Data Center News: End-of-Summer Industry Roundup | Fast Forward by JSA

Hey everybody, welcome, welcome, welcome to JSA's Fast Forward, your go-to source for data center and digital infrastructure news. And we are live. That's right, very live here on LinkedIn and YouTube from our very own JSA TV newsroom. I'm your host, Jamie Skardo Cotaya, founder and CEO of JSA, and >> And I'm your co-host, Candace Cyphers, EVP of Business Strategy and Development for JSA. >> Yay, Candace. Welcome, welcome, welcome. >> Thank you. >> We love you, of course, and having you here as my my co-host on Fast Forward, just feels so perfect. So, thank you, thank you, thank you. And summer, of course, winding down, Candace, but our digital infrastructure industry certainly not taking a vacation, still red hot. >> Yeah, not even close. The industry didn't even get a working vacation, sadly. I feel like but before we get into the summer roundup, because we do have a lot to talk about today, since this is basically news from the whole summer. There's one headline from the past couple of weeks that we have to talk about first. >> You're right, you're so right. It starts with one very big number. We're talking 500 billion, folks. Yep, Nvidia recently announced partnerships with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, KKR to establish AI compute infrastructure financing platforms designed to mobilize more than 500 billion in third-party capital over time. >> Ooh, you just said a lot of big names and one big number. And that number really puts into perspective what's happening right now. So, we all know AI is no longer just a tech story, it's infrastructure story, power story, and very clearly a capital story. Of course, after all, someone has to finance all of that infrastructure and apparently a lot of someones. >> Yeah, exactly. And we talked so much, guys, about the enormous amount of data center capacity that will be needed for AI. So, someone has to finance that. A lot of someones. And that feels like a pretty appropriate way to close out our summer because if there's one theme running through so many of these stories we've been following, I would say it's scale. More infrastructure, more power, more connectivity, and yeah, a whole lot of innovation. >> That's right. So, let's get into it. We've got a lot to talk about. As always, Jamie and I are just giving our highlights on today's video. Of course, there's a lot more where that came from. There's more information about each of these headlines. So, if anything peaks your interest today, check out the full story at jsa.net/blog. And we are breaking today's headlines up into three buckets. They are deals and partnerships, innovation and expansion, and movers and shakers. >> Yeah, let's get going here with deals and partnerships. First up, Kirkwood Infrastructure Group or Kirkwood IG launching recently backed by funds managed by our folks over at Blue Owl Capital. Kirkwood IG is building advanced conduit and high-count fiber optic networks designed to handle massive bandwidth requirements. The company also integrating the operations of Oh, our friends over at Florida-based South Reach Networks giving Kirkwood nearly 400 miles of existing network, 40 near-net and on-net data centers, and access to key subsea cable landing stations that are critical for our international data traffic. >> That's right. And Kirkwood is hitting the ground running with a leadership team that is already deployed more than 600 miles of network in just the last 5 years alone. So, those leaders hail from prior Blue Owl backed platforms like Dark Fiber and Infrastructure, DF&I, and SouthReach Networks, as we said. Um so, listen to this list. We've got these these folks leading the company. Scott Bargs, CEO. Tim Leighton, CFO. Mike Severt, Chief Commercial Officer. Chris Panzion, Chief Network Development Officer. And Jason Cohen, Chief Network Operations Officer. So, congrats uh to all of you guys there. Um Kirkwood is already building more than 200 miles of new conduit and high-capacity fiber spanning from Shreveport, Louisiana to Vicksburg, Mississippi. That corridor, as we know, is quickly becoming a hotbed for hyperscale data center development. And for Blue Owl, the launch is a strategic step forward in its broader regional infrastructure strategy. >> Unbelievable story. Yes, exciting exciting. Love all those guys, too. So, congrats. All right, next up, Hedgehog USA announced a strategic long-term energy supply agreement with global energy provider Idemitsu. This news addresses one of the biggest challenges facing AI. We're talking AI, machine learning, cloud infrastructure development today, all of them. And that is grid availability timeline. Securing suitable land is no longer the main challenge. Securing firm, high-volume energy access prior to tenant commitment is. >> Yep. And out in Navarro County, Texas, Hedgehog is building a flagship campus designed for serious scale. By the end of next year, the development ready behind the meter environment will be able to support up to 600 MW of data center capacity. So, congrats to our friends over at Hedgehog. >> Don't you love the name Hedgehog? I just love it. It's so cute. >> [laughter] >> You know, anytime there's a, you know, whether it's a sports team, which you and I know nothing about, um or a data center company, anytime there's an animal involved, I'm in. >> Yeah, I'm I'm all about it. All right, guys, over on the partnership front, LightRiver has been selected by Arcadian InfraCrom as its network operations center, knock, as its knock provider supporting Arcadian's growing portfolio of long-haul and middle-mile fiber routes across the US. Arcadian currently has six long-haul fiber routes under development across the southwestern and western US, which includes more than 1,450 route miles of critical infrastructure in California and beyond. >> That's right. And once completed, those routes will connect major data centers, subsea fiber landing stations, and rural communities. The companies are coming together to create an end-to-end managed transport solution that delivers high availability, rapid issue resolution, and operational visibility to their clients. >> Yeah, great story there as well. All right, on to the next in true fast-forward fashion. Nautilus Data Technologies has been recognized by Nvidia as Nvidia-validated AI factory infrastructure. Its EcoCore facility cooling distribution unit or FCD is now listed on Nvidia's DSX infrastructure marketplace, which is an amazing amazing feat right there. The EcoCore FCD holds the highest-rated capacity among the liquid-to-liquid cooling distribution units listed, and it is the first to achieve large-scale CDU validation. >> That's right. The unit was tested against more than 100 Nvidia technical requirements, demonstrating 4.1 MW of cooling capacity in in-mode dual pump operation and 3.2 MW in N+1 mode, which is the highest of any liquid-to-liquid system in the directory. That's huge. It also demonstrated a 2° C approach temperature difference, less than half the 4.8° C Celsius for competing systems. That's really impressive. >> It really is. And one partnership we always love highlighting is one that gives back. Hyland announced Live Like a Unicorn as the charitable beneficiary of its eighth annual customer appreciation golf tournament taking place September 28th in Jackson, New Jersey. Okay, so guys, every year this tournament brings together Hyland's customers, partners, employees, and sponsors, all great people by the way, to really strengthen relationships while supporting a cause that positively impacts local communities. So, congrats to um Live Like a Unicorn. >> Right. And this year, um as you said, it'll benefit the the its efforts will benefit Live Like a Unicorn. So, just to give you a little more background about that organization, it's a New Jersey nonprofit dedicated to helping children battling cancer and the family standing beside them. The organization provides financial assistance, emotional support, memorable experiences, and critical resources that help ease the burden families are facing throughout treatment. Um giving back has long been part of Hyland's culture, and this customer appreciation golf tournament has become one of the company's favorite ways to turn that commitment into action. Love that. >> Love it. All right, guys, innovation and expansion. First step, Valor C3 Data Centers officially launched its new Valor C3 DRaaS, a fully managed enterprise disaster recovery service built from the ground up to eliminate platform dependencies and allow companies to fail over seamlessly across entire different environments. Yeah, so for years organizations running production workloads on VMware have faced a very costly limitation. Their disaster recovery side has also had to run VMware, leaving them exposed to hypervisor lock-in, unpredictable licensing heights, and really inflexible infrastructure. >> Right. So, another way to basically say that is that most legacy DRaaS architectures protect the underlying virtualized platform rather than the actual workload, which forces organizations to run identical, expensive hypervisors at both the primary site and the recovery target. As a a ValoC3 customer though, with this with this news, regardless of whether you're running VMware or Hyper-V today, you can fail over to an entirely different platform, moving beyond the old rule of matching hypervisors and giving customers more control of their infrastructure. >> Well said. And great job, ValoC3. All right, over to cooling now. Gradient Thermal Solutions officially launched as the parent brand uniting Mass, HVAC, DediProg, Deepcool AI, and EcoChillers. The new designer and manufacturer becomes one of the only end-to-end providers in the industry now able to provide a full line of thermal solutions under one roof. Gradient's combined portfolio spans liquid cooling solutions, advanced air handling systems, high-efficiency chillers, and modular HVAC solutions. >> I've actually done a couple of JSA TV interviews with the the Gradient team recently, so excited for this one. Um the company is delivering deep application expertise, flexible manufacturing capabilities, and a broad portfolio of high-performance products. So, basically, by bringing the four brands together, their goal is to provide precision-fit solutions designed to work together, backed by decades of mission-critical thermal management experience. >> Okay, guys. Also, just to highlight one of these four brands specifically, founded in 1995, EcoChillers is headquartered in Jalis- Jalisco, Mexico, with a US presence in San Antonio and Laredo, Texas, and brings three decades of specialized manufacturing and engineering expertise to the gradient ecosystem. That's just one one of the the companies he's involved here. >> Right, exactly. And so their oil-free centrifugal air-cooled and water-cooled chillers can scale up to 600 tons individually and up to 2,500 tons or 9 MW in modular configurations. >> Incredible news. Also, we need to move to our next big highlight here. Arch Top Fiber officially launches all fiber internet service in Sand Lake, New York, making ultra-fast symmetrical connectivity available to more than 1,500 homes and businesses. >> Love the Arch Top team. Additional service areas are scheduled to come online as construction wraps up, marketing marking another milestone in Arch Top Fiber's continued investment in building future-ready broadband infrastructure throughout New York State. >> By the way, look, my my heart's Oh, of course, it's not going to do it on demand. But good good hearts out over for Arch Top. And moving over to Inside the Data Center, Amphenol Network Solutions just launched its new Pivot Fiber Distribution Panel built to fit more connections into the same rack space. Okay, so as AI and cloud growth means more data centers need more fiber connections moving more data faster, that is obviously putting a real pressure on rack space. Pivot, however, is designed to increase density without giving up service access. >> That's right. Pivot's design is intended to address the traditional trade-off between density and accessibility while still making it practical for technicians to inspect, clean, and service connections after deployment. >> I love that. Okay, over to the power side now, guys. We're touching every part of our ecosystem here. D Mag, d i n a a g, D Mag, launched the Zuta Watt 800 VDC power platform. It is a modular grid to 800 VTC power conversion and stabilization platform engineered for hyperscale AI data centers. The platform has been independently validated now by electric power engineers, meets ERCOT requirements for low voltage ride through and smooth cyclic loads to less than 1% without the energy efficiency losses of double power conversion. >> Okay, that was fast. Yeah. Well done. Well done, Jay. Um so, that's intended to clear interconnection hurdles that have stalled development and prevented 800 VDC AI data centers from connecting to the grid. Um so, according to D Mag CTO and Tesla co-founder, Ian Wright, taking advantage of the new 800 VDC standard with the new power architecture allows the platform to go beyond grid compliance. He says the system is more efficient and has a smaller footprint than the alternatives, both existing and proposed, with lower capital and operating costs. >> Well done. Oh, and a Tesla co-founder, like pretty cool guy. All right. And by the way, guys, talking about cool guys, let's turn to Rittal. Rittal released a new ebook titled AI Readiness Starts with Power, Designing for real-world load conditions. And this ebook examines what happens as thousands of GPUs operating in synchronized cycles create rapid, repetitive fluctuations in electrical demand. Those conditions raise new questions, obviously, about whether critical power systems designed for more predictable operating environments are even ready for highly dynamic AI workloads. >> That's right. So, rather Rather focusing solely on installed capacity or backup availability, the ebook examines system performance under load. It explores how traditional assumptions around transient events and steady-state operation are being challenged by AI workloads, where rapid changes in demand can leave power systems operating in a near continuous state of recovery. Among many other topics, it also considers both grid-connected data centers and emerging islanded facilities, where on-site generation serves as the primary source of >> Moving from terrestrial networks now over to satellite communications, Matt Singh, a pioneer and global leader in radio frequency lens antenna technology, and a cool family by the way, unveiled a manufacturing technology breakthrough for a large-format high-performance Luneburg lenses. The milestone represents an advancement towards improved satellite antenna performance, flexibility, and efficiency, enabling wide-angle, multi-beam coverage. >> So, Luneburg lenses usher into the market multi-beam antennas capable of transmitting and receiving signals simultaneously across a range of directions and frequencies without the cost and complexity of conventional reflector dishes or phased arrays. And while the Luneburg lens itself has been known for decades, manufacturing large-format high-frequency RF lenses had previously been a major engineering challenge. >> Yeah. And we can't stop here. We also have an expansion of our own to share this summer. Do do do do do. JSA officially expanded its community engagement services, building on work our team has been doing with data center companies over the past 2 years. So, uh yay. As data center development obviously is continuing to grow, so so does, of course, the need for clear, proactive communications with local communities, public officials, media, and others. >> That's right. I feel like we need the like settings in Google Meet with the fireworks right now. Um, so I was on site personally at Data Center Frontier Trend Summit a couple I think that was 2 weeks ago now um, where we officially launched the news. We had a lot of great conversations not only with operators, you know, both data center and energy um, providers but also um, some of the service providers feeding into those companies. Um, so everyone we really believe needs to work together on community engagement um, and and thankfully we are hearing the same from a lot of other folks we were talking to. So our goal is to build trust earlier, communicate more clearly and navigate the growing public conversation around data center projects, expansions and infrastructure growth. Our expanded services on community engagement include things like stakeholder mapping, messaging strategy, targeted communications, regional media relations um, media relations overall, community engagement playbooks and so much more. So reach out to us if you would like to discuss that topic. >> Absolutely. And that brings us over to movers and shakers. >> [music] >> So let's close the news now with this new section. At Gradient Thermal Solutions, the newly combined organization appointed John Schneider as CEO. Schneider brings more than 25 years of thermal management and climate control experience to that prestigious role. >> That's right. recently he served as president of HVACR Technologies for the Americas at Copeland. And before that he held senior leadership roles at Emerson Commercial and Residential Solutions and Vertiv. And speaking of movers and shakers, September is going to put the JSA team in the middle of a ton of >> Yeah, that's right. The JSA team is gearing up for a super packed fall event season with stops at Data Cloud USA, DCD Connect London, Platform Global, PTCDC, and Yada in September alone, guys. We'll be connecting with industry leaders, catching up what's happening across the market, and of course bringing plenty of those conversations right back to JSA TV for you. >> Yeah, that's uh got to be some kind of record for JSA. Five events in one month. I know many of you out there are probably even doing more than that. So, let us know where you're going. And if you'll be at any of those events, make sure to of course connect with us, the the JSA team. We'll be live streaming JSA TV interviews at many of those events. So, you you can find us in the exhibit hall in that case. And we'd love to hear what your company has planned for the fall and what you're seeing across the industry. >> And of course guys, JSA TV will be capturing plenty of conversations and insights along the way. So, tune in. >> That's right. And for now, that wraps up our end-of-summer edition of Fast Forward. Thanks for sticking in there with us. Find all of the details on these headlines at jsanet/blog. >> And join JSA TV's over 200,000 subscribers on YouTube and follow us on LinkedIn so you never miss a beat. Until next time, stay connected. >> And keep moving fast forward. >> Happy networking. >> Thanks everyone. See you soon. >> [music] [music]