Data Dynamics enables file modernization into a data lake for data sharing with classification and search for a global customer experience technology and services company.
Data Dynamics’ StorageX creates a next-generation capability around file storage management, giving customers more real-time insights and automation around file access security, anomaly detection, intelligent multi-cloud, and agile metadata and access pattern analytics, which are used to drive data management actions. This allows customers to correlate file access, file ownership, and utilization, driving data management policies to reduce the surface area for ransomware attacks, making immutable copies of data, driving data tiering, creating data lakes, and location optimization. StorageX provides intelligence-based data analytics and mobility in a hybrid cloud environment. The release of our globally recognized StorageX software provides support for cloud-to-cloud mobility and interoperability for migrations to Azure File, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Platform, and S3 Object Storage. It simplifies the migration process by providing templates that guide best policy creation and management practices, which can be configured and managed via a robust suite of API. With the help of StorageX, a Data Dynamics client, a fortune 1000 CX technology and services company created a modern data sharing data lake architecture from edge to cloud storage.

The organization maintains NICE application telephone call recordings for their customers, but these call recordings were stored on several distributed NAS file systems where the data was difficult to share and had limited namespaces. There were many issues with the organization’s old data storage system where they used to store data of their customer interaction recordings, such as not being able to access or share the data for further use. Further, the unmanaged data sprawl across multiple data centers made data analysis difficult to classify and to gain knowledge about the types of data and sensitive data were present. In order to move these recordings to S3 cloud object storage, on-premises as an internal data lake, the customer required a method of ingesting, categorizing, searching, and retrieving data.

Data Dynamics deviated from the conventional approach to address the challenges in the following way. Firstly, Data Dynamic's StorageX enabled the consolidation of all the data present on multiple locations into a modern S3 cloud object storage environment. Further, it created data lakes for proper classification of data and made it easier to share, use, and analyze the data. The data lakes were further integrated into NICE, which is a customer experience workforce management application. By integrating and consolidating data, the client was able to provide a better customer experience to its customers.

The Data Dynamics StorageX File to Object replication feature took the contents of a SMB share as the source and replicated the files to an object-based destination platform/bucket. StorageX simplified the migration process by providing templates that guide best policy creation and management practices, which can be configured and managed via a robust suite of API. The policy allowed the customer to add up to 10 custom tags to the objects created by StorageX. These tags are used to classify and search for these files on the new object storage platform.

The objects created were named using the Path-To-Key naming convention, which included the source server, share or export, each directory in the path, and the original filename as the object's name. An example is server\share\directory\directory\filename as the object key. This naming convention proved too long for the NICE application to ingest and re-use the archived recordings. The customer leveraged the File to Object Transform API to establish a custom key name that can be used with the NICE application. StorageX 8.5 accelerated the cloud journey and provided the intelligence required for data migration and created a data-sharing library of the call recordings. The project was originally going to take several person-years of effort in a highly manual process. The customer completed the conversion and modernization of 190 TB of call recordings in approximately 6 months with StorageX automation. The client was able to offer its customers a better customer experience after integrating data lakes with NICE and consolidating data. Upgrading the system of data storage not only provided the customer with a better understanding of their data but allowed for proper analysis and use across business sectors as well.

Advancity Public Cloud Migration & Consolidation Project on NGN
Turkey's new generation technology partner NGN; is a technology group that leads companies in their digitalization journeys with its industry experience, future vision and superior service quality. NGN developed and offered a local cloud computing solution that has fundamentally changed the way businesses work via NGN Cloud. Cloud, server hosting and various cost-effective and reliable solutions, full-redundant infrastructure, expert staff and quality services, open source friendly, compatable with API’s, instant and uninterrupted accessibility, service concept with all device and user performance points are gathered on a single platform. Need based public & private & hybrid cloud solutions, disaster recovery as a service and back up as as service are provided by NGN Cloud.

Turkey’s 1st Local Cloud Provider with Software Defined Data Center (SSDC) Technology Offering Services to Europe & Middle East Regions!

Advantages of NGN Cloud are:
• The new cloud service is easily activated via the NGN Cloud self-service panel
• Hourly billing service is available with "Pay As You Go" model*
• Project delivery delays are prevented
• Security services ensure data is secured
• High available “Kubernetes Cluster Service” can be provision automatically*
• Database Services can be provision via PaaS*
• All cloud infrastracture can be managable via API’s, like EC2, EKS, S3 etc...*

*First in Turkey

The most innovative features of NGN Cloud solution are; hourly billing service with "Pay As You Go" model, “Kubernetes Cluster Service” which are integrated with cloud and without need of any 3rd party solution, provided by a local provider for the first time in Turkey that brought a new standard to the industry. With our new feature, PaaS solutions; all projects and services can be automated without requiring manual intervention with API supported management. NGN Cloud offers risk-free, scalable, high available, high performance and uninterrupted cloud infrastructure to its customers. NGN Cloud solution offers hourly billing service with "Pay As You Go" model which is provided by a local provider for the first time in Turkey that brought a new standard to the industry.

Resiliency
NGN's virtual data center comprises virtual computing resources (servers, disks, and networks) available via the internet or dedicated communication channels.

Each physical member of cluster are running in different racks to ensure high availability. Both Block Storage and Object Storage work on servers with Software Defined Storage solutions. Software Defined Network solution also running on servers. Since compute, storage and network all work on the same servers, all interconnections are provided over the same network infrastructure and since there is no additional hardware, it is tried to keep the carbon footprint at a minimum by reducing electricity consumption. The new equipment to be added is subjected to extensive tests and the results under high load are calculated. As a result of the calculations made, a high level of quality is aimed in the service provided.

Integration & Automation
Thanks to the presentation of general-purpose API and SDK sets with NGN Cloud, developers can ensure that their applications integration within NGN Cloud. In this way, while the load needs of the applications can be met instantly, the goal of cost advantage is achieved by providing the automation feature.

NGN Cloud is equipped with open source APIs to support integration and automation. Supervision and security are provided at the highest level, thanks to the access keys generated specifically for the user. All services on Cloud Console can be created and managed via API. Since the commands of the API sets are for general use, users do not need to change their habits. All created services can be tagged, making it easy to integrate into applications. You can safely isolate development, test and production environments from each other by creating different projects with the same account.

• EC2 API: When creating and managing Compute, Network and Volume services, you can enter security-related definitions and provide internet access open or with VPN. Instance creation, disk enlargement, port settings, network access, VPC arrangements are very easy with this API set.
• Instance Metadata API: Instance metadata is data about your instance that you can use to configure or manage the running instance. Instance metadata is divided into categories. EC2 instances can also include dynamic data, such as an instance identity document that is generated when the instance is launched. You can also access the user data that you supplied when launching your instance. For example, you can specify parameters for configuring your instance, or attach a simple script.
• Simple Storage Service API: With this service, you can store your static content in the high available storage area, publish these contents by creating RULs, and open your page to the internet by connecting to the website while performing all operations related to buckets and objects.
• CloudWatch API: It provides instant notification of load and usage by creating alarms on the monitoring system.
• CloudTrail API: You can have full control over your services by logging the actions of users.
• EKS API: On NGN Cloud, you can create and scale Kubernetes Clusters, change access settings, and retrieve Kubeconfig settings.

Kubernetes
NGN Cloud stands out from its competitors in its region by offering the Kubernetes solution that supports micro-service architecture by default, built-in NGN Cloud. Without any 3rd party solution, Kubernetes Cluster can be created in minutes and supports horizontal scaling in line with business needs while offering high availability. In this way, thanks to the EKS and CloudWatch API sets offered with NGN Cloud, Kubernetes Cluster can be scaled automatically, while cost advantage can be provided. In Cloud mentality "When you want, as much as you want", NGN Cloud Kubernetes can handle unlimited load needs in only couple of minutes.

PaaS
Newly developed PaaS solutions provide Database workloads and in-memory cache services. PaaS solutions allows you to quickly deploy a complex software system, such as DBMS, in the cloud. Infrastructure provisioning and software setup are automatic so that you get a ready-to-use service in a few minutes. Currently, NGN Cloud supports several PaaS solutions from the databases category: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis. You can select the DBMS version and run a database service. The list of supported services is regularly updated. All platform services are shown on the same page and divided into categories. Select the desired database service and run it using the creation wizard. Previously created services are available in the Running services section. You can view their details, as well as create additional services or delete them. Using PaaS platform services in the cloud allows you to focus on business-critical tasks and not waste time on infrastructure-related issues.

Security
To ensure NGN Cloud infrastructure security, we adopted a vulnerability management process that includes:
• Regular infrastructure scanning inside and outside the perimeter;
• Regular monitoring of the resources that publish information about the latest vulnerabilities;
• Using the configuration standard for devices to be employed in the production environment.


If a vulnerability is found, we analyze it, set remediation deadlines and monitor the remedial process. In addition, the NGN Cloud security specialists analyze the newly published vulnerabilities and, if those may affect the NGN Cloud infrastructure, do their best to deploy security patches or take mitigation measures as soon as possible.

Due to local laws and compliance, the obligation to keep sensitive data in the country is ensured with 3 different ISPs in the TIER3+ data center. NGN Cloud serves redundancy by working with 3 different ISPs and is also compatible with the following international compliance standards.
• ISO/IEC 27001:2013
• ISO/IEC 27017:2015
• PCI DSS v. 3.2.1

Compatibility
NGN Cloud is compatible with following tools. With these tools, daily tasks can be maintained with zero-touch approach.

• Terraform
Terraform is a modern tool for automated cloud infrastructure management using a simple, expressive language similar to plain English. This approach to infrastructure deployment is called “infrastructure as a code” (IaaC). It allows:
o Use version control systems,
o Place comments in the code to document what it does,
o Test the code before it is used in a real infrastructure to identify possible negative consequences,
o Hand over the code to other developers to evaluate its quality in order to get the best solution in the end.

• S3CMD
To enjoy advanced object storage management capabilities, use S3cmd utility.

• POSTMAN
Postman is an API platform for building and using APIs. Postman simplifies each step of the API lifecycle and streamlines collaboration so you can create better APIs-faster.

• BOTO LIBRARY
Boto is a software development kit. It makes easier to integrate Python or script with NGN Cloud EC2 and S3 services.

• ANSIBLE DYNAMIC INVENTORY
To manage infrastructure in NGN Cloud, Ansible can be usable, which aggregates available virtual machines by various parameters.

Fast, High Performance and Scalable Cloud Infrastructure for Advancity was provided with NGN Cloud.

Advancity is Turkey's leading online education platform that offers successful solutions and services in distance education & E-Learning. The transition of schools to the distance education system in a short time during the pandemic process revealed the need for a cloud solution for Advancity, where speed and uninterrupted services will come to the fore.

In line with the increasing virtual classroom and distance education needs with the pandemic, Advancity was able to provide the conference solution application it needed over the cloud. During the search for a domestic business partner in line with the requirements of the Turkish Personal Data protection Law - KVKK, the targeted performance was achieved with the tests conducted over NGN Cloud and they started to migrate quickly from a global provider abroad to NGN Cloud. Advancity previously received services from 6 different providers in a dispersed structure. Thanks to the project realized with NGN, Advancity centralized monitoring and management by combining Object Storage, Compute and CDN solutions in NGN Cloud. Performance analysis was measured before the project. Resource configuration and network topology were created. At the end of the detailed examination, the requirements were set for continuity. Competition analysis was conducted in the choosing process of accessibility, carrier neutral functionality, service quality such as references was examined in detail.

Online sessions contain strict requirements which had to be met;

• Sensitive personal data should rest in Turkey,
• For big amount of connections bandwith latency should be small,
• Each session should be recorded and saved.

The objective of the project was to ensure flexibility, accessibility, provide uninterrupted, safe and high performance system.

Advancity, which offers its solution to many educational institutions from primary education to universities and can be accessed by 400,000 students concurrently over NGN Cloud; also activated the NGN Cloud Object Storage service by combining its applications with the API so that the lessons can be recorded and accessed on demand. It created a platform that can be viewed directly through the Object Storage Service by creating links that are subject to permissions for the recorded lessons. Thanks to NGN Cloud S3, training sustainability was ensured without the need for an additional codec or media player. The usage of Advancity in NGN Cloud has increased from 5VM to 160VM. There are nearly 10 million lessons recorded as data over 500 TB in 1 academic year. Advancity, by keeping the virtual classroom software in the NGN Cloud infrastructure, reached 50,000 users at the same time and enabled over 2 million students to receive an education.

Business Goals and Competitive Positioning
The project realized provides the user load balance by localizing the density in our systems correctly. If you draw attention to the density of users in the system during our work, it can be said that the upload and download speeds are transferred in a balanced way. In today's conditions, we can say that the most important feature that distinguishes it from other companies is that we provide services with a stable and healthy data flow. Providing rapid feedback to the demands of our customers, immediately responding to a problem enhanced our trustworhthiness. With the reporting and monitoring methods, we can quickly intervene in the actions that take place in our work.

Advancity website:
https://advancity.com.tr/en/about-advancity.html

First Response Finance Migrates Voice, Data and Call Centre Functions to the Cloud with Node4’s Hosted and Managed Unified Communications Platform
Introduction First Response Finance is a dealer-led vehicle finance company focused on the subprime market. When customers want to buy a car, van, or bike on Hire Purchase, they contact First Response Finance to check eligibility and - if approved - secure an agreement. For the most part, customers phone the company’s call centre, but an increasing amount of business is carried out online through a secure web portal. First Response Finance first turned to Node4 for a MPLS private WAN, then later, when more flexibility and resilience was required, Node4 helped them migrate to a cloud-based phone and unified communications platform. The whole solution is now hosted and managed by Node4. What was the driving force behind the project – what business or technology challenge needed to be addressed? First Response Finance’s old IT network — which supported its voice and data systems — was no longer reliable. There were prolonged call quality issues and frequent outages that left phones offline for an hour at a time. As a company that relied on its phone systems as the first point of contact with car dealerships and customers, the situation had become unsustainable. Whilst the short-term plan was to find a more reliable IT network, in the longer term, First Response Finance aimed to move to a cloud-based phone and unified communications platform, but to achieve this First Response Finance required its infrastructure to be migrated to the cloud. Node4 is a cloud-led digital transformation Managed Services Provider (MSP) that provides sophisticated, scalable, cloud-led digital-transformational solutions, which are delivered with technical expertise, best-in-class integrated tooling, and Exceptional Service as a Standard. It was due to Node4’s remarkable reputation that First Response Finance approached it for the project. How did the solution address the challenges and were there any particularly innovative aspects that made it stand out? Initially, Node4 provided First Response Finance with an MPLS private WAN to replace their old IT network. For additional resilience to make poor call quality and outages a thing of the past, every location was linked by a primary and backup connection into the Node4 hub, which is located in one of the company’s data centres. Node4 also secured the system with centralised internet breakout via N4Protect+ — its advanced firewall and threat management platform. With the most pressing matter resolved, First Response Finance and Node4 set on the path to achieve the longer-term aims. The first step was to move First Response Finance’s existing phone server to Node4’s cloud. As an industry-leading cloud infrastructure provider with a CMSP accreditation (Cisco Master Services Provider), Node4’s offering delivered enterprise-grade resiliency without the need for any outlay on IT infrastructure through a combined virtualisation, storage, and backup platform. 18 months after cloud migration was complete, First Response Finance came back to Node4 for help transitioning to one of Cisco’s cloud-based unified communications environments At the same time, Node4 upgraded the company’s contact centre and Quality Management Suite. The entire solution, which also included cost-saving SIP Trunks, is now hosted and managed by Node4. What tangible benefits has the organisation seen as a result of the project's implementation? When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, First Response Finance, like everyone else, had to adapt quickly and provide an IT infrastructure that would allow staff to work from home. As a result of choosing Node4’s solutions, First Response Finance was able to do this quickly and easily - all 280 call centre staff were set up with strong and reliable remote working environments within the first four days of the lockdown. This was essential as business was not disrupted, allowing First Response Finance to continue working with and supporting their car dealers and provide a first-class service to customers at an uncertain time. In fact, the remote working environment that Node4 set up for them is so strong that First Response Finance feel confident in offering hybrid working options for their staff as the return to the office is permitted. Not only has First Response Finance benefited from a reliable and secure IT network and the option of flexibility, but they have also experienced cost savings too. By using a cloud-based hosted environment and not having to invest capital on IT infrastructure, Node4’s solution has saved First Response Finance approximately £9,000 per year. Supporting statements: “For me, personally, Node4’s technical knowledge and experience are unsurpassed. They have Master Service Provider designation for Cisco Powered Infrastructure as a Service and Cisco Powered Disaster Recovery as a Service, which inspired great confidence as the project got underway. Today, Node4 has an excellent reputation throughout the company and, in particular, amongst our senior executives, who acknowledge the positive impact that Node4 has had on our operations. The quality and reliability of our voice and data communications are incomparable to our last supplier.” comments James Styles, IT Infrastructure Team Leader at First Response Finance. Darren Green, Head of IT at First Response Finance, adds: “It’s been business as usual, and the tech hasn’t creaked at any point. We’re not in a hurry to go back to the old ways of working, and we’re very much embracing the positive side of the new normal. But that is, for the most part, down to the strong IT infrastructure that now underpins our business.”

Equinix invests in tenth Paris data centre
Equinix has announced a new International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centre in Paris, France. Part of Equinix’s Saint-Denis campus, the new site—named PA10—will be the tenth data centre opened by Equinix in Paris over the course of 20 years. It will provide global and local businesses and partners alike with the ability to connect directly and securely to the world's digital economy, via comprehensive digital ecosystems. Multiple sustainability initiatives are planned for PA10, including a heat recovery technology project to recover energy from customer equipment and transfer it to the urban heating network, and in turn, heat the local community swimming pool. The rooftop of the new site will be home to a greenhouse of 430 m² in which fruit and vegetables will be grown. A hydroponic system aims to reduce water consumption by using a water recovery system and only irrigating the cultivated areas. The greenhouse will also utilise the heat recovery technology in place at PA10. The rooftop garden will help retain rainwater and reduce the amount of water directed to the sewer, in addition to reducing waste heat emissions. Régis Castagné, Managing Director for France at Equinix, explains: “For a long time, the digital revolution has been seen as the cause of change in society. Its importance during the pandemic is an illustration of this: not only did it allow us to continue to work, learn, or be entertained, but it was also essential for economic recovery. At Equinix, we’re working to support this shift, spearheading innovations to address the environmental impact of digital. Indeed, it has become a societal issue that requires, among other things, increased dialogue between industry and local authorities to hasten progress in this area.” The development of PA10 is part of Equinix’s ongoing commitment to the French market, further supporting the growth of the local digital economy and digital transformation strategies. The latest Global Interconnection Index (GXI Vol. 5), an annual market study published by Equinix, reveals the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the French economy into digital overdrive, with digital leaders moving four times faster than pre-pandemic levels. The GXI predicts this digital acceleration will continue to fuel growth in interconnection bandwidth, and Paris is shown to be the fastest growing core metro in Europe and an important ecosystem for the transport, energy and utilities sectors. Supporting this, and at an initial build cost of US$163M, PA10 adds to a total investment from Equinix in France’s digital infrastructure of over US$1B to date. “In support of the Choose France initiative, today’s investment and expansion serves to bolster the country’s digital infrastructure capabilities, providing local and multi-national corporations with a foundational source of differentiation and the global platform needed to thrive in today’s digital economy,” notes Charles Meyers, President and CEO at Equinix. “Equinix is connecting digital leaders, enabling them to simplify operations, improve customer experience and accelerate the launch of new products and services.”

Keysource and CENTIEL help to underpin growth in UK Government’s drive for world-class innovative vaccine, cell and gene therapy manufacturing capability
Keysource and CENTIEL help to underpin growth in UK Government’s drive for world-class innovative vaccine, cell and gene therapy manufacturing capability Global data centre and critical infrastructure specialists Keysource, in association with Swiss-based UPS manufacturer CENTIEL has completed an installation of a truly modular, scalable, and highly efficient UPS and Electrical Infrastructure solution to help underpin growth in a UK Government effort to develop world-class innovative vaccine, cell and gene therapy manufacturing capability. This is the first medical facility in the UK to install Li-ion batteries in combination with CENTIEL’s true modular UPS, CumulusPowerTM , which can be maintained concurrently reducing the risk of downtime to just milliseconds per year. This innovative solution combines the highest availability UPS, and the latest Li-ion battery technology to provide over half a megawatt (MW) of protection, scalable to 1.5MW. As well as addressing the immediate need to produce vaccines, the new Cell and Gene Therapy Centre will be at the forefront of the growing UK cell and gene therapy industry. Scientists and researchers based in the centre will accelerate the time taken for new treatments to be delivered to patients by developing cutting-edge therapies to treat life-changing diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. They aim to fulfil the immediate and long-term needs of the UK cell and gene therapy industry. The edge data centre that supports the essential laboratory work, is responsible for ensuring that samples and vaccines remain in optimal condition. The day one requirement was for 540kW N+1 of protection scalable to 1.5 MW at day two. This is part of an ongoing strategy for the campus to expand and grow its capability further over the coming years within the Energy Centre supporting campus. The facility runs off different energy sources from the grid to sustainable power. This means the UPS is called on more often to provide a clean, continuous source of power. Our solution was to split the system to supply two 300kW units in a parallel configuration to deliver a 540kW N+1 (600kW) UPS in a 1.5M2 footprint. The entire system fits into just 3m2, including batteries and racks. We chose to install Li-ion batteries as the recharge times are up to 4 times faster when compared to traditional VLRA. Li-ion is also around 80% lighter and can occupy 70% less space, with space constraints a key driver alongside a drive from the client for Innovation. Li-ion batteries offered the perfect solution as they are highly capable of cycling many times over, unlike traditional VRLA batteries, where cycling shortens their design life significantly. At Keysource we deliver the finest and most efficient facilities, utilizing the latest in critical power and cooling technologies. Our solutions support the latest generation of high-performance, high-density computing and have been internationally recognized as examples of best practice. We are proud to support clients that lead the development of new, innovative technologies to bolster the UK’s cell and gene therapy industry. This project is a perfect example of why investing in critical infrastructure, and its protection is essential to ensure these vital services continue to operate, now and in the future.

Data Dynamics enables file modernization into a data lake for data sharing with classification and search for a global customer experience technology and services company
Data Dynamics’ StorageX creates a next-generation capability around file storage management, giving customers more real-time insights and automation around file access security, anomaly detection, intelligent multi-cloud, and agile metadata and access pattern analytics, which are used to drive data management actions.

This allows customers to correlate file access, file ownership, and utilization, driving data management policies to reduce the surface area for ransomware attacks, making immutable copies of data, driving data tiering, creating data lakes, and location optimization. StorageX provides intelligence-based data analytics and mobility in a hybrid cloud environment. The release of our globally recognized StorageX software provides support for cloud-to-cloud mobility and interoperability for migrations to Azure File, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Platform, and S3 Object Storage. It simplifies the migration process by providing templates that guide best policy creation and management practices, which can be configured and managed via a robust suite of API.

With the help of StorageX, a Data Dynamics client, a fortune 1000 CX technology and services company created a modern data sharing data lake architecture from edge to cloud storage.

The organization maintains NICE application telephone call recordings for their customers, but these call recordings were stored on several distributed NAS file systems where the data was difficult to share and had limited namespaces. There were many issues with the organization’s old data storage system where they used to store data of their customer interaction recordings, such as not being able to access or share the data for further use. Further, the unmanaged data sprawl across multiple data centers made data analysis difficult to classify and to gain knowledge about the types of data and sensitive data were present. In order to move these recordings to S3 cloud object storage, on-premises as an internal data lake, the customer required a method of ingesting, categorizing, searching, and retrieving data.

Data Dynamics deviated from the conventional approach to address the challenges in the following way. Firstly, Data Dynamic's StorageX enabled the consolidation of all the data present on multiple locations into a modern S3 cloud object storage environment. Further, it created data lakes for proper classification of data and made it easier to share, use, and analyze the data. The data lakes were further integrated into NICE, which is a customer experience workforce management application. By integrating and consolidating data, the client was able to provide a better customer experience to its customers.

The Data Dynamics StorageX File to Object replication feature took the contents of a SMB share as the source and replicated the files to an object-based destination platform/bucket. StorageX simplified the migration process by providing templates that guide best policy creation and management practices, which can be configured and managed via a robust suite of API. The policy allowed the customer to add up to 10 custom tags to the objects created by StorageX. These tags are used to classify and search for these files on the new object storage platform.

The objects created were named using the Path-To-Key naming convention, which included the source server, share or export, each directory in the path, and the original filename as the object's name. An example is server\share\directory\directory\filename as the object key. This naming convention proved too long for the NICE application to ingest and re-use the archived recordings. The customer leveraged the File to Object Transform API to establish a custom key name that can be used with the NICE application.

StorageX 8.5 accelerated the cloud journey and provided the intelligence required for data migration and created a data-sharing library of the call recordings. The project was originally going to take several person-years of effort in a highly manual process. The customer completed the conversion and modernization of 190 TB of call recordings in approximately 6 months with StorageX automation. The client was able to offer its customers a better customer experience after integrating data lakes with NICE and consolidating data. Upgrading the system of data storage not only provided the customer with a better understanding of their data but allowed for proper analysis and use across business sectors as well.

Keele University Deploys Ultra Efficient Data Centre Power Protection that Supports Sustainability Mission
Located in rural Staffordshire, England, Keele University is recognised as one of Europe’s most sustainability-driven universities. Driven by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the university’s mission supports the vision of a more sustainable world. That mission is pursued through concrete actions. Since 1990, the student population has tripled, and the campus area has expanded while simultaneously decreasing total carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions. Over the last six years, the university has invested more than £1.2 million into carbon reduction and is investing more every year. In fact, the university has pledged to attain carbon neutrality by 2030.Keele University has also been globally recognised for establishing a deep-rooted sustainability culture. For the fourth consecutive year, the university has been named among the top 40 universities in the world for sustainability (UI Green Metric World Rankings, 2020). The university was also the recipient of the Green Gown Global Sustainability Institution of the Year award in 2021.

Besides hosting the first UK trial of hydrogen blending within a gas network and testing new smart energy technologies, the university is now producing its own renewable energy on campus. Recently commissioned solar and wind farms are now operational and feed power into a campus mini-grid. From a power distribution perspective, the campus operates like a small town. Besides the traditional student accommodations, academic research facilities, and classrooms that require power, a post office, a hairdresser, gyms, grocery stores, cafés, and restaurants also make up part of the university’s power load.

As part of Keele University’s pledge to be carbon neutral by 2030, the university’s Information & Digital Services (IDS) team,, has been working to make its on-site IT infrastructure as energy-efficient and low-carbon as possible. Keele operates two on-site data centres which support on- and off-campus users to deliver teaching, research, and professional services. The two data centres consume nearly 300 kilowatts (kW) of power per year between them. In the effort to modernise the university’s data centres, the IDS team turned to long-time partner Vertiv to help boost energy efficiency.Since the existing UPS systems were aging, the IDS team asked Vertiv to recommend new units that would be both more energy efficient, as well as scalable and space efficient. The Vertiv team recommended the Vertiv™ Liebert APM600 with a 400 kVA capacity in a N+1 configuration. The new UPS is based on a reliable, double-conversion power topology that uses an efficient transformer-free design. The new design results in efficiencies of 96% that can be enhanced to 99% using Eco Mode operation. The new UPS also delivers more capacity in a smaller footprint. Each of the new units utilises a modular and scalable configuration with ancillary cabinets designed to save space and cost.

Keele University buys renewable power from the local grid and now will have its own wind and solar power (including energy storage) to supply the data centre and university power loads. In fact, with the construction of their new data centre set to open in May this year named Innovation Centre 7 (IC7), Keele is believed to be the only university in the UK to be building a data centre using 100% renewable energy. Besides hosting the new data centre, the building will be home to the university’s new Digital Society Institute, a collaborative centre focused on data and digital technology which will allow companies in the business, health, and cultural sectors to innovate and expand in a competitive and dynamic business environment. The site will utilise high-performance computing infrastructure to conduct artificial intelligence and big data analysis research. The new facility will generate up to 50% of the university’s campus electricity requirements, and all of that power will come from renewable sources.

atNorth Opens World’s First HPC Data Center with Primary Cooling for Heat Recovery
atNorth is disrupting the traditional approach to data center hosting and High Performance Computing (HPC) with its innovative data center design focused on power efficiency, renewable capabilities, and intelligent cluster operations.

With its mission to be the leading pan-Nordic data center provider, the company has recently launched its new, carbon neutral energy powered data center in Stockholm, Sweden. This new data park is the world’s first +10mW data center with a primary cooling system designed for heat recovery. The site is in addition to atNorth’s two existing data centers in Iceland, with construction on a third site planned for mid-year.

The driving force behind the SWE01: Sif DC data center project was two-fold:

1. To provide European customers with a scalable next-generation data center specifically designed to accommodate high infrastructure density for computationally heavy applications such as simulations, risk calculations, and artificial intelligence.

2. To lead the way in sustainability for data center IT through innovative site design that puts sustainability at its core by efficiently reusing and recycling energy outputs into local communities.

As one of the largest data center installations in Stockholm, and the largest data center projects worldwide in heat recovery, the SWE01 center was built to offer the ability to achieve higher infrastructure density for customers that require computationally heavy applications.

Seeing an increased demand for next generation data centers that are designed specifically with this type of HPC in mind, SWE01 is the first data center in Europe to be designed specifically for heavy HPC workloads. The Stockholm location positions atNorth even closer to its customers, enabling the company to help deliver more compute power and services at speed and scale for its customers.

In addition, it has been built from the ground up to be scalable and flexible in order to cater to evolving market changes and customer needs. With sustainability at the heart of atNorth’s operations, the SWE01 center has also been designed to operate with the lowest carbon footprint possible. The Nordics are an ideal location for data center builds due to its mild climate and abundance of renewable energy. Sweden is well poised to provide the right infrastructure and government commitment to help atNorth continue its commitment to sustainability and contribution to circular economy principles in the data center industry.

Addressing business and technology challenges:
How did the solution address the challenges and were there any particularly innovative aspects that made it stand out? To address the changing needs of today’s modern business, atNorth chose to design and build this new data center to ensure shorter lead times for customer facilities that serve their needs well and helps then accelerate their time to market.

atNorth’s Stockholm data center is a modular build, with three building phases for the build to ensure it could meet the capacity demanded by the market and provide customers with the option to scale and expand over time: 1. The first phase, a single data hall, was built along with the security and service building.

2. The second phase will house three data halls, which are already under construction.

3. The third and final phase will add three additional data halls, which are planned but not yet started.

The heat recovery design also raised additional challenges with the exact location of the site, considering the proximity of the central heating station to allow for heat to be transported from the center to the recovery station in the most optimal way. By locating the site next to the heat recovery station, atNorth could ensure the distance for heat transfer was optimal.

The construction of the build, using local experts in partnership with atNorth’s design and project management team, allowed for rapid buildout time as well as the ability to accommodate for atNorth’s modular approach and phased build plan. This enables additional phases to be built and added onto the existing infrastructure without disturbing operation within existing data halls and areas of the building.

Major challenges faced during the project:
In addition to the technical challenges, one of the biggest obstacles to overcome with this site build was due to the implications of the global pandemic. With the project kicking off just prior to the first lockdown in March of 2019, due to travel restrictions, the majority of the build out was conducted and managed remotely such as on Microsoft Teams and Zoom. During the two-year period, the design team held just one physical meeting.

This ability to shift from in-person to virtual meetings was a testament to the atNorth team and its contractors. All of those involved in this project were forced to manage everyday challenges, questions, and concerns with limited interactions and continuous email threads to overcome even the simplest of matters that are traditionally more easily and quickly solved face-to-face. Yet, despite what could have been project-altering difficulties, the atNorth team made sure that the goals and objectives for the ambitious design and build of the site were met on time and on budget.

The SWE01 site is designed from the ground up as a heat recovery data center, which in and of itself creates new hurdles, but when coupled with the complicated remote nature of the design build brought additional challenges. The build design required a new approach to be adopted in order to facilitate the transportation and supply the heat from the data halls towards the heat recovery modules. Part of the necessary requirements were also to have individual hubs broken down to phased deployment, which was met with medium sized heat recovery modules. The conclusion was to have the data hall on the second floor and the cooling plant plus the power distribution on the ground floor. This allows for the most efficient layout and a clean approach to the data hall itself. Furthermore, all security aspects needed to meet stringent Swedish SK3 security standards. SWE01 is one of the largest data center installations in Stockholm and is in fact the largest heat recovery site in the world that uses a data center as the source of heat.

Tangible benefits of the project implementation:
The SWE01 data center is the first center in Sweden to be specifically designed for high performance computing and high density workloads. It is scalable, flexible, efficient with quick time to market and one of the lowest carbon footprints today. The site directly benefits from the location, which has been strategically and purposefully chosen for its proximity to the solid renewable infrastructure within Sweden. In addition, this location also enables organizations within Europe to capitalize on more computing power and services at speed and scale.

“For a country like Sweden and a city like Stockholm, which is at the forefront of digitalisation, data centers are an important part of the business ecosystem. Data centers are necessary whenever we use digital services, mobile apps or conduct digital meetings. We are pleased with atNorth’s choice to establish itself in Stockholm, as we actively work to show hospitality to innovative companies that create value for the region,” explained the Mayor of Stockholm, Anna König Jerlmyr.

Service offerings will be tailored to include the most cost-effective solution based on volume and computing power needs of individual customers. atNorth‘s modular approach together with its hybrid data halls allows the site to cater to evolving market changes and customer needs whether that be for high, low density, colocation services or to fit specific cooling requirements. The first data hall is complete with a capacity of 1.5mW and up to 40 kw per rack capacity for air-cooled IT equipment, combining high performance with cost efficiency. In addition, the entire campus meets all current security and energy efficiency requirements and more.

However, perhaps the most important benefit arising from the new data center is its innovative use of efficient heat recovery for both air cooled and liquid cooled IT infrastructures. All the residual heat from the data center is recycled in collaboration with Stockholm Exergi, whose district heating plant is in proximity, where the excess heat generated from the new data center could heat up to 20,000 apartments. The new site operates on 100% renewable energy making it extremely energy efficient.

While not tangible yet, atNorth‘s new data center will span a total of 6,400sqm with the IT capacity of more than 11mW upon completion. Due to high demand, the next phase of the buildout will add approximately 4,8mW of IT capacity, which will bring the overall capacity to over 6mW (expected deployment in the autumn of 2022).

Asiacell communications PJSC
Asiacell, since its inception in 1999 has been pioneering the telecommunications landscape in Iraq. Over the past two decades, Asiacell has been providing the highest quality of telecommunication service to its 14 million plus mobile subscriber across country.


Asiacell is leading Iraqi telecommunication industry, its subscribers are greedy for more, and Asiacell has faced below challenges:
A) Market Requirement. Need to consider flexible and expandable solution to overcome below factors :
• Colocation, hosting requirement
• 4G /VoLTE launching
• Unpredicted Business Growth
B) Long TTM and One-stop Investment Haunt DC Constructions: constructing traditional Datacenters would take long time, also would need to plan for five to eight years requirement in day one which will increase the total cost.
• Long TTM Loses Opportunities.
• Unpredictable Business Growth Could Waste Investments.
C) Conventional Data Center consumes extra power : traditional DCs efficiency is low in terms of power/cooling utilization, therefore lead to un-efficient cost and high OPEX
• Energy, Largest Share of Costs.
• 50% OPEX is spent on electricity.
• Conventional data center suffers high energy consumption due to local hot spots, mixed air flow and poor-efficiency facility.
• High PUE.
D) Climate Change and Disasters Threaten DC Facilities: need to make special design to overcome the disasters, in this site we designed to implement Storm water solution where it will help to overcome the possible flooding issue without relying on government main drainage network.
E) Manual O&M: Less Efficient & More Risky: traditional DC has suffered from low management system due to low integrity of different equipment, which leads to manual O&M that increases the cost and unexpected human mistakes. Need to consider unified vendor to ensure the integrity of all equipment and unified management system
• Only Fault alarms, no proactive cautions
• Hard to locate the fault spots
• Large O&M team: one team on one site
• No unified resource and expert platform
• Fragmented Management, Low Efficiency & Low Reliability, Monitoring, access, racks, power, DG, transformer, environment, cooling, FFS, security.

In order to achieve the challenges, such as TTM, High integrity, flexible and on demand expansion, Day one cost control, Asiacell Chose to go with the prefabricated solution.

This allowing Asiacell to reduce the timeline from two years to one year ( 50% reduction of implementation duration) , also control the investment as the solution is flexible to expand in future, no over investment , and most significantly is reducing the PUE that will eat the profit .

The project timeline was to implement within 12 months from PO issue date including the generating the Schematic and details drawings and scheduling, manufacturing, delivering the equipment (Generators, Transformers, Panels, Prefabricated Containers etc...).

The local market in Iraq doesn’t have enough supplies for this domain, especially when it needs to build high standards DC follow Tier III standard, all critical components including but not limited to generators, transformers , panels , Cooling, etc. are imported from outside.

Asiacell selected the prefabricated container Datacenter as solution to overcome the market requirement rapid growth from one side, also cost control from the other side plus other benefits related to efficient O&M and TTM.

Asiacell selected the DX cooling solution to element all possible hot spots and reduce PUE.

The Prefabricated Containers where highly integrated and tested in the factory before delivering to Iraq. The floor layout were designed by Asiacell , vendor and 3rd party DC office to ensure that design were meeting the local law requirement as well as efficient utilization of the land , since the land rental fees where expensive so the space were relatively limited.

Ashton Old Baths Data Centre
The Data Centre designed and built by Sudlows on behalf of Tameside Council is located within the Grade II Listed, rejuvenated Victorian Bath House in Ashton-Under-Lyne named ‘Ashton Old Baths’.

Due to the Victorian features, the building housing the new Data Centre is very aesthetically pleasing and grand in stature, making it a truly unique Data Centre project in the UK.

The Grade II Listing of the building presented some engineering challenges for the Design and Delivery Teams at Sudlows. The requirement presented as a result of the building’s Listed status is that it needed to be constructed within the former bathing area without causing any damage to or requiring any structural changes to the building. The teams at Sudlows overcame this stringent requirement and focused the design of the Data Centre around utilising a steel frame and a modular wall and ceiling panel construction, making a ‘building within a building’.

The Data Centre is made up of a total of 36 cabinets and has 2no. A and B custom manufactured data centre submain boards to provide N+N critical power distribution to the server cabinets. This is backed up by 2 independent UPS systems on both the A and B power streams. The UPS and battery systems were installed in a separate plant room adjacent to the data hall. This room has its own climate control which will improve operating efficiencies of the proposed UPS system. The data hall is equipped with a gaseous fire suppression system with coverage/ protection to the IT room and associated floor void. The system consists of an environmentally friendly gas discharge system and double-knock point detection to protect against false alarms and nuisance discharge. The data centre is cooled by utilising 3no. Downflow Cooling Systems each rated at 45kW to provide cooling to a fully functional contained aisle system. The system is connected to the BMS control system. Cooling systems were installed to provide N+1 resilience using downflow CRAC systems providing redundancy at a system level so that in the event of a system failure, it will not affect the ability of the space to support the load. To allow for the customers future growth and expansion vision, a 4th set of interconnecting services and CRAC floor stand has been installed to allow for an efficient and quick installation as and when required. The Data Centre features a bespoke BMS system developed by Sudlows and one of our partners was installed, tested and commissioned to prove the full visibility of all the services connected and to prove critical alarms were received and sent to the Sudlows 24/7 remote helpdesk to allow an Engineer to attend the facility within the strict SLA’s.

For this project, Sudlows’ three key divisions of Critical Infrastructures, Enterprise Services and Facilities Management all worked together to deliver this project. Our Enterprise services and Smart Technology Team’s were also instructed to provide VSS and Access control solutions to the Data Centre to keep it secure.

Sudlows’ Facilities Management Team were also instructed to deliver a ten year management and maintenance contract of the facility offering reactive and preventative maintenance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

The Data Centre designed and built by Sudlows is a true fete of engineering due to its energy efficiency and unique aesthetics. The Data Centre is utilised by Tameside council and other Public Sector clients, including the NHS as well as making some space available to new, local businesses.

Datalec Precision Installations Provides Customer with Custom-Tailored Upgrades to Data Centre Facility to Meet Customer Demands
The data centre this project relates to is a substantial 60k square foot facility that had an outdated optical design. The facility’s design caused cabling containment constraints and conversely restricted its ability to connect end customers data suites to meet with service level agreements. As a consequence, the customer reached out to DPI to update the facility, ultimately to meet their customer’s requirements.

Given the size of the site and the complexity created when working amongst existing building services, DPI had to be inventive in how it managed the project. Through innovative design solutions, DPI reverse engineered the project to effectively navigate old building infrastructure, such as lighting, fire suppression and security systems. The DPI team provided a bespoke end-to-end design with its ‘One Call, One Team’ service. DPI remained focused throughout the project delivering a proactive and personal customer project with the required agility, flexibility and adaptability for this substantial data centre project.

The key challenge was to identify and create new, secure, containment throughout the entire data center facility, whilst avoiding all congested routes and delivering new raceways to implement the new fibre optic ODF system. In result, the solution would future proof the facility to effectively meet the customers increasing client requirements.

To overcome the crowded environment, an intrusive survey was conducted on all the congested routes, identifying means of exit from existing points of presence. The output of the survey was to establish the design factors, and to develop innovative ways of routing and navigating the facility avoiding all existing building services. This was understandably a delicate operation, and one which necessitated a strong and expert project management and planning function. DPI’s highly experienced, fully qualified and certified in-house design, engineering, installation and project management teams brilliantly executed on the project to the customer’s specification, with exacting standards on time and within the customer’s budget. In fact, DPI’s rigorous project management and supervision ensures that solutions are implemented the first time, every time.

As a direct result of DPI’s bespoke solution, the data centre facility is now capable of delivering services within industry standard SLAs. Furthermore, the facility has the ability to scale colocation environments, provide additional colocation space or provide larger suites to suit various client requirements. DPI’s solution provided the flexibility and upgradeability required by all current and future customers.

In addition, Datalec Precision Installations provided the customer with surety and future confidence through the provision of post-project documentation that always forms part of its Operation and Maintenance Manuals.

40PBs of data migrated, managed, and consolidated with a unified unstructured data management platform for Fortune 20 financial services institution
StorageX 8.5 is a next-generation solution for file storage management. It helps customers with more real-time insights and automation around file access security, anomaly detection, intelligent multi-cloud, and agile metadata and access pattern analytics, which are used to drive data management actions.

This allows customers to correlate file access, file ownership, and utilization, driving data management policies to reduce the surface area for ransomware attacks, making immutable copies of data, driving data tiering, creating data lakes, and location optimization. StorageX 8.5 provides intelligence-based data analytics and mobility in a hybrid cloud environment.

The release of our globally recognized StorageX software provides support for cloud-to-cloud mobility and interoperability for migrations to Azure File, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Platform, and S3 Object Storage. It simplifies the migration process by providing templates that guide best policy creation and management practices, which can be configured and managed via a robust suite of API.

A financial institution with over 6,000 offices across more than 80 countries was migrating from legacy NAS platforms to NetApp Data ONTAP. The customer’s unstructured data had grown exponentially over the years with no global consistency of storage and varying legacy standards as a result of multiple acquisitions. The customer’s data was also distributed over 100 locations in order to provide minimal latency for end-users. However, with end-user compute rapidly moving from users’ offices into centralized core data centers, a consolidation of the data was also needed during the migration whilst driving consistency across the global footprint. The data was hosted on legacy hardware across the globe that in some cases was over 13 years old and they wanted to move it into the NetApp Clustered Data ONTAP Storage Platform. They were also extensively using Microsoft DFS that provided an abstraction layer for their CIFS. They wanted a reliable and secured solution for automating their migration process.

Data Dynamics’ StorageX solution offered a unified and centralized platform to manage CIFS and NFS migrations from legacy NAS platforms to NetApp Data ONTAP. StorageX simplified and automated the migration process including providing a means of updating the DFS links automatically. The automated, policy-based approach used by StorageX maximized user data access and minimized cutover windows, user downtime, and other disruptions related to file storage rebalancing, migrations, consolidations, and tech refreshes.

StorageX provided a single and unified console to manage the migrations supporting various sources and destinations, including cross-platform support for NetApp, Windows, and other heterogeneous resources. StorageX helped the customer with data migration by consolidating their data centers and in parallel introduced effective data governance, intelligent data insights, and data lifecycle management.

With this data consolidation project, the customer could easily drive global standardization for enhanced downstream automation, significantly improved efficiency as well as next-level risk management. The customer deployed a single instance of StorageX in each major geographical location and deployed Replication Agents (RA) in each data center. Policies were created in the StorageX server and sent to the RA that drove the data movement based on the policy settings. This automated the process and ensured that the infrastructure deployed was consistent across all the data centers globally.

StorageX 8.5 enabled customers to manage and consolidate petabytes of data with a single pane of glass. It also provided the intelligence required for the migration, consolidation, and archiving of file data in large, complex, heterogeneous file storage environments. The engagement with the customer evolved and accelerated, resulting in consolidation from 112 locations globally down to 65 and involved migrating 40PBs of data that was distributed across 35,000 volumes on 876 filer nodes, delivering data location optimization, cost savings of over $37M, and data analysis. This was a clear example of customer trust as the data managed grew by a whopping 300% by the end of the project.

XpedITe, RiT Tech’s response to the changing needs and expectations for DCIM solutions
Background for entry The expectations for DCIM have changed and DCIM has changed as a result. There are a number of reasons for this, but a key factor is the fact that DCIM is no longer seen as a single solution as has been promoted and sold by legacy DCIM providers. Rather now it is seen as a suite of tools occupying specialist niches which will vary according to different business models and customer preferences. It is no longer true that one size fits all. It is also true that a DCIM system should not merely be capable of offering monitoring. As the words behind the acronym suggest the key is active management. Simple monitoring should no longer be sufficient to be considered as a true DCIM tool as has historically been the case with some legacy offerings. This has directly led to the basic requirement that a true DCIM tool should be able to offer rapid, low resource overhead integration with other key systems deployed by the data centre operator. Naturally this also therefore requires the combination of disparate data sets from multiple tools in order to create a single accurate perspective on the installed assets and their performance within the data centre. The accuracy of the data being captured and held is critical. Again capturing and combining raw data is important the accuracy of the data and the way that it can be combined and analysed to convert it into useful management information supporting intelligent decision making covering all aspects of data centre operations has historically been the missing element. Importantly this is in relation to the entire data centre ecosystem, not just the building / facilities components but also, and importantly the IT, and Network systems too in order to break down the traditional FM and IT siloes. Without visibility of the IT stack as well as the facilities infrastructure how can we really judge the energy performance or the environmental impact of a particular site or operation? It is XpedITe’s capabilities in dealing with ICT Automation/Orchestration in data centres along with demonstrating all the requirements of a true ICT Management (DCIM) solution as well as our firm commitment to ongoing customer led product development that has convinced RiT Tech to enter both innovation awards this year. This has been evidenced by the decision to End of Life Trellis and Aperture by Vertiv. The difficulty in moving away from traditional legacy DCIM solutions has been highlighted by both these products and Vertiv’s decision to move on despite massive investment as the transition has simply proved too difficult and too costly. To reinforce this view there has been a resurgence of interest recently in DCIM tools as the data centre sector has recognised the need to reliably support and manage remote unmanned Edge sites and to deal with what effectively became remote support for larger sites when travel and site access were restricted by Covid. RiT Tech is submitting this award both to highlight the changing nature of DCIM but also to demonstrate how RIT Tech has responded to these changing needs and emerging customer requirements with XpedITe. Xpedite Details At a time where infrastructure and operations managers are finding it challenging to manage their increasing hybrid and disseminated data centre estate, XpedITe provides an opportunity to bring together management and monitoring systems capable of providing multiple teams with actionable insights – from automated provisioning to accurate and reliable asset management. For our clients, their most important requirement is to deliver one central source of reliable data using a federated system that maps their entire infrastructure and seamlessly integrates with existing engineering and business tools. But rather than attempting to represent the entire ecosystem, XpedITe aims to supplement and leverage existing legacy systems’ capabilities – not replace them. XpedITe is modular by design – a platform from features can be selected as required and used to integrate or replace existing legacy solutions over time. To this end, the solution’s ever-expanding range of integrations allow it to interact with commonly used devices, monitoring systems and management applications, reducing deployment time, disruption, risks, costs and human overhead. A most recent example is the creation of the CRM integration module and customer portal. For one of our clients, we were able to help them recover over 2million USD in lost revenue just by integrating XpedITe’s asset management and capacity tracker with their CRM system. Through the customer portal, our client also highlighted that we have improved profitability by reducing the costs of managing and processing work orders by 30%. XpedITe is a platform that provides universal intelligent infrastructure management for data centre operators, stakeholders and customers. It differs from other products in that it is the only data centre infrastructure management tool that can fully connect the facility infrastructure with the IT layer as well as corporate policies and operational workflows within one platform. How does XpedITe work? There are four key elements that make it work as a truly federated platform. 1. Integration with legacy monitoring and management systems: XpedITe’s proprietary Integration Adapters allow seamless integration of our platform with the most popular devices and software systems existing in data centre environments, including • Facility and IT assets like chillers, CRAC and CRAH units, sensors, UPS, PDU, etc • As well as other management systems like BMS, ITSM Solutions, CMDB Implementations, CRM, PMS, EMS and others. Our integration adapters make integration easy, low cost and fast, providing one single source of truth. XpedITe’s adapters and APIs support a wide variety of protocols, formats, and communication channels on a case-by-case basis including BACnet, Modbus and higher level application based protocols such as SSH / Telnet / XML / HTML as well as basic data import and transfer structures using CSV / TEXT etc. As innovators, we are continuously expanding the ability to integrate with additional devices and software systems driven both by industry innovation and customer requirements. For devices and software systems which are not currently covered by XpedITe’s Integration Adapters and APIs, we are continuously expanding the availability based on our clients’ requests. 2. Smart data store: We have designed XpedITe to collect, aggregate and analyse data from multiple diverse data sources within the data centre including a vendor agnostic approach to software systems integration and recognition of assets. The smart data store allows XpedITe to collect and store a range of data from diverse sources in a uniform structure and generate a 360-degree view of the entire data centre, based on data set interconnection and analytics, to provide actionable inter-dependency analysis and operational insight. The smart data store also allows an aggregative data summary and analysis, so that data sets are not read in isolation. Not only can operators see different assets separately, but they can see these assets interacting with other items sets such as other types of assets, Configuration Items, capacity indicators, environmental indicators, resource utlisation (eg weight, switch ports, panels, power at PDU units, cooling provision and space etc.) by rack/cabinet, room and floor. The last key element is XpedITe’s ability to analyse data and turn it into useful management information. It offers intelligent analysis and allows efficient planning and risk management – ultimately underpinning reassurance in the ongoing service availability from the data centre. 3. Open platform: powerful API and SDK: XpedITe was developed as an open platform from the outset so that it works easily with and alongside other systems using API and SDK features. Xpedite offers Software Development Kit (SDK) libraries allowing customers to easily define and enforce Automated Provisioning rules and powerful Application Programming Interface (API) to provide rapid and low-cost integration capabilities for bespoke scenarios. To enable successful implementation, integration, alignment with the diverse needs of clients' and their environments with a clear ROI – we offer six critical success factors. 1. Automation to improve efficiency – from asset provisioning to resource utlisation 2. Usability and ease of use – set up, implementation and readability 3. Platform modularity and customisable deployments 4. Dynamically defined processes and automated workflows 5. The flexibility to define bespoke organisational policies and preferences. 6. Processes automation – to make things more efficient 7. Intelligent insights for customisable KPIs – focusing on what is important for the business and its clients 4. Innovation: The most innovative aspect of our solution is creating a 360-degree DC management and operation, with a real-time and complete view of a data centre. We focussed on this particular aspect, as pioneers of automated infrastructure management, our clients were telling us they needed to bring all monitoring systems into one place to manage the complexity and sheer volume of data being created. What benefits has this innovation achieved? - Integration with all management and monitoring systems like CRM (Salesforce), BMS (Tridium, Schneider, Trend etc.), ITSM (ServiceNow) and many others. - Enabling cross dept and operations collaboration – facility, IT, product and sales, service delivery and management teams. - The creation of a Customer portal which allows efficient involvement and asset management by customers especially in colocation environment which not only makes things more robust and precise but also contributes customer satisfaction, promotes sales and potentially grows revenues. To maintain this level of innovation, we must continue to evolve. The recent investment from the Israeli Innovation Authority (IIA) will enable this to happen. This funding award will help XpedITe, as a Universal Intelligent Infrastructure Management solution, provide data centre managers with intelligent automation and predictive insight and planning capabilities. Solution Flexibility, a Key aspect of any DCIM solution Our product and solution can be adapted for the different types of data centres as its capabilities are adapted according to the environment. For Colocation Sites: XpedITe provides capabilities that enable cross department collaboration and cross organisation decision making by integrating with all legacy systems and providing single source of truth. Furthermore, it provides Colo’s customers with complete control of their assets through XpedITe Customer Portal module, which not only helps provides to save on costs by improving operational efficiency, but also contributes revenues generation by increasing customer satisfaction and making client’s requests highly convenient and accessible. Managing a physical data centre is a challenge characterised by complexity. Coordinating these components, while also focusing on multiple conflicting goals such as power and cooling efficiency, carbon footprint, service quality and return on investment, is a formidable feat. XpedITe, serves to simplify the burden on operators, by acting as a federated management platform that intelligently links previously disparate systems. It automates workflows, improves operational efficiencies and helps to reduce total cost of ownership. Until very recently there were no tools available that could offer a federated platform with actionable insights. Because of the of the siloed approach to data centre management there were no tools that could offer an holistic view to both colocation operators and their customers. This is no longer the case. XpedITe is capable of offering the ability to analyse multiple data sets across sites and provide intelligent solutions for managing the data centre throughout the entire stack, from the BMS, to the IT equipment and through to application performance. This rich feature set and full integration across the entire data centre stack provides the opportunity to offer a value added service will be seen as a key differentiator for colocation providers and a key element to reducing operational overhead and deriving maximum benefit from their colocation provider by their customers. For Edge and Dark sites: XpedITe provides remote management capabilities and adds value through operational efficiency. XpedITe provides a single version of truth, automation of equipment deployment and workflows and reduces the need for human resource onsite. Adapted to this environment, it brings four key values to Edge sites: 1. The first is the ability to offer a single accurate representation of the assets in a number of local and remote data centres. This accurate single source of truth can be derived in a number of ways but can include auto-discovery, full, easy and rapid integration with other systems and tools involving the sharing and rationalising of multiple data sets in order to seek out the truth. This includes both facility infrastructure details as well as the IT infrastructure including the potential to share data with a remote CMDB 2. Secondly, XpedITe offers the ability to automate equipment deployment planning, taking into account customer specific rules and practices in addition to industry standard requirements, such as true dual path resilience on both power and network connectivity. Not only does this automation significantly reduce planning time (by hours and days), it can also be done remotely without the need for site visits. 3. Thirdly, XpedITe generates automated work orders offering simple step by step instructions for the Adds, Moves and Changes determined above. These can be issued to 3rd parties with limited of zero site knowledge to implement according to simple detailed instructions. The works orders even include instructions for correct equipment and cable labelling. 4. Finally, seamless integration with your existing ticketing system simplifies internal process and has the potential to reduce the number of hand offs between disciplines and departments. This reduces both the administrative resource burden and the opportunity for errors for both local and remote sites. With the capability for real time monitoring and data collection from both the facilities equipment in a site as well as the IT components, XpedITe offers a comprehensive management package that allows you to orchestrate your data centre site operations equally effectively whether it is a fully staffed multi-megawatt core site or a small multi-kilowatt Edge site that is rarely visited. For Hybrid environments: XpedITe is designed to manage complex environments from true hyperscaler facilities to hybrid solutions. With XpedITe, hybrid environments can manage sites remotely, plan space and track every work order or fault issue through one software system. Complex Hybrid environments need sophisticated solutions. From automated provisioning and work orders to meeting sustainability goals. XpedITe can be used to plan for growth, new locations or outsourcing to third party providers. Reliance on third parties across different geographies brings with it the risk of works being incorrectly implemented or that time is wasted through lack of understanding, inaccurate work orders, incomplete asset registers or difficulties in communication. For remote managers operating tens of thousands of on-premise racks, our system can visualise the true picture of what is taking place at your facility, edge or colocation sites across the world. XpedITe can be adapted to manage and plan for the key performance indicators that meet with the clients needs, aligned with policies and procedures, manage risk and resources. Its main value here is that it can provide a single global view to operators in order to improve operational efficiency. Summary Many vendors claim to provide data centre operators with useable and actionable data but this is really not the case. We know this because our clients tell us why XpedITe is the preferred solution for them. Over 70%-80% of deployments fail due to lack of required product's flexibility as well as lack of customisations required to adopt a solution to organizational needs and processes. Without successful implementation there is no value in a DCIM solution. Many sector leaders share with us that they have seen many solutions on the market but have also frequently seen DCIM purchases ‘sitting on a shelf’ unused. Organisations may end up having systems in place with no active use. This is what they want to avoid and can by using XpedITe has the following features: o Ability to have vendor agnostic integration with all assets and legacy systems o Ability to customise the solution to truly address clients’ bespoke needs o Bridge traditional silos and allow inter-department collaboration o Align workflows and business specific processes o Automation of provisioning, work orders, third party installations etc. To finish, XpedITe is a worthy winner as it is unique, innovative and enables effective data centre day to day operations with a demonstrable ROI. As a disruptor, it is the first and only platform to truly address these operational challenges that the data centre sector currently faces. Data centre operators are choosing our product over industry leaders for its two unique elements: 1. It is Universal. XpedITe has integration capabilities that no other vendor on the market currently has. To provide the single source of truth, it integrates across multiple DC layers within the data centre – from vendor agnostic facility and IT assets to network and power connectivity as well as variety of third party systems, like BMS, CMDB, ITSM solutions etc. It provides all departments a single version of the truth in order to have a true and accurate representation of all assets and performance within a data centre as well as actionable insights so that no data set is treated as a silo and all stakeholder teams can collaborate. 2. It is Intelligent. On top of its ability to integrate with assets and legacy systems, XpedITe offers modules for efficient operation using the data collected - through processes management and automation as well assistive decision-making capabilities. To reinforce this only last summer (August 2021), XpedITe and RiT Tech secured significant investment from the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) – a gruelling process where the winner must prove they will transform an industry, not only evolve it.   Selected customer details highlighting some innovations offered by the XpedITe platform Global Banking Customer (Global Corporate Enterprise Data Centre Example) 1. Number of sites: 56 data centres and 600 offices. All data centres and offices having 2 separated communications rooms. 2. Cabinets supported: 15,000 30K 3. Cabinet PDUs supported: 30,000 4. Number of employees supported: Directly – 1,500. Within the organization overall – Over 100K 5. People space supported (including trading floors etc.): 600 buildings each with several floors (Small building with 100 users per floor. Large buildings with 700 users per floor) 6. Integrations in place and what are they?: Network Discovery and application mapping tools, In-house cabinet allocation tool, In-house global asset CMDB, In-house Space planning and mapping system, In-house action request system for asset provisioning. 7. Additional useful facts: a. Any network connection or change plus MAC address change is documented by the system b. An equipment provisioning automation engine incorporates 8 global provisioning rules unique to the organisation and applied globally (Corporate Policy). This relates to both data centre and people space. c. The automated provisioning has improve the project planning and deployment time by more than 10,000% d. Planning for one floor used to take several weeks now it can be completed in 10 minutes. e. The customer is also monitoring power consumption with the XpedITe tool f. The customer is using XpedITe integration capabilities to migrate away from a legacy dependency on MS Excel 8. Length of time as an XpedITe customer: 4 years UK Financial Markets Customer (Enterprise Data Centre Example) 1. Number of sites: 20 sites, growing rapidly 2. Cabinets supported: 3,000 currently, growing to 10,000 this year 3. Cabinet PDUs supported: 20,000 4. Number of employees supported: Directly – 500 up to 1000. Within the organization overall – Over 10K 5. Integrations in place and what are they?: ServiceNow, in-house PDU scanning tool, BMS 6. Additional useful facts: a. Using XpedITe to replace Nlyte and other tools b. Now using XpedITe PDU scanning capabilities to plan and provide power usage details c. Currently planning the use of the Xpedite customer portal / dashboard capabilities 7. Length of time as an XpedITe customer: 1.5 years Israel Based Data Centre Colocation Provider (Colocation Data Centre Example) 1. Number of sites: 2 2. Cabinets supported: 1,300 3. Cabinet PDUs supported: 2,600 4. Customers Supported: 900 customers and 1700 active customer users 5. Additional useful facts: a. Replacing an older legacy system with the XpedITe b. Now using XpedITe PDU scanning capabilities to plan and provide power usage details c. XpedITe multitenancy feature allows customer management and utilisation / capacity reporting based on appropriate security access rights. These include capacity and utilisation management including: Location, cabinets and in-cabinet (Rack Unit level), power, weight etc. d. Employing a DMZ network configuration in order to provide customer access to the dashboard / portal e. The Xpedite customer portal / dashboard is being used to give customers the option to connect to the system in order to open tickets and view customer specific internal data 6. Key features of the colocation customer dashboard / portal: a. Integration to CRM system (2 directional) , all new action to open new customer or new allocation for customer the ticket is opening by this integration, when that ticket completed Xpedite platform update the CRM that the action was completed b. Integration to Customer portal, the system update CRM system when customer open new request for (visit site, problems or any change request) c. Integration to BMS system to get all environmental data and power data for UPS and room PDU

The SynapSense system is a data center environmental monitoring and cooling management solution
DCIM/DC Optimization software module that solves customer problems: Software Environmental- Hot spots Over cooling High / low humidity Air delivery problems Recirculation By-pass air Over/under pressurized plenum Temperature, Pressure & RH/Dew point LiveImaging™ Reports & Dashboards Optimization- Balance raised floor Alter cooling unit set points for maximum energy savings Maintain most efficient removal of heat Airflow Remediation Cooling Optimization Cooling Cost Savings or Capacity Recovery Active Control- Risk mitigation while maintaining optimized state Network Overview- SynapSense gateways and nodes are joined in a wireless full mesh network All components can communicate with each other and through each other. Nodes will determine fastest path to gateway and send via that path In contrast, a partial mesh network requires a pre-determined communication pathway. Specific devices must be configured to communicate to other devices. Hardware- Data aggregation Central point of data collection Multiple gateways per network provide redundancy Cover 750-930 sqm each and 60 meters line of sight Network management Device joining Route management Gateways are the bridge between the WSN and the local wired network.

PECO-DC Eliminating ladders in the Data Centre Whitespace
Our aim for this product has been to remove the need to use ladders in the Data Centre Whitespace. How many times per year do Data Centre professionals have to use step-ups, podiums or ladders to carry out routine maintenance, repairs, installations or visual inspection work on the overhead supply infrastructure of the data centre? How many times does this kind of work cause body stress and fatigue to users as well as other injuries when working at height? The answer is all too often! The solution is simple: The brand new PECO-DC a raised access platform that is the smart alternative to ladders and podiums. It is designed to create a safer and more sustainable working environment by improving the productivity. Completely manually operated, the PecoDC lifting solution can be raised by simply and easily rotating the operators handle. With minimal effort, the patented lift mechanism glides smoothly to the chosen working height of up to 3.5 metres in seconds. Having no batteries to charge or maintain and no hydraulic oil the PECO-DC is truly an Eco-friendly solution and ideally suited to the DC environment.. It’s tiny footprint of only 672mm wide has been designed specifically for the data centre aisle being just over a floor tile wide. Why risk using ladders when there is an alternative?

Equinix
Equinix Pushes Boundaries While Developing World-Class Security Program with Symmetry Equinix connects the world's leading businesses to their customers, employees and partners inside the most connected data centers in 25 markets (68 cities globally) across five continents. Housing the data for some of the largest, most well-known companies in the world, poses security challenges on a whole new level. Failing is not an option, and a robust, easy-to-use security program coupled with superb customer service is Equinix’s recipe for success. For over two decades, Equinix has been continuously growing and adding to its portfolio of International Business Exchange™ (IBXⓇ) data centers. Whether they are building new sites or acquiring them, AMAG has been a reliable partner during that time, and Symmetry has easily expanded to accommodate each new building regardless of location. Each IBX is equipped with multiple layers of biometric security from the front door to the customer’s cage to meet compliance standards and ensure the highest level of security. Schlage Handkey biometric readers are used in legacy locations, and Suprema N2 fingerprint readers with a mobile option are being installed as the new global standard for Equinix. The Suprema N2 readers allow a fingerprint and card plus PIN, providing three levels of authentication to meet the highest security standards. Using Suprema readers keeps Equinix GDPR compliant. The data is stored on the card, and the customer is in control of their data the entire time. The fingerprint reader supports mobile credentials, allowing Equinix to offer this solution to its clients and employees. The user enrolls their mobile device and uses a biometric from their phone instead of on the reader itself. Users can unlock doors using their phone, and the reader will know if the user is the person holding the phone. The customer will have the option to use their smartphone or a card to gain access. When Equinix was looking for a solution to integrate their video into Symmetry, Craig Knakmuhs, Director Global Security, turned to AMAG’s Symmetry CompleteView Video Management System. Symmetry CompleteView is tightly integrated with Symmetry Access Control to deliver a unified system. The security team can view live video, playback recorded video and export the video from the Symmetry Access Control software. While their operations center in Tampa can view video at all locations, each individual Equinix IBX security office can configure, view and manage their video locally, providing the flexibility to make changes to accommodate multiple scenarios and events. “What I love about AMAG is that I didn’t want a bunch of disparate systems from different companies,” said Knakmuhs. “I turned to AMAG for input and asked what is the way forward with video? They recommended Symmetry CompleteView VMS, which was well known in the industry. It’s a fabulous product, and I made it part of our standard.” Equinix has installed Symmetry Control Room, AMAG’s command and control software, which allows their security officers to manage video and alarms from one screen, rather than having to toggle back and forth between systems. This saves time and improves the efficiency of the security staff. It also gives the security team the ability to take over managing a site if there is a major incident and security officers are busy responding to the emergency. As Equinix’s security plan grew, they needed to add an audio component so security guards could verbally communicate with customers throughout the data center. If there is a question or problem, customers can quickly and clearly talk to the security officers up front to find a solution. Keeping in mind the types of customers that work within the data center, communication could become mission-critical. Knakmuhs chose Zenitel’s Turbine Intercom Station. Turbine tightly integrates with the Symmetry platform and delivers intelligent communication for environments that require the management of critical assets and activities. Equinix standardized on Zenitel’s solution globally. Using AMAG’s Symmetry Visitor Management software, Equinix and AMAG teamed up to build a visitor management tool specifically designed for their needs, called Kiosk. Kiosk integrates with their online customer portal and their onsite visitor registration systems, which is how they announce and track every customer, vendor and contractor that goes in and out of their facilities globally. Automating manual processes is another priority. Equinix selected AMAG’s Symmetry CONNECT identity management system, which will remove the manual process of entering data into the access control system. Symmetry CONNECT will integrate with Equinix’s customer portal to allow access into any IBX globally. The process of installing Symmetry CONNECT is underway with a completion goal of Q3 2022. As a result, an Equinix customer will be able to directly manage their own access to the data centers, along with pull reports directly from the portal on any of their assets or employees globally without requesting the reports from the individual IBX sites. AMAG’s Symmetry suite helps Equinix to monitor and track data points and eliminate manual logs and reports to help easily meet compliance requirements. Data centers must meet strict compliance requirements such as SSE18, SOC1, SOC2, FISMA, HIPAA, plus many others. To meet compliance, audits are conducted manually, which takes a lot of time. With Symmetry CONNECT, the process will be automated and the data available in real-time. It’s all about the Customer Equinix’s number one goal is to put the customer at the center of everything they do, so every security decision made is with the customer in mind. This customer-first culture drives Equinix to deliver cutting-edge technology solutions. Knakmuhs and his global team are continuously inspiring their vendors to develop the best solutions and perform at their highest levels. That’s why he likes working with AMAG Technology. “AMAG has always backed their product and is committed to doing the right thing, and that’s where the relationship really made a difference,” said Knakmuhs. “My relationship with AMAG has been paramount to the success of our security program. “Data centers are mission-critical,” said Knakmuhs. “The people that work in those data centers need to be qualified and be able to think with a critical mind while using technology. We don’t have errors; that’s not an option. In our industry, if there is an error, it’s an outage and it’s customer impacting.” AMAG works closely with Equinix to enhance our Symmetry products to help Equinix provide the best possible experience to their customers. What the Future Holds Equinix is currently deploying Symmetry Incident Management to help automate tasks for reporting and make its security officers more efficient and proficient. The goal is to pull data from different points (Symmetry Access Control, Symmetry Incident Management, visitor management tool) automatically and run analytics. The ultimate goal is to expedite the customer’s ability to get into an IBX/data center while still maintaining the high level of security they are demanding. Security is a pain point for customers, but necessary. Balancing customer interactions with security officers along with security technology and processes are Equinix’s biggest challenges. They will achieve this by having the customer interact directly with the technology. Equinix continues to grow globally. AMAG Technology looks forward to continuing the journey of supporting Equinix with its growth and expansion.

Lenovo ThinkSystem SE350 edge servers certified to run Sunlight NexVisor
In partnership with Lenovo, Sunlight developed a combined solution that brings together Sunlight’s hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) stack with Lenovo’s compact and rugged Edge Compute Server, the ThinkSystem SE350. After testing and certifying Lenovo’s server to run on Sunlight’s HCI stack, results confirm that the combined solution is ideal for data-intensive applications at the edge, such as IoT and AI, due to the small footprint and high performance it makes possible. The combined solution goes beyond marginal improvements previously seen in the industry by bringing new benefits that enable a range of important use cases. The sky-rocketing use of applications such as AI and IoT often requires decisions to be made in real time, close to the source—for example, adjusting blade pitch on a wind turbine in response to changing wind conditions, or spotting and picking a defective component off a conveyor belt on the factory floor. These use cases require fast time-to-decision, in environments that are far from ideal, often with limited space and power and intermittent connectivity. Lenovo responded to client demand for these requirements by pairing its workhorse, the ThinkSystem SE350, with an HCI with the small form factor and efficiency to run in ruggedized environments. Lenovo’s SE350 offers smart connectivity, security, and manageability for workloads running in harsh environments. Coupling it with Sunlight’s HCI creates the ideal platform for deploying multi-tenant VM-based and cloud-native applications with high availability, high performance and centralised management at a low cost. The certification results from testing the SE350 in Lenovo’s demo lab in Stuttgart, Germany not only confirmed the platforms’ compatibility, but also found a range of critical benefits to end users: ● Ease of deployment: The complete Sunlight HCI stack can be installed on the SE350 in under an hour ● Compute efficiency: Sunlight memory overhead was less than 5% of total system resources - leaving maximum capacity for applications ● High performance: Storage performance available to virtual machines was nearly 2M IOPS across a two node cluster The ThinkSystem SE350 and Sunlight’s HCI stack are small and rugged enough to run anywhere without compromising performance—even hung on the wall of a smart factory. With the partner solution, customers can simplify their edge architectures, and they can run multiple applications with high availability, full isolation, and access to millions of IOPS of storage performance – all in a 2 node cluster. That’s not possible with regular data center hyperconverged solutions, which take up most of an edge cluster’s resources just to boot – let alone run applications.

Vertiv™ VRC-S Edge-Ready Micro Data Centre System
Deploy a Comprehensive Edge Micro Data Center Solution in Days The Vertiv VRC-S edge-ready micro data centre system offers a comprehensive IT solution in a plug-and-play system that quickly and easily installs in edge applications or wherever your IT need is. The solution offers a fully factory assembled IT cabinet incorporating the Vertiv Geist power distribution unit (PDU) for intelligent switched outlet level monitoring across the rack; the new Vertiv™ VRC rack cooling kits offer up to 3.5kW of energy-efficient cooling with an integrated or split heat rejection system (-15°C or -34°C), and embedded Vertiv Intelligence Director software for remote monitoring and management of all system components under one IT address. The cabinet is based on the durable Vertiv VR rack. The Vertiv VRC-S is available in 24 standard models with your choice of four rack sizes, two different heat removal methods and the option to have a Vertiv GXT5 UPS integrated. It ships in days and installs in hours, enabling busy IT managers to save time, money, and headaches while taking advantage of a secure, efficient, convenient cooled rack solution for powering and protecting sensitive IT equipment at the edge or anywhere it exists. Is a versatile product and suited for an extensive range of industries: Banking, Financial and Insurance Broadcast and Entertainment Chemical/Petrochemical (excl. Oil & Gas), Construction and Engineering Education Government Healthcare Manufacturing Military, Defense, Aerospace and Missile Professional Services Retail and Wholesale Transportation. Key Benefits - Fully factory assembled single cabinet Micro Data Center for IT edge applications, saving time and hassle with an all-in-one, pre-integrated micro data centre solution - Integrates power distribution, up to 3.5 kW of cooling, and intelligent, outlet level monitoring in a plug-and-play solution and 6kVA UPS - Easily deploys in weeks and can be installed in hours, saving time and money - Minimises downtime through power continuity with a UPS and cooling continuity with a backup fan. An enclosed system increases cooling efficiency and protection for sensitive equipment - Available in 24 standard models with a choice of four rack sizes, three cooling options, and optionally included UPS to match your IT equipment and site needs. - Offers comprehensive remote monitoring and control capabilities from one IP address

At Vertiv we believe that sustainable product design, development, use, and disposal are critical to the longevity of our industry and the greater world. Check out the highlights of the sustainability features of the Vertiv™ VRC-S: • Inverter compressor matches cooling and power consumption to increase energy efficiency • Designed to reduce onsite labour and provide remote access and management • Limit waste related to room modifications • Optional Energy Star certified UPS with Lithium-Ion batteries

K2 Data Centres
K2 had a vision to not only develop our own modular infrastructure to support our customer requirements, but to leverage our products to allow for modular construction. Today we are building that vision.

By working closely with are equipment partners, K2 have pushed through the limitations of existing designs to create a set of products that provide a greater power density within a smaller footprint. By doing so, K2 can capitalize on available land to provide greater IT white space at a higher density.

Typically, a new build DC will utilize modular construction techniques to reduce construction time and project risks. This can be in the form or skid mounted equipment, prefabricated containment, etc. While this does provide advantages over a traditional stick-built approach, K2 have taken this a step further.

For our projects, K2 have adopted a Modular Infrastructure approach. Our design and construction techniques have decentralized the critical infrastructure from the data centre building. Each new build can be considered as 3 concurrent projects. • MV infrastructure o Off-site fabricated, fully fitted MV PODs complete with all ancillary services and fire protection installed o Containerized Generators, shipped to site with only the external equipment fitted on site o The MV PODs can be cabled up and tested independently of the LV systems and the main building o The MV control system is independent from the LV and therefore can be commissioned ready for connection to the LV system when available • LV infrastructure o Off-site fabricated, fully fitted LV PODs complete with all ancillary services and fire protection installed o Each LV POD contains all the critical electrical equipment for a single power stream – RMU, TX, LV SWBD, UPS, Batteries, Cooling, etc. o When ready they are cabled to the MV infrastructure for testing and commissioning, including UPS systems that are tested via the dedicated load bank connections. • Building construction o While the main building construction is ongoing the critical electrical infrastructure is installed concurrently, removing the inter-dependency.

When comparing our Modular Infrastructure construction programme to our own modular construction programme on previous builds, we have realized up to a 30% reduction in construction time. Our latest in construction project is currently running 29% ahead of programme. All these elements allow us to provide customers with market leading service ready dates.

From an environmental standpoint we have seen a reduction in construction waste due to critical plant being built off site, there is less wastage from the installation of services, cabling, etc. Furthermore, the reduced on-site install requires a smaller work force, which has allowed for better management and control of COVID outbreaks.

In addition to these holistic improvements, K2 DC are also leveraging an emerging part of the K2 Group, Renewable Energies. The data centre design incorporates the use of roof mounted photovoltaic panels to offset the cooling electrical loads. This translates up to a 19.5% reduction in energy usage to cool the IT equipment, reducing our overall PUE. Likewise, all our utility connections are from 100% green energy tariffs.

New Kohler generator design reimagines how generator maintenance and sustainability can be accomplished
Data centers looking to achieve uninterrupted uptime and reliability for global data must rely on diesel generators. Yet, the pollutants associated with diesel engine exhaust are a challenge for this vital industry. As power demands grow, the need for robust generators is increasing, making their sustainability of the utmost importance.

Today, the EPA focuses on reducing six common pollutants (ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and lead), implementing increasingly stringent emission level standards. In response, data centers are always seeking greener solutions for their power strategies. Currently, however, most diesel generator strategies utilized by data centers still require multiple aftertreatment devices to meet the requirements of a number of different individual air pollutant standards. Of the six EPA pollutants, particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions are often the most difficult to address.

To solve this challenge, Kohler’s innovative Tier 4 Final KD Series Generators reinvent the traditional system, allowing for minimal maintenance demands, optimized continuity, maximized ease for users and greater sustainability results.

Superior in-cylinder emissions control technology and high-pressure common rail fuel injection systems optimize power density, decrease noise, and control emissions. By allowing for multiple injections to be made in each combustion cycle, cylinder temperatures to be better controlled. Therefore, emissions can be optimized in the cylinder, requiring less aftertreatment to meet Tier 4 levels.

The KD exhaust aftertreatment technology also eliminates the need for diesel particulate filters and diesel oxidation catalysts by injecting ammonia through the diesel exhaust fluid tank, while the selective catalytic reduction solution controls nitrogen oxides, leaving only harmless exhaust byproducts of nitrogen and steam. The KD series engine control units and integrated sensors continually monitor and control all elements of the exhaust aftertreatment system. This solution offers best-in-class emissions technology.

The industry is rethinking its approach to backup power in efforts to end the use of diesel fuel in emergency generators. New approaches to a critical component in the digital infrastructure power chain will be carefully considered as operators seek to strike the right balance between reliability and sustainability. The shift won’t happen overnight and innovations like Kohler’s KD series are essential.

These efficiency improvements should enable generator operators to revisit old assumptions about maintenance schedules and significantly reduce load-banking requirements without violating NFPA110 requirements. However, the development teams weren’t ready to roll out this new evidence without first demonstrating performance in the field.

To address this industry challenge, Kohler ran a recent study concluding that some of today’s diesel generators can be safely run at 30% of the rated capacity or higher as little as once per year, as opposed to once per month, while maintaining optimal performance and staying within emissions guidelines. In fact, the savings from switching from monthly to annual loaded testing were compelling – our tests showed an 82% reduction in total pollutants emitted.

Kohler has now conducted field tests for five years alongside its installed customer base. After thousands of hours of use in May, 2021, they were ready to retest in a lab setting to verify performance and conclude their study, as well as share the great news with operators.

We are now testing even more drastic changes to maintenance schedules to see if we can achieve greater efficiencies with other end users including a completely revised maintenance plan that limits engine running to once per year. This will happen gradually as more data center operators learn about the new solutions that can are not only cost-effective, but more energy efficient as well.

The KD Series Tier 4 Generators represent a huge step forward for the data center industry because they reimagine how generator maintenance and sustainability can be accomplished. An array of innovative solutions within these generators help overcome previous maintenance challenges and not only ensure the ease and longevity of the generator’s operation, but also help data center operators easily meet increasingly stringent government-mandated sustainability metrics.

The flexibility, simplicity, and durability of the KD Series Tier 4 certified generators ease many deployment concerns, bringing down barriers to greener power solutions and enabling customers to create a more sustainable future even as they increase their power requirements. This is the simplest Tier 4 generator on the market. Where other systems need multiple aftertreatment systems to achieve the same emissions rating, Kohler’s Tier 4 generator has only one, simplifying implementation and speeding the adoption of enhanced emissions technology. This will empower more users to meet increasingly strict emergency-use emissions standards.

Customers will benefit from the performance, functionality, quality, and cost improvements.

Enabling Fast, Easy Data Centre Interconnections with EDGE™ Rapid Connect
With growing data compute and storage requirements driving the construction of more and more data centre campuses and hyperscale data centres, it can be a real challenge for operators to keep up with demand and ensure these projects stay on schedule and on budget. Pre-terminated solutions have long emerged as a means of simplifying and accelerating cabling installation. But, in the outside plant environment, it has also historically been difficult to use pre-terminated trunks as standard data centre interconnect ducts are typically four-inches wide. This is not a problem for pulling through unconnectorised cables, but for very high fibre count cables, such as 1,728 fibres and more, the subsequent splicing and testing is a painful, slow and, ultimately, costly process. What are your product's/solution's key distinguishing features and/or USP? To overcome this challenge, Corning developed EDGE™ Rapid Connect (EDGE RC). Designed with new Fast-Track MTP® Connectors and routable subunits, the rugged, high-density cabling solution is optimised to enable complete data centre interconnects faster than ever. It matches the density found in comparable data centre interconnect splicing solutions, but with no splicing necessary—saving up to 70% on installation time when installing trunk cables between data centre buildings. Developed by Corning and US Conec, the Fast-Track MTP’s smaller 2-inch diameter pulling grip enables more pre-terminated fibre to be pulled through a single conduit, giving data centre operators a new path to extreme density. Corning’s data centre interconnect portfolio is particularly targeted at the hyperscale and multi-tenant data centre/colocation market, and institutions such as large financial companies who have multiple data centre buildings on a single campus. Its key capabilities and features include: • Speed to revenue by eliminating splicing: For a typical four-trunk deployment, EDGE™ RC can reduce project time from six weeks down to two weeks, allowing the data centre to be operational – and generating revenue – faster. • Reduced pathway costs: Users can now pull three 3,456-fiber trunk cables through a single 4-inch conduit, reducing the amount of conduit that needs to be placed in the ground, increasing the ROI on pathway investment. • Minimised risks: Splicing extremely high fibre count ribbon cable can be complex, requiring highly trained splice technicians. Using pre-terminated trunks mitigates the risk of not having access to splicing resources, and the risk of having staff work with sharp tools to prepare fibre for splicing. • Rugged connector: The Fast-Track MTP connector can mate with a normal MTP connector (with a maximum insertion loss of 0.35dB), while the grip is waterproof and can withstand up to 600 pounds (270 kilos) of pulling tension. What tangible impact has your product/solution had on the market and your customers? When it comes to data centre projects, time is money – and operators know they can ill-afford to allow delays in network installation to stand in the way of meeting ever-increasing demands for bandwidth. Even with a skilled labour force, lots of splicing can be challenging and it’s very easy to misalign a splice or to splice the wrong ribbon. EDGE RC removes lengthy troubleshooting and testing time and streamlines the entire process, slashing installation times by as much as 70% - this can see a six-week project cut down to as little as two. One key issue that contractors can still face is accurate measurement of cable length, with the connectorised trunk cables made to order and measurements needing to be accurate. Corning offers services to contractors to ensure accuracy and provide complete peace of mind. What are the major differentiators between your product/solution and those of your primary competitors? While there are other competitors offering the same level of high fibre count ribbon cable, critically there is currently no competitor that has released a solution with the Fast-Track MTP. Therefore, the current competitive environment for such high fibre counts is limited to the alternative solution which is splicing. Splicing at this scale, for quality splices with low insertion loss to allow for optimal transmission signal quality, presents myriad challenges, from availability of skilled workers in the right locations, needing to navigate inadequate pathway space and meeting tight project timelines. Please supply any supportive quotes and/or case study materials to demonstrate the value of this product/solution to your customers/partners. Anonymous customer feedback: “The pulling grip makes [installation] so easy as it is so flexible – often when using 110mm ripped ducts, the cable gets stuck, but this wasn’t the case with the small size pulling grip.” “Going from delivery to fully tested in less than 7 weeks for an 8x3456 fibre install was phenomenal.” “The pulling grip was phenomenal – 2” OD, flexible, time to remove next to nothing. Couldn’t ask for a better pulling grip.” “No splicing -- it is completely plug and play; this has meant drastic savings on labour.”

Most advanced Category 6A cable
Smallest Cat 6A cable in the market ‒ Up to 23% smaller and lighter Most advanced Category 6A cable ‒ 23 AWG, 100m channel ‒ Headroom over the standard ‒ Best-in-class alien crosstalk mitigation ‒ Best EMI immunity in UTP cable ‒ Up to CCA Euroclass Increases cable fill 11% to 40%! • Allows for smaller or fewer pathways • Easier to install ‒ Lighter weight ‒ More flexible ‒ Smaller bend radius • Simplifies upgrade from Cat 6 23 AWG, 100m channel • Headroom over the standard • Best-in-class alien crosstalk suppression • Exceptional PoE performance • Best electromagnetic interference (EMI) performance in a UTP cable Mitigating alien crosstalk – All foil tapes perform well  EMI immunity – The barrier tape design matters! Best UTP EMI immunity  EMI performance much improved  Cables without Vari-Matrix tape are Susceptible to EMI - Antenna effect Vari-Matrix is Discontinuous Barrier Tape Varying Segment Length

Schneider Electric Galaxy VL delivers world-leading, sustainable and resilient power protection
Schneider Electric’s Galaxy VL 3-phase uninterruptible power supply (UPS) offers world-leading energy efficiency, resilience and sustainability - delivering up to 99-percent efficiency in its patented ECOnversion™ operating mode for a full return on investment within two years. The system offers ultra-reliable, secure power protection in a highly efficient and compact unit which, with a footprint of 0.8m2, occupies half the industry average space for an equivalent rated UPS of its size. The compact design of the UPS, enhanced by the use of Lithium-Ion battery (li-ion) cabinets, offers space savings up to 70% compared with lead-acid battery alternatives, offering more efficient use of data centre space and delivering a lower total cost of ownership (TCO). Galaxy VL also includes a pioneering ‘Live Swap’ feature, which delivers a touch-safe design throughout the process of adding or replacing the power modules while the UPS is online and fully operational. This industry-first system offers protection from human error, enhanced business continuity and no unscheduled downtime. Additionally, Live Swap’s touch-safe design offers increased protection for employees who no longer have to transfer the UPS to maintenance bypass or battery operation during the insertion or removal of the power modules. Advanced efficiencies From an energy efficiency perspective, Galaxy VL utilises Schneider Electric’s patented ECOnversion technology, which helps users gain the highest level of energy savings and offers an operating efficiency up to 99% without sacrificing load protection. ECOnversion is Schneider Electric’s improved version of eco-modes for UPS, but it offers far greater levels of resilience compared to traditional ‘eco-modes’. This is because with ECOnversion technology, the converter is always running, meaning it can kick in immediately when there’s a power disruption - so there’s no delay that can impact the load. In Schneider Electric’s ECOnversion mode the load is also never exposed directly to unconditioned utility power, as is the case with standard UPS ‘eco-modes’, meaning ECOnversion fully addresses the reliability and availability issues that have long hampered traditional eco-modes. In terms of specific efficiency benefits Galaxy VL delivers: • World-class efficiency up to 99%. • Compared to legacy UPS designs, the savings are equivalent to the acquisition cost after 2- 3 years (model dependent). • Proven savings and robustness - savings achieved each year via electricity bill. • Class 1 output voltage regulation. • (Source: Schneider Electric brochure page 5) Further, it offers high efficiency for medium and large data centres, buildings, and facilities via ECONversion. • ECOnversion meets Class 1 of IEC 62040-3: zero-break transfer during power outage. • Compared to a legacy design, the savings are equivalent to the acquisition cost after 2- 3 years (model dependent). Galaxy VL utilises light weight, long-lasting Lithium-ion batteries, helping end-users to increase the lifecycle, reduce total cost of ownership, increase availability and resiliency. Key benefits of li-ion include: • 50-75% less footprint. • 30-50% lower total cost of ownership (TCO). • 2-3X longer expected life. (Source: Schneider Electric website) • New patented hybrid technology delivers up to 97% efficiency in double conversion online mode even at low load levels. Galaxy VL also enables users to: • Maximise space to enable future growth: Galaxy VL is the most compact in its class, 50-percent more compact than the industry average at.8 m2, freeing up valuable data centre real estate and IT space. Additionally, Galaxy Lithium-ion Battery Cabinets deliver total space savings of up to 70 percent compared with VRLA battery solutions. (Source: SE calculation based on available market product information. See Galaxy VL brochure for details.) • Save money: Galaxy VL’s modular, scalable platform enables you to pay-as-you-grow, reducing CapEx investment, operating costs, energy consumption, and TCO. Scale power instantly in 50kW increments from 200 to 500kW with no extra footprint. • Reach sustainability goals: Up to 99-percent efficient in ECOnversion mode for a full return on investment within two years in energy savings (26,280 EUR annual electricity savings). A Schneider Electric Green Premium product, it includes the option for long-lasting Lithium-ion batteries. (Source: Based on a market electricity price: €0.11/kWh. The annual electricity savings are done in comparison with a 94% efficiency standard UPS. • Enhanced safety: Galaxy VL’s industry first ‘Live Swap’ feature, which delivers a touch-safe design throughout the process of adding or replacing the power modules while the UPS is online and fully operational. It offers protection from human error, enhanced business continuity and no unscheduled downtime. • Increase Reliability through EcoStruxure: By connecting Galaxy VL to EcoStruxure—Schneider Electric's open, interoperable, IoT-enabled system architecture and platform—data centre operators can benefit from EcoStruxure™ IT software and services. These EcoStruxure offerings enable customers to monitor, manage, and model their IT infrastructure and get service support 24/7 anywhere, anytime. Enhanced sustainability Galaxy VL is one of Schneider Electric’s Green Premium products, offering sustainable performance by design. It includes transparent environmental information and makes minimal use of hazardous substances in and beyond compliance with regulations such as RoHS and REACH. Like all Schneider Electric Green Premium products, Galaxy VL comes with a full environmental disclosures such as a Product Environmental Profiles and Circularity Profiles, to provide guidance on responsible end-of-life treatment and other recommendations to promote a circular economy.

New Kohler generator design reimagines how generator maintenance and sustainability can be accomplished
Data centers looking to achieve uninterrupted uptime and reliability for global data must rely on diesel generators. Yet, the pollutants associated with diesel engine exhaust are a challenge for this vital industry. As power demands grow, the need for robust generators is increasing, making their sustainability of the utmost importance. Today, the EPA focuses on reducing six common pollutants (ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and lead), implementing increasingly stringent emission level standards. In response, data centers are always seeking greener solutions for their power strategies. Currently, however, most diesel generator strategies utilized by data centers still require multiple aftertreatment devices to meet the requirements of a number of different individual air pollutant standards. Of the six EPA pollutants, particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions are often the most difficult to address. To solve this challenge, Kohler’s innovative Tier 4 Final KD Series Generators reinvent the traditional system, allowing for minimal maintenance demands, optimized continuity, maximized ease for users and greater sustainability results. Superior in-cylinder emissions control technology and high-pressure common rail fuel injection systems optimize power density, decrease noise, and control emissions. By allowing for multiple injections to be made in each combustion cycle, cylinder temperatures to be better controlled. Therefore, emissions can be optimized in the cylinder, requiring less aftertreatment to meet Tier 4 levels. The KD exhaust aftertreatment technology also eliminates the need for diesel particulate filters and diesel oxidation catalysts by injecting ammonia through the diesel exhaust fluid tank, while the selective catalytic reduction solution controls nitrogen oxides, leaving only harmless exhaust byproducts of nitrogen and steam. The KD series engine control units and integrated sensors continually monitor and control all elements of the exhaust aftertreatment system. This solution offers best-in-class emissions technology. The industry is rethinking its approach to backup power in efforts to end the use of diesel fuel in emergency generators. New approaches to a critical component in the digital infrastructure power chain will be carefully considered as operators seek to strike the right balance between reliability and sustainability. The shift won’t happen overnight and innovations like Kohler’s KD series are essential. These efficiency improvements should enable generator operators to revisit old assumptions about maintenance schedules and significantly reduce load-banking requirements without violating NFPA110 requirements. However, the development teams weren’t ready to roll out this new evidence without first demonstrating performance in the field. To address this industry challenge, Kohler ran a recent study concluding that some of today’s diesel generators can be safely run at 30% of the rated capacity or higher as little as once per year, as opposed to once per month, while maintaining optimal performance and staying within emissions guidelines. In fact, the savings from switching from monthly to annual loaded testing were compelling – our tests showed an 82% reduction in total pollutants emitted. Kohler has now conducted field tests for five years alongside its installed customer base. After thousands of hours of use in May, 2021, they were ready to retest in a lab setting to verify performance and conclude their study, as well as share the great news with operators. We are now testing even more drastic changes to maintenance schedules to see if we can achieve greater efficiencies with other end users including a completely revised maintenance plan that limits engine running to once per year. This will happen gradually as more data center operators learn about the new solutions that can are not only cost-effective, but more energy efficient as well. The KD Series Tier 4 Generators represent a huge step forward for the data center industry because they reimagine how generator maintenance and sustainability can be accomplished. An array of innovative solutions within these generators help overcome previous maintenance challenges and not only ensure the ease and longevity of the generator’s operation, but also help data center operators easily meet increasingly stringent government-mandated sustainability metrics. The flexibility, simplicity, and durability of the KD Series Tier 4 certified generators ease many deployment concerns, bringing down barriers to greener power solutions and enabling customers to create a more sustainable future even as they increase their power requirements. This is the simplest Tier 4 generator on the market. Where other systems need multiple aftertreatment systems to achieve the same emissions rating, Kohler’s Tier 4 generator has only one, simplifying implementation and speeding the adoption of enhanced emissions technology. This will empower more users to meet increasingly strict emergency-use emissions standards. Customers will benefit from the performance, functionality, quality, and cost improvements.

Ecohouse Cooling Project
PLEASE SEE ATTACHED PDF WHICH CONTAINS ALL OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT 2BM 2bm is ISO 14001 approved and accredited with the Green iiE award, the highest accolade for business efficiency. We are also CEEDA certified designers, members of the Green Grid, the Data Centre Alliance and endorsers of the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres – which means each and every one of our designs will be beyond compliant when it comes to the latest data centre standards and practices. 2bm’s own data centre design ethos focuses on using proven technologies within our award-winning solutions, resulting in a low OpEx by reducing both mechanical and electrical power consumption. As well as meeting a client’s key objectives for a resilient, reliable and high-quality facility for critical equipment, we also give consideration to ways in which to contribute to the sustainable development of the local environment, economy and community in which a facility is located. BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT Following Yorkshire Waters's discussions with their IT equipment manufacturers, centred around their hardware warranties for their planned equipment refresh, 2bm was initially commissioned to install an air quality monitoring solution that allowed Yorkshire Water to measure temperature and humidity, both inside and outside, of the main data centre. 2bm also installed highly sensitive anti-corrosion, particle and air pressure sensors, technology which allows Yorkshire Water to adopt ISO 14644-1 for data centre environments, helping to meet with the manufacturers’ own hardware warranty requirements. As indicated in the DCA Data Centre Anti-Contamination Guide (2022 edition), which highlights all the anti-contaminants affecting IT equipment, Yorkshire Water is now able to monitor and manage their infrastructure air quality to ISO 14644-1:2015 with the aim to achieve Class 8 – the now expected level and best practice according to the EU Code of Conduct 3.2.12. Following analysis of the air quality monitoring and the updated manufacturers’ requirements for hardware warranties, 2bm’s specialist technical services were engaged to design, install and test a replacement of the existing fresh air free cooling solution with a new, highly efficient cooling system. In addition to utilising maximum free cooling and ensuring the air quality in the IT facility, there was a requirement to maintain a closed-loop sealed room environment. 2bm’s solution was designed to: - Provide a highly resilient cooling system within a controlled environment; - Deliver a low PUE via an indirect free-cooling compressor-free and refrigerant-free solution; - Provide increased energy efficiency and equipment reliability; - Support an IT load of 150 kW for the current day one requirement; - Allow for modular expansion as the site load grows to the site design maximum of 330 kW IT loading (+100% increase on their current loading in line with CEEDA principals). The cooling solution consists of a separate cooling water system utilising elevated water temperatures to provide maximum efficiency of the external heat rejection equipment together with increased free cooling through the use of adiabatic coolers. Within the facility, specifically designed elevated water temperature downflow cooling units are provided to the perimeter of the data centre, where high-temperature coils and EC variable speed fans deliver efficient airflow and heat rejection. By providing conditioned air to the floor void, it meant we could deliver cold air to the front of the racks and utilise hot and cold airflow separation, providing maximum efficiency of the cooling system design. The rear of the racks is enclosed within a hot aisle containment system ducted to the room ceiling void and in turn back to the perimeter cooling units, resulting in a complete hot and cold air separation within a room's cold aisle topology. This allows the new cooling system to work alongside the existing down flow emergency standby mechanical cooling system for increased resiliency which is set to operate should the data centre supply temperature rise above their critical free cooling set point. The internal downflow cooling units are arranged within an N+1 one configuration, connected to external compressor free cooling solution utilising adiabatic hybrid cooling units, providing N+1 redundancy, coupled to N+1 pumps expandable for the day two loading. We also utilise stainless steel pipework to ensure the highest specification of water distribution and minimising maintenance and risk of corrosion over time and performance drop associated with this. Using Uptime 20-year weather data, we have designed the cooling system so that during normal operation it will provide a cold aisle temperature of 24°C, allowing a 3°C temperature increase before the ASHRAE A1 recommended temperature is exceeded. The free cooling system will maintain this operation for circa 98% of the year, leaving 2% of the year (non-concurrent) when the temperature will guild into the ASHRAE A1 allowable temperature ranges for short periods of time, with an upper limit of 30°C air temperature. This means the data centre will be able to operate on the new cooling system 100% of the year without the need for any compressor-based cooling. IN ANSWER TO YOUR FOUR SPECIFIC QUESTIONS, we felt it appropriate to ask James Neill, Senior Data Centre Analyst for IT Operations at Yorkshire Water for his considered thoughts on the final project – James’ comments are highlighted in quote marks. WHAT EXACTLY IS NOVEL ABOUT THE PRODUCT/PROCESS OR INNOVATION? "The solution is a replacement from a direct fresh air system. This means that there are multiple vents and other areas of potential ingress which had to be closed. 2bm were able to fully seal and colour match the external cladding to an extremely high standard. More significantly, however, was the fact that it was only the primary cooling system that was replaced, while the backup system remained operational. This required the new solution to have an automatic changeover control apparatus created and integrated into both the new and old systems. This was all achieved and worked perfectly," commented James Neill. The fact that Yorkshire Water is monitoring the ambient conditions outside versus the ambient conditions inside for anti-contaminants, means they can ensure there are no external contaminants interfering with the data centre environment. HOW DOES THE PRODUCT OR PROCESS BREAK WITH CONVENTIONAL IDEAS OR PROCESSES IN ITS FIELD? "This project was completed within our live critical facility, 2bm provided a solution and installation philosophy that allowed the equipment to be installed within the data centre with no risk or disruption to the site’s day-to-day operation or existing cooling infrastructure. This resulted in a seamless changeover between systems. 2bm also provided a resilient cooling control panel to allow the changeover between the two cooling systems as required within the room together with remote monitoring via our networks DCiM," commented James Neill. The solution, which was designed with future expansion in mind, had to be delivered in an intensive live working environment with zero downtime to an aggressive schedule. By incorporating a closed-circuit cooling solution, Yorkshire Water is now able to better maintain an optimum operating environment when compared to the existing system. In line with the Data Centre Anti-Contamination Guide (2022 edition), which highlights all of the anti-contaminants affecting IT equipment, Yorkshire Water now monitors and manages their infrastructure air quality to ISO 14644-1:2015 in line with Class 8, the now expected level according to the EU Code of Conduct. In addition, corrosion sensors were fitted, which provide constant surveillance of the environment and rapid detection of any deterioration that could result in damage to expensive equipment and valuable assets. The system measures the corrosive attack on two replaceable thin-film sensors, with the corrosion rate transmitted that corresponds to the ISA standard S71.04-2013 classification of environments (G1 through GX) for copper and silver. Early detection of humid, high temperatures or corrosive conditions will permit corrective action to be taken before substantial damage occurs to sensitive computer and instrumentation systems or electrical equipment. By monitoring the air quality within the data centre, it has enabled them to improve their technical clean policy across the entire estate. HOW DOES IT GO BEYOND MARGINAL IMPROVEMENTS ON SOMETHING THAT ALREADY EXISTS? "It is the principle of resilience that Yorkshire Water wanted to bring to the installation. Every element of the mechanical cooling system is N+1; there are two coolers, two pumps, four CRAH units, in addition to the existing backup CRAC system. This means that the system will not only withstand multiple failures but also still provide cooling to the data centre," commented James Neill. HOW DOES THE CUSTOMER BENEFIT FROM THE PRODUCT/PROCESS OR INNOVATION? "In addition to the resilience discussed above, the new solution is extremely energy efficient, achieving a PUE of <1.25. This result exceeded our expectations, especially considering how resilient the solution is, something which was carefully considered by 2bm from the outset,” commented James Neill. We also installed a series of new long-range wireless devices which make it easier to get environmental, air quality and energy data from anywhere and present it in a clear format so informed decisions can be made. The environmental monitoring system includes the supply of precision wireless sensors, which allow continuous monitoring and analysis (for ISO 14644-1) including temperature, humidity, VOC’s, particulates PM 0.5, 1.0, 2.5, 4, 10 and filtering of airflow. The solution is fully scalable and can be easily expanded to accommodate further sensors. Yorkshire Water enjoys energy savings of over £70,000 per year over the DX cooling 100% operation, therefore significantly reducing the payback period with an anticipated ROI for the project of 4 years together with saving 310 tonnes of carbon year on year. IN SUMMARY Neil Roberts, 2bm’s Sales Director, provides a summary of the delivered project: “Yorkshire Water has benefited in several ways, maintaining their lower operational running costs, embracing the benefits that come with using the very latest technology, and energy savings versus traditional DX solutions. “By utilising a compressor-free design and working to ASHRAE guidelines for new and legacy equipment, means the organisation can apply for CEEDA accreditation – keeping it in line with Yorkshire Water’s wider environmental strategy and policies. “The upgraded equipment was installed and configured to the existing data centre monitoring software, this allows the IT team to be alerted day or night in the event there are any issues within the facility.”

Minkels Row-Based Cooling
WHAT ARE YOUR PRODUCT’S/SOLUTION’S KEY DISTINGUISHING FEATURES AND/OR USP? Minkels has added a new portfolio of row-based coolers as part of their Nexpand cabinet and containment portfolio - the Chilled Water (CW) option for high density cooling and the Direct Expansion (DX) option for small and medium-sized data centres. The cooling models can be deployed between cabinets or bayed to a single cabinet and offer a flexible architecture – the models can be used as part of a row of cabinets, or on a one cabinet to one cooler ratio or, for very high density applications, two coolers for one cabinet. The 40 kW and 60 kW CW models and the 10 kW and 20 kW DX models bring all the benefits of row-based cooling to the high density computing environment: • Cooling equipment is close to the heat source, shortening the airflow path, thereby decreasing power consumption of the fan units. • Provides a fast, dynamic response of the coolers to changing heat densities.. • Sustainability is at the forefront of the Nexpand row-based cooling solutions The increasing importance of intelligent automation technologies to help manage the data centre environment is reflected in the CW and DX unit’s range of communications options, based on state-of-the-art Carel hardware: • Serial communication with RS485 comes as standard. • Ethernet communication options (SNMPv2c, BACNET, MODBUS TCP/IP) are available to facilitate Building Management System (BMS) connectivity. • Up to 16 DX units can be connected in a LAN network with a maximum of 8 subgroups to work together in a functional manner (e.g., cooler rotation). Features and Benefits • TOP AND BOTTOM PIPING CONNECTIONS - Connections for piping may enter the cooler from either the top or bottom of the unit. To facilitate this, all versions of the DX10 and DX20 accommodate top and bottom piping entry into the cooler. Also included on top and bottom are cable throughputs for connectivity, power, and condensate discharge. • DISPLAY - The display is placed at eyesight and is seamlessly integrated in the perforated or blind doors. The latter depends on the chosen cooling configuration. It enables reading the most important values for the cooling performance, such as cold and hot aisle temperatures as well as fan speed and the degree of opening of the water valve. The standard display comes with buttons to navigate through the controller software. The display can be upgraded with a touch screen display for a more premium look and feel of the cooling solution. • ADVANCED CONTROL & MONITORING - To make sure you always know how the cooler is performing these are equipped with remote monitoring possibilities. Modbus RTU is standardly available as well as digital in and outputs. This will allow you to monitor and control a vast number of business-critical parameters. • SECURITY - As the Coolers are based on the Nexpand platform the front and rear closure is the same as with the standard IT cabinets. Apart from keeping the same look & feel it also enables the use of the same mechanical locking possibilities as with our range of IT cabinets. With this, we ensure the highest level of security possible. • HOT SWAPPABLE FANS The coolers are equipped with hot swappable fans. To minimize possible downtime due to fan failure, this feature enables swift and safe replacement of the fans. The unit does not need to be turned off to replace the fan(s), so the issue of a faulty fan can be resolved in a matter of minutes. • HYDROPHILIC COILS - As a standard, all our models feature heat exchangers with Hydrophilic treatment. This special coating facilitates the condensate discharge towards the drip tray which is placed below the heat exchanger. Our specialists will always offer a solution that works with 100% of sensible cooling capacity. However, in the rare cases condensate might occur it is re-assuring that this is properly taken care of. • EC FAN TECHNOLOGY - The fans are all equipped with EC fan technology. The benefits are an extended lifetime and a significant increase in the energy efficiency of the unit. Also, the fans are equipped with emergency speed functions. This means that even with controller downtime the fans are still running. • NEXPAND FRAME - The cooling technology is fully integrated in a Nexpand frame. In this way, you benefit from the same look & feel throughout your white space solution. Baying to adjacent cabinets is done in the exact same way as baying IT cabinets. • SLIDE-OUT ELECTRICAL BOX - The electrical box is designed to take up as little space as possible without interfering with air distribution over the whole working height of the unit. To achieve this, without affecting accessibility during the initial start-up and unscheduled maintenance operations, a sliding drawer version has been created. This design also prevents tangling of the wiring whilst sliding. WHAT TANGIBLE IMPACT HAS YOUR PRODUCT/SOLUTION HAD ON THE MARKET AND YOUR CUSTOMERS? Improving energy efficiency is one of the main goals in the data centre industry. Two of the main challenges faced at the cabinet and containment level are firstly the fact that the growing trend of higher heat densities per cabinet is resulting in higher energy consumption of the equipment installed in the cabinets when its fans activate to get rid of this heat. Secondly, the market is facing an issue with air leakages and recirculation when combining coolers with cabinets due to a lack of smooth integration between both. When Legrand launched the Nexpand platform, one of the key targets was to provide customers with the most energy efficient data centre possible. To do this, the Nexpand platform focused on providing the best-in-class airflow management solution as well as a brand-new cooling solution when the CRAC units are not enough or when the infrastructure can only be served with these coolers. Results Achieved Nexpand brand new coolers have been developed to be installed in the same frame as the Nexpand cabinet, so now the new portfolio of CW and DX coolers; DX10kW, DX20kW, CW40kW, CW60kW, are not only available and ready to work with the higher demands of the market but also capable of benefiting from the vast portfolio of accessories that the Nexpand platform has. Thanks to the seamless design and integration of the cooling solution under the same frame package, all the airflow management accessories that ensure no air leakage between cabinets can also be used between cabinets and coolers, same goes for the bottom frame and floor. The coolers can also provide continuity and isolation to the cabling solution that normally runs on top of the cabinets too, as mentioned, all accessories are available. Coolers are no longer simply devices that actively remove heat, with Nexpand they are also passively operating to deliver the best airflow management solution that the market offers. The coolers have also been designed to switch between themselves automatically to ensure cooling of the equipment as a fail-over feature, if customers want to optimize the performance and life of their coolers, Nexpand also provides as a standard feature that this switch occurs in timeframes defined by the customers. WHAT ARE THE MAJOR DIFFERENTIATORS BETWEEN YOUR PRODUCT/SOLUTION AND THOSE OF YOUR PRIMARY COMPETITORS? Transport Tool (All coolers) With this cooling solution, we have also thought of every step in the product lifecycle. The DX10, DX20, and CW40 are all 300mm wide with a relatively high center of gravity. This may impose, with its weight varying between 250-300kg a risk when getting these off a pallet and transporting them in the white space area. To mitigate this risk, we have paid extra attention to a safe and easy installation of the coolers by designing a transport tool. This tool which is used to take the coolers off the pallet and to safely manoeuvre the cooler to its end destination is greatly valued by installation and service partners. Integrated Float Switch (All coolers) As an extra security feature, each cooler is standardly equipped with a float switch installed in the drip tray. The purpose of the float switch is to sense when a maximum level of condensate is reached. When activated, it shall give a Flooding Alarm. If this alarm occurs, it may indicate a blocked condensate discharge and/or excessive condensation. Our specialist will always offer a solution that works with 100% of sensible cooling capacity. However, in the rare cases condensate might occur it is re-assuring this is properly taken care of. DX Load Balancing (DX coolers only) With DX installations we must respect a minimum heat load for the Inverter Compressor to run efficiently and to ensure optimal setpoint control. Because in practise we experience very often that the total cooling capacity installed is over 4x the (initial) heat load, we may run into an inefficient way of cooling the data center. To balance the installed heat load versus the available cooling capacity we have equipped the units as a standard with so-called rotation functionality. With this functionality, coolers shall be placed in a LAN network after which we can divide them into subgroups. If for example, we need two coolers (instead of four) to be active for a more balanced heat load vs cooling capacity ratio, we can place the other two coolers in a different subgroup which will be on standby. We can then define the timing by which they will rotate (weekly, daily) so we achieve an even wear and tear of the units. SUPPORTIVE MATERIALS Please find data sheets attached. For further information on xxx, please visit: • https://www.minkels.com/files/QhLrB • https://www.minkels.com/files/jLLZN

XpedITe, RiT Tech’s response to the changing needs and expectations for DCIM solutions
Background for entry The expectations for DCIM have changed and DCIM has changed as a result. There are a number of reasons for this, but a key factor is the fact that DCIM is no longer seen as a single solution as has been promoted and sold by legacy DCIM providers. Rather now it is seen as a suite of tools occupying specialist niches which will vary according to different business models and customer preferences. It is no longer true that one size fits all. It is also true that a DCIM system should not merely be capable of offering monitoring. As the words behind the acronym suggest the key is active management. Simple monitoring should no longer be sufficient to be considered as a true DCIM tool as has historically been the case with some legacy offerings. This has directly led to the basic requirement that a true DCIM tool should be able to offer rapid, low resource overhead integration with other key systems deployed by the data centre operator. Naturally this also therefore requires the combination of disparate data sets from multiple tools in order to create a single accurate perspective on the installed assets and their performance within the data centre. The accuracy of the data being captured and held is critical. Again capturing and combining raw data is important the accuracy of the data and the way that it can be combined and analysed to convert it into useful management information supporting intelligent decision making covering all aspects of data centre operations has historically been the missing element. Importantly this is in relation to the entire data centre ecosystem, not just the building / facilities components but also, and importantly the IT, and Network systems too in order to break down the traditional FM and IT siloes. Without visibility of the IT stack as well as the facilities infrastructure how can we really judge the energy performance or the environmental impact of a particular site or operation? It is XpedITe’s capabilities in dealing with ICT Automation/Orchestration in data centres along with demonstrating all the requirements of a true ICT Management (DCIM) solution as well as our firm commitment to ongoing customer led product development that has convinced RiT Tech to enter both innovation awards this year. This has been evidenced by the decision to End of Life Trellis and Aperture by Vertiv. The difficulty in moving away from traditional legacy DCIM solutions has been highlighted by both these products and Vertiv’s decision to move on despite massive investment as the transition has simply proved too difficult and too costly. To reinforce this view there has been a resurgence of interest recently in DCIM tools as the data centre sector has recognised the need to reliably support and manage remote unmanned Edge sites and to deal with what effectively became remote support for larger sites when travel and site access were restricted by Covid. RiT Tech is submitting this award both to highlight the changing nature of DCIM but also to demonstrate how RIT Tech has responded to these changing needs and emerging customer requirements with XpedITe. Xpedite Details At a time where infrastructure and operations managers are finding it challenging to manage their increasing hybrid and disseminated data centre estate, XpedITe provides an opportunity to bring together management and monitoring systems capable of providing multiple teams with actionable insights – from automated provisioning to accurate and reliable asset management. For our clients, their most important requirement is to deliver one central source of reliable data using a federated system that maps their entire infrastructure and seamlessly integrates with existing engineering and business tools. But rather than attempting to represent the entire ecosystem, XpedITe aims to supplement and leverage existing legacy systems’ capabilities – not replace them. XpedITe is modular by design – a platform from features can be selected as required and used to integrate or replace existing legacy solutions over time. To this end, the solution’s ever-expanding range of integrations allow it to interact with commonly used devices, monitoring systems and management applications, reducing deployment time, disruption, risks, costs and human overhead. A most recent example is the creation of the CRM integration module and customer portal. For one of our clients, we were able to help them recover over 2million USD in lost revenue just by integrating XpedITe’s asset management and capacity tracker with their CRM system. Through the customer portal, our client also highlighted that we have improved profitability by reducing the costs of managing and processing work orders by 30%. XpedITe is a platform that provides universal intelligent infrastructure management for data centre operators, stakeholders and customers. It differs from other products in that it is the only data centre infrastructure management tool that can fully connect the facility infrastructure with the IT layer as well as corporate policies and operational workflows within one platform. How does XpedITe work? There are four key elements that make it work as a truly federated platform. 1. Integration with legacy monitoring and management systems: XpedITe’s proprietary Integration Adapters allow seamless integration of our platform with the most popular devices and software systems existing in data centre environments, including • Facility and IT assets like chillers, CRAC and CRAH units, sensors, UPS, PDU, etc • As well as other management systems like BMS, ITSM Solutions, CMDB Implementations, CRM, PMS, EMS and others. Our integration adapters make integration easy, low cost and fast, providing one single source of truth. XpedITe’s adapters and APIs support a wide variety of protocols, formats, and communication channels on a case-by-case basis including BACnet, Modbus and higher level application based protocols such as SSH / Telnet / XML / HTML as well as basic data import and transfer structures using CSV / TEXT etc. As innovators, we are continuously expanding the ability to integrate with additional devices and software systems driven both by industry innovation and customer requirements. For devices and software systems which are not currently covered by XpedITe’s Integration Adapters and APIs, we are continuously expanding the availability based on our clients’ requests. 2. Smart data store: We have designed XpedITe to collect, aggregate and analyse data from multiple diverse data sources within the data centre including a vendor agnostic approach to software systems integration and recognition of assets. The smart data store allows XpedITe to collect and store a range of data from diverse sources in a uniform structure and generate a 360-degree view of the entire data centre, based on data set interconnection and analytics, to provide actionable inter-dependency analysis and operational insight. The smart data store also allows an aggregative data summary and analysis, so that data sets are not read in isolation. Not only can operators see different assets separately, but they can see these assets interacting with other items sets such as other types of assets, Configuration Items, capacity indicators, environmental indicators, resource utlisation (eg weight, switch ports, panels, power at PDU units, cooling provision and space etc.) by rack/cabinet, room and floor. The last key element is XpedITe’s ability to analyse data and turn it into useful management information. It offers intelligent analysis and allows efficient planning and risk management – ultimately underpinning reassurance in the ongoing service availability from the data centre. 3. Open platform: powerful API and SDK: XpedITe was developed as an open platform from the outset so that it works easily with and alongside other systems using API and SDK features. Xpedite offers Software Development Kit (SDK) libraries allowing customers to easily define and enforce Automated Provisioning rules and powerful Application Programming Interface (API) to provide rapid and low-cost integration capabilities for bespoke scenarios. To enable successful implementation, integration, alignment with the diverse needs of clients' and their environments with a clear ROI – we offer six critical success factors. 1. Automation to improve efficiency – from asset provisioning to resource utlisation 2. Usability and ease of use – set up, implementation and readability 3. Platform modularity and customisable deployments 4. Dynamically defined processes and automated workflows 5. The flexibility to define bespoke organisational policies and preferences. 6. Processes automation – to make things more efficient 7. Intelligent insights for customisable KPIs – focusing on what is important for the business and its clients 4. Innovation: The most innovative aspect of our solution is creating a 360-degree DC management and operation, with a real-time and complete view of a data centre. We focussed on this particular aspect, as pioneers of automated infrastructure management, our clients were telling us they needed to bring all monitoring systems into one place to manage the complexity and sheer volume of data being created. What benefits has this innovation achieved? - Integration with all management and monitoring systems like CRM (Salesforce), BMS (Tridium, Schneider, Trend etc.), ITSM (ServiceNow) and many others. - Enabling cross dept and operations collaboration – facility, IT, product and sales, service delivery and management teams. - The creation of a Customer portal which allows efficient involvement and asset management by customers especially in colocation environment which not only makes things more robust and precise but also contributes customer satisfaction, promotes sales and potentially grows revenues. To maintain this level of innovation, we must continue to evolve. The recent investment from the Israeli Innovation Authority (IIA) will enable this to happen. This funding award will help XpedITe, as a Universal Intelligent Infrastructure Management solution, provide data centre managers with intelligent automation and predictive insight and planning capabilities. Solution Flexibility, a Key aspect of any DCIM solution Our product and solution can be adapted for the different types of data centres as its capabilities are adapted according to the environment. For Colocation Sites: XpedITe provides capabilities that enable cross department collaboration and cross organisation decision making by integrating with all legacy systems and providing single source of truth. Furthermore, it provides Colo’s customers with complete control of their assets through XpedITe Customer Portal module, which not only helps provides to save on costs by improving operational efficiency, but also contributes revenues generation by increasing customer satisfaction and making client’s requests highly convenient and accessible. Managing a physical data centre is a challenge characterised by complexity. Coordinating these components, while also focusing on multiple conflicting goals such as power and cooling efficiency, carbon footprint, service quality and return on investment, is a formidable feat. XpedITe, serves to simplify the burden on operators, by acting as a federated management platform that intelligently links previously disparate systems. It automates workflows, improves operational efficiencies and helps to reduce total cost of ownership. Until very recently there were no tools available that could offer a federated platform with actionable insights. Because of the of the siloed approach to data centre management there were no tools that could offer an holistic view to both colocation operators and their customers. This is no longer the case. XpedITe is capable of offering the ability to analyse multiple data sets across sites and provide intelligent solutions for managing the data centre throughout the entire stack, from the BMS, to the IT equipment and through to application performance. This rich feature set and full integration across the entire data centre stack provides the opportunity to offer a value added service will be seen as a key differentiator for colocation providers and a key element to reducing operational overhead and deriving maximum benefit from their colocation provider by their customers. For Edge and Dark sites: XpedITe provides remote management capabilities and adds value through operational efficiency. XpedITe provides a single version of truth, automation of equipment deployment and workflows and reduces the need for human resource onsite. Adapted to this environment, it brings four key values to Edge sites: 1. The first is the ability to offer a single accurate representation of the assets in a number of local and remote data centres. This accurate single source of truth can be derived in a number of ways but can include auto-discovery, full, easy and rapid integration with other systems and tools involving the sharing and rationalising of multiple data sets in order to seek out the truth. This includes both facility infrastructure details as well as the IT infrastructure including the potential to share data with a remote CMDB 2. Secondly, XpedITe offers the ability to automate equipment deployment planning, taking into account customer specific rules and practices in addition to industry standard requirements, such as true dual path resilience on both power and network connectivity. Not only does this automation significantly reduce planning time (by hours and days), it can also be done remotely without the need for site visits. 3. Thirdly, XpedITe generates automated work orders offering simple step by step instructions for the Adds, Moves and Changes determined above. These can be issued to 3rd parties with limited of zero site knowledge to implement according to simple detailed instructions. The works orders even include instructions for correct equipment and cable labelling. 4. Finally, seamless integration with your existing ticketing system simplifies internal process and has the potential to reduce the number of hand offs between disciplines and departments. This reduces both the administrative resource burden and the opportunity for errors for both local and remote sites. With the capability for real time monitoring and data collection from both the facilities equipment in a site as well as the IT components, XpedITe offers a comprehensive management package that allows you to orchestrate your data centre site operations equally effectively whether it is a fully staffed multi-megawatt core site or a small multi-kilowatt Edge site that is rarely visited. For Hybrid environments: XpedITe is designed to manage complex environments from true hyperscaler facilities to hybrid solutions. With XpedITe, hybrid environments can manage sites remotely, plan space and track every work order or fault issue through one software system. Complex Hybrid environments need sophisticated solutions. From automated provisioning and work orders to meeting sustainability goals. XpedITe can be used to plan for growth, new locations or outsourcing to third party providers. Reliance on third parties across different geographies brings with it the risk of works being incorrectly implemented or that time is wasted through lack of understanding, inaccurate work orders, incomplete asset registers or difficulties in communication. For remote managers operating tens of thousands of on-premise racks, our system can visualise the true picture of what is taking place at your facility, edge or colocation sites across the world. XpedITe can be adapted to manage and plan for the key performance indicators that meet with the clients needs, aligned with policies and procedures, manage risk and resources. Its main value here is that it can provide a single global view to operators in order to improve operational efficiency. Summary Many vendors claim to provide data centre operators with useable and actionable data but this is really not the case. We know this because our clients tell us why XpedITe is the preferred solution for them. Over 70%-80% of deployments fail due to lack of required product's flexibility as well as lack of customisations required to adopt a solution to organizational needs and processes. Without successful implementation there is no value in a DCIM solution. Many sector leaders share with us that they have seen many solutions on the market but have also frequently seen DCIM purchases ‘sitting on a shelf’ unused. Organisations may end up having systems in place with no active use. This is what they want to avoid and can by using XpedITe has the following features: o Ability to have vendor agnostic integration with all assets and legacy systems o Ability to customise the solution to truly address clients’ bespoke needs o Bridge traditional silos and allow inter-department collaboration o Align workflows and business specific processes o Automation of provisioning, work orders, third party installations etc. To finish, XpedITe is a worthy winner as it is unique, innovative and enables effective data centre day to day operations with a demonstrable ROI. As a disruptor, it is the first and only platform to truly address these operational challenges that the data centre sector currently faces. Data centre operators are choosing our product over industry leaders for its two unique elements: 1. It is Universal. XpedITe has integration capabilities that no other vendor on the market currently has. To provide the single source of truth, it integrates across multiple DC layers within the data centre – from vendor agnostic facility and IT assets to network and power connectivity as well as variety of third party systems, like BMS, CMDB, ITSM solutions etc. It provides all departments a single version of the truth in order to have a true and accurate representation of all assets and performance within a data centre as well as actionable insights so that no data set is treated as a silo and all stakeholder teams can collaborate. 2. It is Intelligent. On top of its ability to integrate with assets and legacy systems, XpedITe offers modules for efficient operation using the data collected - through processes management and automation as well assistive decision-making capabilities. To reinforce this only last summer (August 2021), XpedITe and RiT Tech secured significant investment from the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) – a gruelling process where the winner must prove they will transform an industry, not only evolve it.   Selected customer details highlighting some innovations offered by the XpedITe platform Global Banking Customer (Global Corporate Enterprise Data Centre Example) 1. Number of sites: 56 data centres and 600 offices. All data centres and offices having 2 separated communications rooms. 2. Cabinets supported: 15,000 30K 3. Cabinet PDUs supported: 30,000 4. Number of employees supported: Directly – 1,500. Within the organization overall – Over 100K 5. People space supported (including trading floors etc.): 600 buildings each with several floors (Small building with 100 users per floor. Large buildings with 700 users per floor) 6. Integrations in place and what are they?: Network Discovery and application mapping tools, In-house cabinet allocation tool, In-house global asset CMDB, In-house Space planning and mapping system, In-house action request system for asset provisioning. 7. Additional useful facts: a. Any network connection or change plus MAC address change is documented by the system b. An equipment provisioning automation engine incorporates 8 global provisioning rules unique to the organisation and applied globally (Corporate Policy). This relates to both data centre and people space. c. The automated provisioning has improve the project planning and deployment time by more than 10,000% d. Planning for one floor used to take several weeks now it can be completed in 10 minutes. e. The customer is also monitoring power consumption with the XpedITe tool f. The customer is using XpedITe integration capabilities to migrate away from a legacy dependency on MS Excel 8. Length of time as an XpedITe customer: 4 years UK Financial Markets Customer (Enterprise Data Centre Example) 1. Number of sites: 20 sites, growing rapidly 2. Cabinets supported: 3,000 currently, growing to 10,000 this year 3. Cabinet PDUs supported: 20,000 4. Number of employees supported: Directly – 500 up to 1000. Within the organization overall – Over 10K 5. Integrations in place and what are they?: ServiceNow, in-house PDU scanning tool, BMS 6. Additional useful facts: a. Using XpedITe to replace Nlyte and other tools b. Now using XpedITe PDU scanning capabilities to plan and provide power usage details c. Currently planning the use of the Xpedite customer portal / dashboard capabilities 7. Length of time as an XpedITe customer: 1.5 years Israel Based Data Centre Colocation Provider (Colocation Data Centre Example) 1. Number of sites: 2 2. Cabinets supported: 1,300 3. Cabinet PDUs supported: 2,600 4. Customers Supported: 900 customers and 1700 active customer users 5. Additional useful facts: a. Replacing an older legacy system with the XpedITe b. Now using XpedITe PDU scanning capabilities to plan and provide power usage details c. XpedITe multitenancy feature allows customer management and utilisation / capacity reporting based on appropriate security access rights. These include capacity and utilisation management including: Location, cabinets and in-cabinet (Rack Unit level), power, weight etc. d. Employing a DMZ network configuration in order to provide customer access to the dashboard / portal e. The Xpedite customer portal / dashboard is being used to give customers the option to connect to the system in order to open tickets and view customer specific internal data 6. Key features of the colocation customer dashboard / portal: a. Integration to CRM system (2 directional) , all new action to open new customer or new allocation for customer the ticket is opening by this integration, when that ticket completed Xpedite platform update the CRM that the action was completed b. Integration to Customer portal, the system update CRM system when customer open new request for (visit site, problems or any change request) c. Integration to BMS system to get all environmental data and power data for UPS and room PDU

How Nebulon brings the cloud experience on-premises
Enterprises today are faced with a major dilemma: they are forced to keep their application data on-premises for cost, security, or compliance reasons, but don't want to compromise on what the public cloud has to offer. By providing a single, consistent, and scalable API across all infrastructure services, the cloud enables organisations and service providers to adopt automation frameworks instead of managing their IT infrastructure manually. In on-premises environments, this is not possible since every device has its own API endpoint. So for workloads that cannot move to the public cloud, the cloud experience must move on-premises. Nebulon offers just that: smartInfrastructure is a cloud-based infrastructure operations SaaS that turns a customer’s server estate into a cloud operating platform, delivering the benefits of the public cloud, on-premises from core to edge for any application—containerised, virtualised, or bare metal. Providing self-service infrastructure provisioning, infrastructure management-as-a-service and enterprise-class shared and local data services, Nebulon’s smartInfrastructure delivers easily accessible AIOps, self-managed updates and powerful programmability at any scale. The most tangible and obvious advantage for customers adopting smartInfrastructure, is that they can retain on-premises resiliency and cost benefits by turning their server estate into a cloud operating platform. Using the Nebulon cloud control plane, Nebulon ON (a cloud-based software-as-a-service platform/cloud management approach for on-premises infrastructure), customers can provision and monitor infrastructure anywhere, as well as handle deep infrastructure operations non-disruptively. Customers can also fully automate their entire IT infrastructure at scale with a single API endpoint, direct access to AIOps functions and a consistent API version across all services. It can be integrated into existing automation frameworks such as Ansible and Terraform, and enables automation of tedious, manual workflows into a single command as well as geographically distributed physical infrastructure insights. Nebulon ON is packaged in a way that is maintenance-free with new capabilities appearing seamlessly in the UI like any cloud-based application. Via a unique, differentiated approach, smartInfrastructure enables customers to implement from automation frameworks in their on-premises infrastructure. What’s more, compared to traditional three-tier architecture and hyper-converged infrastructure alternatives, smartInfrastructure reduces operational overhead by up to 75%. Damon Dance, Director of Sales at Inca Cloud said, “With a Nebulon-based Supermicro foundation for the hosted element of our multi-cloud service, we are able to bring to market a ‘smart’ vision that would have been impossible to deliver just a couple of years ago. Customers can now retain the flexibility and operating model which make the public cloud so appealing whilst regaining the control it removes, and improving both predictability and cost advantages for their cloud deployments.” Chris Ward-Jones, CTO, DC Intelligence said, “Nebulon smartInfrastructure not only allows me to reduce my server footprint but it also gives me a single pane of glass where I can see all my storage and manage it all remotely, which reduces my overhead circa 75 percent. I get more density out of my blocz [solution] and reduce my management overhead. It’s win-win.”

ClearView Assessment
Network support and maintenance costs can take a healthy bite out of your annual IT budget. Park Place Technologies’ proprietary software-based ClearView™ contract analyzer provides an objective recommendation on how to optimize network hardware support down to the device level. ClearView provides a simple yet data-rich report including hardware and software warranty information, detailed supportability notes, and key milestone data. The result? Reduced network maintenance costs, plus minimized risks and disruption with no compromise in service levels. HOW IT WORKS Simply send us a list of your network assets We’ll match the list against millions of relevant data points considering each device’s operational impact, role in the customer experience, place in the workflow, compliance issues, associated risks, as well as the cost and options for support Within two business days, we provide an impartial recommendation on the optimal mix of support including: The devices that should stay on manufacturer support Those that we recommended moving to Park Place Hardware Maintenance™ Equipment that is a good match for NetSure+ – our service that combines of third-party support with our global logistics expertise

F5 launches F5 Distributed Cloud Services
A major expansion of its application security and delivery portfolio, the new offering provides security, multi-cloud networking, and edge-based computing solutions on a unified software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. F5 is also launching the first new solution on the platform, F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP (Web Application and API Protection), which augments multiple security capabilities across F5 technologies in one SaaS offering. Today’s news comes organizations across the world increasingly rely on complex app portfolios and multi-cloud deployments to stay competitive and meet consumer demand. Research from F5’s upcoming 2022 State of Application Strategy Report reveals that as many as 88% of organizations operate both legacy and modern application architectures. 70% also operate in multiple clouds, which expands the threat surface area as companies are forced to deploy separate, and often inconsistent, security controls across different environments. “Applications and the digital experiences they power have become a foundation for human connection and achievement, as well as a platform for significant business innovation and market creation,” said François Locoh-Donou, President and CEO, F5. “We have made it our mission at F5 to help organizations protect these applications from the now-constant barrage of cyberattacks. The launch of F5 Distributed Cloud Services is significant because it provides a simpler way for customers to manage the complex challenge of modern application security.” F5 Distributed Cloud Services The F5 Distributed Cloud Platform provides cloud-native SaaS-based app security and delivery services. These services are centrally managed but can be deployed anywhere the app needs to be to maximize business impact and deliver a superior customer experience. Built on a combination of the platform and services acquired from Volterra and industry-leading F5 and Shape security services, F5 Distributed Cloud Services can: Deploy natively in multi-cloud, data center, and edge environments. Provide end-to-end visibility and policy control across all apps in a single dashboard. Provide an integrated global private network in more than 20 major metropolitan areas. There are several additional F5 Distributed Cloud Services currently available to customers. F5 Distributed Cloud Multi-Cloud Transit enables multi-cloud networking (MCN) functionality with secure and high-performance connectivity between clouds and a network firewall. F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancer and Kubernetes Gateway provides an integrated load balancer with Kubernetes and API gateways to easily deploy modern workloads and microservices across distributed clusters, locations, and cloud providers1. The platform also has cloud-native computing capabilities at the edge of the network, known as an app delivery network (ADN), that improve end-user experience by distributing applications to the edge of the F5 Global Network. As part of the launch, F5 has taken steps to integrate the customer experience across its growing portfolio by simplifying product naming. Many F5, Shape, and Volterra services have been renamed as F5 Distributed Cloud Services, including F5 Distributed Cloud Bot Defense, F5 Distributed Cloud DDoS Mitigation, F5 Distributed Cloud WAF, and F5 Distributed Cloud API Security. F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP The first new solution on F5 Cloud Services, F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP simplifies security and automates processes, allowing application teams to focus on delivering features and functionality that enhance their customers’ experience and propel their business forward The SaaS-based offering consolidates F5’s industry-leading web application firewall, bot mitigation, DDoS, and API protection capabilities into a single, easy-to-deploy solution. This enables SecOps and DevOps teams to enforce consistent security policy wherever they need to deploy applications. The new solution brings together the best of F5 application security technologies, including: Application protection from F5 Advanced WAF, which more effectively and efficiently guards against the most prevalent application attacks. API security from Volterra’s machine learning-based auto-discovery and anomaly detection, which automates the entire process of finding, securing, and monitoring APIs. Bot defense based on F5 Shape AI technology. Global distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection. “Today’s applications and business models are adapting faster than ever, and that means app security and infrastructure need to be much more agile and effective,” said Haiyan Song, EVP and GM of the Security & Distributed Cloud Product Group, F5. “We are rapidly integrating our portfolio of services onto a distributed cloud services platform, and continually innovating new services, so our customers can have the capabilities they need at the pace they require to achieve their ongoing business transformation.”

40PBs of data migrated, managed, and consolidated with a unified unstructured data management platform for Fortune 20 financial services institution
StorageX 8.5 is a next-generation solution for file storage management. It helps customers with more real-time insights and automation around file access security, anomaly detection, intelligent multi-cloud, and agile metadata and access pattern analytics, which are used to drive data management actions. This allows customers to correlate file access, file ownership, and utilization, driving data management policies to reduce the surface area for ransomware attacks, making immutable copies of data, driving data tiering, creating data lakes, and location optimization. StorageX 8.5 provides intelligence-based data analytics and mobility in a hybrid cloud environment. The release of our globally recognized StorageX software provides support for cloud-to-cloud mobility and interoperability for migrations to Azure File, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Platform, and S3 Object Storage. It simplifies the migration process by providing templates that guide best policy creation and management practices, which can be configured and managed via a robust suite of API. A financial institution with over 6,000 offices across more than 80 countries was migrating from legacy NAS platforms to NetApp Data ONTAP. The customer’s unstructured data had grown exponentially over the years with no global consistency of storage and varying legacy standards as a result of multiple acquisitions. The customer’s data was also distributed over 100 locations in order to provide minimal latency for end-users. However, with end-user compute rapidly moving from users’ offices into centralized core data centers, a consolidation of the data was also needed during the migration whilst driving consistency across the global footprint. The data was hosted on legacy hardware across the globe that in some cases was over 13 years old and they wanted to move it into the NetApp Clustered Data ONTAP Storage Platform. They were also extensively using Microsoft DFS that provided an abstraction layer for their CIFS. They wanted a reliable and secured solution for automating their migration process. Data Dynamics’ StorageX solution offered a unified and centralized platform to manage CIFS and NFS migrations from legacy NAS platforms to NetApp Data ONTAP. StorageX simplified and automated the migration process including providing a means of updating the DFS links automatically. The automated, policy-based approach used by StorageX maximized user data access and minimized cutover windows, user downtime, and other disruptions related to file storage rebalancing, migrations, consolidations, and tech refreshes. StorageX provided a single and unified console to manage the migrations supporting various sources and destinations, including cross-platform support for NetApp, Windows, and other heterogeneous resources. StorageX helped the customer with data migration by consolidating their data centers and in parallel introduced effective data governance, intelligent data insights, and data lifecycle management. With this data consolidation project, the customer could easily drive global standardization for enhanced downstream automation, significantly improved efficiency as well as next-level risk management. The customer deployed a single instance of StorageX in each major geographical location and deployed Replication Agents (RA) in each data center. Policies were created in the StorageX server and sent to the RA that drove the data movement based on the policy settings. This automated the process and ensured that the infrastructure deployed was consistent across all the data centers globally. StorageX 8.5 enabled customers to manage and consolidate petabytes of data with a single pane of glass. It also provided the intelligence required for the migration, consolidation, and archiving of file data in large, complex, heterogeneous file storage environments. The engagement with the customer evolved and accelerated, resulting in consolidation from 112 locations globally down to 65 and involved migrating 40PBs of data that was distributed across 35,000 volumes on 876 filer nodes, delivering data location optimization, cost savings of over $37M, and data analysis. This was a clear example of customer trust as the data managed grew by a whopping 300% by the end of the project.

Open-E JovianDSS
Open-E JovianDSS is a ZFS- and Linux-based Data Storage Software designed for companies of any size. Thanks to being hardware-agnostic, Open-E JovianDSS can combine numerous hardware elements from various vendors to create a single logical whole. With its unique features (such as unlimited snapshots, clones, file & volume size management options), the product ensures the highest level of data reliability and integrity while also offering best-in-class data storage, protection, and recovery functionalities. Moreover, Open-E JovianDSS is scalable and can provide multiple data safety levels depending on each businesses’ requirements. With Open-E JovianDSS, you have nearly unlimited options when building your data storage environment, no matter the size or business model of your company. You can choose between iSCSI, Fibre Channel (FC), NFS, or SMB (CIFS) protocols. The most popular virtualization systems, such as VMware, Proxmox, Citrix, or Microsoft Hyper-V are also viable with Open-E JovianDSS.

Ransomware Resilience
There are many choices for a ransomware-resilient data protection platform for a Data Center. But Backup Exec continues to be a market leader. In today’s fast-evolving threat landscape, Backup Exec is focused on the following three key customer priorities. 1> Ransomware Resilience Ransomware attacks and their financial impacts are rising exponentially. Businesses are feeling exposed, with their critical data widely distributed across different environments. Backup Exec provides a unified, multi-layered, platform approach that seamlessly integrates proactive protection, relentless detection, and industry-leading backup and recovery. No other provider has the scale and experience to safeguard customer’s business-critical data across physical, virtual, and multi-cloud environments. 2> Eliminate Digital Transformation Gaps The growth of remote workforces has accelerated the adoption of cloud services. As cloud adoption accelerates and diversifies, the challenges of managing and protecting data grows. Backup Exec gives businesses a powerful set of tools to keep pace with these increasing multi-cloud demands and scale for the future – all while keeping costs down. Additionally, customers can simplify their cloud data protection implementation with easy deployment from cloud Marketplaces. With a few clicks, customers can access fully functional trials of Backup Exec on their cloud provider of choice. Backup Exec is a Hybrid multi-cloud companion to meet the demands of modern workloads and traditional applications. 3> Trust that 'it works' With over 30 years of experience, we outperform the competition. Backup Exec has helped customers through every disruptive technology shift of the past 30 years. With hundreds of patents awarded to Backup Exec in areas including cloud, backup, recovery, virtualization, and ransomware resilience, Backup Exec continues the company’s long tradition of bringing advanced technologies to market first. Our integrated approach to data management is proven to deliver unmatched versatility, performance and cost-savings. No other provider comes close to matching its rich feature set, scalability, and versatility! About Ransomware Resilience: Veritas Backup Exec™ is the Gold Standard in ransomware-resilient data protection providing businesses a simple, secure, and powerful way to ensure the integrity and availability of their data – from edge to core to cloud. Backup Exec protects all environments regardless of whether data resides on-premises or hybrid, multi-cloud—from a single physical server, thousands of virtual machines, to cloud data and workloads within the cloud—all with a single solution. Veritas Backup Exec introduced a new feature called “Ransomware Resilience” to combat the threat of ransomware. This feature provides an extra layer of security by blocking any non-Veritas process from writing to a backup disk or deduplication storage location. This was further strengthened by adding protection to the Backup Exec services, preventing malicious code injection by ransomware. This work helps us to protect our customers most important asset – their data and to improve the safety of their backup data so that all users – enterprises, consumers, and governments – can manage and protect their business-critical data with confidence and ease. Backup Exec’s built-in immutability and indelibility ensures operational and data resilience across disk storage, third-party hardware, cloud-based locked object storage. Backup Exec has built-in identity and access management such as Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Secure Console, along with encryption for data both at-rest and in-flight. Backup Exec ensures cyber resilience with a proactive, multi-layered approach that seamlessly integrates proactive protection, relentless detection, and industry-leading backup and recovery.

Juniper Networks delivers Secure Edge
Juniper Networks has launched the newest addition to its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture, Juniper Secure Edge. This new solution delivers Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) as a single-stack software architecture, managed by Security Director Cloud, to empower organizations to secure workforces, wherever they are. With the rise of distributed workforces, organizations are experiencing a paradigm shift in the way the network edge is secured, paving the path to brand-new, cloud-based architectures at accelerated rates. Extending security to every point of connection is crucial as these new architectures emerge and the transition begins. Juniper Secure Edge provides users with fast, reliable and secure access to the applications and resources they need, ensuring a seamless end-user experience that encompasses the following key benefits: Unified policy management from a single UI for all security use cases. Create policies once and apply them anywhere and everywhere with unified policy management, including user- and application-based access, IPS, anti-malware and secure web access within a single policy. Unified policy from the edge through the data center means fewer policy gaps, elimination of human error and a consistently secure environment. Secure user access from anywhere. Secure Edge supports the remote workforce whether employees are in the office, at home or on the road with secure user access to the applications and resources needed to do their job effectively. Security policies follow the user wherever they go, protecting the user, device and applications without having to copy over or recreate rule sets. Dynamic Zero Trust segmentation. Maintain the security of data around identity- and risk-driven policies. Secure Edge delivers consistent security policy framework with policies that automatically adapt based on new risk and attack vectors and follow the user wherever they go, providing automated access controls to employees and third-party contractors through granular policy control. Investment Protection. Secure Edge allows organizations to leverage existing investments and seamlessly transition to a full SASE architecture at a chosen pace and provides a simpler operational experience. Juniper customers can use the physical, virtual, containerized – and now cloud-delivered – SRX firewall, completely managed by Security Director Cloud with a single-policy framework, allowing for full visibility and consistent security across both the edge and the data center from one UI. Integration with any identity provider. Secure Edge allows customers to use the identity provider that works for them by integrating with leading identity providers, such as Azure AD, Okta and others, through SAML 2.0 support. Validated security effectiveness. Juniper provides cyberattack protection that has been validated by objective, third-party testing to be highly effective against client- and server-side exploits, malware and C2 traffic, regardless of where the users and applications are located. This includes achieving the highest security efficacy rating at 99.5% from CyberRatings.org compared to leading security vendors for Enterprise Firewall, and 100% effectiveness with zero false positives in ICSA Labs’ Advanced Threat Defense test in Q4 of 2021. Secure Edge delivers policies from the cloud, as a service, empowered with these proven threat prevention technologies, ensuring consistent security enforcement. “We’re excited to take the next big leap in the SASE market with Juniper Secure Edge,” said Samantha Madrid, VP of Security Business & Strategy, Juniper Networks. “First, we empowered our customers to manage security anywhere, all within a single UI with Security Director Cloud. Now, with the introduction of Juniper Secure Edge, Juniper is enabling its customers to seamlessly secure remote workforces with consistent security policies that follow users wherever they go, all while leveraging existing investments as they transition to a cloud-delivered architecture. Secure Edge makes it easy for customers to deploy effective threat protection without breaking visibility.” Moving to a SASE architecture is a journey and requires every organization to take a thoughtful approach to this transition to remain secure. Juniper provides the "and" strategy that meets customers on their SASE journey and enables a seamless and secure transition to a SASE architecture. Secure Edge builds upon Juniper’s Connected Security strategy while successfully converging networking and security, effectively enabling a threat-aware network from client to application both on-premises and in the cloud.

WAN Acceleration: Accelerating IT security, F1 and health
WAN Acceleration technologies accelerate data transfers that eliminate data management challenges are known as ‘WAN acceleration’. Bridgeworks patented artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies accelerate organisation's existing technologies and dramatically accelerate their Wide Area Networks (WANs). AI underpins the patented technology to provide process intelligence, mitigating latency and mitigate packet loss. Our solutions, such as PORTrockIT, dramatically improve data throughput up to 98% of bandwidth – regardless of distance. Organisations such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is part of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the U.S, a major IT security firm, and an F1 team, can therefore gain significant WAN performance without touching any of your data, maintaining security protocols, governance, and compliance. National Institutes of Health The NIH was originally a PORTrockIT 400 customer. However, it found an additional need to add two of Bridgeworks’ new high end PORTrockIT 800’s last year. They are moving four protocols over the WAN at ‘breakneck speed’. A spokesperson from BKJ Works - New York comments: “This is a non-engineering group, but they have had no problem in installing the devices (each in under 1 hour!). Don't be surprised if they come up with future needs on an even grander scale in the future. I cannot thank Bridgeworks enough for their continued support, fast turn around and meeting all and any of our requests with a willingness to say, ‘Yes we can’. This relationship will only deepen going forward.” WAN Data Acceleration powers the National Institutes of Health’s global data transfer requirements at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services. It is also the world’s largest biomedical research agency. One Bridgeworks' healthcare customer, US-based CVS Caremark, connected two virtual tape libraries over 2,860 miles at full WAN bandwidth. This achieved a performance gain of 95 times the unaccelerated performance. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has gone from never being able to achieve fast datacentre replication over a distance between sites of 2,000 miles, to be able to attain it. The difference between doing it between two machines in the same datacentre and in two machines across two datacentres was 6 MB/s on NetApp Snap Mirror replication. So, they now lose only this amount of time. The NIH wasn’t able to address this issue for a couple of years. NetApp and Aspera couldn’t achieve this. Bridgeworks was brought in to conduct a quick POC that took a couple of days to set it up, and then that was it. The savings come from not having anything previously to protect their data. Bridgeworks has also helped NIH to resolve network infrastructure issues. Although successful, the results aren’t yet in the public domain. Yet it is a substantial multi-million U.S. dollar contract. Accelerating IT security The project with the major IT security firm is also a game-changer. Between November and December 2021, a storage subject matter expert within this company came to Bridgeworks with details about a file transfer problem on a 2Gbps WAN circuit between Colorado, USA, and Bangalore in India. Problem: With data equating to 700TB storage estate, backups are only as good as the ability to restore the data. In order to allow an acceptable transfer time of this data requires a robust solution There were 2 NetApp units involved in the data migration: one in Bangalore and another in Denver. The transfer was performed using the inbuilt NetApp Snap Mirror feature. It involved migrating data in a follow the sun requirement, and critical data and security was paramount. The allocated WAN bandwidth for transfer was a 1Gb/s controlled by a SD-WAN. But the raw WAN bandwidth was 2 Gb/s. Before PORTrockIT, throughput was typically equating to 2MB/s using Incumbent technology WAN-Optimisation with only 2% unitisation of WAN, and the time to transfer the data was 8.4 days. Phil Hill, Customer Solution Architect at Bridgeworks explains: “Our PORTrockIT solution for this company mitigated the effects of Latency and Packet loss. He says the latency between Denver and Bangalore at 350ms is a lot of latency! The biggest single factor causing latency is distance - even though the speed of light is around 186,282 miles per second – this figure is actually around one third lower when going through fibre optic cables. Although the units can be hardware, sometimes virtual images or cloud machine images are more useful. As time was of the essence and the customer had real looming deadlines, the IT security firm opted for a Virtual Machine (VM) running in VMWare ESX. This made the turnaround for the evaluation-solution really quick. The following table shows the technical specification of the virtual products which would server the customer best. After installing and configuring the PORTrockIT virtual instances the transfer speed increased to 80MB/s – a 40-fold increase and the time taken was reduced to under 6 hours. In this case the benchmark figure we were given was that the customer was only able to move data at around 2 Mega Bytes per second.” Results A spokesperson from the IT security company remarks: “The rate of throughput was incredible. PORTrockIT from Bridgeworks is a game changer. I am a storage engineer with limited networking knowledge. I was able to configure and deploy PORTrockIT in less than 2 hours”. The IT security firm believes that with ‘unthrottled’ conditions and utilising their full 2 Gig WAN, they would be able to transfer data at 200 MBs per second. PORTrockIT is working over a SD-WAN, and they required no other changes to the LAN or WAN configurations. Speaking about the project, Kevin St. Cyr, Tributary Systems inc. of Dallas, Texas says: “We have always impressed with the capabilities of PORTrockIT product, but what they have achieved with the IT security company’s installation takes it to another level. It is a showcase for the capabilities of PORTrockIT. The beauty is, it’s easy to install and it shows the performance that can be achieved over a WAN that was once thought impossible.” WAN Accelerating F1 A Formula 1 (F1) team undertook an evaluation, a proof of concept (POC), which showed the ability of PORTrockIT to make their WAN data transfers 60 times faster than before. The trial was so successful that the team ended it early. Bridgeworks’ brief was to help them speed up data the transfer of data from the Cotswolds in the UK to New England, in the USA. A new Partnership with Prodec Networks was formed in the process, and a spokesperson from Prodec comments: “Regarding the F1 team, from wind tunnel analysis to engineering documents, Formula 1 teams accumulate significant volumes of data. The cars’ sensors (over a hundred of them) tell their own story about the race for the duration of the race and for referral later.” “Needless to say, up to date revisions of the cars’ specific designs need to be easily accessible. How the teams deal with the pressures of reacting quickly to the vast amount of information is often the difference between winning and losing each race. With race data exceeding 150Gb per race weekend, it’s easy to see how our F1 team needed a fast data-transfer solution.”

Pluribus Netvisor ONE OS 7 with FlowTracker and KubeTracker™ fabric services
With release 7 of its Netvisor ONE OS and Adaptive Cloud Fabric, Pluribus is directly integrating three new fabric capabilities that will empower NetOps teams to better troubleshoot, optimize and secure cloud data center workloads: FlowTracker, KubeTracker and a Virtualized Network Packet Broker. The new solutions provide hardware accelerated, wirespeed performance and, unlike other visibility and packet broker solutions, are highly cost-effective and simple to deploy because they do not require the deployment of additional expensive external hardware such as TAPS, TAP aggregators and packet brokers. Pluribus FlowTracker: provides integrated wirespeed application-level network flow telemetry for every flow-type that can traverse the Pluribus Adaptive Cloud Fabric including TCP, UDP, ICMP and infrastructure services (DNS, DHCP, NTP). Pluribus FlowTracker takes advantage of enhanced network telemetry based on Broadcom’s Trident3 and Trident4 programmable Ethernet switch chips that are built into data center switches, eliminating the need for additional hardware. Flow-based network monitoring makes it easier for NetOps teams to quickly discover, troubleshoot and root cause network issues. Pluribus Networks’ optional UNUM Insight Analytics software can be paired with FlowTracker to provide up to 30 days of stored flow metadata, rich graphical dashboards and a powerful search function. Pluribus KubeTracker: in conjunction with FlowTracker, KubeTracker is the industry’s first solution to provide NetOps teams with full visibility into East-West traffic flows between containers. KubeTracker enables NetOps teams to correlate containers with applications, on which hosts they reside and how they are connected to the fabric, allowing for a full understanding of distributed cloud native applications. As containers are ephemeral and highly distributed, they drive a complex web of East-West traffic flows that need to be tracked over time for proper application and network performance monitoring. Until now, NetOps teams have not had visibility into these flows, making it difficult to verify application availability and network performance for containerized workloads. KubeTracker is an innovative new solution built into the Netvisor ONE OS that empowers NetOps teams to quickly identify and troubleshoot any application availability issues, including going back in time even after containers have been spun down, enabling them to determine if network performance was or was not at fault. Pluribus Virtualized Packet Broker Service: in another industry first, Pluribus is introducing a virtualized packet broker function that runs at wirespeed, as a service, across the same Adaptive Cloud Fabric that carries production cloud data center traffic. The Pluribus Virtualized Packet Broker is software-defined and can be instantly deployed fabric-wide to aggregate, filter and replicate any flow from anywhere in the fabric and steer it to one or multiple monitoring and security tools. This new fabric service is cost-efficient, as NetOps and SecOps teams are no longer required to build expensive overlay TAP and packet broker networks. The solution is also uniquely able to span multiple geo-distributed data centers, including edge data centers which typically cannot accommodate an expensive packet broker, thus ensuring pervasive visibility across every location in a data center cloud fabric.

Schneider Electric demonstrates outstanding contribution to sustainability and efficiency with the launch of the industry’s first framework for environmentally sustainable data centres
Sustainability and efficiency have long been central to the ethos at Schneider Electric, whose dedication to Net Zero, sustainable business practices and creating industry-leading, circular technologies is unmatched within the data centre and energy management sectors. Named as Corporate Knights’ ‘Most Sustainable Corporation in the World’ in 2021 and long-known as the world-leader leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, the organisation continues to help customers to deploy energy efficient mission-critical infrastructure and adopt sustainable business strategies that minimise the impact of carbon emissions on the environment. As such, its commitments to Net Zero include: • Accelerating its 2030 goal of carbon neutrality in its extended ecosystem by five years to 2025; • Removing gas and ensuring the end of SF6 by the end of 2025; • Reaching net-zero operational emissions by 2030 as part of validated SBT target; • Achieving a net-zero supply chain by 2050. The company has also pledged to help customers save or avoid 800M tonnes of carbon emissions by 2025, and in 2021 alone its EcoStruxure™ solutions helped customers reduce their carbon emissions by 84 million tonnes. Furthermore, since publicly making this commitment in 2018, Schneider Electric has helped customers save 347 million tonnes of carbon emissions to-date and is well on track to exceed its current target. The data centre market The last two years have seen an unprecedented growth for data centre capacity, propelled by the accelerated digital transformation efforts of the Covid-19 pandemic, increased connectivity demands, and the growth of hyperscale data centres globally. According to CBRE’s European Data Centres MarketView Q4 2021, data centre take-up nearly doubled in 2021 to 380MW, primarily due to strong demand from the hyperscale communities. Nearly 400MW of new data centre supply came online last year, and another 356MW of supply is expected to come online across the Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris FLAP markets in 2022, despite continued challenging conditions. These numbers further demonstrate significant growth within the data centre sector, and its foundational role in the global digital economy. However, industry analysts suggest that data centres represent 1-2% of global electricity consumption, and emit the same level of carbon as the airline sector. To counter this, sustainability has become a prevalent topic within the data centre industry and is now a key point of decision-making for customers. In a survey of more than 800 global operators, for example, Schneider Electric and 451 Research found that 97% of providers’ customers are asking for contractual sustainability commitments, and that customers’ requirements are the top drivers for sustainability, (50%). With this in mind, it’s crucial that the industry continues to take steps towards reducing its environmental impact and considers its role in addressing the global climate challenge. Management and measurement, alongside the provision of renewable power and use energy efficient technologies are all essential to this process, but what’s clear is that the industry needs greater focus, alignment and a standardised approach to measuring the carbon impact of data centres. In fact, with the impacts of climate change becoming more prominent each year, there has never been a more crucial time for data centre businesses to align and accelerate their commitments to Net Zero. Industry’s first framework to drive data centre sustainability In December 2021 Schneider Electric released the industry’s first comprehensive novel framework for environmentally sustainable data centres – directly helping to address the key challenge of measuring sustainability within the sector. The framework proposes five key metrics of environmental impact, including Energy use, GHG emissions, Water, Waste, Land and biodiversity, against which data centre operators can measure their efforts to achieve truly sustainable operations. Available free to data centre stakeholders globally, this first-of-a-kind Sustainability Framework, detailed in Schneider Electric White Paper #67, ‘Guide to Environmental Sustainability Metrics for Data Centres’, allows for the detailed tracking and reporting of standardised, measurable sustainability metrics. Created by a team of environmental, social and governance (ESG) experts, sustainability consultants, data centre scientists and solution architects, the framework supports operators who are at the Beginning, Advanced or Leading stages of their sustainability journey to reduce their environmental impact. As such, it includes 23 key metrics for standardised reporting and identifies the 17 most relevant sustainability frameworks to guide operators in both setting measurable targets and reporting them. Furthermore, use of the widely acclaimed framework removes the challenge of selecting impactful metrics for tracking, improves internal communication and empowers effective action on sustainability objectives. In turn, helping to make businesses more effective in achieving company-wide sustainability targets, and increasing transparency for external stakeholders such as customers and regulators. Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric, said: “Environmental sustainability reporting is a growing focus for many data centre operators. Yet, the industry lacks a standardised approach for implementing, measuring, and reporting on environmental impact. Schneider Electric developed a holistic framework with standardised metrics to guide operators and the industry at large. Our intention with this framework is to improve benchmarking and progress toward environmental sustainability to protect natural resources for future generations.” “The data centre industry has made significant progress in increasing energy efficiency; however, as digital demands increase, they must remain committed to driving long-term broader sustainability initiatives,” said Rob Brothers, Program Vice President for the Data Centre and Support Services Program at IDC. You can’t have an impact on what you don’t measure; therefore, companies must establish clear and consistent metrics that account for not only efficient technology, but also the consumption (or possible destruction) of natural resources such as water, land and biodiversity.” Why should Schneider Electric win? Data centres are built into the very fabric of our digital lives and remain the heart of the global economy. As the demands for digital infrastructure, connectivity and data increase, Schneider Electric continues to lead the industry by example; demonstrating how through collaboration, transparency and an actionable, standardised and measurable approach, our industry can make great strides in reducing its environmental impact. By creating the industry’s first freely available and comprehensive novel framework for environmentally sustainable data centres, Schneider Electric is demonstrating an outstanding commitment to sustainability and efficiency, going above and beyond to empower the sector, and help the industry build the Net Zero data centres of the future.

Sustained Sustainability
Our MD and company have been actively involved in data centre energy efficiency and sustainability for the past 12 years, Our MD, John Booth is the principal reviewer of the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres (Energy Efficiency) and sits on the best practices committee as well as being cited as a joint author of the code. The Code was jointly created in 2008 by the BCS, Department for Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the EU Joint Research Council and has formed the foundation of data centre energy efficiency best practices globally, such as the ITU Green Data Centres Standard, the US Data Centre Efficiency Programme (DCEP), the Singapore Green Data Centre Standard as well as the ISO/IEC BS EN 50600 TR-99-1. John has worked to get the criteria adopted by as the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact (Ongoing), the BRE Data Centre Annexes, the EU GPP for Data Centres, and the Indian Green Building Council Data Centre Assessment Criteria. John is the Chair of the Data Centre Alliance’s Energy Efficiency & Standards SIG, and a committee on the Data Centre Commissioning SIG, and Sustainability SIG. John is the BCS/DCA representative and Chair of the BSI TCT 7/3 committee that developed and maintains the BS EN 50600 series of Data Centre Design, build and operate standards and the ISO/IEC 30134 series of Data Centre Key Performance Indicators. John has been the Global Lead Assessor/Auditor of the Certified Energy Efficient Data Centre Award (CEEDA) based on the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres (Energy Efficiency) since 2011, which was originally developed by the BCS Data Centres SG/BCS HQ and is now delivered by Datacenter Dynamics. He is also the Global Lead Auditor of the Data Centre Alliance Certification scheme (based on the BS EN50600) He appears in the trade press on a frequent basis on the topics of climate change, energy and data centres, with articles in the Sunday Times (November 2020), Data Centre Solutions Magazine, Society of Cabling & Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) (Broadband), BCS IT Now, UKERC and many others. He has also appeared on many trade show panel sessions, including Datacenter Dynamics, Data Centre World, Data Centres Ireland, Broadgroup, Data Center Forum (Nordics). Carbon3IT Ltd has also contributed to EU Projects, PEDCA and EURECA, the Pan European Data Centre Academy and Green Data Centres & Services for the Public Sector respectively. On a personal level John worked closely with Green IT Amsterdam on the CATALYST project, Data Centres as Multi-Flexible Energy Hubs, he also worked with the Global Green IT Group with Green IT Amsterdam and other EU partners. Our data centre related training provides delegates with the latest information on energy efficiency techniques, concepts and products and we have recently commenced the 3rd year of delivering our DC101 course to students at the Birmingham City University, with a heavy focus on energy efficiency and sustainability, as well as the international and regional standards. John and Carbon3IT have over a considerable period of time (12 years) made an outstanding contribution to data centre energy efficiency and sustainability and would be worthy winners of this award.

Critical Facilities Solutions Ltd, a specialist, multiskilled Data Centre solutions and services provider.
Critical Facilities Solutions Ltd (CFS), a specialist, multiskilled Data Centre solutions and services provider. Founded in 2018, CFS is ISO9001 accredited for the delivery of solutions and services including Data Centre fit-out, raised access flooring, firestopping and ISO level technical cleaning. CFS expanded into Europe in 2021 with a wholly owned subsidiary set up in The Netherlands to facilitate our service delivery into the EU and we also have a sister company, trading under the same name, in the USA for 25 years. CFS’s main objectives are to continue to be the market leader and subject matter experts in our fields of service and a trusted delivery partner for our customers either directly or through our established partnerships with the world’s leading Facilities Management Companies. CFS is equally comfortable delivering through our end customers preferred outsource partner or engaging directly as a preferred supplier. CFS wishes to have a long-lasting direct impact on the market for both service providers and end customers. We believe education, standardisation and communication are key to achieving that goal and therefore we have dedicated an enormous amount of time and resources to industry bodies such as the Data Centre Alliance (DCA). Our operations director is the Chair of the Data Centre Anti-Contamination specialist interest group of the DCA, and he has spent countless hours rallying our industry competitors and customers together to contribute to a guide he has produced, and edited year on year, under the DCA banner, which is now freely available to all. In addition, CFS and the DCA SIG worked together with one of the world’s leading insurance companies to create a bespoke insurance package that recognised and rewarded Data Centres that demonstrated best practice with a specific focus on contamination control in the white space. The SIG visited and assessed four data centres in the UK which varied in size, design, and location. In all cases the broker and underwriters provided cost savings varying from tens to hundreds of thousand pounds. In each case the savings were more than adequate to cover the costs of the audits, accreditations, and all other requirements to quality for the reduction in premiums. The proposition had market-leading cleaning standards, provided by specialist companies, built into it. The insurance underwriting had been customised to take this into account, as one of the key differentiators, thus raising the profile and ultimately the importance of cleanliness in data centre environment. In 2019, CFS and the SIG introduced a ‘risk register’ into the Anti-Contamination Guide. This new section of the report listed out in detail all the high-risk contamination elements that could impact operational activities within the data centre, and a weighted percentage score was introduced as a representation of what could happen if contamination is not managed correctly. The risk register is under constant review and updated yearly by the group. What we do and how we do it. CFS offer a host of niche solutions and services including: • Fit-Out - We specify, supply, and install IT racks, hot & cold aisle containment, raceways, and security caging. • Flooring - We specify, supply, install, modify, and replace raised access flooring. • Firestopping – We specify, install, and certify passive fire stopping and service penetration seals. • Cleaning - We technical / clinical clean mission critical environments across their full lifecycle from greenfield to full operational facility. • Testing - We undertake Zinc Whiskers, air quality, noise, ATP and environmental. CFS self-delivers all our solutions and services from our depots in Chesterfield, Luton and Witham via directly employed, multiskilled, security cleared technicians who have all undergone extensive task specific training and are qualified in their respective field/s. The delivery team is underpinned by a senior management team who each have over 25 years of Data Centre specific first-hand, and hands on, experience. All our solutions are bespoke, and we take a consultative approach to backward engineering solutions as an ‘output’ specification with the aim being to give you what you need, not what we want to sell you. In a recent contract award, we re-specified the customer’s cleaning regime and approach and saved them approximately 50% on their annual operating expenditure while guaranteeing the same, if not better, quality and the required ISO levels of cleanliness as per OEM guidance. Our service offering is further strengthened by our operational delivery, quality of workmanship, communication, stakeholder management and in-depth reporting and recommendations. All our contracted customers also benefit from our complementary services including assessments and reporting on their flooring, firestopping, airflow or cleanliness when delivering one of our other services. CFS delivers 240+ separate projects and cleans 700,000+ sqm of data centre space each year. Working with CFS you are guaranteed multi-skilled NVQ/Diploma certified, fulltime employed cleared staff from an international data centre/mission critical specialist with decades of first-hand experience. The experience and depth of knowledge within our entire team converts to an unparalleled ‘customer first’ philosophy with a 98% satisfaction rate in 2020 and staggering 100% in 2021. Our current overall rating on Survey Monkey from business inception is 4.85 out of 5. “We have had the good fortune to work with ‘Critical Facilities Solutions’ for many years and in many forms, we have been the direct customer Vodafone and the service provider with CBRE to Vodafone. We have been so impressed by the approach of this company that when we had the requirement to offer service to a customer of our own, we didn’t hesitate. CFS always go the extra mile, they always give that little bit more. To be truthful we are not the greatest customer, we ask for the earth, expect a stretch at half the price and then take six months to iron out the finances, but when we get there CFS are always waiting and still smiling (even though I am sure they want to strangle us). Their expertise in their field is unrivalled and importantly they know how to evidence their knowledge, we can always put our customer or auditor at ease with the exceptional level of documentation they provide. From a 8m2 shipping area to tier 3 controlled 1000 cabinet DC room they have the resource and tools for the job and we never worry about the outcome, the back office team are a dream with nothing being too much of a request even when that’s a reschedule for the third time. We look forward to a continued relationship going forward with top drawer team.” Martyn Thompson, Kyndryl-Vodafone Account Lead, CBRE “Building a data centre has its own obvious challenges but handing it over to the end customer in a clinically clean state requires a specialist with all the necessary experience and ability. We don’t do means to an end; instead, we believe in the open communication and collaboration that underpins strong relationships and creates enriching customer journeys. We partner with Critical Facilities Solutions on new build projects for their consistent high quality and the overall service they provide. Their proposals are thorough, their weekly reporting is invaluable, and their communication and stakeholder management is second to none. I would highly recommend them for the Excellence in Data Centre Services Award.” Paul Pompili, Divisional Director, Engineering Services, ISG Ltd “We recently transitioned from a competitor to CFS and cannot give them enough praise. What Mike and the team have setup is nothing short of brilliant, costs are reasonable, and the quality of service is second to none. This goes for the on-site operatives – who are thorough, professional, and diligent to the account managers and back-office functions. I honestly could not recommend anyone better to deal with, booking and organisation is a breeze, and the work is always completed to the highest standard.” Martin Patrick, Head of Colo, Six Degrees Group “Willis Tower Watson have been using CFS for a few years now, and I have consistently been impressed with the quality of their work, from survey right through the proposal process to implementation. They have managed complicated processes, such as the floor void redundant cable clearance incorporating steel girder removal, efficiently and regularly exceeded their remit and expectations. The proposal in particular was presented in such a way that all bases were covered, and I was able to get approval with a minimum of fuss.” Neil Walston, EMEA Data Centre Manager, Atos “As a projects and maintenance business Sudlows need reliable and flexible service deliver partners that understand the environment and time sensitive nature and deliver requirements on mission critical projects. We have used CFS on over 100 projects now ranging from firestopping to specialist technical cleaning to RIT testing all over the UK and abroad. We have established a framework agreement with them and are always impressed at the speed and accuracy of their responses. Their proposals are detailed, and they survey FOC when required to ensure they fully understand the requirements. It’s my job to ensure we get value for money for us and our customers without wavering on service and quality. CFS are a great value-added service provider for Sudlows, and we wish them all the best with their entry for the Excellence in Data Centre Services Award” Andy Smith, Procurement Manager, INS Sudlows “We have a long-standing service with Critical Facilities Solutions who carry out the Technical cleaning on my customers Data Centres. Their performance is always according to specifications, from the booking in stage to the maintenance stage their work is professional and on time. Their health and safety is in line with CBRE’s requirements for this account and they always provide the specific documentation in advance for each maintenance or reactive works they perform. Their after-service reports are well formatted and informative, they give a step-by-step breakdown of the service and test results. They share innovations freely and these are well received. Gary and Mike are always available to answer my queries or jump on ad hoc calls if needed. They have worked together with myself and my team on my account to deliver the best service to my customer.” Katherine Killerby-Schoeman, Contract Manager, CBRE “The IT services provided within Solihull MBC need to be cost effective and have as little downtime as possible to enable the effective delivery of council services to all the residents within the borough. The service provided by the technicians from Critical Facilities Solutions proves they are extremely competent and effective, and I would have no hesitation in recommending their services.” Tony Daly (CDCTP, CDCMP, CDCEP) Data Centre Manager, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council “Navarre London have been using Critical Facilities Solutions for a number of years and have always found them to be competitively priced and experienced as a multi-skilled service provider. In our small works business, we have the need for multiple services on projects and CFS tick a lot of those boxes making procurement and sub-contractor management less onerous. We’ve used them for several projects and a few worth mentioning are the HVAC upgrade project for Cisco where they completed all the firestopping and raised access flooring modifications, post upgrade firestopping works at the Royal Mail Worldwide Distribution Centre and numerous projects at 20 Churchill Place. CFS installers and technicians are courteous, well presented, knowledgeable and extremely hard working. The process from quote to sign off is seamless from this well-versed critical environment service provider. I highly recommended CFS.” Richard O'Shea, Head of Department, Navarre Group

Teledata - bringing people and technology together to power businesses forward, responsibly.
Teledata is at the forefront of innovation. The firm has invested millions into resilience, security and sustainability, putting itself streets ahead of many of its competitors. Over £1 Million was invested into an on-site ARC (alarm receiving centre) making Teledata the only independent colocation data centre in the UK to boast an NSI Gold Approved BS5979 Security and Operations Centre (SOC) on-site. This facility gives Teledata direct links to police control rooms and protects security teams with a fast and effective response to any potential emergency situations. Further security measures include site wide audio-challenge; thermal imaging devices to minimise false alarms and improve the accuracy of detection; Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) to enable visitors to securely register cars to enter the site compound without leaving their vehicles; a security entrance portal with multi-factor authentication and anti-tailgating technology; and highly secure perimeter speed gates. All of these systems are permanently monitored by the onsite police-linked security centre. Teledata intelligently reduces carbon emissions in all areas of its facility, including cooling consumption. Working closely with the Business Growth Hub, Teledata has invested £1.5 Million into a battery storage system to enhance energy efficiencies at the facility via a solution which enables the firm to store electricity from the national grid at times of low demand and discharge it during the most beneficial periods, acting as a reserve during peak tariff times. The system also offers integrated variable voltage optimisation to deliver a stabilised voltage, thus boosting the resilience of the facility by improving the shelf life of equipment, while reducing unnecessary energy waste and optimising the incoming power supply. Teledata is the only colocation provider in the UK to have implemented these technologies, making this an industry first. This project attracted some interest from big industry players, including a well known Silicon Valley based social media giant who has since become a customer after Teledata carried out a private build for the company, which had a large requirement with demanding specifications. Teledata has also implemented highly intelligent control systems; cold aisle containment; under-floor cold air channelling to minimise wastage; variable fans within condenser units; free air cooling systems; office space air conditioning controls to minimise wastage out of hours; highly efficient cooling pumps; cold aisle blanking throughout and a number of other measures including the controlled raising of temperatures in the cold and warm aisles. Teledata also has power metered at every board and office in the building. These measures have enabled the firm to reduce its carbon output by over 500 tonnes per year. More recently, Teledata has announced that it will become the first data centre in the UK to install a scalable 1.2MW hydrogen ready fuel cell to provide clean energy. Working with energy providers Conrad Energy, Electricity North West (Construction & Maintenance) Limited (ENWCML) and Bloom Energy, the project will see the firm reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a cleaner, hydrogen ready fuel supply, whilst also boosting the resilience of the data centre via a second power feed into the facility, from a completely different fuel source. Fuel cells work by converting fuel such as natural gas, biogas, and hydrogen, or a blend of fuels into electricity through an electrochemical process that requires no combustion - thus avoiding the emissions normally associated with burning this type of fuel. In terms of support, Teledata treats its relationships with its clients as a partnership. The company’s dedicated on-site support team is available to clients 24x7. The technical team providing the customer support are the same team that built and manage the data centres, with no outsourcing or off-site help desks in place. Support is included in the price, there are no additional or hidden costs for support, and the company prides itself on transparency, keeping all cross connect pricing to install only, rather than implementing recurring charges. No automated bills are sent out for over usage of network or power, instead Teledata prefers to treat all its customers fairly with a high quality of account management. The firm also provides up to 2(N+N) UPS power protection to customer colocation racks, and Teledata’s cloud offering - CloudActiv - is active-active as standard for all cloud customers, for resilience and peace of mind. The measures put in place by Teledata to ensure high levels of resilience through power, security and network performance have resulted in a 100% uptime record for the firm, giving clients tangible benefits of not only a high performance premium network, but also zero downtime and reduced network latency. Teledata is a carrier neutral data centre, and a LINX (London Internet Exchange) Manchester PoP. The steps taken by Teledata to continually improve the facility and service it provides, have resulted in customer demand increasing to the point where the firm has needed to build two new data halls at its Manchester site,doubling the available capacity at the data centre. The company is now looking at additional space, with a view to expanding further in the future to meet customer demand. Founded in 2005, Teledata is Manchester’s largest premium independent data centre. The company is ISO27001 certified, as audited by the British Standards Institute, and offers colocation, cloud hosting, workplace recovery and data centre services to businesses across the UK. Client testimonials Due to the nature of confidentiality and security within the industry, some of our better known clients have asked to remain anonymous, but below are some testimonials from those who have agreed to be referenced; “We've found working with Teledata a breeze, especially when compared to some of our other partners. All the staff are helpful, have high standards, attention to detail and clearly want to do a good job which is critically important with a service like colocation.” Rob Emery, Infrastructure Director, Codeweavers “The team at Teledata has been a breath of fresh air compared with our previous provider. They helped us move very quickly and nothing was too much trouble. The support team, when required, was easy to reach any time of the day. We now feel we are in a better position overall than we ever have been and we have also gained significant financial benefits by moving. I would not hesitate in recommending Teledata to any company requiring a premium class data centre.” Alastair Bates, Managing Director, Hosting Systems “Teledata has provided the bedrock for our hosting services for a number of years. As our data centre partner they’ve always been flexible, professional and knowledgeable. Providing a consistently high level of service whilst also impressing with their future plans for sustainability and growth.” Dan Robinson, Cloud Infrastructure Manager, BCN Group “We have just moved to Teledata and are impressed with the setup they have there. The security and facilities are top notch and we are glad to now be able to call Delta House our home!” Eddie Whiteley, IT Infrastructure Lead, Yesss Electrical “Teledata made setting up in a new data centre very easy with services delivered ahead of schedule and above expectation. Being 5 minutes from major motorways makes the data centre an ideal location to get to and the access arrangements, while offering security above and beyond many data centres, are delivered in a way that also makes accessing the data halls a breeze - which is key when you have an urgent requirement. The entire team is professional and puts service first, whether it’s arranging access, the performance of network services or the cleaning regime in the data halls.You would be hard pushed to find areas for improvement.” Nick Whittaker, CEO, Netixo “Teledata is a key trusted partner to the Pure Technology Group. Teledata has been our primary data centre facility for over 5 years and we have been a customer for approaching 10. We have a true partner relationship between us which has helped us to deliver stable, innovative and flexible world class solutions to our customers. The partnership and longevity of our business together has been a direct result of the relationship with both the technical and the sales teams. Having experience of many data centres throughout the country, in my view Teledata has a unique facility which strikes exactly the right balance between security, responsiveness and being able to operate and manage our services effectively.” Mab Musa, Platform Manager, Pure Technology Group “What stands out to me about Teledata, aside from the technical elements, is how supportive and friendly the team is to deal with. Whether it’s taking our clients on tours of the data centres, or allowing us to use their office space and meeting rooms to meet with my team and customers, nothing is too much trouble. The team is always on hand for calls or meetings, always ready to give us the information we need to help our customers and we have never been let down by Teledata.” Conor Marken, Sales Director, Cloud Geeni

Green Mountain Data Centres
Green Mountain is a Norwegian company that designs, builds, and operates highly secure, innovative, and sustainable colocation data centers in Norway. What sets us apart from many competitors is our ambition of “Setting the green standard” in the data center industry. This entails that we want to establish ourselves as being the most energy-efficient data center in the market, running on 100% renewable energy and with close to zero CO2 footprints. We incorporate environmental sustainability in all aspects of our business – in the construction of data centers, in the operation of the data center and in the future, when decommissioning a data center. Clients can even try our CO2 calculator (https://greenmountain.no/data-center-co2-calculator/) to find out how much CO2 they can save by moving their data load to Green Mountain. We are also involved in several waste heat reuse projects, contributing to the circular economy. Our green approach to data centers has proved highly successful. We have a strong growth rate and currently operate three different sites in Norway: - The data center near Stavanger (DC1-Stavanger) is deep inside a mountain in a former high security NATO ammunition storage. - The data center in Telemark (DC2-Telemark) is in the ‘cradle of hydro power’ in Norway with close proximity to multiple local hydro power plants. - The data center at Enebakk (DC3-Oslo) is situated just outside Oslo, the capital of Norway. One particularly innovative feature is our fjord-cooling solution at DC1-Stavanger, where we use the adjacent fjord as the cooling source. To secure consistent temperature for cooling, water enters our cold-water basin through use of gravity from pipes reaching 100-meter depth. Here, water is stable at 8C (46F) all year round. This cooling solution with use of cold water and gravity is extremely efficient. We use less than 3kW of power to gain more than 1000 kW of cooling. The cooling solution (including the cooling station, chilled water pipework and pumps) is fully duplicated providing a N+N solution. With limited moving parts (circulating pumps), the solution is extremely robust and reliable. Server rooms will have available N+N chilled water under the raised floor. In-row-cooling are installed to client specification using hot isle technology. The solution provided is highly flexible and can support standard power densities from 2-6 kW/m2, as well as clients who have requirements for high-density solutions up to 40kW/m2. We are one of the largest data center operators in the Nordics. And although a small company in a global perspective we have managed to attract large international clients within Cloud, Banking/Finance, HPC, Automotive and more. The Volkswagen Group and Mastercard being a couple of examples. The Green Mountain facilities deliver high quality to our clients with Tier III certification by the Uptime Institute as well as ISO certifications. We have delivered 100% uptime since the start and have several independent power supplies to each site in addition to stand-by generators. The cooling and electrical infrastructure is duplicated so that the data centers are operational both during scheduled maintenance and in the event of any unforeseeable faults within our infrastructure. Operational excellence is at the core of everything we do, and we have built an operational framework through our DCIM system. This system monitors, reports and analyzes the infrastructure performance and is fully integrated with thousands of sensors in our data centers. This data enables us to optimize our operations, but we also share this insight with our clients through Green Peak. This is our award-winning real-time dashboard solution – securing 100% transparency of the delivery. A large portion of our service offering is built-to-suit projects. Over the last few years, we have delivered several complex projects to international clients. With several parallel construction projects, Green Mountain has worked to optimize our project delivery. For one of our clients, Volkswagen, we used prefabricated modules to reduce the construction time to only 6 months. At DC3-Oslo we have chosen an external partner for a turn-key project, whereas in our mountain at DC1 we manage the projects ourselves. The latter is due to the added complexity a mountain construction pose. In other words, our organization is equipped to meet different customer demands and different project models. Even during the challenging Covid-19 period Green Mountain has managed to deliver on commitments. For instance, in august 2020 we delivered to client a 2.5 MW mountain hall data center in less than 9 months, during the Covid-19 pandemic. The starting point was essentially a hole in the mountain with no basic infrastructure. This mountain cave was then transformed into a fully operational data center space, complete with interiors, cooling, power, and security. Furthermore, we delivered yet another 2.5 MW expansion to this mountain hall in May 2021. Finally, we expanded our DC3-Oslo facility with a 4MW module in August, less than a year after the first module was completed. We believe that the main reason for our success in delivering new client projects is a combination of a solid data center platform of scale and speed, together with the flexibility of the Scandinavian work culture. (Flat structure and delegated authority, less bureaucracy, ability to make quick decisions.) In the day-to-day operations our services are handled by our operation technicians and service management team. The latter is probably the reason we score very high on our client satisfaction survey. One of Green Mountain’s core values is to put the customer in focus. Above all, customer satisfaction is the most important goal of our business. We have been delivering colocation data center services with 100% uptime since day one. Furthermore, we are very transparent about the quality of our services to our customers. In other words, trust is fundamental to our business. But how do we know that we deliver excellent service? We perform an annual customer satisfaction survey. The average client satisfaction score for the previous 5 years is 5.73 on a 6-point scale, demonstrating that we are doing something right.  The team that is closest to the customers is the service management team lead by Runar Espeland. The team consists of five people and Espeland has a very clear opinion on which factors contribute strongly to the high satisfaction score: - Solid support systems and procedures (Based on the ITIL Framework. Including a dedicated Customer Portal for the day-to-day cooperation with our customers.) - A dedicated contact person for each client (No matter the size of the client they always get one primary contact. This also fosters a closer and more trusted relationship with the client.) - A flat organizational structure and delegated authority (We trust our employees to solve challenges at the lowest possible organizational level.) - Transparency and pro-active communication (We share alle the information we have. For instance, through the Green Peak dashboard, where clients get a real-time view of the environment in their data room.) - Professional pride (Every single employee knows that we secure mission-critical services for these clients. And that each and everyone in the company has a role to play in delivering on our customer promise.) - The Green Mountain company values (These are: Customer in focus, Knowledge, Reliability & Honesty, and Enthusiasm.) For security reasons, not all our clients can publicly announce that they store their data in a Green Mountain facility. However, many of those who can have been ambassadors for our company. International companies like Volkswagen Group and Mastercard have promoted our services. You can also find several clients cases on this page: https://greenmountain.no/client-cases/

Vantage CWL1 Cardiff Data Centre Campus
We would like to submit an entry for Europe's largest data centre, Vantage CWL1 Campus (formerly Next Generation Data). We believe it is relevant as this campus significantly powers and enable the UK Digital Economy through its world-class hosting for Enterprise and Public Sector Colocation services. Overview: Since 2020 Vantage CWL1 has been owned and operated by Vantage Data Centers. In addition to serving hyperscaler cloud provider organisations, the data centre facility offers densities varying from 2kW to 125KW+ per rack for wholesale customers and UK enterprise clients requiring cloud hosting, private data halls, and colocation solutions. With 72MW connected and 200MW in reserve, built to exceed tier III standards, the resilient facility is Europe’s largest data centre comprising 750,000 sq. ft (GIA) over three floors. Originally built as a semiconductor production plant but never used, the facility has been sustainably repurposed and continuously improved ever since it originally opened for business in 2010. During 2020 and 2021, notable ongoing developments and achievements at Vantage CWL1 included: - The delivery of 55,000 sq. ft / 18MW additional white space - Power upgrade to up to 270MW from a unique direct SuperGrid connection - Increased diverse fibre connectivity options and network capacity from major nationwide carriers - Opening of a new totally separate fibre route connecting Vantage CWL1 to Bristol - Vantage CWL1’s continuous development of the HR Diversity and Inclusion programme (last programme: Women in Engineering: https://vimeo.com/685539750/17a5c1e848) - Vantage CWL1’s commitment to reaching Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2030 What are your company’s/solution's key distinguishing features and/or USP? Vantage CWL1 can respond rapidly to the private and shared data centre space requirements of all types of colocation customers due to the facility’s unrivalled scalability and abundant power. It allows large enterprise organisations and IT service providers to consolidate power strapped and/or multiple smaller estates, while also accommodating hyperscale cloud providers, and even small growing businesses. All have the flexibility to scale as and when required. Future proof scalability: During 2021 Vantage built additional white space for customers within the shell of the existing building. This comprised the delivery of 6 further data halls, totalling 18MW/ 55,000 sq. ft built out space. Completed in less than 6 months using the company’s rapid build data hall shell & core construction model, this ensured accelerated time to market for customers. Long-established and new customers have future-proof solutions with the convenience, cost savings and peace of mind from being able to continue to expand in the same data centre location. Rack densities: All CWL1’s shared and private data halls offer unprecedented power to rack: up to 125kW per rack is currently available for the most demanding high-performance computing requirements. This allows Solution Architects to decide the best technical solution for their users’ needs rather than be blocked by unsuitable data centre designs and minimal rack power densities. Security, resilience and abundant power: Built to exceed Tier III standards, the highest levels of security and resilience are underpinned by CWL1’s unprecedented power supply from an adjacent on-site sub-station supplying a direct connection to the SuperGrid. In 2020 the power supply was further increased to 270MW: this will continue to ensure unprecedented forwards power available to customers for many years to come and assures a smooth delivery and control of power into the building, minimising risk of surges or spikes. There has not been a single outage since the facility opened more than 10 years ago. Sustainability: In 2021 CWL1 further improved its offering with a commitment to reaching Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2030 in line with all Vantage Data Centers’ portfolio worldwide. Vantage is a signatory of the Climate Neutral Data Center Pact and is actively involved in ongoing sustainability initiatives including water reduction. This further strengthens CWL1’s established energy optimization credentials as follows: - The first data centre campus in the UK to be powered by 100 per cent renewably sourced energy when opening in 2010 and the first to commit to the UK Government’s Climate Change Agreement initiative - A custom Energy Management System designed by Schneider Electric for enabling real-time monitoring, measuring and reporting on energy and environmental performance. - Leveraging the lower ambient climate in Wales for harnessing free-cooling to its state of the art intelligent cooling systems from Stulz GE and Vertiv. These indirect free cooling units also allow CWL1 campus to control the ingress of contaminants and humidity, ensuring sealed white space environments. - Industry-leading PUE rating of 1.2 Diverse Connectivity: 2020 - 2021 saw Vantage CWL1 further increase its connectivity offerings to maximise the choice, bandwidth and resilience of networks available to customers: - In 2021 Virgin Media Business 02 more than doubled its existing fibre capacity available at CWL1 – 96 fibre pairs now available and direct connection to Virgin 02’s 128,000 km UK network. - In 2020 Neos Networks became the first to POP CWL1’s alternative dark fibre route into South Wales from Bristol. This spans the M48 Severn Bridge - the first to do so – and allows customers to access a choice of dark fibre and managed lit services, connecting seamlessly into Neos’s 34,000 km UK-wide network. - LINX Wales’ also has a direct presence at CWL1 which has enabled it to grow faster than any other regional UK communications hub. As a point of presence for the London Internet Exchange, the LINX Wales Peering Exchange allows CWL1 customers lower latency and an overall improved end-user experience. - CWL1 Campus became LINX Wales fastest-growing regional interconnection point in the shortest amount of time. - Further CWL1 connectivity credentials include direct gateway connections into the network infrastructures of the major public cloud providers, bypassing the public internet to ensure the delivery of extremely responsive, secure and reliable cloud-enabled services. - CWL1 is directly connected to Telehouse in London so customers can remain in London while leveraging the considerable cost-savings of operating their server racks remotely at CWL1’s out-of-town rates. Price Performance: The Cardiff campus’s huge size, economies of scale and low out of town cost base combine to offer world-class colocation at half the price of comparable facilities in the London/M25 region. Accreditations: Quality, environmental, security, data privacy, and process management certified including BSI ISO 9001:2015, BSI ISO 14001:2015, BSI ISO 27001:2013, BS 10012:2017, PCI DSS, ISAE-3402, SSAE-16, SOC 1, SOC2 and SOC3. On-site support and services: 24/7/365 assistance on all aspects of installation and capacity planning; remote hands service and hands and eyes support for performing tasks such as power cycling, visual inspections and cable replacements; advice on regulatory matters, IT issues and products; specialist server migration and de-installation/installation services get customer racks transported, up and running in hours – not days; extensive range of on-site private meeting suites and conference facilities available to clients What tangible impact has your product/solution had on the market and your customers? With pricing half that of London/M25, Vantage CWL1 Campus has evolved into a world-class and highly affordable regional alternative to large metropolitan areas. Vantage’s Cardiff Campus is now ‘home from home’ to the IT Systems of an impressive and growing list of blue-chip organisations. From UK government departments and major banks to BT, CGI, IBM, WiPro and other global giants, including some of the world’s largest software and cloud companies. Its huge scalability and power source has and is enabling large organisations and IT, service providers, to consolidate power strapped and/or multiple smaller estates; while also allowing growing businesses the flexibility to scale up as they expand. With 270MW of power available, the site offers more than enough forward power and power to rack densities for meeting the most demanding Cloud Hyperscalers, as well as Hybrid Cloud and HPC (High-Performance Computing) requirements including specialist semi-conductor, engineering, and life sciences organisations - of which there are many in the Wales region. Moreover, having Vantage Data Centers practically on their doorsteps is proving attractive to local enterprises looking for secure and cost-effective space to house perhaps an initial one or two server racks. A 100 per cent commitment to renewably sourced energy and certified commitment to the government CCA initiative, affords customers Zero Carbon Tax and enhanced Green credentials. The semi-rural location also offers customers a more naturally secure environment than a metro one. As a supporter and key proponent of Digital Strategy for Wales, the continued success of the campus in attracting major businesses to the Cardiff Capital Region brings significant ongoing investment into the local economy. Vantage has also evolved into a growing UK employer, intentionally focusing on diversity and inclusivity, as well as generating regular on-site construction engineering work for hundreds of local subcontractors. Looking forward, Vantage’s 1,450,000sqft/50 acres campus offers considerable scope for growth with enough space to keep pace with continuing strong demand for high-quality data capacity. What levels of customer service differentiate you from your competitors? • At the heart of CWL1’s success is its ability to consistently leverage the vast space available and low-cost base location to maximise economies of scale for the benefit of existing and future customers: A key factor has been the company’s rapid build programme which ensures the cost-effective delivery of individual data halls within an industry-leading time of up to 16 weeks. This is down to the expertise and prowess of Vantage’s on-site construction and engineering team and principal contractors, the hundreds of construction workers permanently on-site, and the flexibility of trusted suppliers. • Engineering support: Onsite 24/7/365 assistance on all aspects of installation and capacity planning; remote hands service and hands and eyes support for performing tasks such as power cycling, visual inspections and cable replacements; advice on regulatory matters, IT issues and products. • Specialist server migration and de-installation/installation services get customer racks transported, up and running in hours – not days. • Extensive range of on-site private meeting suites and conference facilities available to clients • Event catering service (Room booking and catering, Meet & Greet, Badging and registrations, site tours and presentations) • Competent Persons Course (CPC): Internal certification system ensuring that all attendees working on-site have been inducted for site health & safety. This is to provide a full understanding of site familiarisation, security policy, code of conduct and emergency procedures are essential for all personnel when on site. Completion enables the attendees to have un-escorted access to Data Halls and racks • Strong commitment to quality to quality through achieving various certifications: certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 27001, BSI10012 and ISO 45001; ISAE 3402 SOC 2 and PCI DSS Compliant What are the major differentiators between your product/solution and those of your primary competitors? • Meets Global, National and Regional demand for colocation and hosting – all from a highly scalable single site campus at pricing half that of London • Design and construction of bespoke data halls within industry leading timescales - up to 16 weeks • A world class regional colocation and telecommunications hub for Wales and West England • Future-proofed – 420,000 sq. ft net technical capacity under one roof with room for further expansion on the campus with three further data centre buildings planned • Stable, forward power – up to 270MW available; connected to national SuperGrid via private sub-station • Power to rack – 125MW scalable power - to support the highest density requirements • Diverse carrier/ISP connectivity with latency as low as 1.2 ms between Cardiff and central London; a Point of Presence for LINX Wales Peering Exchange; direct gateway connections to hyperscale public cloud provider network infrastructure; direct Layer 2 connections into London Telehouse for added customer convenience Please supply any supportive quotes and/or case study materials to demonstrate the value of this product/solution to your customers/partners. - Matt Lewis, Chief Operating Officer, Shared Resource Service (SRS) – customer since 2021: “We now have a much more cost-effective data centre solution and one that is fit for purpose for hosting a modern private cloud to seamlessly deliver a common set of services to all our stakeholders. And without any of the burden of capital expenditure just to remain up to date with the latest infrastructure technologies. Furthermore, Vantage’s commitment to using 100 percent renewable power is of key importance to our Council members. Previously we only had one network connectivity option available to us with BT. Now we can choose from multiple carriers with direct points of presence at Vantage CWL1 as well as leverage further potential cost savings including access to the LINX Wales Internet Exchange and Peering Service. In CWL1, we have found a safe harbour for securing the future of SRS and the shared services we are responsible for providing on a continuous basis.” - Rob Corrigill, CTO, TeleWare Group PLC – customer since 2016: “The exceptional security, resilience and high-speed connectivity on offer at the data centre, combined with a lower cost proposition compared to London data centre options, made using their high calibre facility for our Cloud Call platform a no brainer. We have total peace of mind that the data centre is the right fit for our current requirements and has the scale to support our future needs.” - Wipro Technologies EMEA - customer since 2013 “You’ve really got to question paying premium rates for data centre real estate and power in large city areas like London. There aren’t too many data centres on the planet that can tick the unlimited power box.“ - UK Data Centre Business Area Manager, IBM – customer since 2011: “Consummate professionals providing world-class facilities and a first-class delivery, they have met considerable challenges to implement a bespoke solution for an IBM High-Performance Computing managed service solution and remain a valued partner of an extending IBM team.“ - Ken Skates, former Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Infrastructure and Skills, Welsh Assembly Government (2018): “This building is a real success story and for Welsh Government, having turned an unlettable building into something really quite special and economically successful…this is now the site of a state of the art data centre which offers the capabilities and flexibility to meet the specific needs of its customers with great space, power and cooling capacities. For customers, big and small, this means the site offer optimum scale economies, expansive customer facilities and great capacity for growth. “To now see it home to some of the finest tech and IT providers in the world, with more in the pipeline, is fantastic and bodes incredibly well as we look to ensure our economy is equipped with the technology and innovation needed to ensure our continued growth and prosperity.

CBRE Data Centre Solutions
CBRE Data Centers delivers total life-cycle facility, maintenance, technology and real estate services for data center owners and occupiers, including enterprise, hyperscale, and colocation clients. Our team of over 2,000 dedicated data center technicians manage 75+ million square feet of raised floor space across 680+ sites in over 45 countries. We support 40% of the Fortune 100’s data centers and managed some of the most business-critical data centers for 5 of the 6 largest technology companies globally in 2021. CBRE enables exceptional outcomes for our clients through a relentless focus on reliability, efficiency, quality, and innovation across all facets of service delivery. By way of demonstrating our innovative services and industry-leading practices we have recently implemented: • DCS Shield. This proprietary Risk & Reliability Program is aimed to have the highest impact on reducing risk and unplanned outages in a data centre through a suite of unique processes, technology, assessments, and training. It’s a proven game-changer, creating a robust, shared risk awareness culture at all levels of the organisation. The results speak for themselves: 99.99968% Uptime achieved from over 4 million hours of data centre operation in 2021, resulting in just 12.5 hours of downtime, and less than 15 minutes being due to human error. Only 16% of the unplanned downtime was related to human error versus an industry average of 70%. CBRE ensure consistency globally through the deployment of DCS Shield. The data center industry is constantly evolving, so it’s crucial to have streamlined processes in place to enable seamless decision making, mitigate risk and provide a solid foundation for progress. CBRE’s proprietary Risk & Reliability Program is aimed to have the highest impact on reducing risk and unplanned outages in a data center through a suite of unique processes, technology, assessments, and training. We refer to our suite of risk mitigation tools collectively as DCS Shield™. The key elements include: DCS Select: Our recruiting assessment tool that determines if candidates have the right behaviors and aptitudes to be successful in a data center environment. DCS Select is focused on technical, non-managerial staff and provides a report on strengths and weaknesses against seven key behaviors and two key aptitudes. Key benefits of DCS Select include: • Higher levels of job satisfaction • Better performance • Increased cost savings CNet CCAM® Assessment: CBRE utilizes the CNet Competency and Confidence Assessment Modelling (CCAM®) tool to establish and assess the baseline knowledge for each of our data center technicians, and to monitor their improvement over time. The CCAM® tool provides real-time analysis of both competence and confidence for individuals and teams and exposes root causes of employee behavior (positive and negative) in data center facilities. Its complex software, that maps out an individual’s skill sets, knowledge base, and ability gaps. The results of each assessment allow the right course of development action to be planned and taken to address an individuals’ weaknesses. CNet CDCTP®: A training certification for highly competent technicians who demonstrate unrivalled technical knowledge and skills. The CDCTP® certification is highly respected and creates a benchmark of knowledge and skills for data center technicians everywhere. The certification means that we can offer the following benefits our clients: • Significantly reduced risk by having knowledgeable and proactive technical staff capable of identifying signs of potential failure. • A technical team with a broad knowledge of codes, legislation and standards instils confidence that the data center can operate effectively whilst consistently meeting legal and contractual obligations. Human Factors Training: Research demonstrates that no matter how resilient the Engineering Infrastructure appears, nearly 70% of preventable failures relate to human error or process failure. CBRE has invested a significant amount of time and resources to combat human factor related errors by engaging renowned psychologist Dr. Tim Marsh PhD, MSc, CFIOSH, CPsychol, SFIIRSM MD to develop the CBRE Data center Solutions Human Factors Training program. Dr. Tim Marsh is considered a world authority about behavioural safety, safety leadership, and organizational culture. The resulting program covers wellbeing and other factors which can affect a technician’s ability to perform well and how to act in stressful situations. The is achieved through classroom training, facilitation, group discussions and practical exercises, and aims to increase safety, quality, and efficiency in critical maintenance operations by reducing human error and its impact on maintenance activities. Critical Environment Risk Management (CERM™): CERM™ is the first-of-its-kind, proven management playbook, and remains at the leading edge with the most rigorous and reliable management and human factors protocol in the market. It is divided into 5 pillars, containing procedures and processes that drive the right culture, the right behavior and underpin guaranteed reliability. 1. Administration & Site Management: focuses on reporting protocol, providing a plan for monthly contract reviews, and procedures to implement prior to go live, including a responsibility matrix, recruitment process and site standards. 2. People – Competency & Training: this section deep dives into the people on site, to create a site-specific competency DNA. This starts with assessing the skills of all those on site and forming a gap analysis of each technician, which is combined form a site team gap analysis. Training plans are then tailored to each technician on site to fill these skill gaps to ensure maximum competency for our customers. Site inductions are also an important part of this process, and procedures for site induction are kept here. 3. Operations & Maintenance – outlines how we run a data center, including documented procedures to manage: - PPM Tracking - Critical Spares - Asset management - Emergency response - Incident escalation - Rounds & readings - Shift log - SOPs 4. Planning, Analysis & Engineering – many of the processes in this section relate to projects and project management such as RACI Matrix but also include Root Cause & After-Action Process and IT Capacity Planning Process. 5. Continuous Improvement- focused on assessment and review, this section looks at raised floor management, risk register, operational assessment a financial & life cycle reporting, with a strong emphasis on energy review and sustainability. We partner with each of our clients to individually craft the CERM™ program to align your business strategy, compliance requirements and risk needs. Each service offering includes unique run books, tools, and best practices. There are over 70 operational and risk mitigating processes, based on CERM’s™ core principals of human factor-based risk management. CERM™ Quantum: The technology interface and technical application that supports the CERM™ program. Quantum tracks facility and asset information, CERM™ compliance, risk modules, and team training. Quantum is a Critical Risk Management reporting platform that has been developed to allow total visibility for our staff and our customers, on the management and operations of the critical IT and M&E systems supporting their business operations. This system has been developed by CBRE and is utilized for supporting mission critical facilities. • Converged Data Centre Operations CBRE expanded its Data Centre Solutions (DCS) offering to include an additional range of technology services. CBRE now has the capability to manage and maintain both data centre technology physical infrastructure—hardware and software (e.g., servers, storage, racks)—and data centre facilities (e.g., UPS and HVAC). In addition, the Converged Data Centre model encompasses services across the full real estate and IT lifecycle, including those in the Advisory and Project Management disciplines, such as: consulting, capital financing, site selection, development and project management, technology workload migration, and disposition of facilities. The integrated offering of technology and facilities management as well as advisory services is called the “Converged Data Centre” model. CBRE’s clients, particularly those with responsibility for real estate, finance, and information functions, will realise significant benefits from the Converged Data Centre approach. These include reduced costs, improved operational efficiency, visibility of end-to-end operations and associated costs, better informed organisational and investment decision-making, and the ability to move assets off the balance sheet to resemble a cloud financial model more closely. Case studies: Fortune 500 U.S. Retail Bank: Migration, Trusted Advisor & Transactions •Negotiated and secured 300 kw of co-location space under market pricing •Migrated 3,000 virtual and physical servers supporting 1,000 applications •35% savings in OPEX and CAPEX and reduced timeline by 8 months Global Colo Company: Fit Out, IT Design & Installation •Over 126,000 connections, 950 km of cable and 200 cabinets •12 -week delivery •Delivered design, IT procurement, installation, and testing Global Technology Company: Smart Hands & Hardware Maintenance •60% savings in vendor maintenance YoY •80% of all maintenance is self-performed via Converged Ops model •100% uptime delivered • Partnered with IBM to offer Smart Maintenance Services. In 2020/2021 CBRE launched a partnership with long term client IBM to provide technology support services for CBRE's clients at select data center facilities it manages. The new CBRE offering called Smart Maintenance leverages IBM's AI, augmented reality technologies and deep analytics to provide vendor-agnostic, predictive and reactive hardware maintenance for CBRE's data center clients' technology assets. As part of the agreement, IBM works with CBRE technicians as an on-site extension of IBM's Remote Technical Support. CBRE technicians can now diagnose and maintain IT hardware from a wide range of manufacturers, leveraging IBM's augmented reality and Watson enabled AI technologies while being supported by IBM's global platform, which includes 57 call centers worldwide, tens of thousands IT support specialists and 585 parts centers carrying 1.3 million parts. Now, when a service call is placed, IBM AI technology will ask a series of questions to identify the problem and help find the quickest solution. If physical repair is required, CBRE site technicians can perform this repair under guidance from IBM's central pool of expertise. Additionally, IBM analytics can provide lifecycle review for data center equipment and provide a predictive maintenance service plan. With this service, CBRE's clients may be able to reduce maintenance and support spending. IBM's advanced IT support management technologies can infuse automation into the support process, including predictive maintenance, cognitive capabilities, proactive monitoring, and asset and life-cycle management. Prior to this, without the advantage of Smart Maintenance's analytics and predictive maintenance driving reduced downtime, CBRE's data center clients would have used Original Equipment Manufacturers and other third-party vendors to help manage their equipment. CBRE's clients may benefit from reduced time spent on hardware support tasks. IBM's proprietary asset management and support portal, which provides a real-time view of assets and support actions, will automate CBRE's IT support processes, helping employees to further improve their productivity. By consolidating IT support with CBRE, clients can minimize management overhead by no longer maintaining multiple support relationships, allowing them to shift their focus to more value-add tasks. The introduction of these tools has had a positive impact on customer satisfaction. CBRE measures customer satisfaction through several vehicles, including: • Annual Client Satisfaction Survey: This survey is conducted by a neutral third-party consultant, Kingsley Associates. They evaluate satisfaction levels, areas for development, and the outcomes specified in our service contract. This is scored using a Net Promotor Score (NPS). NPS: The key metric of customer loyalty. The customer answers the question on a scale of 1-10, then to evaluate an entire portfolio and weight by earnings, the formal reporting metric is in range from -100 to 100. CBRE’s weighted NPS at the most recent survey (mid 2021) was 69.7 (vs industry average of 40). • Quarterly Business Review Meetings: We meet with clients on a regular basis to review, validate, and improve performance. We believe the most powerful measurement of customer satisfaction is demonstrated by our tenured relationships and expansion of services. We are increasingly entrusted with growing responsibility and we deliver time and time again. Our business has grown from $162M in 2016 to $907M in 2020, and we have maintained a 98% renewal rate while managing this rapid growth.

BGIS
BGIS is a global leader in the provision of Facility Management, Project Delivery, Energy & Sustainability, Asset Management, Workplace Advisory, and Real Estate Services. With a combined team of over 8,000 globally, BGIS relentlessly focuses on delivering innovative service solutions that create value for its clients. Globally, BGIS manages over 30,000 facilities totalling more than 320 million square feet across several markets including government, higher education, utilities, telecommunications, financial services, oil & gas, healthcare and cloud enterprise. In addition to managing a diverse portfolio of corporate offices, retail, colleges, hospitals and industrial assets, BGIS is a world leader in the management of data centers and other critical environments.

Huawei Data Center Facility
Established in June 2021, Huawei Digital Power Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Digital Power for short) is a leading global provider of digital power products and solutions. We are committed to integrating digital and power electronics technologies, developing clean power, and enabling energy digitalization to drive energy revolution for a better, greener future. In the clean power generation sector, we help create new power systems that primarily rely on renewable energy. In the energy digitalization sector, we build digital twins of the energy world, streamlining energy production and use. In the green ICT power infrastructure sector, we help build green, low-carbon, and intelligent data centers and communications networks. In the green transportation sector, we redefine consumer driving and safety experiences in electric vehicles, accelerating transportation electrification. With integrated smart energy solutions, we work with partners to build low-carbon buildings and campuses, promoting the shift toward low carbon cities. With approximately 6000 employees, Huawei Digital Power serves one third of the world's population across more than 170 countries and regions. In the domain of data center facility, Huawei integrates advanced power electronics technology, thermal management technology and AI technology to reduce data center PUE, reduce carbon emissions through innovation and practice, and provide customers with simple, green, smart and reliable data center solutions. Specific products and solutions include outdoor prefabricated modular data centers, indoor modular data centers, UPS, air conditioning and management systems. Thanks to continuous investment and technology accumulation in the field of data center facility, Huawei ’s data center facilities performance have grown steadily. According to third-party authority Omdia and frost & sullivan report, outdoor prefabricated modular data centers ranked No. 1 in global market share(No. 1 for Seven consecutive years). The indoor modular data center ranked No. 1 in global market share, and the modular UPS ranked No. 1 in global market share. At present, Huawei ’s data center facility solutions cover Carriers, ISP, governments, transportation, finance, manufacturing, energy, etc. Multiple industries. There are some cooperative customers who have not been authorized publicly. Listed below are just some of the customers that have been served Carrier：British Telecom，Vodafone，Orange，China Unicom，China Mobile，China Telecom etc. ISP：Global Switch，Colt，Noris Network etc. Transportation：London Underground，Dubai International Airport，Mexico City Airport，Singapore CAAS etc. Manufacture：BMW，Mercedes-Benz，Heineken，Coca cola etc. Financial：Turkey Halkbank，Central Bank of Oman Data Center，Ethiopia Commercial Bank，China Construction Bank etc. Energy：Saudi Electricity Company，Mexico Pemex，Russian Grids，Electricity Generation Company Turkey etc. From the perspective of data center infrastructure, our major difference is “modular + intelligent” design approach and reshaping the architecture, cooling, O&M, and power supply.  Reshaping architecture Compared with the traditional data center construction mode, the smart modular DC adopts the full-modular architecture. The standard interfaces of all components are prefabricated, pre-tested, and Lego-like assembled onsite. A modular and prefabricated approach enables simplified delivery. All core subsystem modules are prefabricated, cutting construction time from 20 months to 6 months and ensuring rapid service launch. In addition, the assembly rate of prefabricated modular data centers reaches 97%, reducing construction water and construction waste by 80%, and the recovery rate exceeds 80%, reducing construction carbon emissions by 90%, and achieving green construction throughout the life cycle.  Reshaping cooling Huawei digital iCooling technology and indirect evaporative cooling solution, which maximizes the use of natural cooling, reduce the power usage effectiveness (PUE) of data centers by 8% ~ 15%, and save power consumption by over 20%, save water by 40%.  Reshaping O&M Digital and intelligent technologies enable fully automated O&M of data centers, cutting O&M costs by around 35%. In addition, refined and intelligent asset capacity management improves resource utilization by about 20%.  Reshaping power The full-chain converged PowerPOD and SmartLi UPS provide the industry's highest efficiency and power density. Compared with the traditional solution the distributed components and converged power supply reduce the area of the power supply and distribution area by 30%, achieving efficient power supply across the entire load range. In addition, End-to-end power supply and distribution systems are now visualized and manageable. Digital technologies enable predictive maintenance, transforming passive maintenance to proactive prevention and ensuring reliable data center operations. From the perspective of the entire data center, Huawei can provide full-stack data center solutions, from L1 power, cooling, management, services, to L2 server, storage, network and L3 cloud.

EnerSys
With increasingly heavy workloads to address, data centre operators must have complete confidence in the resilience of their sites. EnerSys® offers best-in-class, ultra-reliable UPS battery solutions that can cope with being subjected to increasingly heavy strains on cooling, power, and space efficiency. In addition, our products facilitate positive environmental, social, and economic impacts, that can help our customers to achieve sustainability goals. Our history dates back over 100 years, to when our predecessor companies began manufacturing batteries for industrial use. EnerSys® has grown to become a multibillion-dollar global industrial technology enterprise, delivering energy storage systems and solutions to customers across a wide range of industries and applications. With global manufacturing and operations serving over 10,000 customers in 100 countries, we are the recognised global leader for stored energy solutions and systems. Some of the many recognisable brands that fall under the EnerSys® umbrella include DataSafe® XE and DataSafe® HX+, PowerSafe® SBS and PowerSafe® V-FT, as well as Genesis®, ODYSSEY®, and CYCLON® batteries for reserve power applications. Our robust portfolio of advanced technology solutions, coupled with engineering, design, installation, and maintenance services make EnerSys the obvious choice for your data centre power challenges anywhere in the world.

Katherine Killerby-Schoeman (she/her)
Katherine consistently strives for excellence and creates a climate of continuous improvement while also supporting other managers and staff to lead and inspire others. Last year, Katherine won our internal 'Contract Support of the Year' award. Katherine is fully invested in her continuous self-improvement which is evidenced by her extremely positive attitude towards learning. She adds value by consistently improving her knowledge and skillset by completing training courses and is the contract QHSE Systems Champion. With Katherine’s extensive data centre expertise and positive leadership; she joined the mentoring program where she has 2 mentees who she is assisting with their personal and professional development. In addition to running a data centre that exceeds her customer's expectations, she created a new way of signing off Tool Box Talks using Microsoft Flow and Forms that she has already shared with her Business Unit and our QHSE department. The forms she created for QHSE Logbooks will be standardised for use across CBRE. Katherine has also come up with a few innovative solutions that she regularly submits to our Innovations Hub. Katherine is an exemplary example of going above and beyond her duties as a Contract Manager, making sure her knowledge of data centres is up to date, sharing this knowledge with her peers and ensuring the customer is kept happy. She has raised the caliber of our CBRE delivery and efficiency across her Business Unit.

Nejat Ozol - Digital Manager
Nejat Ozol, who works in Turkcell organization as Data Center Planning Manager, is being pioneer for Data Center industry in Turkey for both Turkcell and for other facilities as well. In his career, he worked in different telco companies and helped project teams for data center projects. With more than ten years of experience in the industry, he guides the teams for taking the next big steps. Before mentioning the achievements about digitalization in current company, should dictate that he also works in cooperation with telecommunication engineering people for certification and standardization of DC industry in Turkey. Currently, he is leading the EN50600 Certification processes with Turkish Standard Institution so the Data Centers in Turkey can apply the certification for EN50600. Why we call him Digital Manager? In Turkcell there are lots of digitalization projects lead by him and start to expand by time. We started with Turkcell Smart DC project to monitor and analyze data from all network data centers. This home-made DCIM software allows operators to monitor the systems continuously and get alarms if there is something goes off the road. Nejat helped and guided the project team from the planning phase all the way to the final product. With his vision and guidance, the team reached out many different aspects and views. Additionally, there are a couple of projects as well for monitoring racks with mobile applications and allow operators to watch the systems live from their phones. Also, suggested the team to use different RPA scenarios to make operator's life easier. Besides all the brain works with the teams and projects in engineering side, he is also very friendly and approachable leader both personally and as a colleague. We hope this award will be a small gesture from Data Center people to him and Turkish teams for the contribution to the industry in the region. Best regards.

Lars Egeland - Operation Engineer at Green Mountain
Summary: At the age of 26, Lars Egeland already has a long and impressive track record at Green Mountain. Starting as an apprentice and gradually receiving more responsibility and developing his skills. Today, he is a trusted Operation Engineer involved and responsible for many projects. Most recently, he has been the link between the operations team and the project team in a 2.5 MW expansion at our DC1-Stavanger mountain hall facility. This project included not only the expansion itself, but also a rewiring of the power supply and an upgrade of back-up generators. In addition, he has also had a central role in the upgrade of our fjord cooling solution, where we replaced all the existing sea water pumps. During his time at Green Mountain, he has also passed the exam for two different vocational certificates, as well as obtaining a higher professional degree in the field of electrical power. All while working full-time on our operations team. He sets a great example for his colleagues with his high professional integrity and in his eagerness to constantly evolve his competence. Role and projects: Lars Egeland is a member of the operations team at DC1, but very often he functions as the main link between the project team and the operations team. He is therefore involved from the start in new construction/expansion projects to make sure a smooth initiation of new data halls and an easy transfer to the operations team. He has a can-do attitude and takes great pride in doing his work thoroughly. Finding areas of improvement in all aspect of operation is a part of his DNA. As an example, he had a critical role in the recent 2.5 MW mountain hall expansion at DC1. The expansion was a TierIII built-to-suit project where we expanded an already existing data hall which was in full operation. Egeland was heavily involved in the commissioning of this data hall expansion. The project included connecting to the cooling distribution and high voltage power, including rewiring the power supply so that the data hall would have three separate power feeds. Changing from a 2N solution to a N + 1 solution with three UPS’s to support the full 5MW solution. Moreover, he was in involved in energizing new electrical equipment, upgrading the back-up power generators and of course numerous tests along the way. He has been involved in every stage of the planning and execution, making sure the project was completed successfully. Another project example is the extensive upgrade of our fjord cooling solution, where all sea water pumps were replaced. This process required a meticulous survey and planning phase as well as flawless execution. Once again, Egeland played an important part in making the project a success. Furthermore, "optimizing" is a key word when describing his way of working. Whether it is the regular generator tests or the energy consumption in a data room, Egeland always looks for smarter ways to do things. How to reduce time, energy, or risk, is always on his mind. Competence: Egeland started as an apprentice within the field of Automation in OneCo. (A company with core activities in electrical, automation, electric power, and telecom.) During his apprenticeship he worked at the Green Mountain DC1 site and therefore got to know our company early on. He was also contracted to work at DC1 after he completed his apprenticeship. In 2015, he was hired by Green Mountain and over the years he has proven to be a very valuable asset to the organization. He has also been keen to strengthen his competence to become more interdisciplinary. That is why he in 2019 passed the exam for his second vocational certificate, as an electrician. In addition, he obtained a higher professional degree in electrical power. This was a great addition to his certificate as an automatician and made him a more versatile employee. Furthermore, he has participated in plenty of courses through our internal "Green Academy". He shares his knowledge generously and is very open to help and support more inexperienced employees. External partners and vendors also give him their best reviews. Lars Egeland truly lives up to the core values of our company: • Customer in focus • Reliability and honesty • Knowledge • Enthusiasm Despite his young age, he has mastered complicated tasks and taken responsibility of complex projects. He has strengthened his competence by adding both formal education as well as a "learning by doing" attitude. But above all, his focus on quality and professionality is what has made him come this far in his career. Green Mountain is genuinely thankful for his contribution and hard work!

Jonathan Robinson-Hoare, Black and White Engineering (B&W)
Sustainability is the buzzword of the moment in the built environment sector, but here at Black & White (B&W), it’s not simply a design trend. It’s embedded across our entire business - from our specialist team of building physics experts to our design principles. It’s at the heart of all we do. We don’t just walk the walk when it comes to sustainable best practice, we talk the talk - and it’s a philosophy that has fuelled our rapid global growth over the past two years. Sustainability specialists B&W has created and developed a specific team of experts that’s focused solely on sustainability and building physics. Our depth of knowledge and experience in sustainability has been fundamental to positioning ourselves as the ‘go-to’ specialist MEP design consultancy not just regionally but globally too. Bolstered by our sustainability strength, we’ve experienced rapid global growth in the last two years. Our workforce is now a 300+ strong team, a 50% rise in 24 months. Our client base has expanded, and our turnover doubled and we’re currently a 10-million-pound revenue business. We’ve made our own pledge to sustainability, setting an ambitious target of becoming Net Zero Carbon by 2030. Sustainability at B&W encompasses more than just the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources. We believe that health and wellbeing and sustainability go hand in hand. The health and wellbeing of the occupants is considered by considering metrics such as daylight access, thermal comfort and air quality. We are, for example, working on a development called Warwick Building in London which is targeting certification under the WELL Building Standard using our own in-house WELL assessor. We embed sustainable design in all of our projects to determine the most efficient solution. Unique data centre expertise and first-class engineering team Our unique sustainability and building physics design expertise has also enabled us to carve out a specific strength in data centre design, differentiate our offering and lead from the front when it comes to creating more sustainable data centres. And our expertise comes from our first-class engineering team who are constantly raising the bar when it comes to industry-leading, innovative, sustainable data centre MEP design. One of engineers who has been truly instrumental in the successful delivery of B&W’s large-scale data centre projects, ensuring design concepts are fit for purpose and practically feasible, is Jonathan Robinson-Hoare. Jonathan’s hunger to learn and progress combined with his tenacity to seize professional development opportunities has led to him becoming a leader in our electrical engineering data centre design team. Jonathan continues to raise standards in multiple ways across the business. Whether it’s leading on innovative, game-changing data centre engineering design, supporting other engineers in their professional growth, or simply explaining how to do a job and do it exceedingly well, Jonathan shows up every single day, smashing targets and driving ever higher standards for us all. He’s determined, ambitious, switched on and skilled. Combine this with his excellent personal qualities of empathy, cooperation, positivity, and responsiveness, he encapsulates everything you need to become an incredible, intelligent and innovative engineer. His strive for excellence in design, in the workplace and for our clients has significantly supported our rapid growth. Specifically, he’s helped to generate over £2 million in turnover with two of our larger clients. Jonathan continues to go above and beyond to meet client requirements as well as his colleagues' needs too. B&W’s ‘client first’ ethos is fully engrained within his work, and he delivers the best possible service at all times. Even when he’s working against the odds whether that’s in terms of time, resource or other challenges that inevitably arise during a project, Jonathan always goes beyond client expectations. The difference with Jonathan is that he doesn’t see clients as clients but rather an extension of the B&W team. He’s constantly in touch with clients, updating them on projects and gaining feedback at each stage of the design process before moving to the next phase. He informs clients before they ask for an update. He predicts what they’ll need and by when. His ability to foresee situations also enables B&W to excel in delivery, going beyond client expectations time and time again. Innovative skillset With over 20 years of industry experience, Jonathan started out as an electrician in November 2001 and then progressed to managing electrical installations. From there, Jonathan moved into design consultancy in March 2014 as an electrical engineer. This provided entry into the specific MEP electrical engineering industry as well as the opportunity to gain hands-on practical experience. Jonathan graduated with a First-Class Honours in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (BEng) in 2017. He then became a lead electrical engineer on projects in 2016 with Patrick Parsons. In January 2019, he progressed to Principal Engineer before joining B&W in February 2020. Jonathan has a plethora of design experience including involvement in Electrical Power Management Systems (EPMS) and Building Automation Systems (BAS). In a short period - two years - Jonathan has risen through the B&W ranks to an Associate Director leading teams of electrical engineers on multiple data centre projects ranging from 8MWIT to 32MWIT. The impact Jonathan has had In the last year, Jonathan has led the electrical design for various data centre schemes ranging from concept to construction for a total of over 200 MWIT capacity. Jonathan has a sound knowledge of working in the 3D environment, using BIM techniques to ensure projects can be installed, maintained and future plant replaced without complications. His data centre specific experience includes a fundamental and outstanding knowledge of electrical engineering and how this influences the design and integration of electrical systems within a data centre, from MV/LV topology to UPS and generator systems. Leaving no stone unturned His hunger to learn and develop combined with his tenacity to seize professional development opportunities has led to Jonathan becoming a leader in our electrical engineering data centre design team. Jonathan works on our largest and most prominent data centre design projects where he is the key client contact. His role sees him travel globally to work closely with clients and he’s led projects across Europe and the UK. Jonathan’s ethos is centred around leaving ‘no stone unturned'. He will not accept any mediocre solution as a given, he’s always pushing, and always striving for the optimal result, the best solution, for B&W and our clients. He has strong working relationships with our clients and is able to get clients on board with new, innovative ideas and move away from pre-existing designs, which may not be optimal or provide the best, most efficient, sustainable or cost-effective solution for the client’s specific needs. Jonathan’s technical knowledge, passion and determination to do the best job he can for a client that meets their needs and benefits B&W too has always been his biggest strength. However, the most important skill he has learnt is how to transfer his knowledge and skills to others within the business and teach and train those entering the industry and joining B&W fresh from college or university. The Covid-19 lockdown tested Jonathan’s ability and skills to do this, where in-person interaction has been limited over a long period of time. However, Jonathan has excelled in mentoring, training and upskilling new B&W engineers through video calls, online presentations and remote workshops with new employees across the company, while also developing a specialist training programme for new starters, ensuring their professional development is a priority and they’re provided with the right amount of support, instruction and guidance even when working remotely. Jonathan’s ability to do this and take on a key mentorship role within the business has been fundamental to the growth and success of B&W in the last 24 months. By investing properly in new starters, providing effective on-the-job training, new and inexperienced employees have thrived and developed considerably despite not being able to collaborate, interact and share knowledge in person. B&W has provided Jonathan with dedicated leadership training, to both maximise his strengths and minimise blind spots in his leadership style which has greatly helped him in becoming the superb mentor he is today as he continues to train and manage a number of employees across our global team. Why should Jonathan win? Alongside leading multiple international data centre projects for B&W, Jonathan has also played a key role in the development and training of our other engineers. He’s a mentor in data centre electrical engineering design services and has successfully onboarded several new employees, with no prior data centre experience, developing them into highly skilled, data centre engineers. Jonathan has created and delivered specific training sessions on different aspects of data centre engineering design. He provides extremely useful opportunities for the team to develop within a supportive environment that ensures projects are delivered in accordance with B&W’s exceptionally high standards. Our focus at B&W is to develop a people-led strategy which is centred around our One Team approach. Jonathan embodies this through his daily mentorship of other employees, a skill he has worked hard to enhance, where he helps to equip his teammates with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed. Jonathan is outstanding at multitasking and fosters an ‘door open’ approach where any member of the team can ask a question, ask for help or seek guidance whenever they feel they need support or strategic direction.

Andy Hirst - Sudlows
Andy Hirst began his Sudlows career as an Electrical Manager and has since progressed through the business. In 2018 Andy was promoted to his current role of Managing Director of Critical Infrastructures, a role that involves overseeing the division in its entirety. Having over 35 years’ worth of experience in the electrical industry, Andy has been instrumental in transforming Sudlows from a £2m data cabling company to a multi-award winning £30m data centre infrastructure design and build company and continues to work closely with his fellow Directors to define the growth strategy and commercial direction of the business. Andy has achieved several industry and business accolades including being named among the top most influential people in the technology, media & telecoms sector by ‘Insider’ magazine, and has more recently need awarded the ‘Inspiration Award’ at the Networking Computing Awards. In 2019 Andy was awarded ‘Business Person of the Year’ at the Oldham Business Awards and most recently he was the proud recipient of this very award. Andy plays a critical role in the championing of energy efficiency and sustainability in the data centre industry, which attracted attention from a number of key trade event organisers across Singapore and Dubai, resulting in Sudlows being awarded, and successfully delivering data centre projects in multiple regions such as Dubai, Turkey, Saudi, Mumbai to name just a few, leading Andy to open Sudlows’ first international office in Dubai in 2014, followed by an Indian office which was opened in 2020. Recognising the need in the Data Centre industry to reduce emissions and be more mindful of the environment has led to Andy appointing Zac Potts to a new role of ‘Head of Sustainability & Innovation. Playing a crucial role as a mentor for Sudlows’ Design and Engineering Teams, Andy has helped Sudlows’ employees achieve some of the industry’s highest accolades including an IET Technician of the Year and a Young Mission Critical Engineer of the Year and most recently a Data Centre Solutions award for ‘Data Centre Engineer of the Year’. He has also trained, registered and takes an active part in mentoring young Engineers across the industry for the IET to work with them to receive incorporated status. Andy is a committed and active participant in the data centre community, for example, Andy was Chairman for the ECA (Electrical Contractors Association) for a number of years and has sat on multiple steering committees in the UK focusing on energy efficiency and ‘green’ data centres. Andy has also worked with the ECA to look at and promote gender diversity, upskilling and certifications along with quality standards within the mission critical sector. Andy is also committed to continuous professional development within the industry and is an ambassador for raising technical standards within the industry and as a result has achieved numerous professional qualifications and accreditations including his Uptime Institute Accredited Tier Designer status, CDCDP (Certified Data Centre Design Professional), HNC Building Services Engineering, HNC Electrical Engineering and has been an Incorporated Engineer (IEng) for a number of years. He is also a fellow of the IET (FIET). Andy has recently become one of the first people to achieve a Masters Degree in Data Centre Leadership and Management. Andy’s critical contribution has ensured that strategic growth is planned and controlled with significant investment in sourcing a high standard of Engineers and Designers in all disciplines around the data centre environment. This long term investment and managed growth has produced a Data Centre Team that consisted of just one person ten years ago, into an award winning division of 40 dedicated Designers, Planners and Specialists who manage over 150 Site Engineers. Andy has also been key in developing opportunities not only for Sudlows, but also on behalf of the UK data centre industry, as a whole, in international markets. Although the UK data centre market has seen significant growth over recent years, the global market opportunities have potential to grow exponentially. Andy has been profiled in several industry publications over the last year including being named by the “Insider” magazine as one of the top 33 most influential people in the technology, media & telecoms sector alongside well known industry figures such as Richard Tang, owner of Zen Internet and Stephen Wild, Managing Director of Media City. Andy also makes regular contributions to industry publications and is regularly invited to share his thoughts and opinions on the latest data centre industry trends, most notably in the publication Inside_Networks. On an academic level, Andy researches into new green technologies especially focused around the field of carbon reduction. His ambition is to constantly improve efficiencies and resilience around these critical products and as such this takes him around the country, Europe and even globally. It would be a great honour for Andy to win this award for the second consecutive year and to have his achievements and commitments to the data centre industry recognised at an awards dedicated to what he is so passionate about.

Chris Williams - Global Alliance Director
Chris began his CBRE career as an Operations Manager in 2016 and his progression over the years has been at a tremendous pace. His recent promotion to Global Alliance Director ensures alignment between our organisation and our global clients to maximize value creation while ensuring excellence in operational delivery. It is a role that involves overseeing the division in its entirety. Chris is a a seasoned leader, who has a track record of managing large account teams across multiple regions which is critical in fulfilling our commitments to our client. In addition to him driving innovation and delivering exceptional results in contracts both in the UK and Europe, being the visionary that he is he saw the need for data centre engineers and decided to start a program of educating the educators by letting them know that companies out there like CBRE are looking for young bright minds to enter this industry at apprenticeship and internship levels. He put together a CBRE Knowledge team of 30 which comprised of Engineers, Graduates, Coordinators, Managers, Apprentices and took them present their diverse stories to the 6th Form of Southbank University Academy. The objective was to let the kids know there are other options out there especially if there is no financial capability to attend University. CBRE have apprenticeships, internships and a graduate program which allows students to gain the essential knowledge and skills needed to thrive in technical careers within the data centre sector. He saw the gap in the data centre market and he aims to fill it with young, curious minds. This pioneering CBRE Knowledge Group founded by Chris is expected to travel to more schools in low income areas to continue to educate school leavers about the opportunities in the data centre industry. Ultimately CBRE and similar companies will reap the reward of a well-stocked talent pipeline Continuing on from his involvement with the schools, he also is our CBRE representative in the University Training College (UTC) Heathrow's newly unveiled Digital Futures Programme – an exciting curriculum aimed at giving students the best possible start to a career within the Data Centre Industry. In addition to his full-time role as Global Alliance Director and his helping children navigate their way through school and into employment he is involved with numerous support groups and reverse mentoring programs. Chris's contribution to the data centre industry is remarkable purely because he is solutioning the shortage of skills in the data centre industry and trying to make it more appealing to the younger generation especially since student debt is a contentious topic. His aim is to incentivise our next generation to train in areas which are plainly suffering from shortages.