June 20, 2024: HPE-Juniper merger faces antitrust inquiry in UK An inquiry into HPE’s $14 billion takeover of Juniper Networks by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a move that potentially could delay approval of the deal, will have little impact on data center managers, said one analyst with Info-Tech Research Group. Both companies were informed of the inquiry by the CMA, the UK’s principal antitrust regulator, on Wednesday. July 17, 2024: Juniper advances AI networking software Juniper continues to improve its AI-native networking platform while HPE’s $14 billion deal to acquire Juniper continues to advance through the requisite regulatory hurdles. The latest platform upgrades are designed to help enterprise customers better manage and support AI in their data centers. Juniper is also offering a new validated design for enterprise AI clusters and has opened a lab to certify enterprise AI data center projects. Aug. 01, 2024: EU clears HPE’s $14 billion Juniper acquisition Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s proposed acquisition of Juniper Networks took a big step forward this week as the European Commission unconditionally approved the buy. Next up: US and UK regulatory approval? Nov. 21, 2024: AI networking a focus of HPE’s Juniper deal as Justice Department concerns swirl HPE’s acquisition of Juniper has been under regulatory scrutiny ever since HPE announced the $14 billion deal in January. The proposed deal has passed muster with a number of world agencies so far, but there is reportedly some concern about it from the US Department of Justice.  Jan. 30, 2025: U.S. Justice Department sues to block HPE’s $14 billion Juniper buy After months of speculation, the U.S. Justice Department sued to block the $14 billion sale of Juniper Networks to HPE. The DOJ said reduced competition in the wireless market is the biggest problem with the proposed buy. “This proposed acquisition risks substantially lessening competition in

Verizon Business has launched AI Connect, an integrated suite of products designed to let businesses deploy generative artificial intelligence (AI) workloads at scale. Verizon is building its AI ecosystem by repurposing its existing infrastructure assets in its intelligent and programmable network, which consists of fiber, edge networking, and data center assets, along with its metro and long-haul fiber, ILEC and Fios footprint, its metro network build-out, lit and dark fiber services, and 5G network. Verizon believes that the drive toward real-time decision-making using inferencing will be what drives demand for additional computing power.  The company cites a McKinsey report, which states that 60% to 70% of AI workloads are expected to shift to real-time inference by 2030. That will create an urgent need for low-latency connectivity, compute and security at the edge beyond current demand.

“I don’t think we will see a near-term impact, as it takes years to build fabs, but by the end of the decade, the US share could rise by a few percentage points,” Gupta said. “It’s hard to give an exact number, but if I were to estimate, I’d say 14-15%. That isn’t a lot, but for the US to gain share, someone else must lose it, and while the US is making efforts, we see similar developments across Asia.” Yet, if Washington imposes smaller tariffs on imports from countries such as India, Japan, or Malaysia, Taiwanese chipmakers may shift production there rather than to the US, according to Stephen Ezell, vice president at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). “Additionally, if the tariffs applied to Chinese chip exports were lower than for Taiwanese exports, Trump would be helping Chinese semiconductor manufacturers, whose exports to the US market would then be less expensive,” Ezell said in a recent note. “So, for this policy to have any real effect, Trump effectively must raise tariffs on all semiconductors, and that would likely lead to global tit-for-tat.” Enterprise IT faces tough choices If semiconductor tariffs drive up costs, enterprises will be forced to reassess spending priorities, potentially delaying or cutting investments in critical IT infrastructure. Rising chip prices could squeeze budgets for AI, cloud computing, and data center expansions, forcing businesses to make difficult trade-offs. “On the corporate side, hyperscalers and enterprise players need to brace for impact over the next 2-3 years if high tariffs continue along with the erosion of operating margin,” Faruqui said. “In addition, the boards and CEOs have to boldly make heavy CAPEX investment on US Soil via US and Asian partners as soon as possible to realize HVM on US soil and alleviate operating margin erosion due to

When network traffic is heavy, it is most efficient, and delivers the best performance, to disable interrupts and run in polling mode. But when network traffic is light, interrupt-driven processing works best, he noted. “An implementation using only polling would waste a lot of resources/energy during times of light traffic. An implementation using only interrupts becomes inefficient during times of heavy traffic. … So the biggest energy savings arise when comparing to a high-performance always-polling implementation during times of light traffic,” Karsten said. “Our mechanism automatically detects [the amount of network traffic] and switches between polling and interrupt-driven to get the best of both worlds.” In the patch cover letter, Damato described the implementation of the new parameter in more detail, noting: “this delivery mode is efficient, because it avoids softIRQ execution interfering with application processing during busy periods. It can be used with blocking epoll_wait to conserve CPU cycles during idle periods. The effect of alternating between busy and idle periods is that performance (throughput and latency) is very close to full busy polling, while CPU utilization is lower and very close to interrupt mitigation.” Added Karsten: “At the nuts and bolts level, enabling the feature requires a small tweak to applications and the setting of a system configuration variable.” And although he can’t yet quantify the energy benefits of the technique (the 30% saving cited is best case), he said, “the biggest energy savings arise when comparing to a high-performance always-polling implementation during times of light traffic.”

Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) is making bold moves to position itself as a dominant force in the rapidly growing sectors of AI and high-performance computing (HPC). In a single week, MAM has made two pivotal investments in Applied Digital and Aligned Data Centers, committing over $17 billion to fuel innovation, growth, and capacity expansion in critical infrastructure markets across the Americas. Both deals highlight the immense demand for AI-ready and HPC-optimized data centers, underscoring the ongoing digitization of the global economy and the insatiable need for computing power to drive artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and other resource-intensive workloads. Applied Digital Partners with Macquarie Asset Management for $5 Billion HPC Investment On January 14, Applied Digital Corporation announced what it billed as a transformative partnership with Macquarie to drive growth in HPC infrastructure. This agreement positions Applied Digital as a leading designer, builder, and operator of advanced data centers in the United States, catering to the growing demands of AI and HPC workloads. To account for the $5 billion commitment, funds managed by MAM will invest up to $900 million in Applied Digital’s Ellendale HPC Campus in North Dakota, with an additional $4.1 billion available for future HPC projects. This could support over 2 gigawatts (GW) of HPC data center development. MAM is a global asset manager overseeing approximately $633.7 billion in assets. Part of Australia-based Macquarie Group, it specializes in diverse investment solutions across real assets, real estate, credit, and equities. With its new landmark agreement with Macquarie, Applied Digital feels it is poised to redefine the HPC data center landscape, ensuring its place as a leader in the AI and HPC revolution. In terms of ownership structure, MAM’s investment here includes perpetual preferred equity and a 15% common equity interest in Applied Digital’s HPC business segment, allowing

Nashua, NH – Data Center Frontier is excited to announce its Editorial Advisory Board for the second annual Data Center Frontier Trends Summit (DCF Trends Summit), taking place August 26-28, 2025, at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia.  The 2025 DCF Trends Summit Editorial Advisory Board includes distinguished leaders from hyperscale and colocation operators, power and cooling solutions companies, IT and interconnection providers, and design/build/construction specialists. This year’s board has grown to include 15 esteemed executives, reflecting DCF’s commitment to providing comprehensive and diverse insights for the data center sector.  This visionary group of leaders, representing the critical facets of the data center ecosystem, will guide the event’s content and programming to address the most pressing trends impacting the industry. The group’s unparalleled expertise ensures the Summit will deliver essential insights to help data center stakeholders make informed decisions in the industry’s rapidly evolving landscape.  The Editorial Advisory Board for the 2025 DCF Trends Summit includes:  Scott Bergs, CEO, Dark Fiber & Infrastructure (DF&I) Steven Carlini, VP, Innovation and Data Center Energy Management Business, Schneider Electric Dan Crosby, CEO, Legend Energy Advisors Rob Coyle, Director of Technical Programs, Open Compute Project (OCP) Foundation Chris Downie, CEO, Flexential Sean Farney, VP of Data Centers, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Mark Freeman, VP of Marketing, Vantage Data Centers Steven Lim, SVP of Marketing & GTM Strategy, NTT Global Data Centers David McCall, VP of Innovation, QTS Data Centers Nancy Novak, Chief Innovation Officer, Compass Datacenters Karen Petersburg, VP of Construction & Development, PowerHouse Data Centers Tara Risser, Chief Business Officer, Cologix Stefan Raab, Sr. Director, Business Development – AMER, Equinix Phill Lawson-Shanks, Chief Innovation Officer, Aligned Data Centers Brenda Van der Steen, VP of Global Growth Marketing, Digital Realty “The Editorial Advisory Board for the second annual Data Center Frontier Trends Summit is