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.
Read More
Data Storage
Business Wire | September 21, 2023
Astera Labs, the global leader in semiconductor-based connectivity solutions for AI infrastructure, today announced that its Leo Memory Connectivity Platform enables data center servers with unprecedented performance for memory intensive workloads. Leo is the industry’s first Compute Express Link™ (CXL™) memory controller that increases total server memory bandwidth by 50% while also decreasing latency by 25% when integrated with the forthcoming 5th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processor. Through new hardware-based interleaving of CXL-attached and CPU native memory, Astera Labs and Intel eliminate any application-level software changes to augment server memory resources via CXL. Existing applications can effortlessly “plug-and-play” to take advantage of the highest possible memory bandwidth and capacity in the system.
“The growth of computing cores and performance has historically outpaced memory throughput advancements, resulting in degraded server performance efficiency over time,” said Sanjay Gajendra, COO of Astera Labs. “This performance scaling challenge has led to the infamous ‘memory wall,’ and thanks to our collaboration with Intel, our Leo Memory Connectivity Platform breaks through this barrier by delivering on the promise of PCIe 5.0 and CXL memory.”
Data center infrastructure scaling limitations due to the memory wall are none more evident than in AI servers where memory bandwidth and capacity bottlenecks result in inefficient processor utilization. The CXL innovations delivered by Astera Labs and Intel directly address these bottlenecks and lay the foundation for cloud, hybrid-cloud and enterprise data centers to maximize accelerated computing performance.
Extending leadership of PCIe® 5.0 and CXL 2.0 solutions
Astera Labs has a history of delivering industry-first solutions that are critical to advancing the PCIe and CXL ecosystems. In addition to memory performance advancements with Leo, Astera Labs is also driving interoperability leadership with its Aries PCIe 5.0 / CXL 2.0 Smart Retimers on state-of-the-art Intel server platforms. As the most widely deployed and proven PCIe/CXL retimer family in the industry, Aries features a low-latency CXL mode that complements Leo to form the most robust CXL memory connectivity solution.
“We applaud Astera Labs for their contributions to the CXL ecosystem and are delighted to extend our ongoing collaboration. We believe Memory Connectivity Platforms containing innovations from companies like Astera Labs will help deliver enhanced performance on next generation Intel Xeon processors, and accelerate a myriad of memory intensive workloads,” said Zane Ball, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Data Center Platform Engineering and Architecture Group, Intel.
Visit Astera Labs at Intel Innovation!
Astera Labs will showcase Leo and Aries together with Intel’s latest Xeon® Scalable processors at Booth #210, September 19-20 at the San Jose Convention Center. Talk to Astera Labs’ experts to learn more about industry benchmarks and how to optimize PCIe/CXL memory solutions in data center architectures to deliver optimized performance for applications ranging from AI, real time analytics, genomics and modeling.
About Astera Labs
Astera Labs, Inc. is a global leader in semiconductor-based connectivity solutions purpose-built to unleash the full potential of intelligent data infrastructure at cloud-scale. Its class-defining, first-to-market products based on PCIe, CXL, and Ethernet technologies deliver critical connectivity in accelerated computing platforms optimized for AI applications.
Read More
Data Storage
PRWeb | October 12, 2023
CoolIT Systems, a global leader in advanced cooling technology, and Switch Datacenters, a leading sustainable data center operator and developer, are thrilled to unveil a strategic partnership that will benefit an industry seeking to improve the sustainability of data centers.
Following the recent release of the World Economic Forum's Top 10 Emerging Technologies featuring "Sustainable Computing" as the 9th-ranked emerging technology, the collaboration between Switch Datacenters and CoolIT facilitates data center space and the necessary technology to significantly curtail energy and water consumption inherent in modern data centers.
With a history spanning more than a decade, Switch Datacenters has consistently demonstrated a commitment to environmental responsibility and sustainability. Their latest 45MW AMS6 data center near the Schiphol airport area features an HPC/AI-ready design that uses data center heat to warm adjacent greenhouses. Currently under development, their AMS5s is designed to make a significant contribution to the Amsterdam municipal heat grid with green, CO2-neutral heat. For both data centers, there's a marked preference for liquid cooling because it allows heat extraction at temperatures higher than traditional air cooling, offering enhanced economic value.
CoolIT Systems is the industry-leading provider of efficient Direct Liquid Cooling (DLC) and Rear Door Heat Exchangers (RDHx) that enable heat reuse and help customers meet key Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) targets. CoolIT DLC technology is featured as a factory-installed, warranty-approved feature from most major servers OEMs.
"CoolIT's DLC and RDHx technologies have been instrumental in various data center heat reuse projects for years, with customers reporting at minimum a savings of 10% on energy bills (OPEX), more than 50% on CAPEX spends, and examples of PUE lowered from 1.30 to 1.02," expressed Peggy Burroughs, Director of CoolIT Next. "Our collaborations with most major server OEMs have cultivated an expansive ecosystem for clients aspiring to achieve both business and ESG goals."
CoolIT is the right company to help make our vision a reality at an industrial scale. Both CoolIT and Switch Datacenters have shared the same passion for sustainable innovation for years and truly want to elevate the industry's adoption of liquid cooling. We believe liquid cooling will be the game-changer in the next wave of sustainable data center designs, and CoolIT is one of the very few companies that can lead this upcoming demand, thanks to their long history of innovation, reliability, breadth of portfolio, and capabilities to scale with their numerous IT partners worldwide, says Gregor Snip, CEO of Switch Datacenters.
Data centers are projected to account for 8% of the global electricity consumption by 20301. Technologies such as Direct Liquid Cooling can significantly reduce data center energy consumption by 25-40% and deliver water savings of 70-97%, depending on local climate and specific implementations2.
Switch Datacenters is leading the charge in embracing sustainable alternatives for heating by reusing data center-generated heat. With their latest project, Switch Datacenters AMS6, they will revolutionize the way nearby greenhouses are heated by providing high-temperature heat from their data center. This innovative solution will replace traditional fossil fuel-based heating and contribute to a greener future. By harnessing the power of IT servers to generate green heat for large-scale crop cultivation, Switch Datacenters is driving the transition away from fossil fuels. They strongly advocate for the integration of heat-recapture-enabled data centers in areas with high demand for heat, making it a standard design principle. With the world calling for sustainable IT and data centers, the time is ripe for this much-needed change.
With the combined expertise of CoolIT and Switch Datacenters, customers can now harness technologically advanced solutions that not only result in considerable energy and water savings but also contribute significantly to the global drive for reduced environmental impact, aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure (SDG 9), and Climate Action (SDG 13).
About CoolIT Systems
CoolIT Systems is renowned for its scalable liquid cooling solutions tailored for the world's most challenging computing contexts. In both enterprise data centers and high-performance computing domains, CoolIT collaborates with global OEM server design leaders, formulating efficient and trustworthy liquid cooling solutions. In the desktop enthusiast arena, CoolIT delivers unmatched performance for a diverse range of gaming setups. Their modular Direct Liquid Cooling technology, Rack DLC™, empowers dramatic spikes in rack densities, component efficacy, and power savings. Jointly, CoolIT and its allies are pioneering the large-scale adoption of sophisticated cooling techniques.
About Switch Datacenters
Switch Datacenters is a Dutch privately-owned data center operator and developer founded in 2010 by Gregor Snip and his brother. Initially established as a private data center for their successful hosting company, the Amsterdam-based company later expanded into a fully-fledged commercial data center operator. It added several highly efficient and environmentally-friendly data center sites to its portfolio, with a current focus on constructing and managing wholesale data centers for large global customers while also providing tailor-made data center services.
Switch Datacenters is an ambitious, 100% Dutch player in the Amsterdam data center sector, experiencing rapid growth by continually partnering with leading and globally recognized industry players and customers. The company maintains a steadfast commitment to innovative and sustainable site development. Currently, Switch Datacenters has over 200MW of new sustainable data center capacity in development. This year, it will launch its flagship sustainable data center, AMS4, with major customers having already pre-leased the 15-18MW facility.
Read More