Hyper-Converged Infrastructure
Business Wire | September 26, 2023
Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET), the security, performance, and reliability company helping to build a better Internet, today shared a new independent report published by Analysys Mason that shows switching enterprise network services from on premises devices to Cloudflare’s cloud-based services can cut related carbon emissions up to 78% for very large businesses to up to 96% for small businesses. The report is one of the first of its kind to calculate potential emissions savings achieved by replacing enterprise network and security hardware boxes with more efficient cloud services.
Global Internet usage accounts for 3.7% of global CO2 emissions, about equal to the CO2 emissions of all air traffic around the world. The Internet needs to reduce its overall energy consumption, especially as regulators continue to implement the Paris Climate Accord, including plans to transition to a zero emissions economy. The European Climate Law requires that Europe’s economy and society become climate-neutral by 2050, with a target of reducing net GHG emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. Regulators in the United States and the European Union, among others, have also announced plans to require companies to disclose climate-related information including carbon emissions resulting from their operations and supply chains, as well as climate related risks and opportunities. Finally, among the Fortune Global 500, 63% of companies now set 2050 targets for emissions reductions. Companies large and small will increasingly be looking to reduce carbon throughout their supply chains, particularly their IT infrastructure.
“The best way to reduce your IT infrastructure’s carbon footprint is easy: move to the cloud,” said Matthew Prince, CEO and co-founder, Cloudflare. “At Cloudflare, we’ve built one of the world’s most efficient networks, getting the most out of every watt of energy and every one of our servers. That’s why, with Cloudflare, companies can help hit their sustainability goals without sacrificing security, speed, performance, or innovation.”
The Analysys Mason study found that switching enterprise network services from on premises devices to Cloudflare services can cut related carbon emissions up to 96%, depending on the current network footprint. The greatest reduction comes from consolidating services, which improves carbon efficiency by increasing the utilization of servers that are providing multiple network functions. On premises devices are designed to host multiple workloads and consume power constantly, but are only used for part of the day and part of the week. Cloud infrastructure is shared by millions of customers, often all over the world. As a result, cloud providers are able to achieve economies of scale that result in less downtime, less waste, and lower emissions. Furthermore, the Analysys Mason study found that there are additional gains due to the high Power Usage Effectiveness of cloud data centres, and differences in the carbon intensity of generation in the local electricity grid.
“Happy Cog is a full-service digital agency that designs, builds, and markets experiences that engage our clients and their audiences. We’ve relied on Cloudflare for many of those websites and apps because it's secure, reliable, fast, and affordable – but also aligns with many of our clients’ sustainability roadmaps and goals,” said Matt Weinberg, Co-Founder and President of Technology at Happy Cog. “Switching our clients from their previous on premises or other constant-usage infrastructure to Cloudflare's network and services has let them be greener, more efficient, and more cost effective. It's ideal when you can offer your clients a solution that covers all their needs and provides a delightful experience now, without having to compromise on their longer term priorities.”
About Cloudflare
Cloudflare, Inc. (www.cloudflare.com / @cloudflare) is on a mission to help build a better Internet. Cloudflare’s suite of products protect and accelerate any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare have all web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was awarded by Reuters Events for Global Responsible Business in 2020, named to Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in 2021, and ranked among Newsweek's Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces in 2022.
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Data Storage
Globenewswire | July 04, 2023
ABP and OMERS Infrastructure have today announced the signing of an agreement for the acquisition of Kenter from Alliander Corporate Ventures. Kenter is an energy infrastructure solutions business providing medium-voltage infrastructure – including transformers and switchgear – and meters to over 25,000 commercial and industrial business customers in the Netherlands and Belgium. This investment is done by APG Asset Management on behalf of ABP, the largest pension fund in the Netherlands; OMERS Infrastructure is investing on behalf of OMERS, one of the largest pension plans in Canada.
ABP and OMERS investment in Kenter will be the consortium’s second joint investment in the Dutch B2B energy solutions sector, after reaching close on their investment in Groendus in November last year. Groendus develops, builds and operates rooftop solar and storage solutions, meters and electric vehicle chargers for its commercial and industrial business customers, as well as providing access to its proprietary energy management system and energy marketplace, Groendus Energiemarktplaats. Upon close, the shareholders envision that Kenter and Groendus will partner to offer existing and new customers holistic, integrated energy solutions to support the decarbonization of their operations and help them reach their net zero goals.
Harmen van Wijnen, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at ABP, said: “ABP likes to invest in the Netherlands in order to stimulate economic growth, employment and sustainable projects. We also want to contribute to the energy transition and wholeheartedly support our nation's climate objectives. Therefore, investments in the electrification infrastructure are needed on a large scale. This investment benefits our three million participants in several ways. It not only contributes to sufficient and sustainably generated energy in the Netherlands but also generates long-term value for our pension participants.”
Jan-Willem Ruisbroek, Head of Global Infrastructure Investment Strategy at APG, said: “The energy transition is propelling the electrification trend in the Netherlands and across Europe, aligning with the ambitious climate targets set by the EU. To ensure its success, substantial investments in essential electrical infrastructure such as transformers, meters, batteries and electric vehicle chargers are imperative for our society. By investing in Kenter, building upon our previous venture with Groendus last year, we intensify our efforts. We are looking forward to working with the management teams and staff to establish a national champion in the energy transition sector the Netherlands and abroad.”
Alastair Hall, Senior Managing Director and Head of Europe, OMERS Infrastructure, said: “We’re thrilled to announce OMERS second investment to enable the energy transition in the Netherlands. We look forward to growing a B2B energy solutions platform in the region, delivering energy infrastructure for businesses looking to meet their sustainability goals.”
Erik van der Ende, CEO of Kenter, said: “I am delighted with the choice of ABP and OMERS Infrastructure. As an independent company, when it comes to the energy transition, we take care of all the needs of our existing and new customers by offering total solutions in the field of energy infrastructure. We operate in an extremely attractive growth market and this proposed sale makes it possible for Kenter to really take full advantage of our potential. We look forward to continuing to work on the energy transition together with our customers, employees, partners and new shareholders.”
APG and OMERS Infrastructure were advised by DC Advisory, Emendo Capital and Allen & Overy. The closing of the transaction is expected in Q4 2023, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed.
About OMERS Infrastructure
OMERS Infrastructure manages infrastructure investments globally on behalf of OMERS, the defined benefit pension plan for municipal employees in the Province of Ontario, Canada, and third-party investors through its Strategic Partnership Program. OMERS Infrastructure manages approximately C$34 billion, including capital invested on behalf of OMERS and third parties, in over 30 investments located in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific and across sectors including energy, digital services, transportation and government-regulated services. OMERS Infrastructure has employees in Toronto, New York, the U.K., Amsterdam, Asia and Australia.
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Application Infrastructure, Windows Systems and Network
businesswire | July 27, 2023
Tachyum™ announced today the release of the white paper, “Tachyum Prodigy – Solution for Data Centers that are Hungry for Energy,” explaining how Prodigy®, the world’s first Universal Processor, is ideally suited to help overcome increasingly excessive energy use in data centers.
Data centers are among the most energy-demanding facilities in the world. A report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that 3% of global electricity use comes from data centers and data transmission networks. Data centers are expected to consume 20% of the world's energy supply by 2025 as the demand for digital services continues to grow.
Tachyum’s white paper details how Prodigy delivers disruptive innovation for data centers with unprecedented power efficiency by unifying the CPU, GPGPU and TPU into a single processor die, enabling groundbreaking performance while removing the need for power-hunger, costly accelerators. The white paper further shows how this compares to other data center solutions with higher performance/watt than both CPUs and GPUs; up to 4.4x higher performance/W than Intel 8490-H for cloud computing; and up to 13.4x higher performance/W than Nvidia H100 for generative AI.
“Keeping pace with the energy demands of today’s hyperscale data centers is simply not attainable,” said Dr. Radoslav Danilak, founder and CEO of Tachyum. “Additionally, massive growth from the rapid adoption of AI can only be accomplished by enabling a single hardware platform, like Prodigy, that can handle multiple workloads and avoids the time and energy from separate, custom-built solutions. Those reading the white paper will see that this approach makes the most sense and will become more evident as power demand increases.”
Prodigy provides both the high performance required for cloud and HPC/AI workloads within a single architecture. As a Universal Processor offering utility for all workloads, Prodigy-powered data center servers can seamlessly and dynamically switch between computational domains. By eliminating the need for expensive dedicated AI hardware and dramatically increasing server utilization, Prodigy reduces CAPEX and OPEX significantly while delivering unprecedented data center performance, power, and economics. Prodigy integrates 128 high-performance custom-designed 64-bit compute cores, to deliver up to 4x the performance of the highest-performing x86 processors for cloud workloads, up to 3x that of the highest performing GPU for HPC, and 6x for AI applications.
About Tachyum
Tachyum is transforming the economics of AI, HPC, public and private cloud workloads with Prodigy, the world’s first Universal Processor. Prodigy unifies the functionality of a CPU, a GPGPU, and a TPU in a single processor that delivers industry-leading performance, cost, and power efficiency for both specialty and general-purpose computing. When hyperscale data centers are provisioned with Prodigy, all AI, HPC, and general-purpose applications can run on the same infrastructure, saving companies billions of dollars in hardware, footprint, and operational expenses. As global data center emissions contribute to a changing climate, and consume more than four percent of the world’s electricity—projected to be 10 percent by 2030—the ultra-low power Prodigy Universal Processor is a potential breakthrough for satisfying the world’s appetite for computing at a lower environmental cost. Prodigy, now in its final stages of testing and integration before volume manufacturing, is being adopted in prototype form by a rapidly growing customer base, and robust purchase orders signal a likely IPO in late 2024. Tachyum has offices in the United States and Slovakia.
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