An IBM research lab in Almaden, California is working on a storage repository that offers a colossal 120-petabytes of capacity. 120 petabytes translates to 120 million gigabytes. The data repository consists of some 200,000 conventional hard drives. The repository is expected to be able to store around one trillion files and will likely provide the necessary space for detailed simulations of real-world phenomena.

Dell has announced it has finalised its acquisition of Force10 Networks, a leader in high-performance data centre networking. The Force10 acquisition is Dell’s latest investment to broaden its networking portfolio to deliver its Virtual Network Services Infrastructure. Dell expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings in the second half of next year.

GO has registered an operating profit of €9.2 million during the first six months of 2011, a reduction of €2 million from the operating profit of €11.2 million in 2010.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change is looking for a single supplier to provide IT services to support its GB Smart Metering Implementation Programme with a contract worth up to £240 million. The Department of Energy and Climate Change is acting on behalf of the yet-to-be-formed Central Data and Communications Company, which will be the hub for information coming to and from smart metering devices in homes and businesses. The DECC hopes to find a single supplier to offer three sets of services for up to 9 years.

Imtech is acquiring the Swedish ICT company Qbranch. This acquisition is Imtech's first step on the market of ICT in Sweden and is part of the strategic growth plan 2015, to build a strong ICT position in the Nordic region (Sweden, Norway and Finland). With 480 employees, Qbranch is expecting to realise revenues of around €60 million in 2011. The acquisition will be paid in cash and will directly contribute to the earnings per share.

European Commission lawyers have blocked the publication of proposals to tackle extraordinary levels of waste in its €500 million IT budget.

To meet continuing strong customer demand for its IT infrastructure solutions in Latin America, Terremark, a Verizon Company, has announced the latest expansion of its São Paulo, Brazil data centre, the Network Access Point (NAP) do Brasil. As part of the expansion, Terremark took over operation of the entire 185,000-sq ft data centre facility, adding 15,000sq ft of raised floor space to its current operations. This expansion makes the NAP do Brasil – which is capable of housing approximately 100,000 servers – one of the largest multi-tenant data centres in the region.

Virtual Infrastructure Professionals is to spend NZ$250,000 on creating data storage services in Hastings in the next three months, and will then look for a larger, permanent data centre in Hawke’s Bay with a tier 2.5 or higher rating. VIP says Hastings fibre company UnisonFibre’s fibre network was the impetus for the move. Although UnisonFibre bid for the Hawke's Bay ultra-fast broadband contract, but lost out to Chorus, it has established a fibre loop which serves business customers.

Smiths Group, the FTSE 100 technology giant behind airport X-ray and medical scanners, has pinned its hopes on power distribution for digital data centres and alternative energy as a new fast-growth sector.

Plans for a new US$500 million office and data centre building for the Social Security Administration have moved a step closer. Rick Boyle, vice president of Natelli Communities in Gaithersburg, developer of the Urbana Corporate Center, has confirmed that the SSA bought the land in Urban, Frederick County.

According to the local Board of Commissioners, the SSA selected the Urbana Corporate Center location in Frederick after evaluating more than 150 sites.

The Global cloud computing market is forecast to grow from US$12.3 billion to US$42 billion by 2014 at compound annual growth rate of 27.7%, compared to 5% CAGR of traditional information technology service market, according to Taiwan’s Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute under the Institute for Information Industry.

Virgin Media Business has won a contract worth in excess of £100 million to upgrade the backhaul infrastructure for Everything Everywhere and 3UK's combined mobile networks.

Technology firm ANS Group has shrugged off the impact of public spending cuts by posting a 50% rise in annual profits, and said it was on track to grow revenues from £29.4m to £40m this year. ANS Group, based at Manchester Science Parks, benefited from the acquisition of Stockport's Alpha Business Computers last October and saw strong organic growth in the 12 months to March 31, said chairman Scott Fletcher. Group turnover increased by £16.1m to £29.4m, a rise of 12% , while pre-tax profits surged from £1m to £1.5m.

The government's procurement arm, Buying Solutions, is looking for suppliers for up to £2 billion worth of services for the Public Services Network (PSN), the communications infrastructure for local councils and Whitehall departments.

Digital Realty Trust, a leading global provider of data centre solutions, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of 162 and 163 Radnor Drive, a 30,250 sq m development site, in Melbourne, Australia for a purchase price of approximately AU $4.1 million. This represents the second acquisition in Australia for Digital Realty Trust.

Boustead Singapore has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Boustead Projects Pte Ltd, has been awarded an S$11 million contract to build an integrated Asia Pacific regional data centre. It added that the facility is for a Fortune 100 transnational healthcare and pharmaceutical corporation located at Tuas Biomedical Park (TBP) II.

The data centre will be constructed beside the existing manufacturing plant at the TBP II and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2012.

Source: Channel News

President Benigno Aquino III has ruled out the revival of the controversial national broadband project entered into by the Arroyo administration. Although Aquino recognized the need for such information technology infrastructure, the President is not keen to revive the deal with China's ZTE Corporation, which was said to be overpriced. In a separate report, two government officials said the proposed government broadband network - similar but cheaper than NBN - is not being rushed although the government is setting its sights on developing a robust but cheap IT infrastructure.

Pacnet has announced that it has commenced construction of its latest Data Landing Station (DLS) in Hong Kong which will boost its data centre hosting capabilities with direct high-speed connectivity into its regional subsea cable infrastructure.

Engineering consultancy Meinhardt was appointed to lead the design, and the main contract for the construction of the DLS was awarded to data center construction specialist, New Tech. Other vendors awarded supply contracts include Emerson, which will provide critical power systems to the DLS.

IBM, the world's largest tech services company, has renegotiated its outsourcing contract with Vodafone Essar and signed an extended deal estimated at around US$1 billion to manage IT systems for the country's third-biggest phone firm till 2017.

BT has merged three standalone businesses into a single IT services unit with annual turnover of £400 million. “BT Retail has announced a new £400m business created from the integration of three standalone businesses: Engage IT (an IT service provider), BT Business Direct and dabs.com that sell and manage IT services across different market segments,” said a BT spokesperson.

SCC has expanded its French operation after acquiring Boulogne-based IT services outfit LNA for an undisclosed sum. The deal for the €66 million turnover business widens the sales gap with SCC's archrival Computacenter, which forked out  €21million for Top Info SAS earlier this year to cement its position as the third-largest dealer in France.

Founded in 1998, LNA is mostly in the infrastructure services and storage markets, but also has tentacles in telecoms, networking, IT maintenance and print services.

Source: Channel Register

Shivaji University is going to set up a central data centre for strengthening the varsity’s digital infrastructure. It will cost around Rs3 crore, of which Rs1 crore will be spent on computer-related material.”

SU vice chancellor, NJ Pawar, said the Union government’s department of science and technology has sanctioned Rs1 crore under the scheme, promotion of university research and scientific excellence. “The central data centre has already been set up at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, University of Pune and College of Engineering, Pune..

Source: DNA

Paragon Development Systems (PDS), the  Oconomowoc, Wisconsin headquartered IT company (pictured), is set to announce that they are to build a new “cloud extension centre” which is designed to help its customers use their private cloud networks more efficiently, Craig Schiefelbein, founder and chief executive officer of the company said to local media sources.

The firm, which has about 300 employees and more than US$177 million of annual revenue, is et to be built in Milwaukee County could employ 50 new staff.

Internap Network Services, a provider of services that help improve Internet connectivity, is not up for sale at a time when a wave of consolidation is sweeping through the fast-growing telecom networking industry.

CyrusOne, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell and pre-eminent enterprise data center colocation solutions provider, has purchased a 40-acre parcel of land to build a 1-million-sq ft data center in Chandler, Ariz., near Phoenix.

China is set to pour US$154 billion to develop cloud computing hubs, according to Asia's first "Cloud Readiness Index," prepared and published by the Asia Cloud Computing Association. Although restrictive data protection laws are preventing the building of a global Cloud Computing industry in China, this investment will help the nation improve its index rating in the near future.

Internet infrastructure provider M247 has seen demand for its services grow at such a rate it is poised to expand its base in a £2m move which will boost its capacity by five times. Trafford Park-based M247 specialises in providing internet services for businesses from its  data centre in Manchester, with a state of the art network that connects it with the world's largest internet exchanges.

Cisco Systems Inc. lowered its long-term sales forecast acknowledging that its days of heady growth won't return in the foreseeable future. Chief Financial Officer Frank Calderoni told analysts and investors at a meeting in San Jose, California, that Cisco, the world's largest maker of computer networking equipment, now expects sales to grow 5% to 7%  per year for the next three years.

DuPont Fabros Technology has announced that it has completed commissioning and opened both its ACC6 Phase I data centre located in Ashburn, Virginia and its SC1 Phase I data centre located in Santa Clara, California (pictured).  Both facilities offer turn-key, cost effective, reliable and network-neutral environments to satisfy the computing requirements of its tenants.

IBM South Africa has announced the expansion of its cloud computing services for clients in Southern Africa with the addition of a new IBM Cloud Data Centre and Cloud Lab in Johannesburg.The new additions to the existing Business Continuity and Recovery Service Centre (BCRS), will serve to augment the company’s global cloud offering which features in over 50 countries with centres based in Singapore, Germany, Canada and the United States.

Wireless Communications semiconductor company Broadcom is set to acquire NetLogic Microsystems for US$3.7 billion. Under the agreement, NetLogic Microsystems shareholders will receive US$50 per share in a transaction of approximately US$3.7 billion, net of cash assumed. 

FireHost, a company that specializes in secured cloud hosting, has raised US$10 million in Series B funding in a round led by family-owned private equity firm The Stephens Group, with earlier backers also participating. The additional capital will be used to scale the company and enter the European market (starting with the UK).

FireHost, which is based in Dallas, Texas, is a managed hosting provider for websites and applications with critical data protection and performance needs (think ecommerce sites and healthcare IT services).

IDG Enterprise has announced the results of the 2011 Data Center Survey conducted among more than 1,700 IT and security decision-makers from a range of industries. The survey revealed that Data Center investments are an important focus for organizations, with 28 percent of overall IT budgets being spent in this area. According to IDG, this number is likely to remain consistent over the next two years; however, overall Data Center investments are even higher.

EMC – headquartered in Hopkinson, Massachusetts - have announced its new 450,000 sq ft Center of Excellence in Durham, North Carolina (pictured), which will deliver on and demonstrate the promise of cloud computing and IT as a Service for EMC and its customers. 

Missouri lawmakers are considering a package of tax breaks aimed at recruiting computer data centres. The incentives would exempt sales taxes and allow local governments to partner with companies such as Google Inc. that operate data centres. Backers say they hope new incentives could help Missouri challenge neighbouring states for the data centres and the jobs that come with them.

Senators approved that bill last week, and a House committee was scheduled to consider the legislation Monday. The full House could vote on the proposal later this week

Source: KSPR

In keeping with broader Defense Department data centre consolidation plans, the Army just announced its own major steps forward in reducing its vast quantities of servers and data centres. The Army IT Agency says it has eliminated more than 30, 000 sq ft of data centre flooring under Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative efforts. The agency says it also has reduced user-software license cost by 10 percent, increased processor performance by 40%  through mainframe efficiencies and increased server virtualization capacity by 30% , according.

Germany-based Rittal International, a leader in the manufacturing of enclosure systems and control cabinet, is hoping to maintain an annual growth of 30% in its sales revenue in China. "It is our belief that our innovative products, coupled with our pursuit for 100-percent customer satisfaction, will further propel our robust growth in China," said Zheng Qinghao, president of Rittal China, at a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of Rittal at its China headquarter in Songjiang, Shanghai.

Tata Consultancy Services, a leading IT services, consulting and business solutions firm announced that Deutsche Bank has selected the company as a strategic partner for their Production Management Transformation Initiative, within their Capital Markets Business Unit.

With an aim to increase its customer base across the country, Nashik-based ESDS Software Solution Pvt Ltd- a group of web hosting companies based in UK and US, is planning to target all major cities across the country. As part of this, the company has just opened its offices in New Delhi and Pune. The company is also planning to set up its new offices in Mumbai, Bangalore and Indore by the end of the current FY 2011-12

Independent cellphone tower operator Eaton Towers has secured US$150 million in equity funding from Capital International Private Equity Funds (Cipef), a private equity investor that focuses on emerging markets. The funding will be used to acquire, build and develop telecommunications towers across Africa for both existing and new projects, Eaton says. Cipef joins existing Eaton shareholder African Development Partners I, a private equity fund advised by Development Partners International, in funding the business.

Interoute Communications Ltd, owner and operator of Europe's largest cloud services platform, has acquired Quantix, a cloud services provider in Nottingham, England.  This acquisition bolsters Interoute’s cloud-based unified ICT strategy by adding managed application services to its unified computing and managed hosting portfolio.  Utilising Quantix’s “OraCloud” platform, Interoute will look to manage its International customers’ database applications, including Oracle and SQL, as a cloud based service.

The rapid spread of cloud computing has enabled enterprises to outsource many information technology capabilities, including and especially data centres, leading to savings on manpower, money, and energy. According to a recent report from Pike Research, the energy-efficiency benefits of cloud computing are substantial, and growth in the market will have important implications for both energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

To meet growing demand for high-density colocation and cloud services in the Southern California market, Latisys, a leading national provider of IT outsourcing solutions from colocation to cloud, has announced it has commissioned the first 22,000 sq ft and 10 MW of power in its 93,000 sq ft data centre in Irvine, CA (pictured). The new facility will be on display and available for data centre tours at Latisys' Grand Opening event September 22, 2011.

Digital Realty Trust, a global provider of data centre solutions, has completed the expansion to its existing 293,000 sq ft data centre facility at 2121 S. Price Road in Chandler, Arizona. The expansion, which began in the first quarter of 2011, has added approximately 226,000 rentable sq ft of data centre space and 13 megawatts of additional power to meet customer demand in the Phoenix market.

IBM has released the findings of a customer survey that demonstrates pent-up demand for solid-state disk technology as a successor to flash and hard-disk drives. Customers are embracing high-performance solid-state disks to support growing data storage demands driven by cloud computing and analytics technologies.

PEER 1 Network Enterprises has announced its results for the three and 12 months ended June 30, 2011.  Selected Financial Highlights Comparing the Years Ended June 30, 2011 and 2010: Revenue increased 15.21% to US$112.82 million from $97.92 million; Gross profit increased 10.59% to US$43.25 million from US$39.1 million and Net loss was US$1.09 million down from net income of US$2.24 million.

Peak 10, a managed services and cloud provider with world-class data centres, has announced it has broken ground on its third data centre facility in Nashville, Tenn. The addition of the 15,000 sq ft facility brings Peak 10 Nashville’s total data centre footprint to more than 40,000 sq ft of raised floor space. This expansion comes on the heels of Peak 10 announcing an added 3,000 sq ft of premium data centre space contiguous to its Nashville 2 facility in Franklin, Tenn.

T5 Data Centers, a leading data centre owner and operations firm focusing on enterprise and wholesale data centres, said it has expanded into California with the addition of a new partner, opening of a San Francisco office and conversion of a building into a wholesale data centre in Los Angeles. T5 hired data centre development expert Aaron Wangenheim as executive vice president and partner. He is responsible for business development and leading T5's expansion into the Western U.S.

The NHS National Programme for IT has been officially canned after a number of reports uncovered significant failings in the project. The Department of Health said it was accelerating the dismantling of the £11 billion initiative following a new review from the Cabinet Office’s Major Projects Authority.

Ground was broken Thursday for Involta’s US$10.5 million data centre in Duluth, but a second phase probably will follow. Already the planned data centre is one-third full with committed tenants, said Lonnie Bloomquist, the company’s chief technology officer. And when Involta’s centres are 80% full, planning starts on the next phase, he said.

DYXnet, Greater China's leading ICT service provider recorded a strong 30% year-on-year increase in revenue during the first half of 2011. The encouraging performance was driven by outstanding performance from its MPLS VPN service and Contact Centre Outsourcing business. DYXnet's Contact Centre Outsourcing business doubled its revenue in comparison with the first half of 2010, while MPLS VPN grew by 20% during the same period.

As part of its focus on delivering secure IT infrastructure solutions to enterprises and government agencies across the globe, Terremark, a Verizon Company, has announced the opening of the Network Access Point (NAP) of Amsterdam (pictured). The NAP of Amsterdam joins Terremark's network of more than 10 top-tier data centres across Europe that serve as the foundation for the secure, enterprise-class services the company offers to customers throughout the world.

India's third biggest software exporter Wipro is evaluating options to sell data centres and other computer hardware assets of its US subsidiary Infocrossing to unlock value from what the company now calls 'non-core' business, people familiar with the discussions have said.

A surge in demand for data centre construction and refurbishment work has seen specialist contractor the Mountfield Group enjoy its busiest six months for the last three years. Mountfield specialises in the construction and fit-out of data centres and flooring work through its Connaught Access Flooring division.

One data centre – two locations: This is the new design for RWE's data centres. After 15 months of rebuilding, the former RWE Power pumping station in Niederaussem has been transformed into an ultra-modern data centre with a server area of 600 sq m complements the existing site in Neurath as an active "twin".

The "Twin Data Centre" design will ensure that even during a complete outage of one of the two data centres, uninterrupted operation of the IT systems will continue. Experts call this "Business Continuity Management". RWE is investing around €20 million in the rebuilding.

TelecityGroup, Europe's industry-leading provider of premium carrier-neutral data centres, has announced the acquisition of UK Grid, a leading UK data centre operator for £11.7 million.

Power Assure, a data centre infrastructure and energy management solutions provider, has announced that it has closed a new round of funding, securingUS$13.5 million in Series B financing.  Strategic partner ABB  led the round while existing investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Good Energies, and Judith Point Capital all participated.

Wal-Mart, which announced in July that it would build a 210,000 sq ft corporate data centre in northern Colorado Springs, has finalized its purchase of the site — paying about US$5.3 million for the land.

Internet services provider UKFast is to create 100 jobs over the next 18 months. The web hosting company, which currently employs 130 staff at its base in City Tower, Piccadilly Plaza,  Manchester, said growing demand for its services, in particularly cloud computing, has resulted in the need for more staff. The jobs will be created across the business with a focus on customer-facing roles.

Data security solutions company DataMotion Asia-Pacific narrowed its FY11 net loss by 36% as a result of strict cost-cutting efforts. The company posted a net loss for the year of A$953,000, compared to a A$1.5 million loss a year earlier.

Cloud and hybrid hosting provider Voxel has announced it will expand its Asian hosting capacity with the acquisition of an 1,800 sq ft private data centre suite from global telecommunications provider KDDI, located near Singapore's Changi Airport (pictured).

Google said it will build three data centres in Asia at a cost of more than US$200 million, as the number of Internet users in the region soars along with stiff competition from rivals.

Integra Telecom, a provider of fibre-based, business grade networking, communications and cloud solutions, has invested more than US$11 million in infrastructure and network upgrades in Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada and Washington.

Data centre services provider Netmagic plans to add two more data centres to its operations. The company that has seven centres now will add resources to cater to the booming Indian market, senior company official said.

Ferrovial, through its construction subsidiary, Ferrovial Agroman and in consortium with Master Ingeniería, advised by Digital Realty Trust, has been chosen by Telefónica, the Spanish Private Telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid (pictured) -  to design, build and commission one of the world's four largest data centres, in Tecnoalcalá technology park in Alcalá de Henares.

iomart, the cloud computing and managed hosting company, has issued a pre-close trading update ahead of the announcement of the half yearly results for the six months to 30 September 2011.