Susana Schwartz
New report examines ‘Wild West’ environment of edge computing and 5-Pillar infrastructure to mitigate the challenges
“Building an AI-ready infrastructure from the data center to the edge,” is a new RCRTech editorial report that details a five-pillar framework for supporting the unique requirements of AI, from core data centers to distributed edge devices. The report explores:
- High-performance computing
- Storage/Data management
- Operational demands
- Orchestration across cloud, on-prem, edge environments
- Networking for digital infrastructure supporting edge use cases
It also offers up interviews with AI, cloud, and data management experts from Google Cloud, who explore recent agentic AI projects that go beyond the hype, as well as details about how AI connectors are bringing Google LLMs to enterprise customers’ data sources so AI agents can perform actions on external systems without custom code. Meeting customers where they are is a renewed edge-to-cloud focus that aims to extend management of the public cloud to customer-owned data centers, network edges, and remote locations.
In addition, the report examines Edge Computing and its complexities and challenges, like the fact edge sites often present physical limitations that traditional data centers didn’t, as with limited space, power, cooling, and storage. Also, there’s the Wild-West environment of hundreds or even thousands of distributed edge devices, each with its own tools for remote monitoring, provisioning, and troubleshooting.
To learn more, check out the report here, and read below for the day’s top insights and news stories!
Susana Schwartz
Technology Editor
RCRTech
AI Infrastructure Top Stories
Deutsche Telekom and Schwarz to build next-gen data center in Germany: Deutsche Telekom and the Schwarz Group will tap the EU’s €20 billion ($23.2 billion) AI gigafactories fund to finance a large AI data center in Germany. The proposal aligns with EU goals to deploy four sites with roughly 100,000 advanced AI chips for training large models across four locations.
AI DC builds boosting electric design and test solutions companies: Emphasizing the increased test and design intensity in the wake of AI data center infrastructure builds, Keysight’s CEO Satish Dhanasekaran announced Q4 earnings of $1.42 billion, with quarterly revenue up 10% year-over-year. This momentum of AI infra and early 6G traction helped beat Wall Street estimates.
Testing Wi-Fi 8 chips: Broadcom and Rohde & Schwarz are teaming to test and validate early Wi-Fi 8 chips. The CMP180 offers 8 GHz of frequency, up to 500 MHz of bandwidth, and advanced RF capabilities, making it suitable for handling the demands of Wi-Fi 8 devices, and uplink speeds for AI-powered experiences.
AI Today: What You Need to Know
AWS announces new AI training chip: During Amazon’s annual tech conference AWS re:Invent, AWS introduced a new version of its AI training chip called Trainium3 along with an AI system called UltraServer that runs it. This upgraded chip is supposed to provide 4x performance gains for both AI training and inference while lowering energy use by 40%.
AI talent wars heat up: Apple AI chief John Giannandrea is retiring, and will be replaced by Amar Subramanya, former VP of AI at Microsoft and former head of engineering for Gemini at Google. Not long ago, Bloomberg reported Meta poached several top AI researchers from Apple, and Business Insider reported that Microsoft has been trying to get top engineers from Meta.
‘No way’ says IBM CEO Arvind Krishna on getting DC ROI: IBM CEO says “$8 trillion of CapEx means you need roughly $800 billion of profit just to pay for the interest,” when talking about getting ROI on AI data centers’ infrastructure costs. “It takes about $80 billion to fill up a one-gigawatt data center. That’s today’s number. If one company is going to commit 20-30 gigawatts, that’s $1.5 trillion of CapEx.”
Microsoft expands cloud and AI infrastructure in Indonesia: During the Cloud & AI Innovation Summit in Jakarta, Microsoft announced the availability of new cloud and AI services in the Indonesia Central cloud region, strengthening the foundation for Indonesian organizations to build the next generation of AI-powered solutions.
UAE $1 billion investment in African AI infrastructure: Saeed bin Mubarak Al Hajeri, UAE minister of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the Group of 20 in Johannesburg that the UAE would help Africa develop digital infrastructure, improve government services and enhance productivity,
Broadcom’s groundbreaking 128G Fiber channel platforms: Broadcom announced the launch of the Brocade X8 Directors and Brocade G820 56-port switch, designed to support mission-critical workloads and enterprise AI applications, alongside new partnerships and major AI chip orders from leading cloud service providers.
LATAM Scala gets financing for data center in Brazil: LATAM-based data center firm Scala has secured R$200 million ($37 million USD) in financing from BNDES, which previously loaned R$180 million ($31.3m) to Scala, with the aim of increasing productivity to advance the digital economy.
Immersion cooling in small-scale server infra: HD Hyundai Oilbank, SNU’s College of Engineering, and Databean signed an MoU for an AI infrastructure immersion cooling validation project at SNU’s AI research lab. The project will demonstrate the viability of applying immersion cooling systems in small-scale server infrastructure such as an AI lab or smart factory.
