Lenovo intros an edge platform that runs Azure stack

Welcome to Network World.com | April 08, 2020

Lenovo is boosting its ties to Microsoft with an edge-to-cloud platform that runs Microsoft’s Azure Stack in a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), putting HCI on the edge of the network rather than in a data center. The Lenovo ThinkAgile MX1021 server analyzes data at the edge near where it is gathered, a change in direction for the usual edge strategy. In earlier edge schemes,  data collected at an edge endpoint is merely sorted, and only the relevant data is sent up to the main data center where it is analyzed. The ThinkAgile MX1021 platform is a ruggedized, half-width, short-depth, 1U compact server that can be installed almost anywhere: hung on a wall, stacked on a shelf, or mounted in a rack. For connectivity, it supports Wi-Fi, 4G and 5G.

Spotlight

5G deployments continue their upward trend and will soon be the dominant mobile wireless protocol deployed in North America. The ecosystem is gathering valuable information from these deployments, and one area of focus is the transport network. As part of 5G’s evolution, key architecture components are being separated and distributed to the cloud in ways that make 5G more scalable and flexible. Meanwhile, bandwidth demands continue to increase at the same time applications and services require low latency. New requirements are presented to the transport network at each step of an operator’s 5G journey. The transport infrastructure of today must be flexible to adapt to upcoming requirements as it enables new architectures, tools, and ultimately, 5G networks innovation, monetization, and performance. The fundamental goal of the 5G transport network is to deliver transparent connectivity that allows both present and future functions to work together seamlessly.

Spotlight

5G deployments continue their upward trend and will soon be the dominant mobile wireless protocol deployed in North America. The ecosystem is gathering valuable information from these deployments, and one area of focus is the transport network. As part of 5G’s evolution, key architecture components are being separated and distributed to the cloud in ways that make 5G more scalable and flexible. Meanwhile, bandwidth demands continue to increase at the same time applications and services require low latency. New requirements are presented to the transport network at each step of an operator’s 5G journey. The transport infrastructure of today must be flexible to adapt to upcoming requirements as it enables new architectures, tools, and ultimately, 5G networks innovation, monetization, and performance. The fundamental goal of the 5G transport network is to deliver transparent connectivity that allows both present and future functions to work together seamlessly.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, Data Storage

TrueNet Communications to Transform Network and Infrastructure Management with Digital Twin Technology

PR Newswire | September 01, 2023

TrueNet Communications Corp., an industry leading outside plant engineering and professional services company supporting the telecommunications market, announces the introduction of Digital Twin Technology to augment its service offerings. This groundbreaking mobile mapping solution marks a significant milestone in TrueNet Communications' commitment to delivering innovative and holistic solutions to meet current and future needs. It also represents TrueNet's expansion of services into industries including energy delivery networks, and urban, transportation and utility infrastructures. With Digital Twin Technology, TrueNet can visualize and analyze field assets in ways that were previously impossible, while simultaneously ensuring data is captured in usable outputs for future needs like predictive modeling and analysis. It's powered by state-of-the-art LiDAR and specialty photogrammetry drones that collect data and generate 3D digital replicas, or "digital twins," of field assets and environments. From optimizing network performance to enhancing infrastructure management, TrueNet's Digital Twin Technology is poised to revolutionize how companies operate. "Innovation is intrinsic to who we are and how we operate at TrueNet. We're proud to be on the forefront of finding ways to leverage new technologies, like Digital Twin Technology, to support our customers with advanced, end-to-end solutions," says Erich Schlegel, TrueNet's Chief Executive Officer. "Our customers can expect to feel the benefits of our Digital Twin approach by having access to more robust and accurate data that will enhance their overall experience." About TrueNet Communications Corp. TrueNet Communications Corp. is an industry leading outside plant (OSP) engineering, construction, and professional services company serving the largest telecommunications service providers and multi-service operators (MSOs) in North America. Since 1985, the company has provided advanced outside plant solutions by utilizing the latest innovative, exclusive, automation tools across the United States and Canada. In 2016, TrueNet was acquired by Fujitsu, one of the world's largest IT and Network services companies, adding world-class expertise and resources as a total network solution provider.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, Application Storage

Reliance Enters into Agreement to Invest Alongside Digital Realty and Brookfield Infrastructure to Expand Data Center Joint Venture in India

prnewswire | July 25, 2023

Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), the largest global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, announced today a planned three-way joint venture (JV) with Brookfield Infrastructure and Reliance Industries Ltd. ("RIL") to develop high-quality, highly-connected scalable data centers to meet the critical infrastructure needs of enterprises and digital services companies in India. The new JV will operate under the brand name Digital Connexion: A Brookfield, Jio and Digital Realty Company. It succeeds and builds on the strong foundation laid by BAM Digital Realty, by including RIL, India's largest private sector company, that has enabled and led India's digital transformation through Jio, as a partner. Each partner will own one-third of the joint venture. Digital Connexion expects to initially execute on the development of data center campuses on existing strategic land parcels it owns in Chennai and Mumbai. India represents a key market opportunity for Digital Realty to extend coverage, capacity, and connectivity options to cloud providers, hyperscalers and to both local and global enterprise customers. The Indian data center market is experiencing rapid growth, driven by the growing adoption of digital technologies, cloud computing, and the surge in data consumption fueling the demand for robust and scalable data center infrastructure. Data centers developed in India by the JV will leverage Digital Realty's industry-leading energy-efficient data center platform, design and operating procedures, highly-repeatable Pervasive Data Center Architecture (PDx®) approach and relationships with global customers, Brookfield's in-depth knowledge of the Indian infrastructure market, and Jio's massive digital and connectivity ecosystem and very strong enterprise relationships with an existing client base of 80% of large named private enterprises in India. Jio's world class, all-IP, data strong, future proof, 4G and 5G connectivity network with deep fiber presence, covering ~99.5% of the Indian population, strategically expands the JV's connectivity to data centers and other establishments in the country. It extends the reach of PlatformDIGITAL®, Digital Realty's best-in-class global data center platform with 300+ data centers, in 50+ metros, across 27 countries and six continents, giving customers access to a dense connected data community of partners, solutions and services, including Jio's network, cloud and other service solutions in India. "India is a mostly untapped market for the data center industry driven by the rapid adoption of digital business models, the world's largest population, and a government that recognizes the role of technology for future economic development," said Serene Nah, Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific, Digital Realty. "This joint venture brings together three global leaders in digital infrastructure to accelerate Digital India by developing, owning and operating institutional quality carrier-and cloud neutral data centers across India." Speaking about the transaction, Kiran Thomas, CEO, Jio Platforms Ltd. said, "We are excited to partner with Digital Realty, one of the most innovative data center companies globally and with Brookfield, our existing and trusted partner. The partnership will help us serve our enterprise and SMB clients with cutting-edge, plug-and-play solutions delivered from the cloud and lead their digital transformation and make them more competitive and efficient. The unique and highly engaging consumer and home experiences that we are offering and further innovating on, such as high-definition live content, AR / VR experiences, cloud gaming, immersive shopping experiences and cloud PC have massive compute capacity requirements. We would like to thank the Indian government for granting infrastructure status to data centers and for creating a favorable ecosystem for their development and operations, which is critical for India's vision to become a $1 trillion digital economy by 2025." Arpit Agrawal, Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure, India & Middle East, Brookfield, added, "We are very pleased to expand our existing partnership with Reliance and add their deep expertise in the Indian telecom, tech and data landscape to the platform. Data Centers provide essential services and critical infrastructure to support the digitalization that is taking place in every aspect of life in India. Together with Reliance and Digital Realty, we look forward to providing the best of solutions to the digital transformation needs of Indian and global corporates. Digital Connexion will have a dedicated management team in India, with leadership oversight from Digital Realty, Brookfield and RIL. With the complementary strengths of its three partners, Digital Connexion has world-class skills and resources available to enable it to support global and local customers seeking to serve the large and growing Indian market. About Digital Connexion: A Brookfield, Jio and Digital Realty Company Digital Connexion is a joint venture (JV) between Brookfield Infrastructure, Reliance Industries and Digital Realty. The company provides the full spectrum of highly-connected and scalable data center, colocation and interconnection solutions to meet the critical infrastructure needs of enterprises and digital services companies in India, and brings together enterprises, network service, cloud and IT providers to give customers and partners a key connectivity gateway to Europe, the Middle, East, Africa and Asia. The JV combines the complementary strengths of Jio's massive digital and connectivity ecosystem in India and tech capabilities with Brookfield Infrastructure, one of the largest owners and operators of critical global infrastructure, and Digital Realty, provider of the world's largest data center platform enabling customers with access to over 50 metros across six continents. About Digital Realty Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL®, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data "meeting place" and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx®) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges. 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Application Storage, Windows Server OS

Scala Data Centers enables new Hyperscale market in Curauma, Chile, on campus with 30MW of IT capacity

prnewswire | August 08, 2023

Scala Data Centers, the leading Latin American platform of sustainable data centers in the Hyperscale market, announces the start of the SSCLCR01 data center operations, located in Curauma, Valparaíso region, Chile. Scala's new data center, boasting an investment of US$ 65 million and a robust 5MW of IT capacity, has been launched 100% booked to one Hyperscale customer. It is strategically situated in our Curauma Campus, poised for exponential growth, as it is designed to reach a critical capacity of approximately 30MW in the coming years. Delivered in just 10 months, Scala's new data center is part of the company's strategy to enable new Hyperscale markets acrossLatin America. In addition to the availability of land, energy, connectivity, and proximity to consolidated markets – it is based 56 miles from theSantiagometropolitan area – Curauma will establish itself on the world's connectivity map with the arrival of the Humboldt submarine cable, which promises to connectLatin Americato theAsia-Pacificregions for the first time. With around 9,500 miles of fiber, the Humboldt subsea cable will bring unprecedented scale, connection quality and lower latency betweenLatin America,Asia, and Oceania. Not to mention the connection the data center will have with the U.S. West Coast. "In a scenario where 5G accelerates the deployment of various services and applications that use high data volume and require low latency, Scala has succeeded in choosing its first campus to become operational inChile," evaluates Scala's CEO and Co-FounderMarcos Peigo. "Furthermore, aligned with our purpose of enabling the future inLatin America, we have created a unique opportunity here for customers positioned on the West Coast of theUSAand for a potential group in APAC (Asia-PacificandChina) to offer their products and solutions to Latin American customers." Powered by 100% renewable and certified energy, in line with the company's portfolio, the new Chilean data center was built based on the proprietary and innovative One Scala Template design and construction methodology. With high efficiency in the use of its resources, the SSCLCR01 data center was designed to operate with a PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) lower than 1.2-1.3 and with a WUE (Water Usage Effectiveness) of zero as it uses air cooling. The SSCLCR01 data center project was led by the company's pioneering Center of Excellence in Engineering (CoE), which has more than 340 engineers, architects, and data center specialists acrossLatin America. CoE oversees the planning and execution of all activities related to the construction and operation of a data center, from site selection, through planning, design, construction, and commissioning, which speeds up delivery to customers and brings gains in scale, energy efficiency, and greater control and visibility of projects. All SSCLCR01 data center monitoring will be conducted by the company's Command Center, located at its operations headquarters in São Paulo,Brazil, where a trilingual team extensively uses technology, artificial intelligence, and rigorous quality processes to monitor and ensure security, in line with Scala's other sites in operation. Growth inChile.In addition to Curauma Campus, Scala continues to build Lampa Campus, in the metropolitan region ofSantiago. This will be the largest data center campus ever built inChilewith an IT capacity of 80MW – considering 30MW for initial delivery in 2024. Also in theSantiagoregion, the installation of a HyperEdge data center is planned. Conceived by the CoE, this building will feature the proprietary FastDeploy design and construction methodology, which allows scalable implementation of edge data centers with the same high-quality experience as the traditional model, in up to 50% less time. Scala will invest approximatelyUS$ 400 millioninChileduring the first phase of the three campuses. Strategically positioned, they will have a combined IT capacity of over 200MW, which is equivalent to around two times the total installed capacity currently in the country, or twice the critical capacity of mature markets inEuropesuch asMadrid. Scala continues its accelerated expansion plan, with the construction of new sites at Tamboré Campus (São Paulo state,Brazil),Porto Alegrecity (Rio Grande do Sul state,Brazil), and Lampa (Chile), as well as advanced projects to implement other data centers in Jundiaí city (São Paulo state,Brazil),Fortalezacity (Ceará state,Brazil),Chile,Mexico, andColombia. Since its founding in 2020, Scala has invested more thanR$ 8 billion(~US$ 1.6 billion) in Hyperscale data centers inLatin Americaand expects to reach 500MW of distributed capacity over the next five years in four countries it operates. In 2023 alone, the company started operating three state-of-the-art data centers inLatin America, located specifically inRio de Janeiro(13.2MW IT), Tamboré (6MW IT) and, now, in Curauma (5MW IT). About Scala Data Centers Scala Data Centers is the leading Latin American platform of sustainable data centers in the Hyperscale market. Headquartered inBraziland founded by DigitalBridge, it was developed to meet and exceed the growing demand for digital access inLatin America. Scala has a highly qualified team of over 800 professionals and applies a flexible and innovative approach to providing exceptional quality colocation services to hyperscale clients, cloud-based software and service providers, and large enterprises. We customize state-of-the-art solutions for each client in the construction of the latest generation data centers, with high availability, the best energy efficiency rates, and superior density. All this allied to the best sustainability practices guided by our ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) program.

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