The presentation will describe the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to data center precision cooling. We will explain the technology and go through how it was applied for BMO’s two primary data centers. We will detail the various phases of the project and the resources involved. Finally, we will share the actual results in terms of energy savings, cost reductions and improved operations.

What is the physical security of the data center?

The physical security of a data center is the set of protocol built-in within the data center facilities in order to prevent any physical damage to the machines storing the data. Those protocols should be able to handle everything ranging from natural disasters to corporate espionage to terrorist attacks. That is the text definition, but what is it really?

Physical security has long served as a necessity to protect a business’ critical infrastructure and data from unauthorized access. In the data center market, physical security controls such as perimeter fencing, card readers and even biometric technology have become industry-standard safeguards to provide proper access. However, as risks—and even the way we routinely conduct business—continue to evolve and become more complex, businesses need to augment these controls with more advanced solutions. Advanced security technology allows users enriched oversight to empower and allow them to remotely manage access and monitor activity in near real time to better control physical security in a rapidly evolving security landscape. To help meet their security needs, many businesses leverage third-party data centers to provide the necessary physical security and compliance to help satisfy their own requirements and promote availability.

This webinar will discuss why data centers must employ strict physical security programs that provide ready access to authorized personnel while restricting unauthorized individuals.

Topics to be discussed:

• How to conduct risk assessments as part of the site selection process and continue these assessments periodically throughout the life cycle of the data center
• How to utilize layered physical security defenses and best practices such as building setbacks, perimeter fencing, card readers, biometric access controls, patrolling armed guards, video monitoring and visitor screenings to bolster physical security
• The importance of data centers maintaining specific certifications and accreditations such as SOC 1, SOC2, PCI DSS, IS027001, HITRUST and FISMA to provide independent, third party assurance of the provider’s control implementation
• How to implement innovative technologies that offer businesses improved oversight and tighter control of their physical environments to mitigate increasingly complex threats and remain secure and compliant

For today's operators, modular design and construction solves for a range of infrastructure challenges. Prefabrication is the fast track to success for modular deployments, which include a hyperscale and colocation edge far more expansive, power hungry, and mission-critical than even optimists could’ve predicted. This roundtable will break modular data centers down into two clear categories:

• Containerized – Data centers built into shipping container-sized packages that can be equipped and delivered on-site, ready to run. Such facilities are often broken down into multiple units, with the IT workload equipment in one container, and additional containers that house cooling, power, and increasingly, network switching equipment.
• Modular – Prefabricated facilities including: packaged data center containers, designed to be added on or into existing data centers; and pre-built components that are shipped and delivered to a construction site for new data center builds or data center expansions.

In this session, we will discuss how to plan for data center design requirements, understanding that each project is unique. A collaborative design approach allows manufacturers to tailor solutions that best fit the requirements and challenges of each client's project. We will also take a deeper dive into understanding standards, why they are in place, and when it is critical to follow them. Attendees will learn how to think purposefully when considering data center design.

Maximizing the data center capacity while maintaining the ability to expand or upgrade the network is challenging.  Air Blown Fiber (ABF) is a great technology and the solution that allow owners and operators of the data center to quickly and efficiently upgrade capacity without expanding their footprint, rather than paying for vacant space that might be used some day.  During the discussion, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Product Manager will talk about ABF mechanism and how ABF adds design flexibility in the data center.

Regulations aimed at reducing the energy consumption of IT and promoting energy efficiency are here. Under a pair of California laws signed in October 2023, many large U.S. companies will be required to make broad-based climate-related disclosures starting as early as 2026. Organizations doing business in CA must comply, and we believe regulations will be extended into the greater United States with a recently passed SEC rule that may lead to a focus on IT energy consumption.

As the essential connection point between your IT infrastructure and the OT infrastructure supporting it, connected software is in a unique position to help answer sustainability questions. Schneider Electric has unveiled new model based, automated sustainability reporting features in EcoStruxure IT that are unlike anything available in the market. The new model offers customers a fast, intuitive, and simple-to-use reporting engine to help meet regulatory requirements. And it can scale from largest data center to the smallest server room, providing unprecedented visibility. 

In this webinar, we'll hear from Jon Gould, Director Business Development Software at Schneider Electric, and Satish Nookala, Director of Asset Product Management at CyrusOne, to learn more about how strategy and digitization with connected software and digital services are helping data centers meet their decarbonization goals.

They'll discuss:
- what new regulations may mean for data centers and IT energy consumption
- how DCIM 3.0 has evolved over the years and where it's going
- how data center software addresses sustainability concerns
- a case study on how CyrusOne is meeting sustainability goals with digital solutions

Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) has become an integral part of the fabric of facility operations. This session will examine how DCIM tools now have an even greater role in enabling operators to manage and optimize infrastructure.

Along with monitoring and measurement of critical resources, such as power of the utility, backup and renewable varieties, the panel will also discuss how DCIM has an increasingly strong role to play in sustainability/ESG tracking imperatives, as data centers hurtle headlong toward decarbonized and net zero operations.

The session will also consider how new DCIM tools are hitting the fiber “sweet spot” in traditional areas of network interconnection, and how the scalable rise of AI and modular edge implementations is also thickening the plot in the continuing story of the evolution of DCIM for hyperscale and colocation data centers.