Intelligent Data Centres Issue 03 | Page 7

NEWS Sparkle to invest in deployment of BlueMed parkle, an international service provider in Italy and among the top 10 global operators, has announced a long-term investment for the deployment of BlueMed, a submarine multi-fibre cable linking Palermo with Genoa. S The new cable – planned to be operational by 2020 – will cross the Tyrrhenian Sea connecting Sparkle’s Sicily Hub open data centre in Palermo, which serves 18 international cables, with Genoa’s new open landing station, directly connected to Milan’s rich digital ecosystem. thus strengthening Italy’s role as digital gateway between Africa, Middle East, Asia and Europe. Mario Di Mauro, CEO of Sparkle, said: “The investment on the deployment of BlueMed and of the landing station in Genoa represents the first phase of a wider plan aimed at consolidating Sparkle’s leadership in the Mediterranean basin through the extension and enhancement of its regional backbone.” BlueMed will also include multiple branches within the Tyrrhenian Sea and is set to support further extensions southbound of Sicily. With a capacity up to 240 Tbps and about 1,000km long, BlueMed will provide advanced connectivity between Middle East, Africa, Asia and the European mainland hubs with up to 50% latency reduction than existing terrestrial cables connecting Sicily with Milan. In addition, Sparkle’s new open landing station in Genoa is set to become the alternative priority access for other upcoming submarine cables looking for a diversified entry way to Europe, DCA announces official Energy Partner he Data Centre Alliance (DCA) has announced the start of a new partnership. LG Energy Group (LGE), a leading privately-owned energy procurement and consulting organisation, has become the DCA’s official Energy Partner following a robust due diligence process. T LGE is well respected in the third- party intermediary sector of the UK energy sector. Where LGE differs from other consulting organisations is that its roots are in generation, initially responsible for trading the output from anaerobic digestion plants and solar farms. management, gives LGE a broad breadth of understanding of the energy issues faced by DCA members. LGE offers a number of services alongside energy procurement which will ensure that DCA members not only purchase energy effectively but also utilise it in an efficient manner through its consultancy arm, which is able to carry out efficiency audits and make recommendations to reduce energy spend. CEO and Co-Founder of the DCA, Steve Hone, said “We are very pleased to enter into partnership with LGE. We were very impressed with their professional and diligent approach when we were choosing from suitable companies. “LGE will help our members optimise their energy supplies and represent another benefit of DCA membership. We look forward to working with Julie Loveday, Asif Rizvi and the team at LGE well into the future.” Content supplied by the DCA The senior management team has worked in both supply and generation for a number of the largest organisations in the sector. This, coupled with significant experience in energy trading and energy www.intelligentdatacentres.com Issue 03 7