09 April 2024

Alison Matte, sustainability lead, EcoStruxure IT, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric

Data centres continue to see unprecedented growth and the IDC forecasts a steep climb in data centre energy consumption, partially driven by generative AI, anticipating a growth to 803TWh by 2027, which marks a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16%.

In context, the growth represents the total energy consumption of France in 2022, and it is this growth which is causing countries to create regulations to manage the impact that IT and data centres are having on the grid. For new regulatory requirements to be achieved, Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) tools have never been more important.

05 April 2024

Paul McHugh, area director UK, Cradlepoint

The cybersecurity landscape is no stranger to change. With the onslaught of new threats and the increasing sophistication of cyber-attacks, security strategies must adapt. The emergence of 5G as a primary WAN technology creates new opportunities and corresponding security challenges requiring comprehensive, customisable security.

A major area that 5G technology will affect is the expansion of IoT devices as many of these devices will be added to 5G networks. Ericsson predicts the number of IoT-connected devices will reach 34.7 billion by 2028, up from 13.2 billion in 2022. As the number of IoT devices continues to grow, the attack surface also grows, increasing the risk of attack from bad actors. This is why we have seen a rise in cyber-attacks targeting IoT devices, with some reporting an increase of 400% of IoT malware in 2023 alone.

07 March 2024

Stuart Dealing, sales, service and project execution leader, ABB Power Protection

When choosing a power protection scheme for a data centre, the first thing to consider is the total cost of ownership (TCO).

Operators typically want a 20-year lifetime for a UPS nowadays. So, investing in a more energy efficient model will result in significant overall cost and emissions savings, especially with energy prices surging. Similarly, specifying a UPS with better quality components, that only need replacing once rather than two or three times over the lifetime of the UPS, drastically reduces TCO.

09 February 2024

Dean Boyle, CEO, EkkoSense

With data centre management busy coming to terms with the realities of hosting high-density AI systems, it’s clear there’s going to be an increased pressure on data centre optimisation as teams work to make their operations as lean as is practical.

Generative AI applications present teams with some very practical engineering challenges. How do you continue to balance risk, capacity and cooling when you’ll be running racks at 60kW – and potentially up to 100kW? That’s a huge difference for halls that were originally designed to host traditional 3-5kW racks. What are you going to do about cooling? And how can you be sure you have the right solutions in place when you may be running multiple data centres worldwide?

08 December 2023

Craig Smith, technical account manager, Highlight

Retailers have undergone a huge technology shift where there is now a constant need for connectivity and the management of these networks is more critical than ever.

There are three fundamental components for a retailer’s network: a functioning Local Area Network, an efficient WiFi system, and, most importantly, a router to provide store connectivity. Whilst a service provider will embellish this with lots of additional features, it’s these key services that hold the greatest significance.