Data centre
Deciding where and how to build and operate a datacentre is one of the most important decisions your organisation will make. This section covers how to build a solid datacentre infrastructure, including selecting the right location to build your new facility, best practices for designing a new datacentre, and cooling and air flow techniques. Learn about green IT, data management systems, servers and operating systems.
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Feature
28 May 2025
AI and compliance: What are the risks?
We look at the areas of risk in artificial intelligence. Potential exposures abound, and include security and privacy issues, bias, accuracy and complete fabrication of results Continue Reading
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News
28 May 2025
DSIT tells Ofcom to prepare to expand regulatory remit to include datacentres
During a recent audience with the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, Ofcom confirmed preparations are underway for it to start regulating the datacentre sector Continue Reading
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News
27 Mar 2025
Microsoft’s ‘fraying relationship’ with OpenAI blamed for datacentre expansion plan rollback
US analyst TD Cowen publishes research note pointing to further rollbacks on Microsoft’s datacentre expansion plans Continue Reading
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Opinion
27 Mar 2025
Can regulatory oversight alone unlock cloud competition?
CCS Insight’s Bola Rotibi looks at the Competition and Markets Authority’s plans to regulate the public cloud Continue Reading
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News
27 Mar 2025
Research team demonstrates certified quantum randomness
A 56-qubit trapped ion quantum computer from Quantinuum has demonstrated quantum supremacy as a random number generator Continue Reading
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News
27 Mar 2025
Selangor teams up with Google Cloud on AI
The Teraju AI Selangor initiative will provide state agencies with access to Google Cloud’s AI tools and training to build AI applications in areas such as education and healthcare Continue Reading
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News
26 Mar 2025
Chancellor Rachel Reeves to use AI to catch wealthy tax dodgers
HMRC’s use of artificial intelligence is one of many initiatives outlined in Chancellor’s Spring Statement Continue Reading
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Definition
26 Mar 2025
What is a virtual hard disk (VHD)?
A virtual hard disk (VHD) is a disk image file format for storing the entire contents of a computer's hard drive. Continue Reading
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News
26 Mar 2025
Oracle bets big on AI, drives Australian business transformation
At the Oracle CloudWorld Tour in Sydney, Oracle executives talked up the company’s strategy to integrate AI across its entire technology stack, empowering Australian businesses to move beyond experimentation and into practical AI-driven solutions Continue Reading
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News
25 Mar 2025
Public Accounts Committee calls out legacy IT
Unsupported and out-of-date software and hardware are hindering the government’s artificial intelligence plans for the public sector Continue Reading
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News
25 Mar 2025
Interview: The role of IT innovation at Royal Ballet and Opera
We speak to the Royal Ballet and Opera’s head of IT delivery, Keith Nolan, about how IT lowers costs and helps power stage innovations for world-class performances Continue Reading
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E-Zine
25 Mar 2025
NHS England scrapped – and what that means for health service digitisation
In this week’s Computer Weekly, we examine the impact of scrapping NHS England on the health service’s long road to digital modernisation. We look at real-life examples of how digital twins are helping to improve manufacturing and urban infrastructure. And we analyse the options for datacentre expansion, from cloud to colocation and on-premise. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
24 Mar 2025
Storage players ride the Nvidia bus at GTC 2025
As artificial intelligence’s big beast holds its annual shindig, storage firms line up to launch everything from new array products to validations, certifications and vague ideas around data ecosystems Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Mar 2025
Cloud, colocation or on-premise? Consider all options
When it comes to datacentres, every option should be considered Continue Reading
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News
23 Mar 2025
How Jetstar is tapping data analytics
Low-cost carrier Jetstar is using the Snowflake data platform to optimise the number of meals to carry onboard and to generate flight schedules, among other data analytics initiatives to improve its operations Continue Reading
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Podcast
21 Mar 2025
Podcast: How customers use multi-cloud and mitigate key challenges
We talk to Vawlt CEO Ricardo Mendes about the key challenges of multi-cloud operations, and how customers can mitigate the security, billing and complexity challenges they face Continue Reading
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Podcast
21 Mar 2025
IT in opera and ballet: A Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast
We speak to Keith Nolan, head of technology delivery, Royal Ballet and Opera about using IT to save money Continue Reading
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News
20 Mar 2025
Hyperscale datacentre capacities continue to rise off back of AI boom
Market data from Synergy Research Group confirms that artificial intelligence is fuelling growth of datacentres in both number and capacity terms Continue Reading
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News
20 Mar 2025
The datacentre energy deficit: How worried should operators be about power outages?
The UK government’s plans to lower the barriers to new datacentre developments has left industry watchers querying how all these server farms will be powered. But are they worrying about nothing? Continue Reading
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News
20 Mar 2025
NAS storage: TrueNAS aims to make it big in Europe
Aimed at the SME market, but with NAS systems that go to tens of petabytes, iXsystems brings dual controllers, NVMe and hybrid flash, AI-capable storage, and container support Continue Reading
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News
19 Mar 2025
How Telefónica avoided VMware price hike
While some some organisations look for alternatives to VMware, Telefónica Germany has taken a different approach based on third-party support Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Mar 2025
HPE storage battles hard and smart in challenging market
Storage profile: We look at HPE, which has slipped in the storage supplier rankings, but brings a full range of AI-era storage over a mature cloud and consumption model offer Continue Reading
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News
18 Mar 2025
Digital Realty enters Indonesia through joint venture
New joint venture, Digital Realty Bersama, will develop and operate datacentres across Indonesia to meet the increasing demand for digital infrastructure in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy Continue Reading
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News
18 Mar 2025
Largest ever cyber deal reflects Google’s CNAPP ambitions
In a signal of its future ambitions, Google lays down $32bn to acquire cloud-native application protection platform Wiz, reflecting the increasing need to secure multicloud environments Continue Reading
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News
18 Mar 2025
AI pushes data storage need but UK firms struggle to manage it
The rise of AI means potentially almost any corporate data could be useful, but has led to ballooning data volumes and organisations spending more on storage and energy Continue Reading
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E-Zine
18 Mar 2025
UK under-prepared for catastrophic cyber attack
In this week’s Computer Weekly, MPs have been told the UK is under-prepared to cope with a catastrophic cyber attack – we find out where the problems lie. Our new buyer’s guide assesses the challenges of datacentre capacity planning. And one of the UK’s most successful businessmen, Sir Martin Sorrell, gives his view on the risks and opportunities of AI. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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Feature
17 Mar 2025
Space and power constrain datacentre planning
The government needs to tackle the resource issues that act as roadblocks to building out UK datacentre capacity Continue Reading
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News
17 Mar 2025
How Oracle is using AI to combat financial crime
The tech giant is leveraging artificial intelligence to surface fraudulent financial transactions and improve the efficiency of financial crime investigations, offering relief to banks battling high costs and alert fatigue Continue Reading
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16 Mar 2025
Space and power constrain datacentre planning
The government needs to tackle the resource issues that act as roadblocks to building out UK datacentre capacity. Continue Reading
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News
14 Mar 2025
AI Action Summit review: Differing views cast doubt on AI’s ability to benefit whole of society
Governments, companies and civil society groups gathered at the third global AI summit to discuss how the technology can work for the benefit of everyone in society, but experts say competing imperatives mean there is no guarantee these visions will win out Continue Reading
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Opinion
14 Mar 2025
Where next for cloud market regulation in Europe?
Competition in the cloud market is a hot topic, but are things heading in the right direction? Continue Reading
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Blog Post
14 Mar 2025
The pros and cons of enterprise refurbished tech use
Refurbished tech won’t solve the e-waste epidemic, only better business planning and hardware management will, according to Leo Poggiali, Founder and CEO of IT leasing firm Ooodles, in this guest ... Continue Reading
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Definition
12 Mar 2025
What is a disaster recovery plan (DRP)?
A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a documented, structured approach that describes how an organization can quickly resume operations after an unplanned incident. Continue Reading
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Opinion
12 Mar 2025
IT Sustainability Think Tank: Environmental trends to redefine IT strategies in 2025
Sustainability has shifted from a buzzword to a business imperative. It is no longer just a tick-box exercise – it is now a central pillar shaping the future of enterprise strategy, according to Gartner. Continue Reading
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News
11 Mar 2025
Report hails benefits of ‘socially integrating’ datacentres into local communities
Research report, featuring input from datacentre market stakeholders and sociological experts, makes case for socially integrating server farms into society Continue Reading
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Tip
11 Mar 2025
6 sustainable resources to power data centers
Data centers are using clean energy to sustainably run parts of the facility. Six sustainable energy options to consider are solar, wind, nuclear, tidal, hydrogen and geothermal. Continue Reading
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News
11 Mar 2025
Pure aims at AI beyond the enterprise with FlashBlade//Exa
FlashBlade//Exa targets use cases between the enterprise and hyperscalers with a disaggregated architecture and its DFM flash modules to be available separately for the first time Continue Reading
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E-Zine
11 Mar 2025
Digitally mapping the world
In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how digital twins are mapping our planet to guide strategic decisions such as environmental policies. Liverpool City Council explains how a digital overhaul will transform customer experience. And we find out what it takes to become a cyber security entrepreneur. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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Opinion
10 Mar 2025
2024: the year misconfigurations exposed digital vulnerabilities
Small configuration errors cascaded into major outages during 2024. Mike Hicks, from Cisco ThousandEyes, propounds techniques to defend digital resilience against tales of the unexpected Continue Reading
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Feature
10 Mar 2025
The way ahead: Getting IT sustainability initiatives back on track to net zero
The past 12 months have seen a host of enterprises quietly scale back on their net-zero commitments, but are they overlooking the business benefits of embracing greener operations? Continue Reading
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News
07 Mar 2025
Latest Alibaba AI model demos AI improvements
The latest model from Chinese public cloud provider Alibaba shows how reinforced learning is driving AI efficiency Continue Reading
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News
07 Mar 2025
Interview: Madoc Batters, head of cloud and IT security, Warner Leisure Hotels
The hotel chain has embarked on a major cloud migration programme to improve innovation and enhance the security of its network and applications Continue Reading
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Tip
06 Mar 2025
8 IaC configuration file editors for admins to consider
Configuration files are essential for app and OS functionality but managing them at scale can be challenging. Here are eight editors for admins to consider for their IaC setup. Continue Reading
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News
06 Mar 2025
European cloud providers unite over data sovereignty-focused API
Three of the continent’s cloud providers have joined forces to create an API that will make it easier for users to move apps, data and workloads from one European provider’s platform to another Continue Reading
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Definition
06 Mar 2025
What is a green data center?
A green data center is a repository for the storage, processing, management and dissemination of data in which the physical space and the mechanical and electrical subsystems are designed to maximize energy efficiency and minimize the environmental impact. Continue Reading
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News
06 Mar 2025
Going beyond search: Elastic’s observability and security play
Elastic’s chief product officer Ken Exner talks up the company’s expansion into observability and security and how it balances innovation with community contributions and monetisation Continue Reading
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Feature
05 Mar 2025
Dell still tops the pile as it deepens enterprise storage offer
The US giant is top dog in revenue and market share as its storage array range – still largely EMC-derived – deepens its cloud, containers and as-a-service options Continue Reading
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Definition
04 Mar 2025
What is root cause analysis?
Root cause analysis (RCA) is a method for understanding the underlying cause of an observed or experienced incident. Continue Reading
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Definition
04 Mar 2025
What is data center infrastructure management (DCIM)?
Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) is the convergence of IT infrastructure, operations and building facilities functions within an organization. Continue Reading
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News
04 Mar 2025
Nutanix event shows massive interest in VMware migration
A recent event held by VMware rival Nutanix attracted many people new to the hyperconverged infrastructure provider Continue Reading
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E-Zine
04 Mar 2025
Cutting the costs of AI
In this week’s Computer Weekly, we analyse how the emergence of the DeepSeek AI model shows how the cost of deploying artificial intelligence is coming down. Samsung put a UK tech startup at the heart of its latest flagship smartphone launch – we talk to its founder. And we look at a transport industry project looking to optimise road haulage to reduce carbon emissions. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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04 Mar 2025
DeepSeek-R1: Budgeting challenges for on-premise deployments
The availability of the DeepSeek-R1 large language model shows it’s possible to deploy artificial intelligence on modest hardware. But that’s only half the story Continue Reading
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Tip
03 Mar 2025
Tidal energy for data centers: A sustainable power option
Tidal energy offers a sustainable and dependable power source for data centers. It reduces carbon emissions and operational costs but raises environmental and logistical concerns. Continue Reading
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News
03 Mar 2025
CMA urged to expedite proposed ‘targeted interventions’ against AWS and Microsoft
AWS has doubled-down on its claim that subjecting it to targeted curbs to bolster competition in the UK cloud market is an unwarranted step, while its rivals call on the CMA to speed up the process Continue Reading
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News
02 Mar 2025
AWS boosts telco cloud offerings with new Outposts
Amazon Web Services debuts new Outposts racks and servers that extend its infrastructure to the edge to support network intensive workloads and cloud radio access applications Continue Reading
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Definition
28 Feb 2025
What is a watering hole attack?
A watering hole attack is a security exploit in which the attacker seeks to compromise a specific group of end users by infecting websites that members of the group are known to visit. Continue Reading
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Definition
28 Feb 2025
What is a farad (F)?
A farad (F) is the standard unit of electrical capacitance (C) in the International System of Units. It indicates the ability of a substance to hold an electrical charge. Continue Reading
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Blog Post
27 Feb 2025
F5 AppWorld 2025: Day #2 keynote & live show report
The Computer Weekly Developer Network team is at F5 AppWorld 2025. News emanating from the show that we have not yet covered includes several new solutions and capabilities that the company says ... Continue Reading
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Tip
27 Feb 2025
How data centers can help balance the electrical grid
Data centers consume 1% of global electricity. To ease grid pressure, data centers should use renewable energy, partner with power companies and manage demand during peak times. Continue Reading
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News
27 Feb 2025
Nvidia CEO claims reasoning models will boost GPU demand
The availability of the DeepSeek-R1 model resulted in a big drop in Nvidia’s share price, but CEO Jensen Huang believes this is just a blip Continue Reading
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Opinion
27 Feb 2025
Money wasted on cloud inhibiting growth
Australian firms are pouring billions into cloud services, but a lack of visibility is leading to significant wasted spending as AI adoption grows Continue Reading
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Blog Post
26 Feb 2025
F5 AppWorld 2025: Day #1 keynote & live show report
F5 kicked off its AppWorld 2025 conference this week in Las Vegas with a keynote introduced and delivered by François Locoh-Donou, president and CEO of F5. Talking about the demands of building ... Continue Reading
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Tip
26 Feb 2025
How much energy do data centers consume?
High energy consumption continues to be an issue for data centers with the rise in AI use, but organizations are moving to energy-efficient systems to manage their power usage. Continue Reading
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Feature
26 Feb 2025
VMware vSAN Max: What you need to know
We look at VMware vSAN Max storage – its best use cases, how to deploy it and on what hardware, the alternatives, and considerations in light of VMware’s Broadcom takeover Continue Reading
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News
25 Feb 2025
Singapore rolls out guidelines to bolster cloud and datacentre resilience
New advisory guidelines to enhance resilience and security of cloud services and datacentres in Singapore amid potential service disruptions and growing cyber threats Continue Reading
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News
25 Feb 2025
Quantum innovation balances on commercial tightrope
While there is plenty of innovation in quantum technology, the industry needs greater collaboration to develop commercially viable systems Continue Reading
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24 Feb 2025
An action plan for net zero compatible with budget constraints
Economic pressures mean we should think innovatively about emissions reduction, industry players tell Computer Weekly Continue Reading
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Definition
24 Feb 2025
What is storage virtualization?
Storage virtualization is the pooling of physical storage from multiple storage devices into what appears to be a single storage device or pool of available storage capacity. Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Feb 2025
An action plan for net zero compatible with budget constraints
Economic pressures mean we should think innovatively about emissions reduction, industry players tell Computer Weekly Continue Reading
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Blog Post
20 Feb 2025
Challenges faced by women in the datacentre industry and how to overcome them
In this guest post, Sarah Draper, general counsel and chief risk officer at colocation giant Telehouse Europe, opens up about the challenges women face in the workplace when fighting to get their ... Continue Reading
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News
20 Feb 2025
Microsoft overcomes quantum barrier with new particle
It has taken 20 years of development, but researchers now have a device that can scale to millions of qubits without errors rising exponentially Continue Reading
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Feature
20 Feb 2025
Kubernetes: Navigating the pitfalls and pathways to success
Nutanix’s APAC chief technology officer outlines the lessons learned by enterprises adopting Kubernetes, from avoiding cloud lock-in to mastering lifecycle management, and bridging the gap between legacy and cloud-native skillsets Continue Reading
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Definition
20 Feb 2025
What is function as a service (FaaS)?
Function as a service (FaaS) is a cloud computing model that enables cloud customers to develop applications and deploy functionalities and only be charged when the functionality executes. Continue Reading
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Blog Post
19 Feb 2025
Budget flexibility for on-prem AI
Consider an organisation that, understandably, wants to ensure its customer data and intellectual property is kept as safe as possible, assessing how to “do AI”. It is easy to assume everyone is ... Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Feb 2025
5 data center trends to watch in 2025
Data center trends for 2025 focus on sustainability and AI, highlighting energy demand, hyperscale data centers, innovative cooling methods, sustainable energy and edge computing. Continue Reading
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News
19 Feb 2025
ARM and Meta: Plotting a path to dilute GPU capacity
Meta wants to make artificial intelligence available to everyone who uses its platforms, but scaling AI to over one billion people is not going to be cheap Continue Reading
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News
18 Feb 2025
DeepSeek-R1: Budgeting challenges for on-premise deployments
The availability of the DeepSeek-R1 large language model shows it’s possible to deploy artificial intelligence on modest hardware. But that’s only half the story Continue Reading
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News
18 Feb 2025
EY: Industrial companies worldwide stunted in emerging technology use
Businesses globally are spending more on emerging technologies year-on-year, but struggle to expand experimental use cases, finds EY’s sixth annual Reimagining Industry Futures study Continue Reading
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News
18 Feb 2025
South Korea plots to become home to world’s largest AI datacentre
Construction of a datacentre that is projected to be 3GW in size is set to start later this year in South Korea Continue Reading
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Feature
17 Feb 2025
AI models explained: The benefits of open source AI models
In this guide, we explore how to get started with open source AI models and go over how they support your enterprise IT strategy Continue Reading
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Tip
13 Feb 2025
How to use data center wind turbines for sustainable energy
Wind power is a promising way for data centers to cut carbon footprints. Despite challenges, evolving technology offers efficient turbines for substantial electricity generation. Continue Reading
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News
13 Feb 2025
EU looks to ramp up sovereign tech as Trump trade war begins
Trump’s trade war is now looking at the EU, with tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. Could US tech be in the firing line? Continue Reading
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News
12 Feb 2025
Amazon opens Asia-Pacific hub in Singapore
Amazon has launched a 360,000 sq ft Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore, housing both Amazon and AWS employees Continue Reading
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Opinion
12 Feb 2025
Entrepreneurship with a conscience - the new mandate for tech leaders
Technology leaders are entrepreneurs too - innovating to transform their organisations. But the nature of entrepreneurial leadership has changed, with ethics and social responsibility now taking centre stage Continue Reading
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News
12 Feb 2025
Cisco: We will get better on AI power consumption
At Cisco Live EMEA in Amsterdam, Cisco execs shared their thoughts on the developing issues around how artificial intelligence is affecting datacentre power consumption Continue Reading
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News
12 Feb 2025
Cisco Live EMEA: Network supplier tightens AI embrace
At its annual EMEA show, Cisco tech leadership unveiled a raft of new products, services and features designed to help customers do more with artificial intelligence Continue Reading
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Definition
11 Feb 2025
What is a supercomputer?
A supercomputer is a highly advanced computer that performs at or near the highest operational rate for computers. Continue Reading
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News
11 Feb 2025
New componentry extends NetApp ASA and E-series block storage
One-time king of the filers adds anti-ransomware to its more recent block storage families, while also adding in an extra FAS array, all on the back of upgraded components Continue Reading
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11 Feb 2025
Digging into the CMA’s provisional take on AWS and Microsoft’s hold on UK cloud market
Amazon Web Services and Microsoft have not taken kindly to the Competition and Markets Authority’s suggestion that their dominant hold on the UK cloud market requires a targeted intervention Continue Reading
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E-Zine
11 Feb 2025
A two-horse race? Competition concerns cloud AWS and Microsoft
In this week’s Computer Weekly, Microsoft and AWS don’t like it, but the UK competition watchdog says their hold on the cloud market is cause for concern. We talk to AutoTrader’s CEO about how to become a digital business. And we go behind the scenes at Zoom to see how AI will revolutionise the former lockdown success story. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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Answer
10 Feb 2025
3 Best Practices to Protect Backups from Ransomware
Backing up data is one way to guard against threats such as ransomware, but attacks designed to infect backups can compromise data protection efforts. Continue Reading
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Tip
10 Feb 2025
Data center temperature and humidity guidelines
ASHRAE maintains a recommended list of humidity and temperature level standards for data centers. Discover which range of guidelines is best for each equipment class. Continue Reading
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News
10 Feb 2025
UK government under fire over public sector guidance on using overseas clouds
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s recently published guidance on supporting public sector bodies with adopting a multi-region cloud strategy is facing criticism Continue Reading
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Definition
07 Feb 2025
What is physical security and how does it work?
Physical security protects personnel, hardware, software, networks, facilities and data from physical actions and events that could cause serious loss or damage to an enterprise, agency or institution. Continue Reading
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News
07 Feb 2025
AWS sees full-year profit and revenue growth as AI and public cloud demand soars
Amazon Web Services (AWS) reports full-year results and reveals capital expenditure toll the AI boom will take on its business in 2025 Continue Reading
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News
05 Feb 2025
Google Cloud revenue soars as Alphabet continues to ride AI wave
Alphabet’s fourth-quarter results revealed a 30% increase in revenue for the company’s cloud arm, fuelled by demand for its artificial intelligence offerings Continue Reading
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Tip
05 Feb 2025
How do CPU, GPU and DPU differ from one another?
Data centers use three varieties of processing units: CPU, GPU and DPU. Learn the unique uses for each and how to use them in conjunction to speed up data center workloads. Continue Reading
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News
05 Feb 2025
APAC organisations to ramp up tech spending in 2025
Organisations across the region are prioritising cyber security, customer experience and application development, even as they navigate cloud repatriation and a growing skills gap in AI and security Continue Reading
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News
05 Feb 2025
Digging into the CMA’s provisional take on AWS and Microsoft’s hold on UK cloud market
Amazon Web Services and Microsoft have not taken kindly to the Competition and Markets Authority’s suggestion that their dominant hold on the UK cloud market requires a targeted intervention Continue Reading
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News
04 Feb 2025
DSIT issues guidance to support public sector hosting of cloud workloads in overseas datacentres
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has issued guidance to support public sector organisations that want to host workloads and applications in overseas datacentres for cost and resilience reasons Continue Reading
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Feature
04 Feb 2025
Quantum datacentre deployments: How they are supporting evolving compute projects
Quantum datacentre deployments are emerging worldwide, so what are they and where are the benefits? Continue Reading
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Feature
04 Feb 2025
All change: Weighing up the options for enterprises as open source licences evolve
Software suppliers have been rowing back on open-source licensing. Will enterprises with datacentres have to change their software approach? Continue Reading