Some say deep buffers shouldn’t be used to handle this type of traffic; the contention is that these buffers fill and drain, creating jitter in the workloads, and that slows things down, Chopra told Network World. “But the real source of that challenge is not the buffers. It’s a poor congestion management scheme and poor load balancing with AI workloads, which are completely deterministic and predictable. You can actually proactively figure out how to place flows across the network and avoid the congestion,” he said. The 8223’s deep-buffer design provides ample memory to temporarily store packets during congestion or traffic bursts, an essential feature for AI networks where inter-GPU communication can create unpredictable, high-volume data flows, according to Gurudatt Shenoy, vice president of Cisco Provider Connectivity. “Combined with its high-radix architecture, the 8223 allows more devices to connect directly, reducing latency, saving rack space, and further lowering power consumption. The result is a flatter, more efficient network topology supporting high-bandwidth, low-latency communication that is critical for AI workloads,” Shenoy wrote in a blog post. NOS options Notably, the first operating systems that the 8223 supports are the Linux Foundation’s Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC) and Facebook open switching system (FBOSS) – not Cisco’s own IOS XR.  IXR will be supported, too, but at a later date, according to Cisco.  SONiC decouples network software from the underlying hardware and lets it run on hundreds of switches and ASICs from multiple vendors while supporting a full suite of network features such as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), remote direct memory access (RDMA), QoS, and Ethernet/IP. One of the keys to SONiC is its switch-abstraction interface, which defines an API to provide a vendor-independent way of controlling forwarding elements such as a switching ASIC, an NPU, or a software switch in a uniform

Over the last 18 months or so, the energy generation industry and its public utilities have been significantly impacted by the AI data center boom. It has been demonstrated across North America that the increase in demand for power, as driven by the demand for hyperscale and AI data centers, greatly exceeds the ability of the industry to actually generate and deliver power to meet the demand. We have covered many of the efforts being made to control the availability of power. In response, utilities and regulators have begun rethinking how to manage power availability through means such as: temporary moratoriums on new data center interconnections; the creation of new rate classes; cogeneration and load-sharing agreements; renewable integration; and power-driven site selection strategies.  But the bottom line is that in many locations utilities will need to change the way they work and how and where they spend their CAPEX budgets. The industry has already realized that their demand forecast models are hugely out of date, and that has had a ripple effect on much of the planning done by public utilities to meet the next generation of power demand. Most utilities now acknowledge that their demand forecasting models have fallen behind reality, triggering revisions to Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) and transmission buildouts nationwide. This mismatch between forecast and actual demand is forcing a fundamental rethink of capital expenditure priorities and long-term grid planning. Spend More, Build Faster Utilities are sharply increasing CAPEX and rebalancing their resource portfolios—not just for decarbonization, but to keep pace with multi-hundred-megawatt data center interconnects. This trend is spreading across the industry, not confined to a few isolated utilities. Notable examples include: Duke Energy raised its five-year CAPEX plan to $83 billion (a 13.7% increase) and plans to add roughly 5 GW of natural gas capacity

Duos Technology Group has launched the fifth of its AI edge data centers, part of a plan to deploy 15 units by the end of 2025. The projects are executed through Duos Edge AI, a subsidiary focused on modular, rapidly installed edge data centers (EDCs) in underserved markets, beginning with school districts and regional carrier hubs across Texas. The newest site is being deployed on-premises with the Dumas Independent School District in Dumas, Texas. High-Density Edge Design Duos’ EDCs emphasize very high rack densities (100 kW+ per rack), SOC 2 Type II compliance, N+1 power with dual generators, and a 90-day build/turn-up cycle. Each site is positioned approximately 12 miles from end users, cutting latency for real-time workloads. To meet the power demands of these edge deployments, Duos formed Duos Energy and partnered with Fortress/APR Energy to deliver behind-the-meter mobile gas turbines. This approach allows compute to go live in 90 days without waiting years for utility interconnection upgrades. The goal is straightforward: move power and compute close to demand, with rapid deployment. Duos’ modular pods are designed for exurban and rural locations as localized compute hubs for carriers, schools, healthcare systems, and municipal users. The rugged design pairs high-density racks with the short deployment cycle and proximity targeting, enabling a wide range of applications. With Dumas ISD now live, Duos has five sites in Texas, including Amarillo/Region 16, Victoria/Region 3, Dumas ISD, and multiple Corpus Christi locations. Mobile Power vs. Modular Compute While Duos doesn’t consistently describe its data center units as “mobile,” they are modular and containerized, engineered for rapid, site-agnostic deployment. The “mobile” label more explicitly applies to Duos’ power strategy—a turbine fleet that can be fielded or re-fielded to match demand. From an operator’s perspective, the combined proposition functions like a mobile platform: pre-integrated compute pods

[ Related: More Intel news and insights ] AMD has lagged behind Nvidia in the AI business but has done well in the federal supercomputing business, holding numerous top spots with supercomputers like El Capitan and Frontier. Manufacturing its chips in the United States would be a good way to get the Trump administration off its back given its push for domestic manufacturing of semiconductors. The Trump administration is pushing for 50% of chips sold in America to be manufactured domestically, and tariffs on chips that are not. It also faces outbound restrictions. Earlier this year, AMD faced export restrictions GPUs meant for China as part of U.S. export controls against China’s AI business. “I believe this is a smart move by AMD to secure capacity in the local market without fighting against Nvidia and Apple and their deeper pockets for the limited capacity at TSMC,” said Alvi Nguyen, senior analyst with Forrester Research.” With the US investment in Intel, followed by Nvidia, this is can be seen as diversifying their supply chain and providing cheaper, locally sourced parts.” For Intel, this will continue a streak of good news it has enjoyed recently. “Having customers take up capacity at their foundries will go a long way in legitimizing their semiconductor processes and hopefully create the snowball effect of getting even more US-based customers,” said Nguyen. In recent weeks, Intel has partnered with Nvidia to jointly make PC and data center chips. Nvidia also took a $5B stake in Intel. Earlier the Trump administration made a $11.1B, or 10%, stake in Intel.

NVIDIA’s AI Factory: Engineering the Future of Compute NVIDIA’s keynote illuminated the invisible but indispensable heart of the AI revolution—the AI factory. This factory blends hardware and software innovation to achieve performance breakthroughs that transcend traditional limits. Technologies such as disaggregated rack-scale GPUs and the novel 4-bit floating point numerical representation move beyond incremental improvements; they redefine what is achievable in energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The software ecosystem NVIDIA fosters, including open-source frameworks like Dynamo, enables unprecedented flexibility in managing inference workloads across thousands of GPUs. This adaptability is crucial given the diverse, dynamic demands of modern AI, where workloads can fluctuate dramatically in scale and complexity. The continuous leap in benchmark performance, often quadrupling hardware capabilities through software alone, continues to reinforce their accelerated innovation cycle. NVIDIA’s framing of AI factories as both technology platforms and business enablers highlights an important shift. The value computed is not merely in processing raw data but in generating economic streams through optimizing speed, reducing costs, and creating new AI services. This paradigm is central to understanding how the new industrial revolution will operate through highly efficient AI factories uniting production and innovation. AWS and the Cloud’s Role in Democratizing AI Power Amazon Web Services (AWS) represents a key pillar in making AI capabilities accessible across the innovation spectrum. AWS’ focus on security and fault tolerance reflects maturity in cloud design, ensuring trust and resilience are priorities alongside raw compute power. The evolution towards AI agents capable of specification-driven operations signifies a move beyond traditional computing paradigms towards contextual, autonomous AI services embedded deeply in workflows. Their launch of EC2 P6-B200 instances with next-generation Blackwell GPUs and specialized Trainium chips represents a continual drive to optimize AI training and inference at scale and out-of-box improvements in performance of 85% reduction in training time;

Each month Data Center Frontier, in partnership with Pkaza, posts some of the hottest data center career opportunities in the market. Here’s a look at some of the latest data center jobs posted on the Data Center Frontier jobs board, powered by Pkaza Critical Facilities Recruiting. Looking for Data Center Candidates? Check out Pkaza’s Active Candidate / Featured Candidate Hotlist Business Development Manager – Mechanical Data Center Solutions Remote / traveler This position can be located anywhere in the U.S. as long as candidate can travel and will need to be located near a major airport in the U.S. Key for this role is data center mechanical experience selling engineered products and solutions with a rolodex of either colo or hyperscale contacts.  This opportunity is working directly with a successful global OEM looking to expand market share in the critical facilities industry. They help data centers reduce energy and operating costs by providing mechanical solutions that modernize their infrastructure. By ensuring high-reliability mission-critical facilities for some of the world’s largest hyperscale, colocation, and enterprise customers, this company offers a career-growth-minded opportunity with exciting projects, cutting-edge technology, competitive salaries, and benefits. Engineering Design Director – Data CenterDenver, CO / Dallas, TX / Remote This position is a remote position in the Midwest supporting HPC / AI colo design projects being built in TX. Previous A/E experience with data center hyperscale design a must! We are seeking an experienced director of data center engineering design who will lead the development and oversight of critical power and mechanical infrastructure design for new data center builds and existing data center facilities. The ideal candidate will bring strong technical acumen, leadership skills, and extensive experience in mission-critical environments. You will oversee all aspects of engineering design, guide project teams, interface with stakeholders, and ensure best practices are upheld in quality,