Data Centers - Operations and Impacts

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Topic: Data Centers - Operations and Impacts

On a daily basis we read about data centers being proposed or under construction around the world. This recent growth is driven primarily by the demands of AI and the electrical energy consumption of these data centers can be sizeable - similar to that of more traditional industries such as smelters and refineries.

This presentation outlines Telus’ pioneering journey in designing and implementing a truly Canadian sovereign AI data center network across Canada. It highlights their commitment to fostering a robust AI ecosystem that empowers innovation across public and private sectors while safeguarding data privacy and digital sovereignty. Emphasizing cutting-edge security and compliance, the project also prioritizes sustainable, energy-efficient infrastructure to minimize environmental impact without compromising performance. This approach ensures Canada’s leadership in AI advances powered by trusted, homegrown data centers.

In this presentation, our speakers from Telus and NVIDIA discuss topics such as the following:

• The evolution of the industry 
• Why this matters to Canadians
• What resources are available
• What are current power and cooling requirements
• How will these requirements evolve over time
• How should one think about the AI workload (training vs. inference)?

Our presenters will include:

Dominic Dupuis - Telus National Energy Manager (via webinar)

Dominic Dupuis leads the energy efficiency team at TELUS. They are focussed on delivering the best outcomes for customers whilst reducing the environmental impacts of the network on the environment. Using the experience gained from 2010 to 2020, delivering a 17% reduction of energy consumption on an objective of 10% relative to the 2010 consumption, the team is now on course to deliver carbon neutrality by 2030. Dominic and his team work with the stakeholders to enable the best outcomes possible for customers whilst ensuring the best use of the resources. Dominic holds a B.Sc. Electrical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick, is licensed with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick and is a member of the Association of Energy Engineers.

Morgan Davidson - Account Manager, NVIDIA (in person)

Morgan Davidson comes from Nvidia’s Worldwide Field organization. His team is focused on datacenter technologies that support Canadian AI developers.

Nvidia is known for providing the technology, software, and expertise in this exciting era of AI. Nvidia has a unique position at then center of AI infrastructure, development, and research. Nvidia’s goal is to enable and accelerate developers, but Nvidia can also share insights into the requirements in this new wave of datacenter planning.

Morgan holds an Economics degree from UBC and an MBA. He has worked for many datacenter related vendors, such as, Schneider Electric, EMC, DELL, IBM, and VMware.

Saeed Otufat-Shamsi - Telus AI and Digital Transformation Executive (in person)

As the Telus AI Factory Lead, Saeed spearheads the development of one of Canada’s largest sovereign AI data centers, leveraging cutting-edge NVIDIA technology. His role centers on building a robust AI ecosystem that empowers innovation across the country. He focuses deeply on ensuring the scalability of the infrastructure to handle growing AI demands, while prioritizing security to protect sensitive data within this sovereign framework. Additionally, he champions sustainability initiatives to minimize environmental impact, creating a future-proof AI solution that supports Canada’s leadership in advanced technology and responsible digital transformation.