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Friday, January 27th, 2017
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| 12:30a |
Apple to Build Huge Solar Project to Power Reno Data Center Campus Apple has entered into a joint venture with the utility NV Energy to build a massive solar plant in Nevada to power the Apple data center campus outside of Reno, the companies announced this week.
Along with companies like Google and Facebook, Apple has emerged over the recent years as one of the leaders among large-scale data center operators in terms of the amount of investment and effort put into adding renewable energy generation onto the portions of the electrical grid that supply its data centers.
Like the other global-scale web platforms, Apple has committed to operating on 100 percent renewable energy, and as it continues to expand the infrastructure that supports its platform, it has to continue investing in renewables to deliver on that commitment.
Nevada is a heavily regulated energy market and as such presents a number of challenges in sourcing renewable energy at utility scale, which is the scale required for mega data centers like the ones Apple builds. Apple’s first solar project in the state, the 20 MW Fort Churchill Solar PV, was financed and built by Apple, but NV Energy operates the plant and manages its energy output.
It’s unclear what the arrangement will be for the new project, but NV Energy said it plans to seek permission from the state utility regulator to sing a power purchase agreement for the future plant’s output.
It is difficult to circumvent the utility and buy renewable energy directly from a producer in Nevada. A company that wants to do that has to apply for regulatory approval and can be blocked if the regulators decide it will have negative effect on the utility’s other customers. It took Switch, operator of massive data center campuses in Las Vegas and Reno years of negotiations and court battles to untangle itself from NV Energy and buy renewable energy for its data centers, although its “exit fee” may be as much as $27 million.
Read more: Here’s How Much Energy All US Data Centers Consume
Apple has taken a different route, choosing to go in on a joint venture with the utility.
The future solar plant’s capacity will be 200 MW. The companies expect it to come online by early 2019. Up to 5 MW of its output will power a future solar subscription program for residential and commercial customers the utility apparently has in the works.
The Apple data center campus in Reno Technology Park continues expanding. Before it had a chance to complete building out the first set of data centers, collectively referred to as Project Mills, the company applied for permits to build another adjacent complex.
According to the most recent data the company has made available, it was 93 percent renewable worldwide as of one year ago.
To offset the energy use of its Maiden, North Carolina, data center, Apple uses a combination of its own solar plants (almost 60 MW total), a biofuel-powered Bloom Energy fuel cell plant, and solar energy it buys from the utility, Duke Energy. Energy consumed by the Apple data center in Newark, California, is offset by energy generated by wind farms in the state. To offset consumption by its data center in Prineville, Oregon, Apple mostly buys wind energy from the local utility, while about 10 percent of its load is generated by micro-hydro systems the company built to harness energy from water flowing through irrigation canals.
Read more: How Renewable Energy is Changing the Data Center Market
The company expects to launch a data center in Athenry, Ireland, this year, which it said will run on 100 percent renewable energy sourced from turbines that harness wave energy along the coast. Another Apple data center coming online this year is in Viborg, Denmark. The company has not yet specified renewable-energy plans for that facility.
Its most recently announced data center project is in Mesa, Arizona. The company said that site will also be fully powered by renewable energy (primarily solar).
In addition to operating its own data centers, Apple leases space from third-party data center providers. The company says it is working with those providers to get them to 100 percent renewable energy too.
One of those third-party data centers is in Singapore, where real estate constraints don’t allow any kind of utility-scale solar installations. To address that problem, Apple partnered with a local company to source power (about 32 MW) from rooftop solar panels on more than 800 buildings in the tiny island nation. According to Apple, that capacity is enough to compensate for energy consumption of its offices in Singapore and its footprint in the data center. | | 2:18a |
Microsoft Almost Doubled Azure Cloud Revenue Last Quarter By Dina Bass (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp.’s second-quarter sales and profit exceeded analysts’ projections, bolstered by rising customer sign-ups for cloud-based services and a stabilizing personal-computer market.
Profit excluding certain items, such as a few weeks of results from newly acquired LinkedIn Corp., was 84 cents a share on adjusted sales of $25.8 billion, the software maker said Thursday in a statement. Analysts on average had estimated profit would be 79 cents on revenue of $25.3 billion in the period ended Dec. 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella is reformulating the company as a seller of internet-based corporate services for running applications, storing data, collaborating and enhancing worker productivity. Azure cloud services revenue almost doubled, keeping up its steady pace of growth, and both consumers and corporations continue to purchase Office 365, which includes software like Word and Excel, Microsoft said. Another surprising bright spot was the PC market, which is showing signs of life after years of contraction.
“As long as cloud is growing, people are happy,” said Mark Moerdler, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., who rates the shares outperform. “If margins are growing, people are even happier.”
On Dec. 8, the company completed its biggest acquisition, the $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn, whose data and professional networking tools will augment Microsoft’s own productivity products. LinkedIn contributed revenue of $228 million in the quarter following the deal’s close.
Microsoft shares gained 1.2 percent in extended trading following the report. The muted reaction to the better-than-forecast results followed the stock’s 23 percent surge in the past year to an all-time closing high of $64.27, reached Thursday in New York.
Cloud Surge
Azure revenue almost doubled in the recent quarter, and corporate versions of Office 365 saw sales increase 47 percent. Almost 25 million consumers are now subscribed to Office 365, the company said.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has been spending on data centers and adding products to win new cloud customers. Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said in July that gross margins, a measure of profitability, for the commercial cloud business would “materially improve” in the current year. That’s because previous years of investment are starting to pay off as those data centers support more customers. Second-quarter commercial cloud gross margin was 48 percent, 2 percent wider than a year earlier.
Microsoft has pledged to reach annualized revenue of $20 billion in its corporate cloud business by the fiscal year that ends in June 2018. That metric stood at more than $14 billion at the end of the second quarter. The company has been adding customers for its Azure services, which let clients run and store applications in Microsoft’s data centers, as well as for cloud-based versions of Microsoft’s Office applications. During the quarter, Microsoft announced a corporate chat service called Teams, aimed at taking on Slack Inc.
“Microsoft is the plumbing in the cloud,” Moerdler said. “Amazon is much bigger, but still Amazon and Microsoft are pulling away from the pack. More and more you hear CTOs talking about both, or more of them are talking about Microsoft that weren’t before.”
Revenue in the recent period was lowered by 2 percentage points because of a strong dollar, said Hood, who had forecast a smaller impact.
“It was a bit more of a headwind,” she said.
PC Business
Second-quarter sales in the company’s More Personal Computing business, including Windows and Xbox, fell 5 percent to $11.8 billion. That compares with the $11.44 billion average estimate of five analysts polled by Bloomberg. Gaming revenue for Xbox and PC fell 3 percent.
Worldwide PC shipments in the December quarter declined 1.5 percent, a slower pace than in the previous period, but the industry remains in a multiyear slump. The company is seeing the market stabilize and even improve, and Windows sales are doing even better than the overall PC market, Hood said.
“That segment outperformed even more than with the others,” she said of the More Personal Computing unit.
Revenue from sales of Windows to PC maker partners rose 5 percent, and Windows commercial products and cloud services increased at the same rate. Windows sales are growing in the corporate PC market and among consumers purchasing pricey machines, and Windows PC makers were able to take some share from Apple, Hood said.
In the Intelligent Cloud unit, comprised of Azure and server software deployed in customers’ own data centers, sales increased 8 percent to $6.9 billion, compared with the $6.68 billion average analyst estimate. Productivity revenue climbed 10 percent to $7.4 billion. Analysts had estimated $7.02 billion.
Including LinkedIn and other items, net income in the second quarter rose to $5.2 billion, or 66 cents a share.
On a conference call, Microsoft said third-quarter sales in Productivity will be $7.65 billion to $7.85 billion. Intelligent Cloud revenue will be $6.45 billion to $6.65 billion, and More Personal Computing sales will be $9.05 billion to $9.35 billion. | | 2:18a |
Microsoft Almost Doubled Azure Cloud Revenue Last Quarter By Dina Bass (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp.’s second-quarter sales and profit exceeded analysts’ projections, bolstered by rising customer sign-ups for cloud-based services and a stabilizing personal-computer market.
Profit excluding certain items, such as a few weeks of results from newly acquired LinkedIn Corp., was 84 cents a share on adjusted sales of $25.8 billion, the software maker said Thursday in a statement. Analysts on average had estimated profit would be 79 cents on revenue of $25.3 billion in the period ended Dec. 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella is reformulating the company as a seller of internet-based corporate services for running applications, storing data, collaborating and enhancing worker productivity. Azure cloud services revenue almost doubled, keeping up its steady pace of growth, and both consumers and corporations continue to purchase Office 365, which includes software like Word and Excel, Microsoft said. Another surprising bright spot was the PC market, which is showing signs of life after years of contraction.
“As long as cloud is growing, people are happy,” said Mark Moerdler, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., who rates the shares outperform. “If margins are growing, people are even happier.”
On Dec. 8, the company completed its biggest acquisition, the $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn, whose data and professional networking tools will augment Microsoft’s own productivity products. LinkedIn contributed revenue of $228 million in the quarter following the deal’s close.
Microsoft shares gained 1.2 percent in extended trading following the report. The muted reaction to the better-than-forecast results followed the stock’s 23 percent surge in the past year to an all-time closing high of $64.27, reached Thursday in New York.
Cloud Surge
Azure revenue almost doubled in the recent quarter, and corporate versions of Office 365 saw sales increase 47 percent. Almost 25 million consumers are now subscribed to Office 365, the company said.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has been spending on data centers and adding products to win new cloud customers. Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said in July that gross margins, a measure of profitability, for the commercial cloud business would “materially improve” in the current year. That’s because previous years of investment are starting to pay off as those data centers support more customers. Second-quarter commercial cloud gross margin was 48 percent, 2 percent wider than a year earlier.
Microsoft has pledged to reach annualized revenue of $20 billion in its corporate cloud business by the fiscal year that ends in June 2018. That metric stood at more than $14 billion at the end of the second quarter. The company has been adding customers for its Azure services, which let clients run and store applications in Microsoft’s data centers, as well as for cloud-based versions of Microsoft’s Office applications. During the quarter, Microsoft announced a corporate chat service called Teams, aimed at taking on Slack Inc.
“Microsoft is the plumbing in the cloud,” Moerdler said. “Amazon is much bigger, but still Amazon and Microsoft are pulling away from the pack. More and more you hear CTOs talking about both, or more of them are talking about Microsoft that weren’t before.”
Revenue in the recent period was lowered by 2 percentage points because of a strong dollar, said Hood, who had forecast a smaller impact.
“It was a bit more of a headwind,” she said.
PC Business
Second-quarter sales in the company’s More Personal Computing business, including Windows and Xbox, fell 5 percent to $11.8 billion. That compares with the $11.44 billion average estimate of five analysts polled by Bloomberg. Gaming revenue for Xbox and PC fell 3 percent.
Worldwide PC shipments in the December quarter declined 1.5 percent, a slower pace than in the previous period, but the industry remains in a multiyear slump. The company is seeing the market stabilize and even improve, and Windows sales are doing even better than the overall PC market, Hood said.
“That segment outperformed even more than with the others,” she said of the More Personal Computing unit.
Revenue from sales of Windows to PC maker partners rose 5 percent, and Windows commercial products and cloud services increased at the same rate. Windows sales are growing in the corporate PC market and among consumers purchasing pricey machines, and Windows PC makers were able to take some share from Apple, Hood said.
In the Intelligent Cloud unit, comprised of Azure and server software deployed in customers’ own data centers, sales increased 8 percent to $6.9 billion, compared with the $6.68 billion average analyst estimate. Productivity revenue climbed 10 percent to $7.4 billion. Analysts had estimated $7.02 billion.
Including LinkedIn and other items, net income in the second quarter rose to $5.2 billion, or 66 cents a share.
On a conference call, Microsoft said third-quarter sales in Productivity will be $7.65 billion to $7.85 billion. Intelligent Cloud revenue will be $6.45 billion to $6.65 billion, and More Personal Computing sales will be $9.05 billion to $9.35 billion. | | 1:00p |
Intel Projects Sales Growth on Data Centers, PC Demand By Ian King (Bloomberg) — Intel Corp, the biggest maker of semiconductors, predicted first-quarter sales that will meet analysts’ estimates on improvements in the personal computer market and continued growth in orders from data center owners.
Revenue will be $14.8 billion, plus or minus $500 million, the Santa Clara, California-based company said Thursday in a statement. Analysts had projected $14.5 billion, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich said he’s making progress in trying to generate revenue from more diverse sources such as cars and mobile phones while lessening the chipmaker’s reliance on a shrinking PC business. The results reported Thursday showed that Intel has carved out more sales in some areas, but profit is still tied to demand for processors running server computers in giant data centers.
Intel reported 8 percent revenue growth to $4.67 billion in its data center unit, a slower increase than the company’s long-term target. Server sales were hurt by the shift of corporate computing to outsourcing with cloud service providers, the company said. Intel isn’t backing off its belief that it can return to double-digit percentage growth in server chips, Krzanich said, helped by increasing demand in networking and communications.
“This thing will go back to double digits,” he told analysts on a conference call. He declined to predict when that might be. “This is an anomaly right now.”
Shrinking PCs
The company’s client computing group, which sells PC chips, gained 4.3 percent to $9.13 billion in the fourth quarter. For the year, the company is predicting that PC shipments will decline in the mid-single-digit percent range. That’s better than prior years, but worse than market forecasters are projecting.
“We enter the year with a bit of a cautious view” on the total market for PCs in 2017, Intel Chief Financial Officer Bob Swan said in a phone interview.
In the short term, demand for personal computers isn’t shrinking as fast as it was and Intel and other companies that depend on the market are enjoying a respite, according to Tristan Gerra, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co.
“PC trends have continued to surprise a little bit on the upside,” he said. December computer sales were higher than predicted and Intel’s orders from Apple Inc. for the iPhone are helping reduce its mobile division’s losses, he said.
Shipments of personal computers fell 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter, a narrower decline than the preceding quarter, researcher IDC said earlier this month. For the full year, shipments declined 5.7 percent — following an 11 percent drop in 2015 when they dipped below 300 million for the first time since 2008.
Intel shares were little changed in extended trading following the announcement. The stock gained 5.3 percent last year, compared with a 37 percent surge by the benchmark Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index.
Fourth Quarter
Fourth-quarter net income was $3.6 billion, or 73 cents a share, compared with $3.6 billion, or 74 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 10 percent to $16.4 billion. Profit, excluding certain items, was 79 cents a share. Analysts, on average, had predicted a profit of 75 cents a share on sales of $15.8 billion.
Adjusted gross margin, or the percentage of sales left after subtracting production costs, narrowed to 63.1 percent from 64.8 percent a year earlier, Intel said. That measure of profitability will be 63 percent, plus or minus “a couple of percentage points,” in the current quarter, Intel said.
Intel predicted that 2017 annual revenue will be unchanged from 2016. The forecast includes the divestiture of its Intel Security Group announced last year. Analysts had estimated a revenue increase of 4 percent for the year.
The company plans to boost spending in 2017 on new plants and equipment to about $12 billion, an increase of about $2 billion from last year. The company is expanding its production of new memory chip technology. | | 6:05p |
H5 Acquires ByteGrid’s Massive Cleveland Data Center Hoping to attract cloud service providers who need a lot of data center space with access to lots of networks in downtown Cleveland, H5 Data Centers has acquired the Cleveland Technology Center, a 330,000-plus square foot building in the city center formerly owned by ByteGrid.
The carrier hotel’s current tenants and its location on the map of long-haul internet routes were attractive attributes for H5, the company’s COO, David Dunn, said in an interview with Data Center Knowledge. Many routes connecting eastern and western US that don’t go through Atlanta go through Cleveland. The building is linked via low-latency routes to key Midwest and East Coast data center markets like Chicago, New York, and the Washington, D.C., area.
Dunn added that 60 percent of the US population lives within 600 miles of Cleveland, an often repeated statistic by Ohio officials. A 2015 chart produced by the state’s economic development agency says that nearly 60 percent of the population lives within 600 miles of the state’s border.
Total value of data center acquisitions in 2016 was more than double what it was the prior year, and analysts expect such deals to gain even more steam this year.
Read more: 2016 Was a Record Year for Data Center Acquisitions, but 2017 Will Be off the Charts
It’s unclear why ByteGrid, a data center and managed services provider that bought the building four years ago, has decided to offload the property. DCK has not been able to get in touch with ByteGrid for an explanation, and Dunn declined to comment on the former owner’s motivations.
The building has 10 MW of redundant power capacity and its data center space is 80 percent occupied, he said. H5 plans to build out more data center space there and go after large turnkey and powered-shell deals with cloud providers.
“It’s primarily the cloud providers, the managed services players, who want to look at really trying to manage overall total cost of ownership,” Dunn said, referring to the much lower cost of leasing powered-shell space than data center space that’s already fit out with all the necessary infrastructure.
The building’s current tenants include major carriers like Zayo, CenturyLink, XO, and Windstream, as well as local managed services companies like SecureData 365 and IntelliNet. | | 6:24p |
Report: Digital Bridge to Acquire Vantage Data Centers Digital Bridge, a Florida investor that’s rapidly expanding in the data center services market, is close to announcing its acquisition of Vantage Data Centers, a Silicon Valley-based wholesale data center provider currently owned by the private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, Reuters reported, citing anonymous sources.
If closed, this would be a second data center provider acquisition by Boca Raton-based Digital Bridge this year. Earlier this month, DataBank, which it bought last year, announced acquisition of C7 Data Centers in Utah. The acquisition of Dallas-based DataBank in July was Digital Bridge’s entry into the data center market.
Vantage operates data center campuses in Santa Clara, California, and Quincy, Washington.
Silver Lake has been considering selling Vantage since at least last year.
Vantage and Digital Bridge representatives did not respond to requests for comment. | | 7:13p |
IBM Says SoftLayer Cloud Outage Limited to User Portal Customers of IBM’s global cloud infrastructure services could not access the user interface portal for an extended period of time Thursday.
The cloud outage was limited to the portal, and none of the actual infrastructure running customers’ applications was affected, an IBM representative said in a statement emailed to Data Center Knowledge. The issue was caused by what the company said was a planned update to the interface.
Not having access to the user portal is not a small issue and can cause major problems for cloud users, since it prevents them from altering the applications they have running on the infrastructure in any way, launch additional cloud resources, or spin down resources they no longer need.
It’s unclear whether IBM techs knew in advance that the planned update would cause service interruptions. We’ve reached out to IBM for clarification.
A screenshot of the cloud service’s status page posted by The Register casts some doubt over the company’s claim that the update was “planned.” The status note to customers says systems were undergoing “emergency maintenance.”
Here’s the full statement on the cloud outage IBM emailed to DCK:
“Yesterday, we had a planned update to extend our feature set that caused the Information Management System, our user interface portal, to intermittently go offline. All production workloads continued to operate normally. Some customers may have experienced intermittent issues when trying to access the portal or perform any change function in the system such as new instances. The issue was resolved as of yesterday afternoon.”
Read more: Cloud by the Megawatt: Inside IBM’s Cloud Data Center Strategy |
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