Singtel has signed four memoranda of Understanding (MoU) in areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and renewable energy, as part of the launch of its new data centre brand, Nxera.
The initiative comes while the company is in the process of scaling up its regional data centre business, after gaining footholds in new markets beyond Singapore like Indonesia and Thailand where it is building a new generation of green, sustainable, and hyper-connected AI-ready data centres.
Singtel’s Digital InfraCo unit will work with Nvidia to make AI adoption more accessible in Singapore and across the region.
The collaboration will look for opportunities to support Singapore’s updated National AI Strategy 2.0 to drive innovation and create new value through AI.
In becoming an Nvidia cloud partner in the region, Singtel hopes to “democratise AI access for enterprises, large and small”, to Nvidia GPU clusters hosted in Nxera’s AI DC platform in the region, the company said.
Customers will be able to leverage Singtel’s extensive fixed broadband network, submarine cables and 5G high-speed network connectivity together with the patented Paragon cloud platform to orchestrate their AI workloads in a multi-network and multi-cloud environment, the company said.
Nxera will also provide customers with carrier neutrality to meet all their connectivity resiliency needs.
Renewable energy
Singtel will also tap into the renewable energy expertise of Gulf Energy, Medco Power, Sembcorp and TNB Renewables to accelerate Nxera’s journey towards net-zero emissions. Gulf Energy and Medco Power are partners in Nxera’s data centre joint ventures in Thailand and Indonesia respectively.
Nxera aims to achieve the lowest PUE and the highest water usage efficiency as part of developing the most sustainable data centre platform to power the AI future.
In the area of sustainable technologies, Nxera and its partners, comprising local enterprises Deston and SGP Global as well as global leaders QCT, Shell, Stulz and Supermicro, will establish a co-innovation platform to develop and test liquid and immersion cooling and water-saving technologies, Singtel said.
When these technologies are operationalised, they will be implemented in DC Tuas in Singapore and data centres in the region. DC Tuas will have a PUE of 1.23 at full load and will be one of the lowest PUE and most efficient data centres in Asia.
Nxera also intends to develop a smart IoT and digital twin platform with local software company Red Dot Analytics to monitor, manage and optimise its data centre operations, using the platform’s predictive and simulation capabilities to achieve better overall energy efficiency and operational resiliency.
Collaborating with IHLs
The company will also establish another co-innovation platform with technology partners to improve power and water efficiency and operational resiliency and create a Regional Sustainable Data Centre Academy with five institutes of higher learning to train more than 150 students annually for its data centre business, ecosystem partners and the industry.
Nxera will jointly develop curriculum and training programmes incorporating practical workplace asynchronous learning for existing undergraduate, diploma and ITE DC-related courses and upskilling opportunities for seasoned and mid-career professionals, including competency-based, stackable micro-credentials that align with the latest technologies and practices as well as mentoring from industry experts.
This collaboration will be extended to other institutes in its regional markets of Thailand and Indonesia in the next phase.
Nxera is currently developing three AI data centre projects. The new 58MW DC Tuas in Singapore and data centres with partners Telkom and Medco Power in Indonesia and Gulf Energy and AIS in Thailand will increase its total pipeline capacity to more than 200MW from its current operational capacity of 62MW in Singapore.
These new data centres will be standardised for customers across countries to give those with multi-country operations a consistent experience and greater speed to market, and Nxera will continue to execute this approach as it expands its footprint in Asia Pacific.
The CEO of Nxera and Singtel’s Digital InfraCo unit, Bill Chang, said the launch of the Nxera data centre brand “is a key milestone for our data centre business as we look to expand our footprint in the region beyond 200MW over the next three years”.