Welcome to the Netrality News Roundup!
We’ve selected key articles on the latest news, developments, innovations and revelations in the colocation data center industry.
Don’t miss our bi-weekly news roundups to learn what’s going on with colocation, edge computing, and the brave new world of hybrid cloud, 5G, IoT, artificial intelligence, smart cities, virtual reality, and other technologies at the edge!
An Infrastructure Arms Race Is Fueling the Future of Gaming
June 29, 2020
Cecilia D’Anastasio, Wired
Cloud gaming has generated big demands for seamless delivery: low-latency, so you can dodge a combo in Street Fighter V; and no packet loss, so your very alive-seeming Overwatch character isn’t suddenly dead.
Smaller companies eyeing cloud gaming are dwarfed by the inherent capacity and scale of big tech players who already dominate on infrastructure. You can’t just pull a cord and inflate into a digital real estate tycoon. There’s no easy way to make up for decades of big-money investment in infrastructure…A decade from now cloud gaming infrastructure may widely be considered a commodity.
As video game companies increasingly shift to the cloud, data centers are becoming increasingly critical to gaming. While players may not have to deal with much hardware when it comes to cloud gaming, the physical infrastructure powering cloud gaming is massive. Cloud-gaming-capable data centers must be central to large populations—inside or nearby cities—and enable interconnectivity.
Rural Cloud Initiative – Spearheading the Digital Transformation of Rural America
June 30, 2020
PR NewsWire, Yahoo Finance
The Rural Cloud Initiative (RCI), a unique coalition of network and edge innovation partners committed to promoting and accelerating the digital transformation of rural America, announced a series of technology and business value milestones. Launched by Trilogy Networks earlier this year, the RCI is rapidly gaining momentum, having formed partnership agreements with 26 Network Providers and 11 Edge Innovation Partners. The purpose of the initiative is to deploy a unified, distributed cloud covering an area of 1.5 million square miles of rural America. Today, the RCI is unveiling a series of solution deployments, as well as the establishment of its ACRES leadership council.
The broadband internet service divide between urban and rural America leaves roughly one-third of rural Americans without access to high-speed broadband. This is particularly disconcerting in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic when so many Americans must work and attend school virtually. Netrality is not alone in its dedication to expanding rural broadband connectivity.
Enterprise IT Users Weigh Data Center Options for Navigating Pandemic
June 23, 2020
Rich Miller, Data Center Frontier
Rich Miller at Data Center Frontier conducts his quarterly Data Center Executive Roundtable. This edition examines how enterprise IT customers are responding to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelists include Phillip Marangella of EdgeConneX, CoreSite’s Steve Smith, Scott Walker from NTT Global Data Centers Americas, John Sasser of Sabey Data Centers, and Nancy Novak from Compass Datacenters and Infrastructure Masons.
This edition of Rich Miller’s Data Center Executive Roundtable provides valuable insights for data center operators navigating the pandemic, and how the pandemic is helping to accelerate the move to the edge.
Colocation Market Wins Big with Profits from Hyperscale Operator Clients
June 11, 2020
Abigail Opiah, Data Economy
Hyperscale operators are the fastest growing customer category for colocation providers according to new data from Synergy Research Group.
The research group found that for both wholesale and retail colocation, first-quarter revenue from hyperscale customers grew more rapidly than revenues from other service provider customers and from enterprises.
With the unprecedented surge in internet traffic caused by an influx of work-from-home activity, hyperscalers are seeking out colocation data centers that can offer more than traditional best practices. They also need local edge connectivity and a diverse network of cloud on-ramps to mitigate points of failure.
Windstream’s Strong 1H20 Fiber Deployment
July 16, 2020
Khyathi Dalal, Seeking Alpha
In the first 6 months of Windstream’s Kinetic program, the company has enabled roughly 100,000 new locations with gigabit-capable services – adding over 40,000 new broadband subscribers marking its 9th consecutive quarter of broadband subscriber growth. This multi-year program seeks to invest billions of dollars of capital to bring fiber-backed gigabit services to millions of households across Windstream’s footprint.
Amid the pandemic driving work from home and virtual learning, the company’s faster connections in rural service areas proved critical and could thus meet the growing internet use (+30% in March). “Kinetic by Windstream is stronger than ever,” said Jeff Small, president of the company’s consumer and small and midsize business segment. “Our fiber investments are accelerating Kinetic’s broadband subscriber growth and equipping our rural communities to take advantage of greater opportunities to work from home, experience virtual learning and enjoy premium entertainment.”
Windstream, available at all Netrality Data Centers, provides data networking, core transport, security, unified communications, and managed services to mid-market, enterprise and wholesale customers across the U.S.
