Aruba is rethinking data center design

According to Cecconi, building on several floors is more complex from a logistical and planning point of viewbut allows for rsave space a lot of space and increase the efficiency of the fans, solving issues related to conditioning. Data center C consists of four rooms, each individually ventilated. Each of these rooms can then be divided into eight sections, each with its own individual access point and which can be then handed over to a customer. For ventilation, air was chosen, which Cecconi defines as the most generic system and therefore more easily adaptable to individual needs of each customer.

“We have to design with that in mind we will not be using the service – specifies Cecconi -. Consequently, the structure must be flexible, capable of satisfying the most diverse needs.” Aruba has now gained a certain depth in the sector: just think that from April 2021 Euronext – the main financial market and stock exchange on the European continent – relies on the Aruba data center to keep your data. Cecconi confirms that also for the two data centers that have just been inaugurated there are several companies that have already reserved a space.

Italy and Europe are still behind

However Italy and Europe are still far behind in terms of digital transformation and the effective implementation of a data sharing and protection system that is truly competitive with the Chinese and American giants. The CEO of Gaia-X, the European alliance for cloud standards, Francesco Bonfiglio, underlined that the cloud is “the foundation of the data economy,” but it is still not sufficiently used in Europe, given that 80% of the data currently produced on the continent at the moment it is not in the cloud. “The technology exists, but people still don’t trust it,” says Bonfiglio.

“We need a cultural leap – Baldoni echoes him -. Today’s world is both physical and digital, and we need to be aware of this.” And this must happen both at national and at European level. “Data centers hold the keys to our economy – says Pierre Chastanet, the director general of the European Commission’s cloud unit -. We need investments that few companies today have the resources and the will to make.”

Tim, Sogei, Leonardo and Cdp take back the contract for the national cloud hub

The consortium exercises pre-emption on the tender provisionally won by Fastweb and Aruba and agrees to make a 39% discount on the 4.4 billion starting price compared to the 23.3% initially offered

The Structura-X case

Meanwhile, the development of Structura-X, the federation born at European level to make companies’ cloud infrastructures interoperable and allow Europe to agree with America and China. The project was started in December by seven founders, including Aruba itself. After an expansion of the project to 28 members was leaked in February however, no further updates were announced. Stefano Cecconi confirmed a Wired that the number of companies involved in the project has meanwhile increased, and that the Aruba’s will is to leave in 2023. “We are trying to speed up – said Cecconi a Wired –. I believe that during 2023 the project will actually start.”

“Gaia-X is moving forward with its standard-setting work, but until we manage to bring even an embryonic service to the market one cannot expect the thing to actually start – said Cecconi -. If we wait until all the work of defining the standards is finished and that all that needs to be done on the data spaces front is done we don’t leave anymore. The market needs it now. It is important to leave as early as possible, even if the group is still small compared to the total of Gaia-X.”