Meta to build $800 million data center in Alabama

Meta plans to build an $800 million data center in Alabama’s capital city.

The new 715,000-square-foot, AI-optimized data center will be built off Interstate 65 in Montgomery, across from a Hyundai automotive assembly plant.

The Montgomery data center, reflecting Meta’s latest design, will become its 24th data hub and the 20th in the United States. Once operational, the facility will be LEED Gold certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. It will be supported by 100% renewable energy and reach net zero emissions. The new facility is expected online by the end of 2026.

“We are thrilled to announce our newest data center will be located in Montgomery. The city — and our specific location — offers great access to infrastructure and renewable energy, a strong pull of talent and most importantly, an amazing set of community partners,” said Brad Davis, director of community and economic development at Meta. “We look forward to having a strong partnership for years to come.”

In 2021, Meta opened a data center in Huntsville, Alabama.

 

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Microsoft boosts RAN slicing with AI-assisted app service assurance

 Microsoft has developed a radio resource scheduler that fulfills throughput and latency SLAs for individual apps operating over a cellular network. 

Microsoft's system organizes applications with similar SLA requests into network slices. It utilizes traditional schedulers that optimize base station throughput by creating resource schedules for each slice to meet the requirements of each application. In this model, applications convey their network needs to the operator by specifying minimum throughput and maximum latency. Our system, acting on behalf of the operator, ensures these SLAs are met across the shared wireless medium by calculating and assigning the necessary PRBs (Physical Resource Blocks) to each slice.

The systems is able to decouple the network model and the control policy by formulating SLA-compliant bandwidth allocation as a model predictive control (MPC) problem. 

Microsoft says MPC is great at solving sequential decision-making problems over a moving look-ahead horizon. It decouples a controller, which solves a classical optimization problem, from a predictor, which explicitly models uncertainty in the environment.

Here is a Microsoft blog: 

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/microsoft-ran-slicing-solutions-discover-ai-assisted-application-service-assurance-capabilities/

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IDC: Slower Growth for Global Telecommunications Services

Worldwide spending on Telecom Services and Pay TV Services reached $1,509 billion in 2023, an increase of 2.1% over 2022, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Semiannual Telecom Services Tracker. IDC expects worldwide spending on Telecom and Pay TV services will increase by 1.4% in 2024 and reach a total of $1,530 billion.

The five-year outlook for the global connectivity services market remains positive, albeit slightly less optimistic than the previous forecast. Key central banks in the U.S. and Europe have repeatedly postponed decisions to decrease reference interest rates, impacting the potential for a more robust economic recovery. Consequently, the market environment is expected to remain relatively unfavorable for several more years. 

Some highlights

Global Market Slowdown: In the latter half of 2023, the global market growth rate decreased, falling about one percentage point below IDC's earlier forecasts.

Factors in the Americas:

• Economic growth was slower than anticipated.
• High inflation levels persisted.
• Market saturation hindered development.
• These factors combined created a challenging market environment.

Market in EMEA:

• Despite facing similar economic challenges as the Americas, the EMEA region saw somewhat faster market growth.
• Regulatory approval for telecom operators to align tariff increases with inflation using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) model contributed to this growth.

Impact of Tariff Adjustments in EMEA:

• The adjustments led to a shift in consumer behavior:
• Customers migrated to cheaper tariff packages.
• There was an increased patronage of more affordable operators.
• As a result, actual value growth rates were significantly lower than the nominal tariff increases, often less than half.

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Oracle deploys GPU infrastructure at Digital Realty in No VA

Digital Realty and Oracle have announced a strategic collaboration aimed at accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in enterprises. This partnership signifies a significant step forward in the advancement of AI technologies, leveraging the expertise and resources of both industry leaders to empower businesses to unlock the full potential of their data.

Key Points

• Collaboration between Digital Realty and Oracle to boost AI adoption in enterprises.
• Focus on hybrid integrated solutions addressing Data Gravity challenges and expediting AI deployment.
• Oracle to deploy critical GPU-based infrastructure in Digital Realty's Northern Virginia data center, leveraging PlatformDIGITAL.
• Strengthening existing partnership with multiple global deployments, including OCI FastConnect points and Oracle Solution Center.

Patrick Cyril, Global Vice President, Technical Sales & Customer Excellence – Revenue Operations, Oracle: "We're excited to be working with Digital Realty to bring innovative solutions to the market that empower our enterprise customers workloads and their ecosystems to harness the boundless possibilities of AI. Together, we're not just pioneering technology; we're unlocking a future where every challenge is met with unparalleled innovation and every opportunity is maximized."

Chris Sharp, Chief Technology Officer, Digital Realty: "We're delighted to build upon our relationship with Oracle and enable the next generation of hybrid and private AI adoption among enterprises. Together, we're bringing the extensive capabilities of the cloud to enterprises' private data sets through secure interconnection, unlocking new data-driven business outcomes." 

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GLDS integrates Adtran's Mosaic CP and its OLTs

Adtran and GLDS have joined forces to integrate GLDS’s BroadHub platform with Adtran’s Mosaic CP and SDX Series of optical line terminals (OLTs). This collaboration improves service management by allowing quick adjustments to network conditions and fast responses to customer needs. It aims to enhance service capabilities and operational efficiency for global service providers, offering scalability for expanding networks and real-time data analytics for better service management.

By combining GLDS’s BroadHub with Adtran’s Mosaic CP and OLTs, service providers gain several benefits. They can manage customers more effectively with real-time updates and flexible billing options, all through an easy-to-use interface that simplifies workflows. 

“Our strategic partnership with Adtran is driven by a shared commitment to empowering service providers with robust customer management and billing solutions, simplifying complex network management and delivering superior broadband experiences,” said Adam Ross Hill, partner alliance manager at GLDS. “This joint solution goes beyond integration. It leverages our advanced automation to streamline billing processes, enhance subscriber management and optimize service delivery. By eliminating the need for swivel-chair operations, it delivers significant operational savings and enables service providers to serve their local communities more effectively.”

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