< Previouswww.networkseuropemagazine.com NEWS IN BRIEF 10 Semtech Corporation has announced that WITRAC, a company developing solutions with real-time location and telemetry capabilities, has integrated the LoRaWAN protocol and LoRa 2.4GHz into its global track and trace platform to provide customers with full control and traceability of assets in the supply chain. “Semtech’s LoRa devices have been instrumental in supporting WITRAC’s mission to re-evolve and digitise Industry 4.0 through visibility, traceability, control and efficiency,” said Javier Ferrer, CEO of WITRAC. “Our customers and their stakeholders have the ability to guarantee delivery times and maintain appropriate temperature conditions of fresh food transport inside refrigeration units throughout the entire cold chain by leveraging the long-range, low power capabilities of LoRaWAN networks and the global reach of LoRa 2.4GHz.” A partnership of Boluda Corporación Marítima, has selected WITRAC’s platform to monitor and ensure the quality of cold chain transport in real- time (24 hours) for Boluda’s new Daily Canarias line, providing the citizens of the Canary Islands with the first daily transportation of goods from the peninsula. Location and temperature status of fresh goods and medicines are tracked on seven container vessels travelling the maritime corridor linking the Port of Cádiz to the island ports of Las Palmas and Tenerife. Tracking and monitoring continue uninterrupted while unloading goods from ships to land transport reefer containers that also use IoT controllers to automatically keep food and medicines within a pre-determined temperature range when travelling to the food retail and pharmaceutical industries. n Telia Carrier expands network with new PoP in Smartdc, Rotterdam Telia Carrier is expanding access to its global IP backbone with an additional PoP (Point of Presence) in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Located in Smartdc, it connects into the existing Amsterdam network and via a separate link, directly to Brussels, ensuring full route diversity. The Smartdc data centre in Rotterdam is the largest in the Zuid- Holland province and has been recognised at the FD Gazellen Awards for demonstrating high growth and innovative entrepreneurship. Its customers can be found in industries as diverse as financial services, healthcare, telecommunications and online gaming, or wherever there is a need to reach end users, services and resources across the globe, with low latency, high speed and consistent reliability. Through Telia Carrier, Smartdc will be able to provide its customers with direct access to the world’s number one ranked Internet backbone (according to Dyn Research), spanning more than 120 cities in 35 countries worldwide. “In partnership with Telia Carrier, we agreed that this PoP, operating with full diversity from Amsterdam, would add tremendous value to the Dutch market due to the success and response to Telia Carrier’s existing PoPs in The Netherlands. Having direct access to Telia Carrier’s global IP backbone ensures that Smartdc customers can give their end-users and business partners the best possible experience, against a backdrop of constantly escalating IP traffic volumes.” said Richard Boogaard, Managing Director of Smartdc. The 100GE enabled PoP in Rotterdam marks the first Telia Carrier expansion in The Netherlands outside the Amsterdam metro area where the company already has 12 PoPs. With direct connections to both Amsterdam and Brussels, it will facilitate access to Telia Carrier’s AS1299 network with full redundancy. “We continue to expand our network worldwide and are moving ever closer to the edge, serving a wide range of industries with mission-critical connectivity. Our new PoP at Smartdc in Rotterdam is a perfect example of this,” said Christoph Lannert, Head of EMEA Sales at Telia Carrier. n Proximity expands their Nottingham edge datacentre Proximity Data Centres Limited, the UK’s regional edge colocation data centre provider, has announced the expansion of its Nottingham facility in response to increasing demand for high-quality edge colocation capacity in the Midlands. The company has given the go-ahead for the multi-million-pound construction of a new 5000sqft data hall which will take the Nottingham site’s total net technical space to 33,000sqft across six halls. With this, 1MW of additional IT load capacity is to be added to the facility’s existing 4MW supply. The new hall is due for completion in Q3 this year and is being funded by Proximity’s funding partner, Intermediate Capital Group Plc. “Our Nottingham data centre was acquired just 12 months ago as one of our first edge locations and since that time we have experienced rapidly growing demand - from both enterprise businesses and service provider organisations.” said John Hall, Managing Director - Colocation, at Proximity Data Centres. “We’re seeing growing interest from cloud, telecoms and content providers, alongside financial services companies, manufacturers and the public sector.” He added: “Many are looking for additional scalable and low latency colocation capacity to better serve their local offices or customers in the Midlands region. Others are looking at colocation for the first time and want the convenience of a local and affordable high-calibre solution. Bringing their data closer to their users allows our customers lower latency and reduced data transit costs compared to using colocation facilities outside of the Midlands area.” At the end of last year, Proximity added three new immediately available edge data centres to its UK network, in Liverpool, Chester and Coventry, joining existing sites in Nottingham, Wakefield and Bridgend. The company is planning to have 20 colocation sites across the UK within the next 12–18 months, enabling the company to offer nationwide coverage. All data centres are selected for their proximity to major conurbation areas. Proximity Data Centres’ network of scalable edge facilities meets individual customer requirements, from specific regional data centre services through to multi-site rollouts. Built to tier 3 industry standards and ISO 9001 Quality, 14001 Environmental and 27001 Security compliant, all data centre grid electricity is sourced from 100% renewable providers. n Semtech and WITRAC provide cold chain control for maritime corridor with LoRaWANDo you have news to share? Would you like to contribute a feature article? Contact the editor at: editor@networkseuropemagazine.com www.networkseuropemagazine.com NEWS IN BRIEF 11 Aggreko Report - Hidden Cost of Humidity One of the hidden challenges facing the global data centre industry is rising humidity levels, according to a recent report launched by temporary moisture and temperature control specialists Aggreko. In January, extreme weather was witnessed across the globe, creating a number of challenges for data centres. From flooding in Asia to heavy snowfall in Europe, these patterns have highlighted a new risk for facilities across the world. According to Aggreko, in addition to the more immediate power disruption impact brought on by such severe weather conditions, rising humidity and long- lasting damage caused by moisture should be a key concern. Outlined in a report – The Hidden Cost of Humidity on Site – the challenge facing data centres is how the drying process takes place following a period of flooding or heavy snowfall. According to the report, poorly managed moisture control can result in persistent damp and warping of materials, which can lead to long-term damage within a data centre. Humidity levels are also a concern in the summer months, and figures outlined in the report indicate that many data centre ‘hot spots’ are particularly prone to high levels of humidity. Among the areas to have a higher average humidity level than the recommended relative levels include Dublin, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Helsinki. In addition to issues encountered on construction sites, moisture, in the form of water vapour, can find its way into the smallest areas and spaces of any components. This in turn can leave corrosive deposits behind that continue to cause damage after drying. Aggreko is advising all data centre facilities – both in situ and those being contracted – to have an effective system in place to remove the moisture from the air. Ryan Stanley, moisture control specialist at Aggreko, explains: “Moisture build-up is an inevitable outcome of extreme weather patterns and its correct removal is a serious challenge for data centres. Unfortunately, not all teams are making the necessary considerations to remove moisture from sites entirely, with common mistakes prevalent. “For many, the immediate reaction to rising humidity is to use dryers to remove the problem. However, while the issue may appear to be resolved, drying doesn’t always remove moisture from the atmosphere and can actually cause long-term damage, impacting the lifespan of a data centre.” The report sets out a three-step approach to managing humidity effectively, which includes a combination of heating a site, circulating the air and removing with dehumidifiers. n Westermo has launched a new global training programme aimed at supporting those responsible for operating and maintaining industrial data communications networks. Offering flexible online and in-person training, the Westermo Academy will provide certified courses to network engineers wherever they are located around the world, ensuring they have the expertise needed to maximise the performance and reliability of industrial networks. Having the right knowledge and skills are key to the successful implementation, operation and maintenance of industrial data communications networks. However, not all companies have the necessary expertise available in-house. Industrial networking is constantly evolving to create more complex, resilient and secure networks, and with data networks often the backbone of mission-critical systems, it is essential for engineers to gain regular training updates. “Westermo has provided certified training courses since 2014, with hundreds of engineers attending a course on-site or at one of our training facilities.” explained Fredrik Oskarsson, product manager services at Westermo. “The launch of the Westermo Academy is a significant enhancement of our existing training services, ensuring that our certified courses are available around the world, but also increasing the flexibility and availability of training.” The Westermo Academy includes a flexible online learning platform that allows courses to be selected and attended according to the learner’s needs, location and own timetable. All existing courses have been refreshed, to ensure they include the most relevant and up-to- date information and are provided in the most logical and easy to grasp format. Training can be delivered online or on-site/off-site, initially in English, but in local languages in the near future. Many of the courses give attendees hands-on experience to help improve familiarity with, and the efficient operation of, Westermo devices. The training courses are delivered by industrial data communications experts, who also have industry experience aligned with specific applications. Currently, there are four courses available, with an ‘introduction to IP’ and an ‘introduction to WeOS’ providing a gateway to the certified engineer courses focused on switching and routing. Additional courses will be made available that have introduction, fundamental, intermediate, advanced and expert levels of content. “With data networks now an essential part of most operations, it is critical to have the available expertise to maintain these networks and be able to respond immediately should there be an issue,” said Ant Lane, Westermo Academy instructor. “With the Westermo Academy, what we offer is real-world experience and knowledge that can help on-site engineers find a quick and practical solution.” n Westermo launches new industrial networking training servicesShare your news. Contact the editor at: editor@networkseuropemagazine.com Anritsu launches new modules for production line testing efficiency Anritsu Corporation has announced the simultaneous launch of its TRX Test Module MU887002A, designed to improve the efficiency of production-line inspection of wireless communications devices, including 5G and its space-saving Universal Wireless Test Set MT8872A. With 24 RF connectors, the newly developed TRX Test Module MU887002A is a TRX module for installation in both the MT8870A and MT8872A. It supports 5G Sub-6 GHz New Radio (NR) RF tests, as well as various other simultaneous wireless communications tests, including WLAN, Bluetooth and GNSS. As such, this makes the inspection of wireless communications devices on the production line much more efficient. The MT8872A is a measuring instrument designed for use in mass production and is fully compatible with the MT8870A. Its small footprint is designed to be used in narrower spaces than the standard 19in rackmount, saving space on crowded production lines. Designed to meet the needs of manufacturers of chipsets, smartphones, wireless modules and other wireless products, Anritsu expects these new MU887002A and MT8872A solutions to save space and cut costs on production lines for wireless communication devices. n NEWS IN BRIEF www.networkseuropemagazine.com 12 FDM Group aims for 2,000 new recruits globally in 2021 FDM Group, the FTSE 250 professional services firm, has announced it intends to hire over 2,000 new IT trainees globally as part of a major new recruitment drive. The company, which specialises in recruiting and equipping graduates, ex-armed forces personnel and women returners with the latest digital skills, announced the plans following a surge in demands for its consultants. FDM’s extensive client base includes some of the world’s largest employers, including major banks, management consultancy groups and international professional services brands. Key specialisms requested in the last few months include DevOps, data skills, digital transformation expertise, as well as information security and cloud computing specialists. It is estimated that around one-third of the new hires will be in the UK, with the remaining being split across FDM’s other major offices in the US and APAC regions. Last year FDM Group announced that it had achieved a median pay gap of -2.1% for 2020, making it one of the UK’s leading employers for women. Additionally, the company announced further investment in its diversity initiatives, pledging to recruit even more candidates from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. Rod Flavell, CEO, FDM Group commented, “The Covid-19 outbreak sent shockwaves through the global business community, forcing many employers to scale back operations and shift to a remote working model to adhere to social distancing rules. “One year on, with the vaccine programme in full swing and infection rates declining, businesses are raring to go, with plans to build back better and drive a major economic recovery. Digital skills sit at the very heart of this mission, enabling businesses to operate efficiently, adapt to new market conditions and transform customer services." Flavell continues, “Already this year we’ve received 1,500 job applications from candidates looking for a career in technology. Our recruitment teams have been inundated with CVs, and we’re aiming to hire at least 2,000 new recruits this year across our business. “If you’re looking for a career in the technology industry, there has never been a better time to put your name forward, with digital skills being a must-have for ambitious companies looking to reboot, rebuild and grow again.” n BSO wins best high performing network services at TradingTech Insight Europe Awards The infrastructure and connectivity provider, BSO, has won Best High Performing Network Services at the TradingTech Insight Europe Awards 2021. The judging panel commended BSO for its market expertise, technical innovation and ability to provide the capital markets with mission-critical infrastructure it can depend on. BSO’s global network reaches 33 countries, 85 cities, and over 250 data centre locations, connecting all major trading venues and exchanges across Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and North America. The judges hailed BSO’s customer experience and noted that implementing infrastructure intelligently requires a bespoke, consultative approach which cannot be achieved solely through product features and technical capabilities. Michael Ourabah, Chief Executive Officer at BSO, said: “In addition to resilient, ultra-low latency connectivity, financial firms need specialist advice to orchestrate their specialist infrastructure and fulfil their organisational needs. Nowhere is this more evident than in the capital markets. Receiving this award is an honour and endorses our decades-long heritage in financial services.” Andrew Delaney, President of the A-Team Group, who hosted the TradingTech Insight Europe Awards 2021, commented: “Our awards recognise leading providers of trading technology solutions, services and consultancy to capital markets and BSO has proven themselves to be worthy winners of this prestigious title. We congratulate BSO on winning the Best High Performance Network Services in recognition for the continuing excellence in the trading technology space.” The TradingTech Insight Europe Awards recognises excellence in trading solutions and services for capital markets. A-Team Group’s editors judge the awards in collaboration with an Advisory Board comprised of market specialists. Winning providers supply exceptional trading infrastructure, trading technology and data solutions, thereby enabling market practitioners and suppliers to overcome the challenges they face in a rapidly changing marketplace. BSO’s award win follows its recent triumph at the FOW | Global Investor International Awards 2020 where the company won Connectivity Provider of the Year. nNEWS IN BRIEF www.networkseuropemagazine.com 13 Subex and SkyLab team up to secure the shipping industry Subex, a provider of digital trust, Internet of Things (IoT) and Operational Technology (OT) cybersecurity solutions, and SkyLab, a 5G Multi- Access Edge Computing (MEC) and Industrial IoT company have announced a partnership to offer IoT and OT cybersecurity solutions and services to the maritime sector. These solutions offered jointly by Subex and SkyLab have been successfully deployed and are already securing ships and maritime infrastructure. The industry can look to this partnership to protect its critical assets from cyberattacks and cybercrime. This partnership will help boost the overall cybersecurity posture of the maritime industry as ships, offshore and onshore maritime assets, communication channels and shipping infrastructure will now receive the highest levels of cybersecurity protection, threat risk management support, solutions and services. According to Subex’s research conducted using data from its global honeypot, shipping companies around the globe were attacked almost 1.5 million times in the last 30 days. Of these, over 64,000 attacks were highly sophisticated and carried out using complex malware and breach tactics. Social engineering, deception, and traffic manipulation were all used to create breaches and enable intrusion into core and peripheral infrastructure. Targets for these attacks include datacenters, command and control infrastructure, navigation systems, power and life support systems. The increase in volume of attacks also increases the chances of a successful breach. Thus, the industry continues to be at risk. In addition to the rising threat to maritime infrastructure, there is also the secondary threat of potentially significant losses caused by the loss of shipping days, delays in transit of goods, damage to critical infrastructure, loss of either customer or commercially sensitive data, and ransom demands. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations specialised agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of pollution by ships, has also recognised the importance and urgency required to tackle the challenges posed by cybersecurity risks. IMO has issued MSC-FAL.1/Circ.3 Guidelines on maritime cyber risk management and adopted resolution MSC.428(98) encouraging administrations to ensure that cyber risks are appropriately addressed in existing safety management systems. Through this partnership, Subex and SkyLab will be jointly offering cybersecurity solutions and services to improve overall maritime cybersecurity posture and cyber-resilience. n Softing integrates CNC Data into industrial edge applications Softing has expanded its dataFEED edgeConnector, Docker technology- based product family. The new edgeConnector 840D container supports easy access to data from SINUMERIK 840D controllers and is available on edge devices or virtual environments via OPC UA and MQTT. This enables flexible integration of local OPC UA clients and MQTT brokers in a cloud environment and the Industrial IoT. This software module claims to be the world's first container application for accessing SINUMERIK 840D Solution Line and Power Line controls. It supports the reading of all process parameters and drives data without the need to intervene in the configuration of the machine tool. dataFEED edgeConnector 840D allows seamless integration of up to five CNC controllers into a cloud environment such as Azure IoT Edge or AWS IoT Greengrass. It can be used, for example, to check production quality and tolerances, record machine data and integrate it into higher-level management systems or visualise process parameters and other performance indicators. Configuration can be done locally via an internet browser or remotely via the REST interface. Centralised deployment of all connected edge devices with their containers, for example, for updates or security patches, can be carried out using an optional device management system. "We are seeing an increasing demand in the market for software solutions that can be efficiently managed and run on standard hardware. Our response to this is the systematic expansion of the dataFEED product family to include Docker containers for integrating data from production into innovative and flexible Industrial IoT solutions. In this way, we help users and system integrators close the gap between OT and IT," said Sebastian Schenk, Product Manager at Softing Industrial. It is planned to grow the dataFEED edgeConnector product family further and to support the control connection via Modbus TCP or Ethernet/IP. In addition, containers for data aggregation and preprocessing as well as address space modelling is in the planning stage. The options for configuration from the cloud are also to be expanded. n Panduit EMEA has launched the PanZone Consolidation Point Box (CPB) to satisfy the demand for network communication cabling interconnect and cross-connect capability in a stand-alone enclosure. Offering underfloor, wall and in-ceiling configuration, the CPB is a low cost, easy to install solution, which provides a secure permanent link to a network service or device. This solution provides an accessible and flexible platform to reconfigure cable runs to meet organisations’ frequently changing network requirements and to help reduce network downtime. The enclosure’s interchangeable panels offer a consistent solution design for a variety of network equipment. The CPB accepts MiniCom, NetKey, QuickNet and Fibre to ensure minimal parts are required for an integrated infrastructure solution. Available in 6-12-24 and 48-port configuration providing a highly flexible solution. The PanZone solution is targeted towards use cases including airports, offices, healthcare and universities, serving as a consolidation/distribution point for horizontal cable runs. This low-profile CPB is available in various port sizes for applications ranging from small cubicle network connections to large building cable infrastructure. n Panduit's PanZone Consolidation Point Box enclosureNEWS IN BRIEF www.networkseuropemagazine.com 14 Arista advances zero trust security strategy Awake Security, the network detection and response (NDR) security division of Arista Networks, has unveiled platform enhancements that strengthen its ability to detect advanced threats, protect the unmanaged attack surface and autonomously perform threat hunting and forensic investigations. Enhancements also include new features that make the platform even more intuitive for security analysts at all levels. Within six months of Arista’s acquisition of Awake, the AI-driven network detection and response (NDR) platform is now integrated into Arista’s zero trust and DANZ Monitoring Fabric (DMF) solutions, delivering innovative and secure capabilities to customers. Awake’s NDR platform is a key pillar of Arista’s vision for zero trust security. With a new network-based multi-domain macro-segmentation service, situational awareness for all network resources and Awake’s NDR, Arista is transforming network security from an afterthought to networks that are inherently secure. This approach provides continuous monitoring to identify malicious intent whether originating from outside or inside the network perimeter, along with the ability to then rapidly take remedial action. The Awake platform gains critical capabilities through its deepening integration with Arista solutions. Arista’s DMF is a next-generation network visibility solution that provides pervasive observability for both north-south and east-west traffic. When combined with the Awake platform, customers benefit from a scale-out architecture that efficiently protects high-throughput networks by enabling use cases such as NDR threat hunting and full packet network forensics. “Zero trust is critical to an organisation’s defences and the integration of Awake into Arista enables this posture even when the network and entities on it are continuously changing,” said Katie Teitler, Senior Analyst at TAG Cyber. “In particular, in this age of remote and mobile work, discovering and controlling devices unmanaged and often unknown to the security team is incredibly important to the cyber risk equation. Awake Security’s product enhancements help organisations move further in their zero trust journey and empower them to operate more securely.” “To enable zero trust, security needs to be baked into the network, and Arista has led the charge in making this foundational approach to security a reality,” said Rahul Kashyap, VP / GM Arista NDR Security Division. “In very short order, Awake is contributing to this comprehensive vision for security while tapping Arista’s innovations to advance network detection and response. This will continue to be a very powerful combination.” The capabilities of the Awake platform are also available through Awake’s Managed Network Detection and Response (MNDR) solution. With Awake’s MNDR, organisations can instantly improve their security programs’ maturity and effectiveness by relying on round-the-clock and round-the-world monitoring by the highly skilled threat hunting and incident response analysts at Awake Labs. n Schneider Electric extends 3-phase Easy UPS 3L from 250 kVA to 600 kVA Schneider Electric is extending Easy UPS 3L from 250 kVA to 600 kVA (400V) with the addition of 250, 300 and 400 kVA 3-phase Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) for external batteries. Available in most countries, the Easy UPS 3L simplifies and streamlines configuration and service, delivering high availability and predictability to medium and large commercial buildings and light industrial UPS applications. With its compact footprint, highly available parallel and redundant design, and robust electrical specifications, Easy UPS 3L protects critical equipment in a wide range of environments from damage due to power outages, surges and spikes. It is up to 96% efficient in bringing predictability to utility costs. Easy UPS 3L includes a wide battery voltage window and accommodates a variety of battery configurations. It comes with a full range of options and accessories making it easy to integrate into different environments. “With this extension to Easy UPS 3L, Schneider Electric continues to fill a market need by offering easy, robust and competitive solutions that prioritise efficiency, flexibility, predictability and reliability for today’s connected businesses. It is easy to configure, install, use and service,” said Mustafa Demirkol, Global VP, 3-Phase UPS Offer Management & Marketing, Schneider Electric. “Thanks to an exceptional combination of competitive specifications, a robust and fault-tolerant design that enhances resiliency and reliability, and an optimised footprint that saves valuable real estate, the Easy UPS 3L is the ideal choice for easy business continuity and optimised investment, whether it’s on your shop floor or in your electrical room.” n Axiomtek has introduced the AIE800-904-FL, its latest robust Artificial Intelligence (AI) embedded system. This AI inference system adopts the NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX platform which has a powerful 6-core NVIDIA Carmel ARM v8.2 (64-bit) processor and 384-core NVIDIA Volta GPU. In addition to the superior performance and power advantage of accelerated computing, the AIE800-904-FL is designed with a high IP67 degree of protection from water and dust ingress. Moreover, it comes with a wide operating temperature range of -30°C to 50°C and a vibration endurance for up to 3Grms. It also features M12 type I/O connectors and four waterproof N-jack antenna openings for operational stability. The AIE800-904-FL has 8GB of LPDDR4x memory and 16GB eMMC onboard. It comes with a wide range 100 to 240V AC power input with 10kV surge protection. The AI inference system features one M.2 Key B 2242 SSD socket with a high-speed PCIe 2.0 x2 NVMe interface for extensive storage needs. In addition, the embedded box PC is equipped with one GbE PoE port for IP camera video surveillance solutions including traffic flow monitoring, license plate recognition, vehicle recognition, intrusion detection and access control. “By bringing powerful computing capacity to the edge, our outstanding AIE800-904-FL enables AI applications directly on field devices. Featuring IP67-rated housing, industrial- grade anti-vibration, wide operating temperature capabilities and wide voltage AC input, plus multiple M12-type I/Os, the AIE800-904-FL is suitable for severe applications in outdoor environments. Taking traffic management as an example, a high-performance system that can accurately detect, record, process and transmit huge streams of data is indispensable for a smart city.” said Annie Fu, a product manager of the Product PM Division at Axiomtek. n Axiomtek’s outdoor AI Inference system with NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX for AIoT applicationsNEWS IN BRIEF www.networkseuropemagazine.com 15 INTELLIGENT R&M inteliPhy – Automated Infrastructure Management by R&M Manually managed infrastructure data has a 10% error rate*, 20-40% of ports in a network are forgotten over time**. The automated R&M inteliPhy solution continuously monitors each connection in one or more data centres or local networks, a (remote) central server records cabling status. The AIM-based solution has functions for management, analysis as well as planning cabling and network cabinets. R&M inteliPhy is easy to retrofit and can halve network monitoring and management costs. When new devices are integrated or changes made updates are automatically generated. Unused patch panels and ports in active equipment are instantly detected. Data can be traced in real time with a PC or smartphone, faulty connections are located in seconds. More info: gbr@rdm.com * Source: Watson & Fulton ** Source: Frost & Sullivan Convincing cabling solutions Supermicro has announced the availability of a complete server lineup supporting the AMD EPYC 7003 Series Processors. Supermicro’s SuperBlade on the SPECjbb 2015-Distributed achieved back-to-back world record benchmarks on the critical-jOPS and max-jOPS tests. The SuperBlade delivered up to a 36% improvement from the 2nd Gen to 3rd Gen of AMD EPYC CPUs, which is a significant boost to satisfy performance-hungry enterprise workloads. The Supermicro A+ line includes servers that incorporate single-socket and dual-socket system solutions designed to reduce the time to results and drive better business decisions. For example, the recently announced new 2U 2-node multi-GPU server is the perfect platform for video streaming, high-end cloud gaming, and countless social networking applications. It has market-leading system flexibility, and cost savings will deliver uninterrupted performance. With innovative server designs that reduce the power required while leading the industry in performance, Supermicro paves the way with application-optimised servers, enabling modern businesses to reduce costs and enhance their user's experience. "Supermicro has always led the industry in designing and manufacturing the largest application-optimised portfolio of servers that meet the demands of our customers," said Charles Liang, president and CEO, Supermicro. "Our building block architecture allows us to deliver a versatile portfolio of systems that maximise the benefits of the 3rd Gen AMD EPYC Processors for specific workloads be it our 2U 2 Node GPU System with PCIe 4.0 for cloud gaming or our 2U CloudDC single processor high core count system for storage applications These systems reduce TCO and the Total Cost to the Environment (TCE), which is an essential metric as we all have the responsibility to minimise a data centre’s effect on the environment." The new 3rd Gen AMD EPYC 7003 Series Processors are designed with the "Zen3" core that delivers up to 19% more instructions per cycle than the previous generation and contains up to 64 cores per socket for exceptional performance on popular benchmarks and real-world workloads. The new systems from Supermicro include a range of compute and storage systems designed for many of the most demanding applications, for AI, HPC, Enterprise, and Cloud deployments. "We designed the EPYC 7003 Series processors to give our customers exactly what they said they needed, performance across all workloads and the ability to drive more time to value, right out of the box," said Ram Peddibhotla, corporate vice president, EPYC product management, AMD. "With leadership architecture, performance, and modern security features, EPYC 7003 Series processors are a superior choice and continue to drive the standard for the modern data centre." n Supermicro introduces portfolio of AMD EPYC 7003 based systemswww.networkseuropemagazine.com competitive edge 16 Gaining a edge in 2021www.networkseuropemagazine.com 17 competitive edge 17 If 2020 taught us anything, it’s how adaptability in the face of worldwide change is key to business survival. Our lives have never been quite so dependent on data centres; a sector that has witnessed unprecedented growth across Europe over the last decade, and the last few years. Previously dominated by purpose-built, on-premise enterprise data centres, we are now seeing a shift to off-premise colocation and cloud data centres. With a global spend of over USD 38 billion on colocation services predicted by 2023, and multi-tenant centres experiencing 5% growth in 2018, it is safe to say this trend is set to continue. The colocation advantage With more and more businesses looking to undertake digital transformation in 2021, the global figure for data consumption is predicted to rise to a staggering 74 zettabytes in 2021. This is a rise from 59 zettabytes in 2020, according to Statista. The crucial decision these businesses face is whether to create their own on-premise data centre, or to rely on colocation services. The primary benefits for enterprise clients to use colocation are clear: • Lowering your carbon footprint: With Microsoft aiming to be carbon negative by 2030, and Google planning to operate carbon-free by the same year, corporate sustainability is high on the agenda for 2021. By offering businesses renewable energy alternatives to standard data centre enterprises, colocation data centres allow companies to meet those corporate sustainability goals by using cleaner energy and reducing emissions. • Scalability: Colocation data centres can build rapidly at scale and just in time to meet their customer’s exact needs, offering businesses flexibility and the ability to grow quickly when needed. • Less infrastructure: Companies can easily rent colocation data centre space from third parties or utilise cloud data centres, thus eliminating the need for investment in costly infrastructures such as building, cooling and security. • Core business: Companies can eliminate the need to manage IT components, including servers, data storage and firewalls, freeing-up time to focus on their own business operations. ng a competitive in 2021 Brian Johnson ABB Data Centre Segment Head ABB How colocation and multi-tenant data centres are the future when it comes to speed and efficiency. competitive edge www.networkseuropemagazine.com 18 • Latest and best: Working with a colocation data centre means you are effectively their client, so it is in their interest to make sure that their security is second to none, and the technology is the very latest and best. One important way that colocation providers ensure downtime is kept to a minimum is by relying on redundancy to guarantee uninterrupted power, internet connection, security and temperature management. • Less responsibility: One of the reassuring features of most colocation services (especially in emergencies) is the professional IT support they offer. By off-loading a large portion of support responsibilities to your colocation data centre, IT staff can prioritise other projects, which saves additional time and money. Emerging European markets With colocation data centres presenting a vast array of advantages, it can be easy to see why it’s starting to expand beyond established data centre locations in Western Europe – the so-called FLAP (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris) markets - to other ‘second tier’ markets including Zurich, Dublin and Milan. A new report from CBRE, which looked at emerging trends across the European data centre market in 2021, predicted that many enterprises will now push on with some of their deployments into colocation. It also highlighted that supply restrictions could start to see ‘hyperscale self- build and colocation co-existing across the FLAP markets, with cloud providers creating new availability zones that will require additional colocation developments to meet rapid timescales.’ competitive edge www.networkseuropemagazine.com 19 Staying ahead of the curve As more enterprise consumers move from on-premise data centres to retail and wholesale colocation providers to reduce their costs and to rent space, racks and cages, we know that the demand for colocation data centres is set to accelerate. With such rising demand, builders and system integrators in the colocation space need to enable simpler and faster deployments and expansions. So, how do colocation data centres guarantee timeliness and budget control without compromising on quality standards and security protocols? To stay ahead of the curve, colocation operators need to review alternative options in the design, build and management of colocation projects. A pre-engineered product package or prefabricated skid solution, built-in an offsite facility, can present a viable alternative to traditional bricks and mortar construction. Modular system solutions which feature prefabricated eHouses and skid-mounted power substations including switchgear, transformers and other electrification components in one, offer flexibility, a higher level of safety and integration of intelligent technology, shorter build schedules and most importantly, greater power reliability. Modular data centres offer a more compact, timely, scalable and convenient method of deploying data capacity and standardised power infrastructure to where it is needed. Data centre modularisation also offers significant benefits while building and testing, as much of the build and pre-commissioning work is taken away from a construction site. So, debugging can be done efficiently at the factory and time on site can be minimised. Costly delays are prevented through parallel stage builds instead of sequential build procedures seen on construction sites. Projects can be fast-tracked, and risks are further mitigated with offsite testing being undertaken in a controlled environment thereby protecting the system integrity and providing peace of mind for operators. This type of approach offers the same level of rigour, consistency and quality as achieved in a traditional data centre build, with program timelines being unaffected by onsite testing and engineering works. Shaping the future Google’s huge global outage at the end of 2020 showed us that even the biggest hyperscale data centres are not immune to their share of issues and downtime incidents. Two words that have a great deal of significance when it comes to looking ahead to where the data centre sector is headed, are speed and simplicity. This sentiment of keeping things simple is one of key importance; not ‘simple’ in terms of functionality, but simple in terms of being able to isolate a potential problem and resolve issues quickly and efficiently. It is better to fail “small” and lose one computer rather than one rack, lose one rack rather than one row, one row than one pod and so on. So, if we can identify and isolate the issues quickly and simply, then this will help to ensure any possible future outage is kept to a minimum. There is no doubt that this need for speed and simplicity will continue to shape colocation data centre development, as demand for enterprise data and services continues to grow. Emerging technologies like autonomous vehicles, “massive” 5G, and smart cities will drive the need for colocation at the “edge” and for near real-time performance and further efficiency. In our ever-connected world, our thirst for data is all-consuming. If we are to keep pace we will have to think with speed and think simple. It’s as simple as that. n The need for speed and simplicity will continue to shape colocation data centre development, as demand for enterprise data and services continues to growNext >