How hybrid work models are altering cloud strategies

Companies around the globe had to quickly adjust to a new kind of work environment when the Covid-19 pandemic forced a massive shift to remote work. Several months later, organisations and employees around the world are still adjusting to remote and hybrid work business models. In addition to the personal and organisational adjustments that must be made, IT strategies have also been forced to make adjustments.

Adjusting to the hybrid workforce

A recent Gallup poll reported that...

19 November 2020 | Architecture

AWS announces Switzerland data centre region with 2022 launch date

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the launch of a data centre region in Switzerland, joining its rivals in the country and taking its total number of geographic regions to 24.

The Switzerland region, which will be called AWS Europe (Zurich) and is slated to open in the second half of 2022, will consist of three availability zones and marks AWS' eighth European country where it has a presence. The company already has regions in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, and the...

2 November 2020 | AWS

Microsoft adds Austria cloud data centre region to European footprint

Microsoft has announced it is building its first data centre region in Austria to continue its European expansion - two weeks after the company unveiled plans to expand in Greece.

The announcement, which was made at the Austrian Federal Chancellery, has the hallmarks of similar moves. Alongside building a cloud data centre region, Microsoft will build a centre of digital excellence, as well as look to train approximately 120,000 Austrian citizens in digital skills by...

22 October 2020 | Adoption

20,000 petabytes under the sea: Exploring the potential of underwater data centres

Humans have become very good at polluting vast areas of the planet by dumping waste in the sea, so perhaps it’s about time that something we put in the sea has the potential improve pollution rather than just adding to it?

Mid-September saw the completion of Microsoft’s first ever experiment with underwater data centres off the Orkney Isles, and the reports have made for intriguing reading. The formal results have yet to be released, but initial signs suggest that the deep sea...

19 October 2020 | Data Centres

Nokia signs up with Google Cloud to migrate on-prem data centres

Another day, another telecoms win for one of the major cloud providers. Google Cloud and Nokia have announced a five-year strategic collaboration where the network giant will migrate its on-premise infrastructure onto Google's cloud.

Nokia is making the move as part of its 'operational shift to a cloud-first IT strategy', in its own words, as well as 'strengthen and transform its digital operations globally.'

The two companies have been working together for the past few...

15 October 2020 | Data Centres

Google makes 24/7 carbon free commitment – as Microsoft’s underwater data centre resurfaces

Google has announced the goal of running its business on carbon-free energy everywhere by 2030 in what the company is describing as its 'most ambitious energy goal yet.'

The commitment includes all its Google Cloud data centres and campuses worldwide, with the company saying in a statement it was 'eliminating its entire carbon legacy, effective today.'

Previously, Google said it had become fully carbon neutral - for every kilowatt hour of electricity consumed, a kilowatt...

14 September 2020 | Data Centres

Alibaba Cloud extends reach to Europe, US and Asia Pacific through Equinix partnership

Data centre and interconnection provider Equinix has announced it is extending access to Alibaba Cloud for customers from 17 metros globally, including sites in Europe, Asia Pacific, and the United States.

The move will see Alibaba be able to access markets including Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. US metros, such as Chicago, Dallas and Denver, are also included in the partnership.

This is not to say Alibaba Cloud does not...

8 July 2020 | Alibaba Cloud

Why the future of cloud infrastructure is all about the interconnection fabric

The future of cloud infrastructure means the traditional wide area network (WAN) needs to be architected and engineered differently to become a dynamic, automated, interconnection fabric between globally distributed data centre in the core and at the edge.

With the arrival of 5G networks and Industry 4.0, distributed cloud architectures are in the spotlight. Time-sensitive applications, such as industrial automation and autonomous vehicles, will use artificial intelligence (AI)...

3 July 2020 | Architecture

Cloud IT infrastructure spend still going up amid Covid-19, says IDC

Times may change, but the song remains the same: IDC's latest Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker has pegged an increase in cloud spending with outlay on traditional infrastructure falling off a cliff.

The figures for Q1 2020 showed vendor revenue from sales of IT infrastructure products for cloud environments, including server, enterprise storage and Ethernet switch, went up 2.2% year on year, while non-cloud investments went down 16.3%.

The Covid-19...

29 June 2020 | Data Centres

AWS launches Cape Town region as cloud case for Africa becomes increasingly viable

The race for cloud supremacy in Africa is heating up among the hyperscalers, with Amazon Web Services (AWS) the latest to launch a cloud region in the continent.

AWS' new Cape Town region means the Seattle-based cloud infrastructure giant now claims 73 availability zones within 23 geographic regions worldwide. Cape Town, like any new region launched, will have three availability zones - separate but interlinked data centre locations to ensure both low latency and business...

24 April 2020 | AWS