Death, taxes and rack power density
While not as certain as death and taxes, there are signs that high-density racks will finally become more commonplace thanks to AI and other compute intensive workloads.
Estimating the energy use in Bitcoin mining: A near-impossible task and a moving target
Headlines over the past several months addressing energy use and Bitcoin mining would have one believe the world’s supply of power is about to be devoted solely to large computers trying to solve complex algorithms in the global pursuit of profit. Is this really the case?
Staying secure - Why security continues to be of paramount importance for data centers
You can find data centers in all sorts of places these days. As well as lurking in anonymous grey sheds on the edge of town, they're underground, up mountains, on ships, even underwater. The reasons for this plethora of seemingly bizarre choices of location are many and varied but security is clearly a key driver, and from what I can see - an increasing one.
Regtech promises a future with agile compliance and smarter regulation
The digital technology era has brought us adtech, fintech, fittech, medtech and many more buzzwords. A new one has grown in popularity over the last year or so: Regtech.
Heavy metal and tag lines – Rumours from the trade show floor
On the cusp of spring I regularly refresh my GPU technology suntan at the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose. This year was fascinating as the speed and scale of both AI and Virtual Reality industries has leapt forward. Here are my takeaways...
Clean air takes fresh thinking
You might think that the issue of air purity in data centers is done and dusted, so to speak. We all know how to handle electronics, and the dust and pollutants in air are well understood. However it turns out that air contamination is a live issue and attempts to clean up other parts of the data center environment could have unintended consequences on the atmosphere inside the data center.
Deep learning for autonomous cars
Since Sebastian Thrum and his team used machine learning to win the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2005, machine learning and deep learning have been an integral part of developing autonomous vehicle technology. Great progress is being made, but complex questions remain. My latest blog looks at these issues.
Next generation energy storage solutions: An emerging option for enhancing data center reliability
For years, data centers have been haunted by the threat of power outages and the associated costs of such events. This situation is getting worse, with the most recent numbers from a 2016 report by the Ponemon Institute indicating that the average costs of a data center outage rose from $505,500 in 2010 to over $740,000 in 2015, while the maximum cost increased from $1.0 million to $2.4 million. How can next generation energy storage solutions help?
The edge could be a winning card for telcos
For some time now, I’ve been trying to talk more about “digital infrastructure” than “data centers”. That’s because the connections that link data centers, their users and other resources such as power, are just as important as the servers and infrastructure inside the buildings. When it comes to the 'Edge' - new, exciting opportunities could exist for telecommunications providers...
How HPC is underpinning amazing advances in land, sea and space observation
In previous Verne Global blogs we’ve explored how HPC is being used throughout industry to make cars both faster and safer, to discover new materials and to advance bioinformatics. HPC has made many equally important contributions to the science of understanding our earth and the solar system around us, and it's an understanding that’s become increasingly important in the age of anthropogenic climate change.
Data center cooling - it’s time to go with the (air) flow
The direction of travel for the industry should be away from tightly controlled cooling to a more easygoing approach.
Sustainable energy: Iceland's Kárahnjúkar hydro project receives solid marks in comprehensive assessment
In July last year, we wrote about Iceland’s sizeable renewable resources, and the philosophy of responsible entrepreneurialism, specifically as it applied to an integrated geothermal industrial park and the intensive energy industries that utilise such a abundant and sustainable power profile.
Creating one team - Treating partners like your customers
Late in 2017 I told our senior leadership team that I wanted to make our partners part of our customer success programme. As with everything “Verne Global” the support was unwavering and I was asked to outline what that might look like for 2018. Having just drawn up my goals for this year its far easier to describe exactly how that’s going to happen...