The Year in Hyperscale: Sizing Up the Big 3 Cloud Platforms

Dec. 28, 2018
The three major cloud platforms – Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google – continue to shift the data center landscape. Here’s a look back at the Big 3 in 2018.

Cloud computing platforms are quite frankly shifting the data center landscape — especially when it comes to giants like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google.

Want to find out what three major cloud players were up to in 2018? We’ve curated our coverage of these companies at Data Center Frontier to highlight key developments at these three market leaders, including advances in artificial intelligence, liquid cooling, research on underwater data centers, a continued focus on Northern Virginia, and more:

Microsoft

Microsoft Accelerates its Brainwave AI With Intel FPGAs: At its Build conference, Microsoft said Project Brainwave, its deep learning acceleration platform harnessing Intel FPGAs, has been integrated with Azure Machine Learning for the cloud as well as edge computing.

Microsoft CEO Nadella: Underwater Data Centers Are the Future: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the company’s underwater data center, known as Project Natick, could play a key role in Microsoft’s future infrastructure.

Google

Google Shifts to Liquid Cooling for AI Data Crunching: Google is shifting to liquid cooling for its latest version of its artificial intelligence hardware, as the heat generated by its new Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) has exceeded the limits of its previous data center cooling solutions.

Google Building Trans-Atlantic Cable to Boosts its Cloud in Northern Virginia: Google will build its own private subsea cable to manage data traffic between Europe and its huge cloud campuses in Northern Virginia, with potential benefits for Virginia Beach.

Amazon Web Services

Northstar Enters Virginia Data Center Market, with Fortune 20 Tenants: Northstar Commercial Partners has entered the Northern Virginia data center market, buying a prime land parcel in Loudoun County to build a data center campus for one of the world’s largest companies.

Settlement Ends Dispute Over Haymarket Data Center Power Lines: Dominion Virginia Power and several community groups have reached an agreement that clears the way for new power lines to support a data center project in Haymarket, Virginia, ending a long-running dispute.

Keep pace with the fact-moving world of data centers and cloud computing by following us on Twitter and Facebook, connecting with Data Center Frontier editor Rich Miller on LinkedIn, and signing up for our weekly newsletter using the form below. 

Sponsored Recommendations

Tackling Utility Project Challenges with Fiberglass Conduit Elbows

Explore how fiberglass conduit elbows tackle utility project challenges like high costs, complex installations, and cable damage. Discover the benefits of durable, cost-efficient...

How Deep Does Electrical Conduit Need to Be Buried?

In industrial and commercial settings conduit burial depth can impact system performance, maintenance requirements, and overall project costs.

Understanding Fiberglass Conduit: A Comprehensive Guide

RTRC (Reinforced Thermosetting Resin Conduit) is an electrical conduit material commonly used by industrial engineers and contractors.

NECA Manual of Labor Rates Chart

See how Champion Fiberglass compares to PVC, GRC and PVC-coated steel in installation.

Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock.com
Source: Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock.com

Global Data Center Growth and the AI Revolution: Insights from NTT

Doug Adams, President and CEO of Global Data Centers for NTT DATA, explains how NTT has responded to trends in AI and liquid cooling, and outlines the organization's plans for...

White Papers

Get the full report.

Focusing on Data Center Expertise

Feb. 19, 2022
A new paper from CBRE looks at the importance of outsourcing as a way of delivering real-world data center facility management success.