPELINE. WE ARE ROLLING OUT IN BAHRAIN, WE ARE ROLLING OUT MULTIPLE DATA CENTRES IN SAUDI, KUWAIT, MOROCCO AND EGYPT” HIMMATH MOHAMMED

HEAD OF SALES & STRATEGIES, GULF DATA HUB

“This has driven a lot of push, especially with government entities releasing a law stating that, whatever data of any company, their data should reside within the country. So earlier, the data was being hosted on the cloud and the cloud was in a different country. Now, though, the push is to bring back that data into each country – which means, if such data is coming back into this country, then all these business entities bringing back their data need to host it in a purpose-built data centre. This means there is a huge demand to build infrastructure in the coming few years in an advanced manner,” he adds. 164

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With these new regulations and the high demand for data centres, GDH recognises the need to grow both quickly and sustainably. To deal with this short timeline, the company has signed a framework agreement with its vendors and partners to ensure it has a commitment from its supply chain, in terms of the delivery of equipment to facilitate this expansion. Concluding, Mohammed explains how the future for GDH is heavily focused on this expansion: “Our plan is to invest US$1bn in the the next 12 to 18 months to multiply our capacities three- or fourfold, which is already in the pipeline. We

are rolling out in Bahrain, we are rolling out multiple data centres in Saudi, Kuwait, Morocco and Egypt. We are implementing this because there is a huge demand, especially with artificial intelligence, automated cars, augmented reality, and gaming platforms coming in, which are driving huge data centre requirements. We see there is a lot of demand coming in the future, so we are trying to multiply our operations and projects four-fold.”

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Going beyond Belgium, with eyes on FLAP WRITTEN BY: İLKHAN ÖZSEVIM PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

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Friso Haringsma, Managing Director of DataCenter United, talks DC expansion, work culture and why local problems require local solutions

ith the recent acquisition of another three data centres (DCs) across several regions, DataCenter United (DCU) – based in Antwerp, Belgium – is growing at an increasingly rapid pace. “We want a country-wide network of well-connected, well-established, highquality and efficient DCs that offer multiple services to our customers,” says Friso Haringsma, Managing Director of DCU. Haringsma originally gained experience of the DC world through being a customer at a previous IT company, the workings of which allowed him the insight and expertise to establish DCU down the line. A further, and critical insight into the GC market needs came from his discernment of a disparity in demand and supply. Haringsma says: “DCU was founded in 2010 with our first Antwerp DC, after we noticed that engineers were always travelling to other regions and countries because there were simply no solutions in the local area. So we recognised a gap in the market, saw an opportunity due to the high demand and short supply of such services, and so established DCU – only, it wasn’t called DCU back then. The ‘united’ designation came about after our expansions, establishing interconnectivity between our web of DCs, which were then united, digitally-speaking.” 168

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In the past, it was common for customers to bring their services to the physical DC itself, after which it was up to them to cope with the travel times and expenses. “But our vision was different,” says Haringsma. “We wanted to bring our services directly to the customer, and the eventual development and expansion of DCU flowed from this.” DCU then continued acquiring DCs – including another 3 this year alone – bringing up their numbers to a total of six. The chronology of DCU’s growth looks like this: its first DC was established in Antwerp in 2010; in 2012, it acquired a DC in Brussels; in 2016, it acquired another in Antwerp; and, this year, it acquired 3 more, with one in Bruges, one 170

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in Ghent and another in Southern Antwerp, effectively doubling its numbers. As stated on the company website, DCU now possesses ‘6 Belgian state-of-the-art, carrier-neutral data centres’ – “and we are not finished yet,” says Haringsma. “We are quite ambitious to get more market-share and present ourselves to the wider European DC market as a viable, cost-effective alternative to giant DC providers.” DCU also recently became Tier IV DC certified, being recognised for its design, operations and build sustainability. “We also have flexible and transparent ways of working that are embedded into our culture,” says Haringsma.

“We want a countrywide network of well-connected, wellestablished, high-quality and efficient DCs that offer multiple services to our customers” FRISO HARINGSMA

MANAGING DIRECTOR, DATACENTER UNITED

EXECUTIVE BIO FRISO HARINGSMA TITLE: MANAGING DIRECTOR LOCATION: ANTWERP, BELGIUM Friso Haringsma is an expert on the topics data management, data centre and server infrastructure services & cloud computing. Friso has a broad knowledge of management and strategy, gaining experience at several IT companies before he founded Datacenter United in 2010. He is still CEO there. Thanks to his experience with both indirect and direct channels in B2C and B2B, Friso

Haringsma is a true all-rounder. Under Friso's leadership Datacenter United grew into a top player in the field of datacenter and cloud services. As the foundation of the digital economy the company provides an ideal environment to run private, hybrid and public cloud services. The participation in 2020 of the publicly listed company TINC in the company underlines the long-term vision and the great confidence in the company.

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Expanding on DCU’s organisational vision, he continues: “Edge and Proximity have always been a part of our organisational nature, and that was a further driving force to acquire more local DCs. Transparency is not just an abstract principle at DCU, but is embedded in all aspects of our operations, whether it be in terms of our numbers, the temperatures of the centres themselves, atmospheric humidity, energy consumption and so on.” DCU established a portal back in 2010, allowing customers to keep an eye on all aspects of these services. Haringsma says: “It is important for us to not be a black box, and so communication and dialogue with our customers is absolutely key to us.” Tier IV and DCU’s Culture There was a myth that, in Belgium, it was impossible to achieve a Tier IV DC. “Some journalists even said they had consulted with their experts,” says Haringsma, “and I said ‘these are clearly the wrong experts’.” Asked about DCU’s Tier IV certification in relation to its culture, Harigsma says: “If you look at the Belgium DC landscape, you see large companies are driving the business – big names with big money, and unfortunately, mainly big real estate companies who are buying and selling real estate for profits. In other words, they create value for themselves but not for the local communities.” This insight emphasises DCU’s determination to balance social values with its DC business interests. “DCU on the other hand,” says Haringsma, “is a way of waving the flag and showing our customers that we can add a lot of value to the market by offering really high-quality services, with a great culture to boot. 172

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“Tier IV is internationally known as the highest quality DC available. The knowledge and perception of DCs is incorrect most of the time, as everybody claims to have a certain quality of DCs, with most assuming that, if it looks good, then it must be good – but if you look under the bonnet you can see that it isn't. You can't claim to be a certain quality without certification – the devil’s in the details. “So from a certain perspective, Tier IV isn't difficult to achieve, but in actuality, you need full certification to have credibility. Our team was instrumental in designing and building our DCs, which in turn built

“ We wanted to bring our services directly to the customer, and the eventual development and expansion of DCU flowed from this” FRISO HARINGSMA

MANAGING DIRECTOR, DATACENTER UNITED

trust, and they have very good knowledge of the techniques and a mastery of the operations involved.” DCU concentrates a lot of its energies on competing as a smaller DC, demonstrating that data services should be orientated around people and communities. “A smaller partner can be a reliable partner,” he says, “and can offer pricing as well as a high quality of service. The initial investment may cost more, but it isn't affecting the operational part.” DCU offers Migration Services that are fully managed in-house. Haringsma says: “We were active in seven DCs at one time, datacentremagazine.com

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WHAT IF THE POWER FAILS? Elinex supplied the emergency power supply to the new Antwerp DC

Belgium has its first TIER IV Data Center. Antwerp DC, one of the Data Centers of Datacenter United, has been officially certified as TIER IV by the UPTIME institute since February. The emergency power installations designed and supplied by Elinex are an essential component Elinex designs, builds and maintains entire emergency power installations, brand independent, within the Benelux. With more than 35 years of experience, they a partner for many Data Centers. Together with Huawei, Elinex has been providing modular Data Center solutions to its customers since 2014. This goes beyond just emergency power solutions.

Maintenance while maintaining all redundancies Jo Van Den Langenbergh, Operational Director DC United clarifies: "Maintenance can be carried out while maintaining all redundancies. In order to be Tier IV certified, the emergency power supply must also be designed to maintain redundancy during maintenance. Elinex created and implemented this design. They also supplied the racks and distributors, consisting of synchronization boards and main distribution. The UPS solution concerns the high

efficiency (+97%) modular Huawei 5000 UPS. As a result, expansion in power is easy to realize at any time.”

Single Fault Tolerance Jo states: "It's not just about the data, but also about the building itself. A Single Fault Tolerance applies to everything, including the BMS. Every error must come into the picture, even if that is a problem with the climate system, for example. So we have a double redundancy on everything.”

TIER IV important for specific sectors Friso Haringsma, Managing Director DC United: "For the majority of customers, TIER III is sufficient, but for heavy e-commerce companies, governments, pharma companies and companies that handle privacy-sensitive data, TIER IV is almost a must. We are pleased with Elinex's efforts, which fit seamlessly with the requirements and wishes we had for Antwerp DC. In addition to their expertise that came in very handy in this project, they are of special value because they are 'independant', just like us. We have a maintenance contract with them based on response time of 4 hours. This not only benefits Datacenter United, but especially our customers."

Learn more

DataCenter United is expanding beyond Belgium with eyes on FLAP

“DCU was founded in 2010 with our first Antwerp DC, after we noticed that engineers were always travelling to other regions and countries because there were simply no solutions in the local area" FRISO HARINGSMA

MANAGING DIRECTOR, DATACENTER UNITED

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installing equipment, moving things around and of course, engineers and technicians can be expensive. So it was natural for me to concentrate on customers through migration services and moving DC’s inter-location. “You can't always build-out at a new location; a lot of the time you need to migrate, and this needs to be done with minimal downtime and constraints, and without issues for the local team.”

Edge Location Services and The Question of Sustainability There are certain global-to-local trends that Haringsma sees impacting the Belgium market. “In Belgium,” he says, “we are seeing a lot of movement to cloud services and many DCs reevaluating their businesses and their real estate. For many DCs however, it isn't their primary business, so in the end, it isn't their cup of tea. DCs are always either too datacentremagazine.com

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big or too small, or running bottle-necks that are way too costly. These problems require solutions. That is why we try to bring our services to our customers through multiple DCs, over an area of about 75-100 km (about a one hour drive in either direction). “Some companies don't do everything themselves. They use IT partners, but if you can bring the DCs to your customers yourselves, it’s added-value. So we want to accelerate bringing our DCs to our customers in the future, and provide On-Net and Off-Net options over multiple DCs.” DCU’s biggest driver is for proximity DCs. “5G means decentralised data, compute, network ability and storage,” Haringsma says, “and so the services we provide are requirements for this development.” For many DCs, sustainability is an afterthought. The centres are built with the explicit – and sometimes sole purpose – of data provision, thus sustainability considerations come later. “We are trying to be sustainable by nature, being as efficient as possible,” says Haringsma. “But it must be remembered that there are multiple drivers. By affecting all the variables that we have under our control, we are able to lower costs and achieve higher sustainability. However, it must be said that service-continuity is always the primary focus, and then comes sustainability. “Nevertheless, we reuse water, utilise solar panels and have heat exchange systems that redirect waste heat to reheat our warehouses, for example. We try to do our best in handling those things.” Haringsma alludes to the fact that most talk of sustainability in the DC world is not entirely honest. After all, a DC’s primary output is energy, not data. “We could change the loads of machines,” says Haringsma, “but this is the responsibility of 178

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DATACENTER UNITED

LOCAL EMPLOYMENT Local employment (both direct or indirect) equates to around 15 or 16 people employed per rack or server, and every one euro attached to DCs creates multiple times its value for the local economy.

our customers, including things like killing zombie DCs and so on. We make sure they have a more efficient server infrastructure, but there are further constraints on sustainability for private DCs in general, because they are not being controlled by the government.” On-Prem Legacy DCs that are converted into commercial DCs have an even higher PUE (Power usage effectiveness). “We are 1.3, 1.4 or 1.5, where some private DCs have a PUE of 4 or even 5. We are hundreds of percentage points more efficient and sustainable,” he says. “We can't change the fact that a server and digital infrastrastructure needs energy, and we do need to raise more awareness about this. The clouds run on machines, and a lot of people don't have a clue about this, so we need to fight against this lack of understanding and educate them. Further, why should we pay for an upgrade of the grid, when Mr. Facebook and Mr. Amazon are using up all of our energy for the next 2-3 years?” Local DCs add local value to local banks, insurance companies, accounting firms, IT and Logistics companies – and DCU directly adds value to the local economy through these connections. Haringsma points out that local employment (both direct and indirect) equates to around 15 or 16 people employed per rack or server, and every one euro attached to DCs creates multiple times its value for the local economy. “A local company also pays local taxes and serves the local community, but this is not the case with an international DC,” he says. Haringsma believes that in the future, every town and village should have its own DC, and must give back to society, in energy that should all eventually be recyclable. datacentremagazine.com

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“ We are quite ambitious to get more marketshare and present ourselves to the wider European DC market as a viable, costeffective alternative to giant DC providers” FRISO HARINGSMA

MANAGING DIRECTOR, DATACENTER UNITED

DCU’s Partner Ecosystem In terms of its current energy needs, one of DCU’s partners is Elinex, “who are very good partners”. “They provide us with many benefits, but one thing is they have a good culture and vision, and organise to build certain solutions. They are also really hands-on and are a good fit for us,” says Haringsma. “They also know what they're talking about. We have around 10 or 15 UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) brands, and it's hard to keep track of what they're all doing in the market and their constant evolution. Elinex can take us directly to brands, and they really help us provide solutions while also providing the right information to allow us to be an effective provider.” “We also partner with Huawei, whose equipment – according to my technicians – is really well-designed and allows us to be more efficient in our DC provisions,” he says. Belgium is in the middle of the FLAP (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris) region, which makes up the primary DC market. DCU has high hopes that the

Belgian market will grow even more than it already has in the past few years. As for future trends, Haringsma says: “I see consolidation in the market. There is a lot of money involved, and it seems that everyone wants a piece of the pie when they hear the words ‘digital infrastructure’. When they say ‘5G’, I say, ‘ok show me’. A lot of bubbles are created by those who don't know how DCs actually work. “Transparency will also be a central theme, but as complexity accelerates, there will be too many applications that can potentially break down, so diverse solutions will be needed. Most importantly, the customer has to be able to focus on their own business, and more partnerships will be able to make this happen.” Ever-expanding, DCU has just received approval for the expansion of their current Antwerp Datacenter flagship location, adding another 6000 sqm of IT space, bringing it up to become a 20 MW facility.

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Magnús Kristinsson, CEO of atNorth DCs, on Investment and Growth 182

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atNorth CEO Magnús Kristinsson talks about their DC expansion into new markets and the investments and underlying vision that has driven AN’s evolution

tNorth was established back in 2009, and from its inception it has championed an entrepreneurial driving spirit. “We basically consider ourselves to be a startup company,” says Magnús Kristinsson, CEO of atNorth, “and in December 2021, we were acquired by Partners Group, which is one of the largest private market firms in the world. What this means for us is that we will need to find a new balance between the institutional and the startup spirit, as this move opens up many opportunities for us.” atNorth is the largest colocation Data Centre (DC) operator in Iceland, recognised for its high-density computing technology coupled with its dedication to sustainability. The DC company is headquartered in Reykjavik and already has several operations across Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom - despite its early start-up ethos, its acquisition by Partners Group has bestowed atNorth with access to a completely different level of funding, set to further fuel its quickening expansion and growth. This is the quid pro quo that sustainabilityfocused and start-up-spirited DCs must make when such large investment is the key consideration. In fact, such a move provides opportunities to achieve goals that may have seemed long out-of-reach, but presently have become a reality that will, in all likelihood, see atNorth achieve goals that were not even possible for the DC company just a few short years ago. 184

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Year Founded

50+

Number of Employees

$53mn

Revenue in USD

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“Our partner ecosystem is essential to us,” says Kristinsson, “since we are not a big organisation. We have a supply chain of key partners that we work with, and we would not be able to build our DCs, nor service our customers, without it.” Another one of atNorth’s key partners is Systemair, who they have been working with since 2019 and who provide their DCs with cooling systems and solutions in Iceland’s very cold climate. Kristinsson is an engineer and has been working in IT since the beginning of his career. Back then, he was a part of Advania - the company that eventually acquired atNorth in 2011. At the time, atNorth was a very small data centre, started by some pioneers that had already realised that DCs in remote locations such as Iceland - where the cold climate could be utilised and there was an abundance of renewable energy was a great idea, but the business model was just not working. “We then turned it around and made it into a very successful data company,” says Kristinsson. “At the time, I ran it as a business unit within Advania. But in 2018, I stepped in as full-time CEO, and the growth journey of atNorth really took off. Although I’m the CEO of atNorth, based out of Reykjavik, I spend a lot of time in Stockholm, where we’re building our first DataCentre outside of Iceland. The first atNorth site, which they acquired back in 2011, is built in an old printing facility. Given the size of the data and the footprint that they have today, it was a very small site with a capacity of approximately 3MW. Very soon after that, in 2014, they expanded into a new ’Megasite’ where they have access to 80MW running at 100% renewable energy, built on approximately 18,000 SQM of DC space. In 2020, atNorth 186

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started the construction of their first data centre outside of Iceland, in Stockholm. The inauguration ceremony of the DC was held in the first week of March, this year. atNorth has been and will continue to expand into areas outside of Iceland, providing ‘more compute for a better world’, as its slogan goes. Its ambitions are recognised throughout the global DC industry, and it occupies a strategic position

ATNORTH

MAGNÚS KRISTINSSON TITLE: CEO LOCATION: KÓPAVOGUR, CAPITAL REGION, ICELAND

“ Everything is changing in the world of digitalisation” MAGNÚS KRISTINSSON CEO, ATNORTH

EXECUTIVE BIO

Magnus has been the CEO of atNorth since January 2018. From 2010-2017, Magnus was MD of Managed Service for Advania, but atNorth was then a part of Advania’s Managed Service business. Before that Magnus worked for Vodafone in Iceland. Magnus holds a M.Sc. in Engineering from Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Iceland. Magnus was born in Sweden 1976. A fact you may not know is that Magnus was a football referee in the Icelandic top division for years and has refereed in the Finnish, Danish and Norwegian leagues.

ATNORTH

“ Our partner ecosystem is essential to us” MAGNÚS KRISTINSSON CEO, ATNORTH

in the DC space, having an early vision that would eventually see its successes recognised and its potential endorsed by the approaches of investors and partners from all over the business world. “Since our inception, we’ve basically been focusing on high-density workloads,” says Kristinsson, “as well as aiming for low latency requirements, workloads in HPC (High Performance Computing), Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning and Natural Language Processing.” atNorth’s uniqueness doesn’t arise from one particular USP (Unique Selling Point) like many other DCs - or even companies in general, for that matter.

“I think that what makes us different from other DC companies rests on a whole set of attributes. One of the most important, of course, is our fundamental sustainability focus. All our DCs are built out of materials that are as sustainable as possible. We use renewable energy only, and our DCs are designed with energy-efficiency in mind from the outset. On top of this, our market focus is on workloads that need high rack density and use a lot of electricity. “One of the main things that sets us apart is that as operators, we are born in IT and don't come from real estate, as many DC operators do. That means that flexibility and the creativity to bring a project to fruition is a central part of our thinking. We also understand that time-to-market is key for our customers, so we are strongly solutions-focused. We not only provide housing for computers - as many other DCs do - but we actually build the computer clusters for our clients, and if needed, we operate them as well.” atNorth partly provides traditional column high-density racks, but also low-density, too, with all the required ancillary services and, given their flexible nature, can even do buildto-suit projects on their own campuses. Many of their customers, especially those that are using a lot of electricity for computational workloads, want mixed-tiering, which essentially means mixed-redundancy. They may want lower redundancy for the computational workloads for instance, and higher redundancy for net and storage, and atNorth can, and do provide this service. On top of all of this, atNorth is able to procure, build and operate the computer clusters that their customers would typically host in their DCs. “We are highly flexible,” says Kristinsson, “and are able to cater solutions for very specific client needs all across the spectrum.” datacentremagazine.com

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Magnús Kristinsson, CEO of atNorth DCs, on investment and growth

Flexibility is more central to DC companies than is obvious at first glance, especially when it comes to those who cater for fit-outs and customised or madeto-order services such as those provided by atNorth. This flexibility and diversity of needs can be from a physical or digital point of view. Mixed-latency requirements is just one example of how bespoke a client's requirements may be. This flexibility may present in many forms, and a DC company that possesses it, along with its parent attribute, creativity, is far more likely to achieve a certain level of success. The important point is that a client's needs in the DC space can be as varied as business culture itself. The current demand for atNorth’s services is higher than they’ve ever seen before. This means that they are building-out, based on the same principles, in highly flexible and modular data centre buildings. 190

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“ The future of the Industry will be marked by major growth in Sustainability, AI, deep-learning and High Performance Computing” MAGNÚS KRISTINSSON CEO, ATNORTH

“We already have two DCs in the SouthWest and are currently very busy expanding our DC footprint, building a new site in the North of Iceland,” he says. “Sustainability is at the core of our value proposition; our data centres in Iceland are built on completely renewable energy. There is no other entity even on the grid in Iceland, which is exceptional. I think it's the only country in the world where you can find such conditions and although we already have access to all this renewable energy, we have still been designing our Data Centres so that they use even less energy than all other DCs do. We also select all the building materials very carefully, with the objective of reducing the carbon footprint of our buildings.”

We run on

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“ We use renewable energy only, and our DCs are designed with energy-efficiency in mind from the outset” MAGNÚS KRISTINSSON CEO, ATNORTH

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ATNORTH

With ever-expanding connectivity demand and supply, big data, the push caused by COVID lockdowns, and an expeditiously evolving technological environment in general, the DC industry is quickly becoming one of the most in-demand technologies in the world. Then there is the concern about a seeming internal tension between such energy needs and a rising consciousness of the need for environmental protection and cultivation. “Everything is changing in the world of digitalisation,” says Kristinsson. “Our customers need to engage with partners that can provide them with the flexibility to cope with the rapidity of these developments, but also with the increasing demands that they have for sustainable solutions.” Asked what the next 12 to 18 months look like for atNorth, Kristinsson says: “We will be very busy onboarding new customers, due to accelerating demand, while also fitting out new spaces for our existing customers and finding and constructing new sites for our DCs.” In-line with this ever-increasing demand, atNorth is seeking to even further expand with a 50MW megasite in the Nordics, that will use 100% green electricity from renewable sources, making it one of the most sustainable and costefficient wholesale data centres ever built. Kristinsson concludes: “The future of the Industry itself will be marked by major growth in Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence, Deep-Learning and High Performance Computing which is the main driver of demand in our space.”

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ARK DATA CENTRES DELVES INTO AN EMISSIONS REDUCTION STRATEGY

AD FEATURE WRITTEN BY: TOM SWALLOW PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

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Head of Sustainability at Ark Data Centres, Pip Squire talks carbon reduction and overcoming challenges as the industry pushes for net-zero operations

he sustainability discussion comes with controversial views and misconceptions on how responsible organisations actually are. When using the word ‘sustainable’ or anything that relates to the subject, most industries will be subject to the spotlight from either consumers, partners or their boards. The data centre industry is one that has received a lot of attention in this area and since the data centre became a staple for daily life – supporting many aspects of digital transformation – organisations have been working on more efficient and less carbon-intensive methods of operation. As both businesses and individuals become reliant on digital ecosystems, data storage is a major contributor to the challenge data centres have in becoming sustainable. An example of how consumers negatively contribute, is the increased number of photos and files backed up to clouds, which are reliant on data centres — and their energy consumption — to retain them. For businesses, this is similar as they digitise their filing systems and carry out all processes on decentralised systems. One of the organisations in charge of storing and making this data available is Ark Data Centres, a supplier of unique data centre solutions in a multi campus environment with diverse fibre connectivity. The company began its first development

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Ark Data Centres’ sustainable approach to renewable energy

“I'M PLEASED TO SAY THAT OUR INVESTORS FULLY SUPPORT OUR SUSTAINABILITY AMBITIONS”

in 2008, following the was headhunted by an acquisition of land for its American Design and first data centre facility. Build contractor, and he It has been steadily spent 10 years working expanding ever since. on the design and Its Head of Energy construction of power and Sustainability Pip plants, with a focus Squire is an advocate on renewable energy for sustainable datasystems. Power and centre operations and renewable energy led to even took to the stage the data centre industry PIP SQUIRE at Sustainability LIVE which has been his focus HEAD OF ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY, to explain more about for the last 15 years. ARK DATA CENTRES the company’s efforts to make digital solutions efficient while Energy purchasing is critical, but challenging providing a service that requires constant As companies decarbonise their data centre attention and energy supply. operations, the development of new sites and With more than 40 years in the facilities only tackles part of the issue. Firms construction industry, Squire spent 17 of must look at ways to reduce emissions across them working in civil engineering and worked existing sites and this can be achieved through on a broad range of projects, focusing in purchasing, but it’s not a clean-cut process. As the end on power, power supplies and Head of Energy this is an area of the business power generation. Following this, Squire that Squire holds a significant stake in. 198

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“At the moment, buying energy is quite tricky given where the energy market is, but it's not just about buying sustainable and renewable energy. It's also about how we make sure that the energy is used as efficiently as possible, and how we also report and share that with our customers,” says Squire. “As part of sustainability and energy efficiency, it will move away from just energy efficiency to water efficiency, to heat reuse, to asking how we begin to report under the greenhouse gas protocols.”

95%

of Ark Data Centre facilities are totally recyclable at end of life

TITLE: HEAD OF ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY INDUSTRY: DATA CENTRES LOCATION: CORSHAM, WILTSHIRE

EXECUTIVE BIO

Increasing emissions demand efficiency systems With continuous improvement and sustainability embedded in the company’s DNA, the firm is working on ways to mitigate unnecessary emissions and push further efficiencies across its facilities. Systems are put in place to not only to prolong the lives of data centres—cooling as an example—but to make operations more efficient. These solutions are important for reducing the environmental impacts of data centres, but Squire believes there are current limitations on emissions reduction, which will require further means of action. To put it simply: “what are we going to do for offsetting?,” asks Squire. “Because at some point we'll have minimised our energy demand to a point where we can't cut it down anymore. CO2 will be down at the very limit, but to get to net zero, we're going to have to offset it.”

PIP SQUIRE

Pip Squire obtained his Geology Degree from Oxford University in 1979, followed by three years of exploration in southern Africa. In 1982, he returned to Imperial College where he gained an MSc in Engineering Geology with Distinction. With a foundation degree in earth sciences, sustainability has been at the core of Squire’s career and echoes across design and operations at Ark data centres and campuses. Squire moved from engineering geology and foundation design on large hydro-electric projects around the world, to nuclear waste management, airport engineering and into the power industry in 1996. From 1999 to 2008, he led the European renewable energy team for a large US Construction Company, with a particular focus on hydro, marine and tidal power systems. By combining the company’s power and telecom expertise he broadened the company offering to data centres. He moved to Ark and a full time career in data centres from 2008, first as Engineering and Projects Director, then Head of Design and Build, through Head of Design, Energy & Innovation to his current position as Head of Energy and Sustainability. Over the last 14 years, Pip has led the successful planning, design and construction of over 100MW(IT) of tier three data halls in 12 data centres across three data centre campuses.

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Carbon offsets are not for all industries, but Squire advocates their importance in the company’s ability to reach its emissions reduction target of net zero by 2030. The only way to mitigate emissions is to look deeper into their sources, which is challenging. Squire says that due to the nature of Scope 3, “you don't have any real control over it. And we started last year looking at our Scope 3 emission and looking at the ones that we thought we could directly impact or have the most chance of impacting in our day to day operations.” “There's been quite a significant change. COVID-19 has done a lot for meetings over the internet, but you can't substitute key meetings with a zoom call. So there will be an increase in our business travel in 2022 compared to 2020 and 2021, but it's going to be nothing as big, I hope, as it was in 2019.” The company is also very active in seeking changes beyond the data centre and employee commuting is an important one to consider. Based on the 2019 figures – as the unprecedented events in 2020 and 2021 saw increased homeworking – the company was able to analyse and report on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions involved in employee commuting. “We have reports on greenhouse gas emissions for 2019 and 2020 based on questionnaires from our staff and from our mileage records and in parallel to that, we've started sharing our data,” says Squire. The firm is also encouraging its employees to make the switch to alternative energy sources for travel through the installation of electric vehicle charging points across its sites. Squire says: “All our data centre campuses now have electric vehicle charging points to promote electric vehicles on our sites and their use by those who have been sold on the idea of going electric.” 200

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“ WE CAN'T BE VERY MUCH MORE CO2 EFFICIENT BECAUSE WE HAVE PUSHED THE LAWS OF PHYSICS TO THE POINT WHERE YOU CAN'T CHANGE PHYSICS” PIP SQUIRE

HEAD OF ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY, ARK DATA CENTRES

Sustainable data centres require supply chain visibility But can you implement some level of control over Scope 3 emissions? This is the future that Ark is working towards as it strives for visibility of its entire value chain. Larger suppliers are more likely to implement their own ESG strategies and work with their customers to

achieve the same goal, but the difficulties lie within Ark’s smaller supplier-base. Squire says: “If it's a small niche company, we have got to take them on that journey to be able to get them to comply with our reporting requirements, and that I think is going to be our biggest challenge over the coming 18 months.” Beyond emissions, the firm is looking towards the future – the end-of-life procedure – of its data centres. Knowing where energy and components arrive from, represents a percentage of its supply chain visibility efforts, with another being its waste portfolio. What does it do with its data centre facilities when they reach ‘end-of-life’? Ark has carried out a lot of work measuring the embedded carbon of its facilities and implementing modular construction systems, which have been datacentremagazine.com

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instrumental in the company’s ability to not only reduce its carbon, but to deliver new units in response to the increasing demand for data centre capacity. “95% of our facilities are totally recyclable at end of life, which is rather more than if we had a traditional concrete style building,” Squire says, before explaining how the

“WE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO OPERATE AT HIGHER TEMPERATURES, WHICH MANY PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING TO ALLOW US TO DO” PIP SQUIRE

HEAD OF ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY, ARK DATA CENTRES

organisation achieves this, and the supply chain itself is a critical area to be measured. “It's the question of, how do you define the boundaries of where the limit of your steel CO2 emissions are? If it's UK based, as the bulk of Ark steel is, we know associated emissions. If the steel comes from China, it's a different number, all of that sort of stuff, but there are standard methods and we're working through that, particularly on the new builds.” Seeing sustainability from both angles Sustainability may be on the lips of major organisations and governing bodies across the board, but in the words of Pip Squire: “You're beginning to see it in the major corporates coming through now.” “I'm pleased to say our investors fully support our sustainability ambitions. So we've now got ourselves into a position datacentremagazine.com

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“IF WE DON'T NEED DX COOLING, WE ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR REFRIGERANT GASES (FGAS), WHICH IN THEMSELVES ARE MORE HARMFUL THAN CO2” PIP SQUIRE

HEAD OF ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY, ARK DATA CENTRES

where they are giving us credit for sustainable targets and hitting sustainable targets on a year on year basis.” “And this means in the long term, that financial institutions are now driving development for companies like us to be more sustainable in terms of their delivery with sustainable goals, which need to be measured and reported on annually.” Squire highlights the reality of data centres at present, which are restricted by the current research around clean energy implementation. Squire believes that Ark “can't be very much more CO2 efficient because we have pushed the laws of physics to their limit, and you can't change physics.”

In the interest of corporations as well as customers, Ark is exercising transparency across its operations and is forthcoming with its limitations. Meanwhile, consumer behaviour plays a significant role in its ability to be sustainable. The more data storage is consumed unnecessarily – files that are kept but not used – the more data centre capacity is required, which has major ripple effects for energy footprints across the globe. “Do you need to keep all data stored for all time?” Squire asks. “Because if you don’t, then we need to start finding ways of getting stuff off of the internet. If you think about it, the internet also, through the way it's managed, looks at what's in your profile and what is most attractive to you, and it then sends you to that particular link. People have to be educated on the massive potential consequences of their seemingly trivial data usages. We all have a part to play.

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INDUSTRIAL-SCALE DATA CENTRES, INSPIRED BY HYPERSCALE

AD FEATURE WRITTEN BY: JESS GIBSON PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

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Kao Data’s CCO, Spencer Lamb, tells us about the company’s evolution, its ambitions, and its underlying sustainability ethos

he steep rise in digitalisation over the past decade has spurred an intensive period of evolution and maturation in the data centre industry, and the global COVID19 pandemic succeeded in accelerating this trend further. However, as the world becomes more dependent on data centres and the digital infrastructure landscape, many businesses have been faced with an intriguing dichotomy between the need to meet traditional demands for resilience and to reduce their environmental impact in the face of net zero. Kao Data is a unique hybrid, with feet placed firmly in both camps. Located across three campuses in East and West London, and catering to a wide range of customers, from enterprise and cloud to HPC and AI, it sets itself apart by being the UK’s leading operator of industrial-scale data centres designed to house the most demanding customer workloads. In many respects, this means that the company recognises the merits of investing in sustainable infrastructure that serves many traditional businesses, from financial services to retail and enterprise to cloud, as well as in optimising its campus and facility developments to support customers within high-touch areas such as life sciences, artificial intelligence (AI) and research supercomputing.

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Moreover, it does so with an ethos for ultra-efficient and sustainable operations, supporting today’s businesses with green digital infrastructure that can meet demands for a reduced carbon footprint and industryleading uptime. Traditionalism vs revolutionary, sustainable change With the proliferation of digitalisation driving a rapid pace of change across all industries, it appears that many data centre stakeholders are prepared for any sign of shifting trends. According to Kao Data’s chief commercial officer (COO), Spencer Lamb, this forwardthinking data centre operator is more than ready for the technological challenges that lay ahead. “Over the last two-to-three years, against the backdrop of COVID-19, we've seen the data centre market mature faster than ever,” explains Lamb. “We've also seen investor appetite for the industry get more and more prolific, as investors that have previously sought ‘safe’, traditional investments have shifted their focus towards ESG and digital technologies.” “Data centres have also become the critical infrastructure where business is facilitated. Advanced facilities such as our high-performance KLON-01 data centre in Harlow have become one of many crucial pillars in the UK digital economy,” he adds. The decline of the modern retail high street due to the rise of ecommerce platforms is one example of an industry that has embraced digital transformation and has seen an increased need for data centres that can cater to a wide range of data requirements. However, with a complex array of new technologies impacting both data centre designs and computing infrastructures, today’s colocation operators need to push the envelope to meet demands for both performance and sustainability. 210

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“ What we're trying to do is make sure that our data centres are intricately designed to drive operational and energy efficiency, no matter the type of deployment” SPENCER LAMB

CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER, KAO DATA

KAO DATA

SPENCER LAMB TITLE: CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER LOCATION: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM

EXECUTIVE BIO

In this vein, then, sits the organisation that is Kao Data, providing a range of hyperscale-inspired data centres to support compute-intensive workloads and the latest in cutting edge technological innovation. Key differentiators for the company include its Built-to-Suit services, supporting cloud and enterprise providers to fund, design, build and operate ultra-sustainable data centres that underpin UK capacity demands; a scalable and advanced HPC architecture capable of supporting highdensity forms of AI and machine learning; and its award-winning technical team, who are responsible for delivering high performance colocation services built upon a combined expertise formed over decades.

Spencer Lamb is the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Kao Data. Having held previous positions at data centre companies – Infinity SDC and Verne Global – Spencer brings over 25 years of experience in data centres, HPC, AI, cloud and telco to the business. As an influential industry thought leader with a reputation for multi-million pound revenue creation across finance, hyperscale, life sciences, research and education, Spencer leads the sales, marketing and commercial teams in executing the company’s go-to-market strategy, which will drive new customer acquisitions furthering the expansion of its £230m, 40 MW Kao Data campus and grow the portfolio’s platform.

KAO DATA

Meeting ‘mission-critical’ market needs As well as the swift move towards online, there’s also been a significant rise in high performance computing (HPC), AI, machine learning, and supercomputing – especially in the UK Innovation Corridor, where the Kao Data brand was formed. This is due to the expansion of the market for GPU/CPU-intensive computing, the demand for low-latency connectivity, and the massive increase in the size of datasets required by said HPC and AI applications. To effectively meet these requirements, Kao Data has defined a dedicated data centre road map, with the flexibility to deliver bespoke, high performance architectures, while maintaining a reputation for being one of the most sustainable data centre operators in the UK. “We're in the process of building the second of four data centres on our Harlow campus,” says Lamb. “And demand is accelerating. We're in the final stages of

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“ Data centres have become the critical infrastructure where business is facilitated. Advanced facilities such as our high-performance KLON-01 data centre in Harlow have become one of many crucial pillars in the UK digital economy” SPENCER LAMB

CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER, KAO DATA

KAO DATA

completing the fourth data hall in KLON-01 and have already commenced the building of KLON-02. The facility will provide further high performance and energy efficient, mission-critical services by next year.” The most notable achievement of Kao Data’s expansion is the challenging backdrop it has been completed against. This includes rapidly changing market dynamics that have affected global supply chains, industry skills shortages, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine impacting energy supply and cost. Not least to mention an industry accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We're seeing a big uptick in customer demand, and, because of our Harlow location, situated between London and Cambridge in what is known as the UK Innovation Corridor, there's over 50 science parks on our doorstep. Furthermore, there are numerous world-leading universities north and south of us in Cambridge and London, as well as other traditional large-

55 MW power capacity across 3 sites

99.9999% guaranteed data centre uptime

1.2

industry-leading and SLA-backed PUE

100%

renewable energy used throughout its data centre operations First data centre operator in Europe to adopt HVO – reducing backup power emissions by

90%

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Kao Data: sustainable, high performance data centres

scale research institutions utilising HPC on an industrial-scale – meaning Kao Data is perfectly placed to support them.” Kao Data’s proximity to such innovative thinkers in the research and start-up communities, as well as its own technical expertise, makes it the perfect home for the UK’s most powerful supercomputer – NVIDIA’s Cambridge-1 – a prestigious title to hold, particularly when surrounded by an abundance of data centres in London. In fact, it’s the concentration of data centres in West London that has inspired Kao Data’s build strategy: ensuring a competitive presence in Slough with a new 16 MW data centre to support cloud and enterprise businesses, while also creating a dedicated high performance campus that houses a series of 10 MW, carrier-neutral data centres in Harlow – perfectly placed for the north and east of London. “By being more located around the capital, we are able to address a wider marketplace 214

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“ The foundational blueprint of the design has been predicated on a very energy efficient approach, which has enabled us to achieve a market-leading low PUE of 1.2, which we’re contractually committed to” SPENCER LAMB

CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER, KAO DATA

NVIDIA Cambridge-1, the UK’s fastest and most powerful supercomputer

and therefore provide a fairly unique niche compared to the traditional sites in West London,” says Lamb. “This means our organisation is well-placed to support cloud and enterprise, while being technically advanced enough to support emerging innovations within HPC, supercomputing and even quantum computing.” Customer colllaboration and the road to net zero With customer-centricity and sustainability at the heart of its business, Kao Data has created facilities that both meet the needs of many different businesses while helping to minimise their environmental impact. Part of this dedication was creating an innovative infrastructure platform that has the flexibility to provide industry-leading energy efficiency capabilities and support its customers’ compute requirement sustainably, regardless of size or scale. “What we're trying to do is make sure that our data centres – the base infrastructure that sits behind the data hall – are intricately designed to drive operational and energy efficiency, no matter the type of deployment. The reason for that is twofold: firstly, it makes things far more efficient from a power and cooling perspective; secondly, from an operational viewpoint, it means it's much simpler to install, build and manage. This makes it more cost-effective, meaning we can reduce the cost to our customers by being more energy efficient, powered by renewables, and optimised to offer them a lower TCO – a key point of discussion in the current climate.” Lamb continues: “When we look at things like cooling, we can complement our design quite simply with a direct cooling configuration that will sit easily within what we've deployed to date. We're not seeking datacentremagazine.com

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to reinvent the wheel or come up with a cunning new plan for a data centre every week. Ultimately, the more complexity you take out of a data centre’s design, the more efficient it is, therefore, the lower the cost will be and the simpler it'll be to operate.” “The Kao Data business premise is to ensure operational reliability and minimise our customers’ risk of downtime, while helping them minimise their environmental impact. We run our customers’ IT infrastructure 24/7, 365 without any interruption, but we also have to think about the roles that sustainability and energy demands play.” This pragmatic approach is directly inspired by Kao Data’s COO Paul Finch and CTO Gérard Thibault, two of the industry’s leading data centre developers and operators. Their commitment to customers is based around a focus on providing the basis for future technological advancements, while directly supporting sustainability requirements. “Paul and Gérard have really driven that mindset at Kao Data. Their pragmatic approach ensures that what they're doing will deliver something bespoke and highly effective for the customer, and is exactly what they need,” Lamb says with a smile, acknowledging the tendency of many data centre operators to instil a “bellsand-whistles” approach that can be both costly and inefficient. At Kao Data, the company chooses instead to address the industry challenges head on, and push the boundaries when it comes to sustainability, efficiency, and uptime. Strategic investments and future expansion Environmental, social and governance (ESG) have also become key focuses for investors considering the recent rapid enlightenment to climate change and its effect across the 216

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globe. Sustainability is therefore an essential consideration for data centre operators, which is particularly salient when considering the rise of HPC, AI and machine learning. The continuation of digital transformation will potentially lead to huge proportions of data being created and transferred to data centres, which will, in turn, require more energy per server and generate more heat. To resolve this conundrum, as well as many other sustainability concerns, Kao Data is actively using 100% renewable energy and embracing alternative renewable fuels such as hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO), which removes 90% of carbon dioxide from its backup provision. It also models and tests its

“ The Kao Data business premise is to ensure operational reliability and minimise our customers risk of downtime, while helping them minimise their environmental impact” SPENCER LAMB

CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER, KAO DATA

facilities using digital twins, ensuring its data centre platform is designed around an ethos of energy efficiency. “The foundational blueprint of the design has been predicated on a very energy efficient approach, which has enabled us to achieve a market-leading low PUE of 1.2, which we’re contractually committed to. We use ultra-efficient cooling units to cool the IT infrastructure,” explains Lamb, before outlining the company’s other sustainability considerations. “This approach enables us to marry technically advanced deployments with a very low PUE,” he continues. “We've taken our own sustainability commitments a datacentremagazine.com

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“ We run our customer's IT infrastructure 24/7, 365 without any interruption, but we have to think about the roles that sustainability and energy demands play” SPENCER LAMB

CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER, KAO DATA

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step further by being the first data centre operator in Europe to transition all our backup power generators to HVO. This effectively removes all fossil fuel diesel from site, reducing 90% of harmful emissions immediately, and is the same process we’ll follow for all our future data centres.” Interestingly, Kao Data has embraced key aspects of the Open Compute Project design methodology and was Europe’s first colocation provider to become OCPReady™. The company is also NVIDIA

KAO DATA

DGX Data Centre Certified, meaning if a customer chooses to deploy preconfigured, high-density racks – those that can weigh a tonne or more – the system can be wheeled into the facility and into the data hall without encountering any obstacles. Lamb says that, in instances like this, “customers can have HPC racks delivered, deployed, and powered-up in as little as 20 minutes”. Looking forward, Kao Data is in the enviable position of easily adapting its high

performance infrastructure platform to meet customer and sustainability requirements, while eyeing the rise of new technological advancements. Importantly, it’s putting provisions in place to meet accelerated customer demands – something of significant importance as the UK fights to reinforce its position as a leader in the wider technological landscape.

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