Data Centre World Day 1 Highlights

End-to-End Digital Twin for Data Centres – Vision or Reality

Stephan Buchholz, Solution Director Simulation for Industrial Systems - Siemens

This presentation explored how the next generation of our digital twin technology will unlock full lifecycle optimisation for AI factories, turning today’s vision into tomorrow’s operational reality.

Scaling AI Responsibly: Energy, Efficiency & Innovation in Data Centres

Matthew Baynes, Vice President Secure Power UK&I - Schneider Electric

In this keynote, Matthew Baynes shared how Schneider Electric is pioneering next-generation solutions that combine cutting-edge power distribution, liquid cooling, and intelligent energy management to enable AI at scale. Discover how innovation and collaboration can transform data centres into the backbone of a sustainable, AI-driven future—and why now is the time to act.

Rising Above Emissions: When Sustainability Frameworks Aren’t Enough

Helen Munro, Head of Environment & Sustainability - Pulsant

This session explored where common frameworks fall short, highlighting the human, cultural, and ecological stories that sit beyond product datasheets and metrics. Helen will examine how values-led thinking can unlock more meaningful, transformational approaches to sustainability.

Two Currents, One Vision: The Case for Data Centre Standardization

Jorge Lis, Global Segment Leader, Data Centres - ABB
Antonio Suarez Garcia, XpedITe Global Product Manager - RiT Tech

This session explored how different market segments approach standardization and the key drivers for successful integration. By maintaining AC's stable growth while implementing DC technologies and new architectures, standardization reduces complexity, making Data Centres more reliable, efficient, and scalable.

How AI Deployment Is Forging a New Data Centre Ecosystem

Alex Brew, VP Regional Sales, EMEA - Vertiv
Giuseppe Forgione, Sales Director, Regional Strategic Accounts – Northern Europe - Vertiv
Vladimir Prodanovic, Principal Program Manager - NVIDIA
Antony Roberts, Director AI Infrastructure - Ericsson

This panel session gave a first-hand view of the technical, operational, and ecosystem-level challenges that arise when deploying AI infrastructure—and how the industry must evolve to meet them. 

Unlocking AI Performance: Innovative Designs for high-density Data Centres

JP Buzzell, Vice President, Data Centre Chief Architect - EATON

Attendees gained insights into how these trends affect rack infrastructure—from innovative rack designs to high-efficiency cooling solutions—and why seamless data transfer is critical for AI training and inference. JP will also share forward-looking strategies for future architectures, cluster networking, and achieving rack power densities of up to 1MW. Eaton will complement this discussion by showcasing solutions for high-power requirements in the white space, including AC/DC power innovations and the latest Side Car rack designs.

The Technology Trends Shaping the Future of the Data Centre

Stefano Mozzato, Vice President of Marketing, EMEA - Vertiv

This session summarised the findings from the Vertiv Frontiers report which identifies macro forces driving data centre innovation: extreme densification - accelerated by AI and HPC workloads; gigawatt scaling at speed - data centres are now being deployed rapidly and at unprecedented scale; data centre as a unit of compute - the AI era requires facilities to be built and operated as a single system; and silicon diversification - data centre infrastructure must adapt to an increasing range of chips and compute.

Technology, Innovation and AI: Building the Next Generation Data Centre

Chairperson: Craig Walker, Co-Founder & Director - Veles Consulting Ltd
Fabrizio Landini, Global Head of Data Centres - Hitachi GroupAleksandar Grbić, Global Data Center Solution Manager - Hitachi Energy
Simon Ninan, SVP, Business Strategy - Hitachi Vantara
Neal Kalita, Senior Director, Power & Energy Management - NTT Global Data Centres
Jean-Phillippe Establier, Senior Vice President, Acquisitions - Digital Realty

This session brought together senior leaders from across the ecosystem to share what’s genuinely changing, what’s proving hardest to scale, and which technology and infrastructure decisions will define “next-generation” data centers over the next 18–24 months.

Accelerating GWAI Factories Through Reference Designs and Modularisation

Pedro Azevedo Nobre, Senior Electrical Engineer - Start Campus
Ben Richardson, Global Sales Grid Technologies - Data Centre Modular Solutions Lead - Siemens Energy

Experts from Siemens Energy, joined by our client Start Campus in Portugal, shared cutting-edge reference designs and modularization strategies that enable faster, more efficient deployment, setting the stage for the future of AI acceleration.

Addressing Data Centres’ Evolving Power Needs

Michele Trebbi, Energy Systems Engineer - Electric Power - Caterpillar SARL

This session highlighted innovative power solutions, enhanced resiliency strategies, and scalable technologies designed to support high-density workloads, and uninterrupted operations in an increasingly digital and power intensive world.