From cloud workloads to steaming water Imagine if the heat generated by your cloud workloads could provide free hot water for households. This is the possibility being explored by Civo, a cloud native service provider, in partnership with heata, a green distributed compute network which originated as a British Gas project to help people living in fuel poverty. The two companies are conducting a pilot programme under which Civo customers will be given the option to run offline batch cloud compute workloads (high-volume, repetitive data jobs that don’t require real-time processing) on heata’s network of small compute servers attached to domestic hot water cylinders in people’s homes. The waste heat generated by these servers, which in data centres would require air conditioning to cool, is instead used to heat the water in the cylinder, transferred via heata’s patented thermal bridge technology. Each server can produce up to 4.8kWh per day, which at average utilisation levels could meet 80% of the host household’s hot water needs at no cost, saving 1 tonne of carbon per year and using 56% less electricity than a typical data centre plus separate water heating. Data centres are projected to generate 1.8 gigatonnes of CO2 and use 8% of global electricity by 2030. Currently, 2060% of a data centre’s energy is spent on air conditioning. Heata servers are quick and simple to install and have no impact on the heating system warranty. Chris Jordan, Co-founder and CTO of heata, said: “Our mission is to unlock the value of the waste heat from compute, turning a compute problem into a climate and social benefit. Working with partners like Civo is critical as we look to extend our network, building trust and inspiring more organisations to run their compute workloads in a more sustainable way.” Heata.co · · · · · · 5G to unlock connected vehicle use cases The number of connected vehicles in service globally is expected to more than double over the next four years, from 192 million vehicles in 2023 to 367 million in 2027, according to a new report from Juniper Research (Connected Vehicles: Operator Opportunities, Competitor Leaderboard & Market Forecasts 2023-2027). Connected vehicles are defined as vehicles equipped with communication technologies that allow the exchange of information between various elements of the transport system and third-party services. Their growth is being driven by advances in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and the capabilities of in-vehicle infotainment systems. The report’s authors identify the high speed and low-latency of 5G as critical to unlocking use cases, such as autonomous driving and data-heavy infotainment via 5G, with 5G set to account for 23% of automotive cellular connections globally in 2027. The research predicts that by 2027 commercial vehicles will account for 20% of connected vehicles worldwide, up from 16% by the end of 2023. While commercial vehicle design is currently not leveraging connectivity beyond simple emergency call features and basic connected infotainment systems, this is starting to change as businesses prioritise fleet tracking and logistics capabilities. https://www.juniperresearch.com/ whitepapers/why-operators-are-drivingconnected-vehicles · · · · · · Microsoft and LinkedIn training Microsoft and LinkedIn are hoping to plug the skills gap by providing free access to 350 courses and launching six new Career Essentials Certificates for the most in-demand jobs in the digital economy (in a choice of seven languages). The two companies will also be offering 50,000 LinkedIn Learning scholarships to help people get ahead in their skilling journey Designed to make it easier for employers to find and recruit people with the right skills, the new Career Essentials Certificates cover Administrative Professional, Project Manager, Business Analyst, Systems Administrator, Software Developer and Data Analyst roles. By 2025, Microsoft hopes to have trained and certified 10 million people through this initiative. opportunity.linkedin.com 01732 759725 06 NEWS continued... 1000th partner for Lease Group Lease Group, a channel-only, mainly online funding service for suppliers in the telecoms, IT, AV and energy sectors, has announced the onboarding of its 1000th partner, three years after it took the decision to diversify into other markets beyond telecoms. Since rebranding from Lease Telecom to Lease Group at the end of 2019, the finance provider has doubled its partner base from 500 to 1,000 partners. Channel growth has been driven by renewable technologies, with over 100 renewable energy suppliers joining Lease Group’s partner base in 2022 alone, and the popularity of ‘as-a-service’ offerings in the IT and AV channels. Lease Telecom still operates as a brand under Lease Group, alongside Lease AV, Lease ICT and Lease Energy, and remains the UK’s leading B2B funder of telecoms and smartphones, with a 500-strong partner base. Simon Fabb, Director at Lease Group, said: “The key to running a successful finance programme is to develop a solution that approves finance at a far quicker speed than a traditional bank loan. Our partners have access to our suite of white-labelled finance tools, including instant quote generation, online credit decisions and real-time order tracking. All of which makes offering monthly payment options on the latest tech effortless.” www.leasegroup.co.uk Smartphone and consumer technology brand Xiaomi has opened its second bricks and mortar store in the UK, in Birmingham New Street. With 5,200 members, the West-Midlands has the largest Xiaomi fan community outside London. As well as providing a showcase for Xiaomi products, such as the Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone ranges, the Xiaomi Book S, Xiaomi Pet Feeder and Smart Pet Fountain, the store boasts an in-house repair centre. Simon Fabb, Lease Group
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