Datacentre capacity planning
Effective capacity planning evaluates how well the datacentre helps achieve its business objectives in the present and anticipates the organisation's future needs. As a capacity planner, you must examine hardware, infrastructure and personnel, and determine whether these IT components can handle growth and new requirements that may arise. This section covers how to develop an effective datacentre capacity planning strategy to ensure your datacentre is scalable and prepared for the future.
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Feature
09 Feb 2024
The rising prominence of hybrid cloud in the Nordics
Many Nordic organisations have opted for hybrid cloud environments, subscribing to the newest services without giving up what they already have. Best practices are beginning to emerge for managing the heterogenous environment Continue Reading
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News
08 Feb 2024
Swedish CIO contributes best practices for ethical use of artificial intelligence
IT leaders are scrambling to keep up with AI technology, but many are losing sight of its ethical impact – and what CIOs need to do to ensure responsible use Continue Reading
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News
29 May 2024
Blackpool Council courts datacentre developers for tech-focused town regeneration project
Blackpool Council is seeking the support of the datacentre community for its bid to create a sustainable technology campus that will capitalise on the town’s proximity to transatlantic undersea cables Continue Reading
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Podcast
22 May 2024
Podcast: AI and its impact on data storage
We talk to Shawn Rosemarin, vice-president for R&D at Pure Storage, about the requirements of AI workloads, and what data storage needs to cope with AI Continue Reading
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News
22 May 2024
Infinidat adds smaller footprint G4 arrays with claimed 2x performance
Purveyor of triple-controller all-flash and hybrid flash arrays aimed at high-end customers tails and tops InfiniBox and InfiniBox SSA ranges, and adds Azure cloud storage to AWS Continue Reading
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News
20 May 2024
Toshiba shows 32TB HDDs with heat-assisted and shingled drives
Drive maker demonstrates 32TB and 31TB capacity hard drives that boost write density by use of heat and microwave assistance plus shingled – overlapped – drive tracks Continue Reading
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News
14 May 2024
QStar launches tape access from anywhere with Global ArchiveSpace
Tape veteran provides file and object access to Exabyte scale archives aimed at AI, high-performance computing and hyperscaler storage. Single-site for now, multi-site to follow Continue Reading
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News
14 May 2024
NetApp upgrades AFF all-flash as it targets AI storage
New AFF arrays offer performance boost for artificial intelligence, while NetApp trumpets its advantages as a provider of sustainable and intelligent infrastructure for all kinds of workloads Continue Reading
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Feature
10 May 2024
Four key impacts of AI on data storage
We look at the key impacts of AI on data storage, including I/O and possible bottlenecks, how I/O differs across training and inference, plus data management and compliance concerns Continue Reading
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News
08 May 2024
Huawei launches exabyte-scale OceanStor A800 at AI workloads
Chinese storage array maker announces high-performance NAS that can build out to clusters in excess of 1 exabyte, plus NVMe flash drives of 128TB coming to market next year Continue Reading
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News
07 May 2024
French MSP saves 30% on cloud costs as it deploys Cubbit
Cubbit’s distributed object storage turns on-site capacity into a sovereign and secure cloud. CloudReso.com uses it to supply its customers and save on fees from big cloud providers Continue Reading
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Podcast
01 May 2024
Podcast: 32TB HDDs by 2029, but how much bigger can they get?
We talk to Rainer Kaese of Toshiba about the roadmap for conventional magnetic recording on hard disk drives, the roadmap to 32TB, and what it would take to get to 100TB or 200TB Continue Reading
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News
30 Apr 2024
Arcitecta offers file and object storage with huge transfer rates
Australian startup offers single namespace file and object storage with rapid access via a metadata database that puts the right data in the right place according to recent use Continue Reading
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Podcast
25 Apr 2024
Podcast: How to prepare your data for digital transformation
We talk to Chris Gorton, EMEA managing director at Syniti, about how to prepare data for digital transformation Continue Reading
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Feature
23 Apr 2024
Five reasons why – and when – cloud storage is the answer
We look at when cloud storage can be the best choice, with considerations that include performance, scalability and agility, cost, management simplicity, and security and resilience Continue Reading
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News
22 Apr 2024
Fujifilm plans to ‘make tape easy’ with Kangaroo SME appliance
Fujifilm to add 100TB SME-focused Kangaroo tape infrastructure in a box to existing 1PB offer, as energy efficiency and security of tape make it alluring to customers Continue Reading
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News
22 Apr 2024
Digital Edge punching above its weight in Asia datacentre market
Fast-growing datacentre provider Digital Edge is eyeing business from hyperscalers and counting on its strengths in datacentre operations and local partnerships to stand out from rivals Continue Reading
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News
16 Apr 2024
Leil wants to revive MAID as green storage tape substitute
MAID sought to provide energy-efficient disk storage with quicker access times than tape. Estonian startup Leil wants to supplant tape with green storage spin-down SMR drives Continue Reading
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News
15 Apr 2024
Nib shutters last datacentre, moves most workloads to AWS
The Australian health and travel insurance provider has closed the last of its seven datacentres, marking the end of its nine-year cloud migration programme Continue Reading
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News
15 Apr 2024
Quickwit claims big advantage in log file search and index
When the logs are the data: Startup Quickwit claims late entrant advantage in log file search and index with bigger datasets and better analytics on reduced infrastructure Continue Reading
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Feature
11 Apr 2024
Storage technology explained: AI and data storage
In this guide, we examine the data storage needs of artificial intelligence, the demands it places on data storage, the suitability of cloud and object storage for AI, and key AI storage products Continue Reading
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News
04 Apr 2024
Forrester: IT departments are blowing their cloud budgets
A poll of IT decision-makers has found that cloud spending is rising, driven by more workloads and ineffective IT architecture planning Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Apr 2024
Storage technology explained: Flash vs HDD
In this guide, we examine the differences between flash storage and HDD, the rise of NVMe and much denser formats such as QLC, and whether or not flash will vanquish HDD in the all-flash datacentre Continue Reading
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News
02 Apr 2024
Flash storage prices rise by 25% as manufacturers chase profitability
Analysis of 30,000-plus drive prices shows cost of flash drives per gigabyte rose sharply since October 2023, as memory manufacturers limit supplies and increase prices Continue Reading
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Podcast
28 Mar 2024
Podcast: What is distributed cloud storage and what are its benefits?
We talk to Enrico Signoretti of Cubbit about how distributed cloud allows customers to control their data in hybrid and multicloud storage and the workloads the company targets Continue Reading
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News
26 Mar 2024
Alletra MP hardware changes see HPE orient arrays towards AI
HPE doubles controller nodes, boosts capacity with denser drives, cuts caches and builds in 100Gbps links to bring denser, faster storage aimed at all parts of the AI/ML pipeline Continue Reading
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News
25 Mar 2024
IBM enhances network IT automation capabilities with Pliant acquisition
Tech giant makes strategic purchase to further boost software networking capabilities, offering customers the tools to enable network infrastructure observability, connectivity, control and automation across hybrid cloud environments Continue Reading
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News
20 Mar 2024
SAP S/4HANA data migration beset by poor and fragmented strategy
Survey finds customers transitioning to S/4HANA lack strategic thinking and skills, can’t access data, face challenges in data duplication, can’t use AI, and worry about compliance Continue Reading
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News
20 Mar 2024
Singtel to host Vultr’s GPU workloads in AI datacentres
Vultr users will be able to deploy large-scale clusters of Nvidia H100 GPUs in Vultr’s Singapore region hosted in Singtel’s AI datacentres by the third quarter this year Continue Reading
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News
18 Mar 2024
Cohesity: We won’t abandon NetBackup customers or force migration
CEO promises no forced migration to Cohesity and not to abandon any NetBackup product while building new leadership in artificial intelligence and security around Cohesity Gaia Continue Reading
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News
14 Mar 2024
French datacentre operator to prototype using site's waste heat to generate renewable energy
Data4 is partnering with the University of Paris-Saclay to experiment with reusing waste datacentre heat to grow algae for use in green energy generation Continue Reading
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News
12 Mar 2024
Hammerspace leverages smart metadata handling for AI/ML workloads
Software-defined storage maker separates metadata from files to provide view-from-anywhere file system visibility. It has now leveraged that for AI/ML workloads in Hyperscale NAS Continue Reading
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News
11 Mar 2024
TechUK calls for next government to introduce ‘industrial strategy’ for AI
Trade group TechUK publishes blueprint calling for winner of next election to boost tech startups, digitise government services and accelerate technology R&D Continue Reading
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News
05 Mar 2024
Dutch organisations start building a federated European cloud
The ‘European cloud services in an open federated ecosystem’ (ECOFED) project is co-funded by the Dutch government and will run from 2024 to 2027 Continue Reading
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Feature
01 Mar 2024
Pseudo-SLC flash storage: What is it, what’s it good for and what does it cost?
Pseudo-SLC takes MLC, TLC flash and changes data storage at cell level to get better endurance and performance, but it’s mostly aimed at edge applications and is costly Continue Reading
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News
01 Mar 2024
APAC firms bullish on IT spending
More than half of organisations plan to spend more on key areas such as cyber security, generative AI and cloud in a sign of growing optimism across the region Continue Reading
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News
29 Feb 2024
Post-production company to go ‘all-in’ on Deep Green’s heat-reusing datacentre in Devon
Datacentre startup Deep Green confirms long-standing client Dirty Looks has committed to moving all of its workloads to its heat-reusing server farm, located in a leisure centre in Devon Continue Reading
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News
26 Feb 2024
Storage and backup spend in 2024 targets risk and resilience
The TechTarget and ESG spending intentions survey finds big bias towards averting risk and building organisational resilience, but on-premise storage a significant planned outlay Continue Reading
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News
26 Feb 2024
TechUK warns datacentre operators government could get powers to enforce heat reuse
UK tech trade body publishes report about challenges datacentre operators may face if the government gets powers that require them to join heat reuse schemes Continue Reading
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News
21 Feb 2024
NasuniIQ brings visualisation of massive unstructured datasets
Global file system provider adds visualisation of massive distributed unstructured datasets to allow customers to analyse data usage and prepare clean training data for artificial intelligence Continue Reading
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News
20 Feb 2024
Competition in the cloud: Microsoft's ‘unfair’ licensing tactics go under the microscope
Microsoft’s share of the global cloud infrastructure market is growing at a time when its customer recruitment and retention techniques are coming under increased regulatory scrutiny Continue Reading
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News
19 Feb 2024
Music agency halves space and energy costs with switch to Pure
SUISA handles billions of royalty payments, but had capacity and storage admin nightmares with its EMC hardware. It cued up Pure Storage for simple admin, space and cost savings Continue Reading
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News
19 Feb 2024
Virtus plots colocation campus in Buckinghamshire as demand for London datacentres soars
Virtus is committing to bringing a new datacentre campus online by 2026, as data shows the demand for colocation capacity continues to outstrip supply Continue Reading
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Tip
14 Feb 2024
4 data center trends to watch in 2024
With rising demand for data space, companies must plan to expand their data centers in an eco-friendly way. 2024 data center trends have one main focus: sustainability. Continue Reading
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News
13 Feb 2024
What will result from Cohesity’s Veritas acquisition?
The $7bn backup giant will leverage huge assets in enterprise customer base, compliance and governance intelligence, AI, R&D, and Kubernetes backup and storage Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Feb 2024
The rising prominence of hybrid cloud in the Nordics
Many Nordic organisations have opted for hybrid cloud environments, subscribing to the newest services without giving up what they already have. Best practices are beginning to emerge for managing the heterogenous environment Continue Reading
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News
08 Feb 2024
Swedish CIO contributes best practices for ethical use of artificial intelligence
IT leaders are scrambling to keep up with AI technology, but many are losing sight of its ethical impact – and what CIOs need to do to ensure responsible use Continue Reading
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News
31 Jan 2024
Singtel ropes in industry partners in datacentre push
Singtel inks partnerships with Nvidia, Gulf Energy, Medco and others in its efforts to grow its datacentre business and support AI adoption in Singapore and Southeast Asia Continue Reading
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News
31 Jan 2024
Datacentre operators face capacity planning challenges as AI use soars
A report by real estate consultancy JLL highlights the pressures datacentres operators are facing as they respond to the growing demand for artificial intelligence workloads Continue Reading
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News
31 Jan 2024
Seagate uses HAMR to hit 30TB in Exos hard drives
HDD giant Seagate unveils 30TB Exos drives with higher areal density, aimed at hyperscaler customers, with products at 50TB promised for 2028 in its roadmap Continue Reading
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News
30 Jan 2024
We need backup! Pennsylvania police data loss shows why
Police evidence systems data was lost during ‘routine maintenance’, with human error blamed – the case clearly illustrates why data protection can’t be left to chance Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Jan 2024
French TV giant sticks with Dell NAS for channel upgrade
TF1 has the biggest market share in French TV, but plans for more. It has upgraded from Isilon to PowerScale scale-out NAS and saved 42% in energy costs, halving rackspace use Continue Reading
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News
25 Jan 2024
Datacentres set to consume third of Ireland’s energy by 2026
Forecast data from International Energy Agency shines light on how booming demand for datacentres is affecting energy usage levels in different geographies Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Jan 2024
Cloud is not always the answer: Five reasons why
We look at why the cloud is not always the best choice, including for reasons of cost, application suitability, management, data protection and the needs of the business Continue Reading
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News
19 Jan 2024
Google invests $1bn in expanding UK datacentre footprint with Hertfordshire facility
Google is embarking on a sizeable expansion of its UK datacentre footprint, with plans to build a server farm on a 33-acre patch of land it acquired in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire Continue Reading
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News
19 Jan 2024
AWS plans huge investment in Japan cloud infrastructure
Amazon Web Services plans to invest over $15bn into its existing cloud infrastructure in Tokyo and Osaka by 2027 to meet growing customer demand Continue Reading
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Feature
17 Jan 2024
Cloud-to-cloud backup: What it is and why you (probably) need it
Basic cloud data protection is just not enough. Several loopholes leave business data vulnerable and that means additional cloud-to-cloud backup should be seriously considered Continue Reading
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News
16 Jan 2024
Vodafone looks to ‘hyperscale’ IoT through Microsoft strategic partnership
IT giant and telco unite with plan to transform customer experience using generative AI, looking to scale standalone IoT business and accelerate digital transformation Continue Reading
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News
15 Jan 2024
Digital Realty opens datacentre in Chennai
Datacentre developed through joint venture will support high-density power requirements and tap Jio’s connectivity infrastructure across India Continue Reading
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News
11 Jan 2024
QLC made gains but storage innovation focus was on software in 2023
Storage hardware innovation has taken a back seat – QLC flash excepted – as the big storage suppliers build around software-based variants and optimisation on modular product sets Continue Reading
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News
08 Jan 2024
Datacentre operators form APAC industry group
The Asia-Pacific Data Centre Association will advocate for policies to drive the security and resiliency of datacentres and minimise environmental impact, among other goals Continue Reading
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News
29 Dec 2023
Top 10 India IT stories of 2023
We recap the year’s top 10 stories in India, including the country’s datacentre boom and innovations in space and agriculture technologies Continue Reading
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News
27 Dec 2023
Top 10 ASEAN IT stories of 2023
Organisations across the region have continued to shore up their cyber security posture while investing in infrastructure to pave the way for emerging technologies like GenAI Continue Reading
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News
21 Dec 2023
Top 10 storage supplier strategy stories of 2023
In 2023, we looked at the top storage suppliers, their market share and how they set themselves for a future of hybrid cloud, containerisation and consumption models of purchasing Continue Reading
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Feature
20 Dec 2023
Levelling the playing field: Could a UK cloud strategy weaken the hold of the hyperscalers?
Over time, global hyperscale has taken a majority share of the UK market. How best could the government respond to Ofcom’s review to sustain local industry while best serving customers? Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Dec 2023
On-prem vs cloud storage: Four decisions about data location
Hybrid cloud is now a reality. But how to decide what data goes where? We highlight four key decision points to evaluate whether data should be stored on-premise or in the cloud Continue Reading
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News
18 Dec 2023
Top 10 datacentre stories of 2023
Here are Computer Weekly's top 10 datacentre stories of 2023 Continue Reading
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Feature
18 Dec 2023
Iceland provides northern lights for Europe’s digital neighbourhood
As the price of energy has rocketed, IT companies running power-hungry services and datacentres are feeling the heat. It's why Iceland believes its subsea networks and growing datacentre industry offer advantages Continue Reading
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Feature
18 Dec 2023
Pure Storage: Flash ‘startup’ that brings late entrant advantage
Storage profile: We look at Pure Storage, the youngest of the array makers, which comes to market with well-developed flash, hybrid cloud and consumption purchasing models Continue Reading
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News
14 Dec 2023
Government plans to regulate to tackle datacentre threats
DSIT outlines a range of proposals designed to protect data storage facilities from cyber attacks, as well as physical threats and the effects of climate breakdown Continue Reading
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News
12 Dec 2023
Top IT predictions in APAC in 2024
Generative AI will continue to leave its mark on many areas in business and IT, along with other trends such as sustainability, cyber security and smart factories that are expected to shape the region’s technology landscape in 2024 Continue Reading
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11 Dec 2023
Will computational storage meet data processing demands?
Computational storage promises performance for workloads that can benefit from dedicated oomph, but it’s not a cure-all. It may come at a cost, and with added application complexity Continue Reading
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News
11 Dec 2023
Panasas set for Mach.2 throughput with multi-actuator HDDs
Scale-out NAS maker claims to be the first enterprise array maker to use multi-actuator HDDs designed for hyperscaler architectures and which double throughput Continue Reading
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Feature
11 Dec 2023
ERP’s storage requirements and options in the cloud
We look under the hood at enterprise resource planning and its databases, the storage needed to support ERP’s I/O requirements, block, file and object storage, and ERP in an era of hybrid cloud Continue Reading
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News
06 Dec 2023
Singtel’s DC Tuas datacentre to cater to AI workloads
Offering 58MW of capacity, DC Tuas will be the first of Singtel’s new generation of artificial intelligence datacentres to incorporate more efficient cooling technologies Continue Reading
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Feature
05 Dec 2023
Dell EMC: Storage giant shifts gear to cloud operating models
Storage profile: We look at Dell EMC, the result of the biggest tech acquisition ever, and find a company well set for ubiquitous cloud operating models and as-a-service Continue Reading
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News
01 Dec 2023
Microsoft to invest £2.5bn in doubling AI datacentre capacity in UK
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has hailed Microsoft's show of commitment to helping the UK achieve its goal of becoming an AI superpower Continue Reading
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Feature
30 Nov 2023
The all-flash datacentre: Mirage or imminent reality?
Some say disk is dead and we’re on the cusp of the all-flash datacentre. But when will flash capacity and cost hit a point where it is suited to more than just high-tier storage? Continue Reading
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News
22 Nov 2023
Nebulon upgrades SPU to Medusa2 with Nvidia DPU hardware
Nebulon aims to replace HCI with its OS on an offload card that it claims reduces server resource use by 25%. Medusa2 uses Nvidia DPU hardware and its own cloud control plane Continue Reading
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News
21 Nov 2023
Inside India’s datacentre boom
India’s datacentre market is expected to surpass $10bn by 2028, but realising its full potential will require innovations in sustainability and improvements in connectivity Continue Reading
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News
20 Nov 2023
Datacentres denied: West London server farm dispute prompts calls for UK planning system reform
The government is under fire after dismissing a datacentre development in west London despite soaring demand for capacity - but how can we balance new development with protecting the UK’s green spaces? Continue Reading
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News
20 Nov 2023
Digital Edge secures green loan for South Korea datacentre
The Singapore-based datacentre provider has secured its first green loan for its latest colocation facility in Incheon Continue Reading
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News
16 Nov 2023
Spotify and Google Cloud expand tech partnership for AI-led user experience improvement push
Music streaming giant Spotify is forging even closer ties with its long-standing cloud partner Google in an effort to improve user experience with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning Continue Reading
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Feature
15 Nov 2023
DPU 101: What are DPUs, what do they do, and who supplies them?
We look at data processing units, the latest in a line of hardware offload devices that emerged in the era of composable infrastructure. They come as hardware and even in the cloud Continue Reading
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News
14 Nov 2023
Engineers slash RPO/RTO as they swap tape for Rubrik backup
Frankham Group ditches archaic tape backup and deploys Rubrik backup appliances and remote disaster recovery facility. Meanwhile, the engineering group assesses a move to the cloud Continue Reading
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News
05 Nov 2023
AWS to open Malaysia cloud region in 2024
Amazon Web Services’ new cloud region in Malaysia will open next year to meet the increased demand for cloud services and support digitisation efforts in the country Continue Reading
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News
26 Oct 2023
Google saves almost $3bn by running servers for six years
Extending the life of its datacentre servers and network equipment has led to significant savings over the past nine months for Google Continue Reading
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News
24 Oct 2023
NetApp ‘unified storage’ adds new ASA block storage at Insight
Las Vegas event sees NetApp continue its evolution to hybrid cloud and data management player announce ASA C-series and Keystone and Kubernetes storage enhancements Continue Reading
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News
24 Oct 2023
Microsoft to invest A$5bn in Australia
Microsoft is making its largest investment in Australia to expand its infrastructure footprint, alongside plans to bolster skills training and cyber security in the country Continue Reading
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News
23 Oct 2023
Dell updates PowerStore, PowerMax and PowerFlex storage
Dell storage upgrades include improved AIOps, lower energy usage, real-time HA failover, seamless hardware replacement, and enhancements to take advantage of DPU acceleration Continue Reading
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News
20 Oct 2023
Belgian researchers raise speed limit in European datacentres
Researchers have developed a prototype of an optical receiver that will help datacentres process data at a much higher rate Continue Reading
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Feature
20 Oct 2023
Five key questions about disaster recovery as a service
Disaster recovery as a service builds recovery data and systems into the cloud, accessible from anywhere. We look at the difference vs cloud backup, DRaaS use cases, the cost, and the firms that provide it Continue Reading
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News
16 Oct 2023
Flash prices drop towards spinning disk levels in 2023
Number-crunching data on 17,000-plus drive prices shows cost of flash drives per gigabyte fell by around 10% in past six months while hard disk drive per-gigabyte prices stood still Continue Reading
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News
06 Oct 2023
Hydrogen fuel cells could find their way into more datacentres
Hydrogen fuel cells are more efficient and cleaner than alternative generator technologies, making them environmentally sustainable backup power supply options for datacentres, study finds Continue Reading
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Feature
04 Oct 2023
Will computational storage meet data processing demands?
Computational storage promises performance for workloads that can benefit from dedicated oomph, but it’s not a cure-all. It may come at a cost, and with added application complexity Continue Reading
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News
02 Oct 2023
Versity targets Exabyte volumes in data archiving
Versity builds archiving for Exabyte data volumes on tape and in object storage. It has built its own S3 and transitioned to a GPL licence for supercomputing archives Continue Reading
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Feature
28 Sep 2023
Cloud NAS, what is it good for?
We look at NAS file access storage, how it works, what it’s good for and the possibilities to access storage for files and unstructured data in the public cloud Continue Reading
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Feature
26 Sep 2023
IBM reorients to offset historic storage hardware decline
Storage profile: We look at IBM and the strategic shifts it has made towards the cloud, cloud-native and as-a-service offerings that aim to reverse a long-term decline in revenues Continue Reading
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E-Zine
26 Sep 2023
Preparing for post-quantum cryptography
In this week’s Computer Weekly, our latest buyer’s guide assesses the challenges for cryptography in the emerging era of quantum computing. Google Cloud experts explain how the internet giant is preparing its datacentres for a world of AI. And we examine the privacy, compliance and backup issues from generative AI. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
20 Sep 2023
Datacentre operators ‘hesitant’ over how to proceed with server farm builds as AI hype builds
As the hype surrounding artificial intelligence enters a new phase with the rising enterprise and hyperscale interest in generative AI, operators are not sure how to proceed with new datacentre builds, it is claimed Continue Reading
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Feature
20 Sep 2023
Toyota car plant outage shows database capacity planning is vital
How could database deletes and re-organisation take out car production for 36 hours at 14 plants? We drill down into the details of database capacity planning Continue Reading
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News
20 Sep 2023
How Google is priming its infrastructure for the AI wave
The technology giant is integrating purpose-built hardware with an optimised software stack to meet the heightened computational demands of next-generation AI workloads Continue Reading