The UK’s third-party data centre market is now the largest in Europe, according to DataCentrePricing.Com (DCP)’s latest report into data centre take-up around the world.

The UK’s data centres cover 840,000 sqm – that’s a substantial amount more than Germany’s with 509,000 sqm.

And this is set to increase every year, with DCP predicting an additional 40,000 sqm of data centres being added to the total every 12 months. Over the next year, for example, there are big plans to expand floor space at the Slough Data Centre, London, Farnborough and Cardiff clusters.

At present, Sloughs facility comprises 107,000 sqm, second only to London and the inner M25 area, which currently boasts 260,000 sqm dedicated to data centres.

New data centres are also planned, in major cities such as Edinburgh, Leeds and Newcastle, that will further highlight the UK as a European leader.

Although the UK has the largest data centre facilities in the whole of Europe, the cost of space is not the most expensive and this is why it’s so attractive to businesses. Average UK rack space rates are around €1,000, with Switzerland and Ireland charging higher premiums for space in their data centres

Unsurprisingly, these rates vary a lot across the UK, with those in London and within the M25 an average of 42% higher than Leeds and Newcastle.

“Increasingly, Data Centre Providers are competing to provide cloud connectivity to the key Cloud Service Providers via a cloud exchange aiming to attract the enterprise customer to the facility – which is driving the Data Centre clusters’ status as a connectivity hub,“ the report explained. “And the amount of connectivity available from a Data Centre facility helps determine whether a price premium can be charged – the more connectivity available the higher the price premium.”

Atlassian has launched its revamped Jira project management software with a completely overhauled user experience.

The company built the software from the ground up, including the architecture. Although there will still be a cloud version and a self-hosted version, they’ve now been split up into two separate version, each addressing the specific tools businesses need when developing apps for each environment.

Highlights of the Jira update include giving more autonomy to teams, rather than just focusing on the admins, lessening the pressure on those managing projects. Of course, admins are able to switch off features they don’t want their teams to access or change, but that’s pretty standard.

But just because Jira looks and works differently to its original version, doesn’t mean those who love the software as it is will be put off. In fact, Atlassian understands that the classic version of Jira is very important exactly how it always has been for many.

“It’s important to note that the next-gen experience will not replace our classic experience, which millions of users are happily using,” Jake Brereton, head of marketing for Jira Software Cloud, told TechCrunch.

“The next-gen experience and the associated project type will be available in addition to the classic projects that users have always had access to. We have no plans to remove or sunset any of the classic functionality in Jira Cloud.”

He added that the acquisition of Trello has had a real bearing on the way Jira has evolved. Buying the project management platform meant that Atlassian could understand how a wider net of users are managing projects, implementing the simplicity to its platform.

Cards can now be dragged and dropped across columns and columns themselves can be created much more easily than was previously possible. And like Trello, there are more integrations, including with Github, Bitbucket, InVision, Slack, Gmail and Facebook for Work.

The roadmaps features make it easy for teams to see where the project is going and that can be easily changed too, just by moving work around.

The Cloud Academy has launched two benchmarking tools to help match cloud talent and skills with the needs of businesses, ensuring firms trying to become more digital savvy have the resources they need.

Comprising Cloud Roster and Cloud Catalog, the tools use data to identify holes in business skillsets and technology trends, plus identify the roles needed to plug those gaps. It will build profiles of the skills required in each job role, plus the responsibilities, non-tech skills and likely certifications required of that position and matches these to the upcoming tech trends.

Cloud Roster analyses public job listings to build a job landscape overview, identifying which roles are in demand and what tech skills businesses are looking for.

This data includes certifications required for candidates and non-technical skills employers are looking for. It then combines this data with expert interviews, plotting trends to help people understand which skills they need in order to 

Cloud Catalog works alongside Cloud Roster as a worldwide tech trend index. It collates information about the popularity of cloud technologies, frameworks, and vendor platforms from a number of different sources including developer communities to help businesses understand how they need to adapt to the changing technology landscape.

“Cloud Roster and Cloud Catalog empower our broader community to visualize the impressive changes brought about by increased multi-cloud adoption, the evolution of technical job roles, and the dynamic nature of skill demand,” said Stefano Bellasio, CEO at Cloud Academy.

“Building these tools by leveraging proven data techniques allows us to continue to serve forward-thinking enterprises in their efforts to achieve digital transformation.”

Microsoft and Huawei are joining forces to offer customers an all-flash Azure Stack service to speed up adoption of hybrid cloud services.

The partnership means businesses can easily make use of Microsoft’s Azure cloud service using on-premise architecture to ensure they meet client demands and can also adhere to any data security concerns. This is especially useful for highly regulated industries, where locally stored data is vital.

The stack comprises Huawei’s FusionServer 2288H V5, ES3000 V5 NVMe SSD, CloudEngine 6865 switch and the company’s eSight management software for keeping on top of the implementation. This addition means businesses can effectively monitor data usage and manage how their switches operate, intelligently diagnosing CPU, memory and PCIe card faults. Any problems that arise can be more quickly rectified, leading to less downtime.

“Microsoft is a technology-innovative, customer-focused company like Huawei and a very important partner for Huawei,” said Kenneth Zhang, general manager at Huawei IT Server Solutions. “This joint launch of the all-flash Azure Stack solution is another testimony of our strong partnership.” 

For a power boost, customers can also choose to tag on up to 24 Huawei ES3000 V5 NVMe SSDs to the set-up, offering much higher I/O performance and greater read/write bandwidth for data-intensive applications. It also boasts lower latency levels, making it perform much more effectively for applications that demand a speedy data transfer rate.

“We are very excited to partner with Huawei on the high performance Azure Stack integrated system, and we believe this leading hybrid-cloud solution will empower our mutual customers to win the opportunities of digital transformation.” Adam Owee, general manager of OEM at Microsoft’s Greater China Region.

“As a global leading cloud service provider, Microsoft brought our advanced cloud technologies and operational experience into Azure Stack, so that our customers can now use the latest AI, IoT and Edge technologies for innovation, in their own data center. From China to the world, Microsoft is dedicated to cooperate with more partners like Huawei, to thrive the development of the cloud ecosystem.”

Atos and Google Cloud have teamed up to create an AI Lab in London, which will offer a place for private and public businesses to identify new use cases for the tech across a range of sectors.

The idea is to enable businesses to find new opportunities for AI and also encourage developers to come up with new solutions to business challenges.

For example, one use case could be using connected sensors for improving the supply chain, while another could be using AI to reduce fraud in financial services.

“The opening of this first AI Lab marks a new era in enterprise transformation and opportunity,” said Adrian Gregory, CEO, Atos UK & Ireland.

“In combining the advanced capabilities of Atos and Google Cloud AI technology, organizations will have access to compelling solutions acting as a springboard to growth in an evolving, digitally focused marketplace.”

Atos’ AI Lab will be open to both private and public sector organisations and will be completely sector agnostic. Both businesses hope that as well as outing the UK at the forefront of AI development, it will also build London and the UK’s Bank of highly skilled AI workers.

As part of the partnership, Google Cloud will be Atos’ preferred cloud provider.

“The new AI labs from Atos will be a valuable resource for European businesses wanting to take advantage of Google Cloud AI capabilities,” Paul Emsley-Martin, head of SI Partnerships at Google Cloud added. “This is a great next step in our partnership with Atos, and we are delighted to continue working with Atos to bring Google Cloud AI, infrastructure, machine learning and collaboration tools to enterprises worldwide.”

Google has split up its G Suite cloud identification tool from the rest of its enterprise services for developers, so they will be able to integrate it into their own services.

The company’s Google Identity, which was built on the BeyondCorp framework was previously only available as part of the entire G Suite ecosystem. But there’s apparently a lot of demand for it to work outside of the range, so Google will now launch a beta of Cloud Identity for Customers and Partners (CICP) on its Cloud Platform.

The product will allow developers to integrate identity and access management for apps and services without having to move away from the GCP environment or enlist the help of a third party.

“We’ve had a lot of success internally with the model and what we’ve received good feedback from customers, but they wanted to use it (Cloud Identity and BeyondCorp) throughout the organization and as a standalone product,” Karthik Lakshminarayanan, product management director at Google Cloud Platform.

It’s an authentication service with integrated automated threat detection, built on scalable infrastructure that makes it the ideal environment for businesses already using GCP to develop their apps and services.

So why has Google only just decided to split its cloud identity tool away from the main G Suite set of tools?

“Expectations have changed,” Jayachandran told VentureBeat. “Users expect agile, mobile work environments across multiple devices, and it’s reshaping how we think about security, access, and control. Admins want to give them this modern, forward-thinking experience, but they don’t want security to be compromised. The perimeter has disappeared.”

Google has acquired chatbot startup Onward in what’s likely an attempt to improve its own customer service tools or expand the number of products available as part of its business suite of applications.

The technology uses natural language processing to analyse the content of customer messages to support teams, alongside other information such as where they are located, whether they’re logged in to any services, and how they have used the service in the past. This data then allows the chatbot to tailor its replies, offering a much better customer experience.

The company has also created its own visual bot builder, which allows customers to build their own responses based on the answers customers give to questions.

The tool integrates with a whole host of other services, such as Zendesk, Help Scout, Salesforce, Hubspot, Shopify, Spree, and Solidus to manage customer conversations, integrate leads with a CRM and track orders, offering a complete platform for managing customer experience.

Onward’s Agent Q virtual assistant can be used as an extension of this, providing product recommendations, bringing together review and pricing information from across the web to offer super-accurate, real-time data for customers.

It follows Google’s decision earlier in the year to funnel cash into AI startups hoping to exploit the Google Assistant platform.

“We started Onward with the mission of allowing computers to participate in natural, human conversations,” Onward wrote in the announcement on its website. “With Google, we’ll be able to expand the reach of the technologies that power Onward. These core technologies are what got us excited in the first place, and we are excited to bring them to Google.”

Onward’s co-founders Rémi Cossart and Pramod Thammaiah will both join Google, as will some of its team, although it’s not clear which departments they will join.

Palo Alto has bought cloud threat defence company RedLock in a deal said to be worth $173 million.

The purchase will allow Palo Alto Networks to add to its cyber security portfolio, including cloud security analytics, advanced threat detection, continuous security, and compliance monitoring. Palo Alto said new products integrating the new technology will launch on the market next year, helping security teams respond to threats in real time.

The deal will allow Palo Alto customers to automate their responses to cyber risks instead of manually having to assess the potential impact of a hack. At the moment, the company provides API-based security services such as its VM-Series firewall, Aperture, Evident, and GlobalProtect cloud service, in use by more than 6,000 customers worldwide.

“We are thrilled to add RedLock’s technology to our cloud security offerings,” Nikesh Arora, chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks said. “The addition of their technologies allows us to offer the most comprehensive security for multi-cloud environments, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure, and significantly strengthens our cloud strategy going forward.”

“We are excited to join Palo Alto Networks to bring together the strength of our cloud analytics and their industry-leading compliance technologies to help security teams protect their organizations,” Varun Badhwar, co-founder and CEO of RedLock added.

The deal will close during Palo Alto Networks fiscal first quarter, as long as the proposed deal meets the company’s expectations. RedLock co-founders, Varun Badhwar and Gaurav Kumar, will join Palo Alto Networks, although neither company has revealed whether any of its other staff will move over to the Networking business.

In February this year, RedLock security specialists highlighted flaws in Tesla’s cloud network by breaching its systems and stealing resources needed to mine for cryptocurrencies.

Oracle has unveiled its Oracle Autonomous NoSQL Database, helping developers deploy massive applications, with low latency, high-security and simple scaling.

The company explained the addition to its autonomous database portfolio has been specifically designed for apps such as those that demand heavy UI personalisation, shopping carts, online fraud detection, gaming and advertising, thanks to its flexibility.

It uses simple APIs for developers to introduce into their apps to cut down the amount of manual manipulation they need to do in order to get the apps up and running. For example, instead of dealing with and managing servers, storage expansion, cluster deployments, software installation, or backup, they can instead focus on the output – ie., the applications themselves.

Oracle Autonomous NoSQL Database also supports Python, Node.JS and Java, as well as offering interoperability with standard relational and standard JSON data models, whether a business wants to deploy their apps in the cloud or on-premises.

“We continue to leverage our revolutionary autonomous capabilities to transform the database market,” said Andrew Mendelsohn, executive vice president, Oracle Database. “Our latest self-driving database cloud service, Oracle Autonomous NoSQL Database, provides extreme reliability and performance at very low costs to achieve a highly flexible application development framework.”

Oracle’s autonomous database was first introduced last October, with its automated cybersecurity the first product in the line. It now comprises the Autonomous Data Warehouse Cloud and an autonomous transaction processing service under the same brand name. IT also includes Oracle Autonomous Analytics Cloud, Oracle Autonomous Integration Cloud and Oracle Autonomous Visual Builder Cloud – all launched in May.

“Embedding AI and machine learning in these cloud services will help organizations innovate in revolutionary new ways,” Amit Zavery, executive vice president of development at Oracle Cloud Platform said after the launch of Oracle Autonomous Analytics Cloud, Oracle Autonomous Integration Cloud, and Oracle Autonomous Visual Builder Cloud. “These new cloud services are the latest in a series of steps from Oracle to incorporate industry-first autonomous capabilities that will enable customers to significantly reduce operational costs, increase productivity, and decrease risk.”

Firefox Focus, Mozilla’s private browsing experience update has now been revealed, with new features, such as custom tabs, a tracker counter and a full-screen mode. 

All the core features of Firefox Focus are now presented on the homescreen of the application, offering hints and tips for users about how to protect their identity while browsing online. 

You can also get search suggestions from the homescreen, although this is only activated if you wish it to be via the settings, because the whole point of Firefox Focus is so no one knows what you’re searching for. But to switch it on, just heard to the Firefox Focus settings and choose to turn it on.

The design of Firefox Focus has also seen quite an overhaul to be more in line with Android Pie. The update for Android users includes new icons, a customised URL bar and simplified settings menu to make it almost look part of Google’s operating system.

iOS users arguably get the tastiest new features, including Siri Shortcuts, which allows them to set their favourite websites and open them on demand, just by using their voice through Siri. They will also be able to erase their history and erase activity in the background using shortcuts.

Underneath the UI, Firefox Focus has been updated at a more core level. In fact, Mozilla explained it’s completely revamped the underlying framework. Focus is now built on GeckoView, Mozilla’s own mobile engine to make it more focused on security and privacy. Specifically, it means no third parties will be able to collect data.

Mozilla promised that although there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of changes in this version, there’s a lot more coming soon to protect users’ privacy while browsing on mobile.