 And welcome to JSA Fast Forward. I'm Jamie Scott-Okitaya, founder and CEO of JSA. And I'm Dean Perine, executive vice president at JSA. And thanks for joining us as we broadcast from the JSA TV newsroom live to LinkedIn and YouTube. That's right, we are live. That's right, live, live, live here on Fast Forward. We are bringing you the latest month's headlines from the world of tech, telecom, and data centers straight from JSA's own Telecom News Now blog. And September was such a busy and exciting month with lots of great industry events, right, Jay? So busy, so crazy. Yes, yes, yes, it sure was. There was BCE Global hosting, their big webinar on global connectivity, BCE Global. Very well received, of course. There was also the TMT M&A forum and I know DF&I CEO Scott Bergs, he was great speaker there. Sounds like it went really well from all the feedback we're getting. So great job there guys. Yep, if I know Scott and I do, he did an excellent job. So and of course there was a data cloud USA in Austin, Texas which was heavily covered by our very own JSA team and JSA TV. Our friends at Scala were the exclusive sustainability partners at the show highlighting their dedication to environmentally responsible practices. Love them, love that. Yes, yes, yes. And at Data Cloud USA, one of the sessions I heard really so well spoken about afterwards was DC Bytes new managing director Colby Cox presenting on a case study in collaboration with Prime Data Center. So of course those two great logos, DC Bytes, Prime together, love it. Sounds like it was a total hit from what I'm hearing. Outstanding and don't forget Data Cloud ESG in Oslo, Norway. JSA was there of course, hearing from all of the industry experts and huge shout out to our very own Emily who has never done JSA TV before. However, you would never have known it. Is that right, Jeng? Yeah, that's right. Emily was studying with her great grace as a JSA TV newly minted host. She did a great job alongside of course, industry pro and our own veteran, Candice. So yeah, unbelievable, unbelievable job. Also, just like Data Cloud USA, JSA was also very active at Data Cloud ESG with live interviews from the floor like we were talking about. Also, if you missed those video interviews from either show Candice or Ms. Emily, go ahead and check it out on demand at the JSA TV YouTube channel. Absolutely and there are so many great interviews from both shows with some interesting thought leaders from across the industry and across the world really. Yeah. So with that, Jay, are you ready to jump into the headlines for September? I am, but with a little caveat, a little warning folks. We should warn you that the audience of this edition, get ready, buckle down, fast forward. This particular show will be the ultimate dad joke event of the year. So I don't know that there's enough warning for this one today, Jamie, but you heard it from Jay. This is a warning. Today as we make our way through the industry stories of the month, we'll also be competing for who can make the most excruciating pun. Yeah, we are aiming for maximum eye roll, guys. This is it. So, okay, let us know in the comments when a joke really gets you to just roll your eyes back. We have a good factor going on here. So anyway, I can't wait. Let's go ahead and jump in to the industry stories, Jay. It's all yours. All right, I'm up. Let's start with Edge Connects. Of course, phenomenal client, phenomenal company, and maybe one of the biggest news makers of the month for September with three big announcements. We just heard great news after great news from them. First off, they achieved a significant sustainability milestone by powering all its global data centers and there's a lot of them with 100% renewable energy. So, amazing. And to achieve that, they had to use AI to assess workloads, predict weather patterns for optimal energy source selection, and maximize energy efficiency during off-peak hours. Very impressive. Love it. I bet you absolutely love that bit of news, don't you? Yes, yes, yes, yes. All right, next, Edge Connects successfully executed a $403 million deal to expand its Jakarta data center footprint. This expansion will provide even more extensive fiber, power density, interconnectivity, and global peering options. So congratulations on that one in Jakarta. Unbelievable. And finally, I told you the threes here. Edge Connects announcing they are entering the Malaysian market with stands for data centers in Kuala Lumpur, Bukit Jalil, and Cyber Jaya offering nearly 300 megawatts of capacity. These locations will provide customers with scalable high power designs to support Malaysia's growing digital economy. Oh, that is some big news from our friends there at Edge Connects. Way to go, Edge Connects team. I would say, you know, they've been busy as a bee, but even maybe they've been busy as a bee-to-bee. Get it? Oh, no. All right, Jen, you're starting off strong. Great job. Thanks. All right, I hope that primes our audience for what's to come. Did I mention dad joke alert? Okay, get ready, folks. Here we go. There's a big rebrand to announce as Precision Optical Transceivers is now Precision Optical Technologies. The chain reflects their expanding their services to offer a full suite of optical networking solutions and network design services. They have also unveiled a new corporate logo and updated website to showcase their extended product offerings. With the new name like Precision Optical Technologies, they're really getting the upper brand. Oh, okay, I see what you're doing here there. Yeah, and by the way, Precision Optical Technologies, you're looking good. I love the new brand. And there's more news from Precision this month too, as they unveiled their new end-to-end passive optical network access solution called OpenPath, poised to transform PON networks for multiple system operators and service providers by offering ease, flexibility, efficiency for broadband services. Love that. And oh, by the way, guys, with all the speed on a passive optical network, maybe we should start calling it active optical network. Oh, okay, I'm gonna move on. Not even bad, bad technology, bad, yeah, bad joke. Okay, go ahead. Burtec announced a new partnership this month. Burtec, a managed security service provider and telecoms operations service provider, has partnered with Halcyon, a cutting edge cyber resilience platform designed to combat ransomware. Their collaboration will provide robust cyber security protection against a rising threat of ransomware for all of Burtec's clients. You might say that they just up their security clearance. Oh, security clearance. Yeah, okay, I get it. All right, all right, continuing with partnership news. ConnectBase has deepened its partnership with Horizon, a facilities-based fiber optic broadband service provider. This extended collaboration, remember just ConnectBase, ConnectBase is right away near net analysis to empower Horizon with automation, enhanced efficiency and the ability to make informed decisions about network expansion and serviceable areas. You could say ConnectBase is exploring new horizons. Just kidding, it's just getting sick. This is so bad, this is so bad. Any comments that we're getting in and it was like, boo, stop. Perfect, bring them on, see if we care. You know what also I love about that news, Jay, is both ConnectBase and Horizon are JSA clients. So anytime we get a merging of two clients in the same bit of news, you gotta love it, right? You got a lot of collaboration going on. A lot of collaboration going on. Okay, AwareX, the leader in digital customer experience solutions for Telecos unveiled a new project at Digital Transformation World, that's DTW. In Denmark this month, it was part of the TM forums catalyst program, very prestigious program and was titled B2B Employee Digital Engagement Drives Lifetime Value, all about enhancing customer lifetime value for telecom companies, partners and champions in the project. And in the project, it was also, there were a number of other players that contributed in the project. You may have heard of some of them. Go to Transverse, Cloudville, AT&T, we've heard of them and Sri Lanka Telecom with this flashy new project. Maybe AwareX is looking more like Flarex. You know what? That was my favorite one. Oh, that says a lot about this guy. All right, anyways, in hiring news, family and friends, DartPoints appointed a new CFO, naming Angelica Torres to the position. Yay, Angelica, as CFO Torres will oversee all financial aspects of DartPoints operations, including financial planning analysis, budgeting and risk management. With this hiring, you might say DartPoints hits a bullseye. Okay, that one I like, that one. That was brilliant, that one is perfect. Excellent, a bullseye indeed. In other hiring news, SAS company, EchoSense, named Kope Davis as director of US channels. Davis has had an impressive 17 year career in data center management, working for industry leaders like Schneider Electric, we know them very well, and RF code with this hiring, Davis sure makes a lot of EchoSense. Oh, okay, I like that one. I feel like we're getting better. Okay, sticking with hiring news, Stream data centers added a new SVP of global accounts and platform strategy, Jose Ruiz. In this newly created role, Jose will be in charge of improving customer experience while enhancing customer engagement. Here's to wishing Jose a steady stream of success. Excellent, okay. In still more hiring news, China Telecom do Brazil, the Brazilian subsidiary of China Telecom Americas, made a key hire this month. They appointed Dennis Montaleon, and am I saying that, is it Montaleon or Montaleon AJ? You know Montaleon AJ. No, I don't. I'm gonna go with Montaleon. Dennis Montaleon as their new general manager. It's another sign that the company is serious about investing in Brazil's IT technology, solutions, as we know that market can be a real tough Brazil nut to crack. I mean, I was waiting for it. I was cringing in anticipation. My timing was all off on that one. No, Brazil nut to crack. I mean, yeah. Okay. In publishing news, Element Critical released a new e-book called Unlocking the Transformative Power of the Hybrid Data Center Model. It looks like it's shaping up to be a really valuable resource for guiding businesses through their approach to hybrid data center implementation and digital transformations with steps, checklists and tips. I love interactive stuff. So that's awesome. And it sounds like the folks at Element Critical are really doing things by the e-book. That was great delivery, Jay. I really need to read the script for that. It was a great e-book. It was about an e-book. I get it. That's perfect. Meanwhile, instead of hiring, Zenlayer made a shuffle with their leadership structure by announcing a new role in the organization. They unveiled the creation of vice president of customer experience and have appointed Jeff Geyser to the position in the new role. Geyser will take on the crucial job of elevating Zenlayer's technical capabilities. With this move, I think Zenlayer is doing what it takes to be ever more of a Zen player in the industry. All right, that one is good. Zenlayer, Zen player, okay, I can fill that one. All right, in awards news team, we're moving over to Salt Lake City-based Nova Data Centers. They have earned several awards for its innovative work in the data center industry of these guys. They have racked about this includes fast companies, innovation by design award for their water-free cooling system of that, business intelligent group sustainability hero of the year for CEO West Swenson, nomination for the global carrier awards, best data center edge service innovation and a nomination for the Las Vegas global economic alliance innovation award for their sustainable practices and new North Las Vegas data center project. What? With all these achievements, the Nova is turning into real supernova. Supernova, I love it. Okay, there was more partnership news to announce this month with Virtec Corporation and Cyte Tech Services forming a new partnership in IT and cybersecurity services. This collaboration combines Virtec cybersecurity expertise with Cyte Tech services managed IT and cloud services, providing tailored solutions for auto dealerships to navigate security, cloud compliance and regulatory challenges. A new deal to help car dealerships. You gotta think that one is going to be automatic success. Oh, I like that one. That was good, that was good. All right, in merger and acquisition news, Archtop Fiber has closed its deal to acquire G-Tel which provides voice, video and internet services in upstate New York. This means Archtop will provide telecommunication services like multi-gig, 100% fiber internet and phone in more than five townships in New York's Southern Columbia County. So, you know, when it comes to telecom services, Archtop is certainly not an inquired taste. Acquired. No, no, no. I mean, that's it, all the major headlines from the very, very busy September and a very, very busy Friday for J&I as well. How do you think we did our puns, Jay? I mean, I think we did our dads proud with the amount of dad jokes that we were able to smush in there. Yeah, no, I agree. I think next month we will try our hand at impersonations. What do you think? No, but I think only our dads are watching at this point. If they are, my dad is probably trying to figure out how to actually send me a message right now. How do you turn it off? Turn it off. They're texting my mom or something like that. Anyway, speaking of next month, looking ahead, there is a full slate of great events in October, there's a channel Connect in Orlando and the SIM Boston Technology Leadership Summit. I know our friends from Light Path will be attending both of those events. So hook up with Light Path if you're going to be attending the Connect in Orlando or the SIM Boston events. And I mean, I know JSA, we are out there covering them all first off also in October. There's Infrastructure Summit in Toronto. We love those guys, good job there. Followed by the Encompass Show in Tampa, Florida, of course, and then Data Center World Asia in Singapore and the big event of course on everyone's minds, Capacity Europe and London. So JSA on the floor for all of these exciting conferences. Not sure how we're doing it, but I'm so proud of us. So make sure you please do stuff by and say hi. Yep, at JSA we are always out and about and we're looking forward to another great month in the world of telecom and data centers. As always guys, happy networking. And happy punning.