New AI + Quantum Centre of Excellence launched in Reading

Cyxtera designed its COE to serve as a testing and activation hub for companies exploring how to leverage AI and quantum computing in their environments. By providing access to a wide breadth of best-of-breed technology providers and strategic partners – as well as the ability to knit them together via its Digital Exchange network fabric – Cyxtera has established a secure testing lab for AI and quantum workloads.

“The demand for AI and quantum capabilities continues to grow, but many companies don’t know where to start, are overwhelmed by vendor options, and lack internal resources to properly tackle these initiatives,” said Holland Barry, Senior Vice President, and Field Chief Technology Officer at Cyxtera. “Our vision for the COE is to provide a controlled lab environment where our customers can explore, test, and validate technologies alongside our team and experts from our partner organizations, to help define and realise benefits from their AI and quantum strategies.”

Founding partners of Cyxtera’s COE include Fujitsu, Boston Limited, Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC), SECQAI, Amulet Hotkey, and Asperitas.

Fujitsu is deploying its AI Test Drive Lab in Cyxtera’s COE in the UK, providing direct access to Fujitsu infrastructure and solutions, technology from partners like NVIDIA, Intel, and SUSE, and consultancy services needed to develop and validate AI theories and models. 

"Cyxtera’s highly available and scalable data centre platform offers an ideal environment for organisations to explore potential scenarios in a rapidly evolving market,” said Udo Wuertz, CDO of the European Platform Business and Fujitsu Fellow. “By utilising Fujitsu’s AI Test Drive Lab within Cyxtera’s COE, customers and partners can focus on implementing AI projects that provide real market advantages. This allows them to evaluate and select the best solution, avoiding costly decisions and maximising value. Testing and evaluation are free of charge and together with experts from Cyxtera, we provide tailored support."

Boston Limited is showcasing a range of technologies in Cyxtera’s COE, including its BUDDHA AI development framework and platform, advanced GPU deployments with generative AI capabilities, ultra-low latency long distance network technology, and high-performance storage and network solutions designed for high performance computing and AI workloads.

“We are privileged to be part of Cyxtera’s COE by supporting enterprise customers with AI consulting services, skills development, and platforms,” said Dev Tyagi, Boston’s Chief Sales, and Marketing Officer. “We are dedicated to providing essential infrastructure, sharing our AI knowledge, and being there every step of the way to help Cyxtera and its customers achieve their AI goals.”

OQC and Cyxtera have partnered on the world’s first integration of a quantum computer in a colocation data centre. By providing access directly within Cyxtera’s LHR3 data centre, the companies are making quantum computing more accessible and reducing the locality and proximity challenges typically associated with the distance between classical applications and quantum computers.

"Quantum computers tend to be found in supercomputing centres or national labs. We disrupted this trend last year when we launched the first commercial quantum computer in a colocation data centre at Cyxtera’s LHR3 data centre,” said Simon Phillips, CTO at OQC. “We believe that Cyxtera’s COE is another step toward ensuring businesses can securely engage and explore what quantum computing can do.”

The COE experience includes:

• Workshops, training, and ideation: Companies can meet with Cyxtera and partners to gain a better understanding of their current data flow and application footprint, identify objectives, and participate in AI and quantum training
• Proof of concept and validation: Organisations can identify the optimal technology and software stack for their use case, then build and test models for evaluation
• Rollout to production: Customers can select from a multitude of deployment scenarios, from fully-managed, end-to-end services to do-it-yourself in colocation

Cyxtera can deliver and scale environments from entry point to entire data halls and help manage the power and cooling challenges of high-density workloads, including deploying the latest immersion cooling technologies. With its patented Digital Exchange network fabric and rich interconnection capabilities, Cyxtera can enable customers to build hybrid IT infrastructures to support the latest AI and quantum applications. Cyxtera can support ultra-high-density workloads (70mW+) in 18 data centres worldwide.