On the heels of a massive winter storm that swept across dozens of U.S. states over the weekend, spot rates for trucking freight loads are expected to rise for dry van and, especially, refrigerated equipment, according to a weekly report from Truckstop.com and FTR Transportation Intelligence.

The numbers aren’t in yet, but past winter storms provide a solid comparison, the report said. For example, shippers often seek out insulated refrigerated vans during extreme cold temperatures to haul typically dry van freight that is susceptible to freezing. A similar storm in mid-January 2024 led to sizable spot rate increases for both van types, even as rates typically would have fallen significantly. And rates then resumed their post-holiday normalization the following week.

This year, as one measure of the broad impact of “Winter Storm Fern” on national logistics flows, federal regulators on Saturday issued a Regional Emergency Declaration providing temporary hours-of-service (HOS) relief for certain motor carriers and drivers due to severe winter storms and extreme cold impacting multiple states. Such moves are typical before large storms, but this one was notable for its sheer size, covering 40 states (AL, AR, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MD, MA, MI, MS, MN, MO, MT, NE, NH, NJ, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WV, WI, WY), according to the Federal Motor Carrer Safety Administration (FMCSA).

Likewise, transportation provider Averitt on Monday announced that pickup and delivery locations had been affected across 14 states (AL, AR, GA, KY, LA, MS, MI, NC, OH, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA).

And even as those impacts continue to ripple across the country, emergency recovery group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) said Winter Storm Fern had brought heavy snow and ice to approximately 35 states, causing substantial disruptions affecting supply chains, including:

• thousands of flight/rail service cancellations
• widespread power outages
• suspended trucking operations, and the
• restricted flow of critical goods like food, fuel and pharmaceuticals

That much is typical for major weather events, but ALAN said Fern’s impact could linger. “However unlike other winter storms, it has affected most of the country rather than one or two states or regions. And for some areas, there is no imminent end to the dangerously cold conditions that could delay both recovery efforts and the ability to get back to ‘business as usual’,” ALAN Executive Director Kathy Fulton said in a statement.

The group plans to post requests for recovery help in coming days as post-storm assessments are completed, using its Disaster Micro-site and Supply Chain Intelligence Center.

The first company that can make a UALink switch with high radix – meaning lots of ports – and high aggregate bandwidth across those ports that can compete toe-to-toe with Nvidia’s NVSwitch memory fabric and NVLink ports is going to make a lot of money. …

Upscale AI Nabs Cash To Forge “SkyHammer” Scale Up Fabric Switch was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Telescent has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Trevor Roots as Chief Financial Officer. With more than 25 years of financial experience across the semiconductor, optical networking, and technology sectors, Roots joins the company at a pivotal moment as demand for automated fiber management accelerates across hyperscale data centers and AI infrastructure.

A seasoned executive, Roots has guided multiple venture-backed technology companies through rapid expansion. Most recently, he served as CFO of Jariet Technologies, a developer of high-speed data converters. His earlier roles include leading the financial operations at Sierra Monolithics where he supported revenue growth from $15 million to more than $70 million while maintaining strong operating margins. He also helped drive E-Tek Dynamics’ scale from $40 million to a $500 million annual run rate prior to its acquisition by JDS Uniphase.

“Trevor’s proven ability to scale technology companies and enhance operational performance makes him an ideal fit for Telescent,” said Anthony Kewitsch, CEO and Co-founder. “His background in semiconductor and optical networking environments aligns perfectly with our continued growth.”

Roots’ arrival follows a period of major momentum for Telescent, including the company’s largest order to date from a top hyperscale data center operator and expanding global partnerships for its G5 robotic patch-panel system.

“I’m excited to join Telescent at such a significant stage in its growth,” Roots said. “The company’s automated fiber management solutions address critical needs for data center and AI operators, and I look forward to supporting its long-term strategy.”

As Telescent scales to meet surging industry demand, Roots’ financial leadership will help guide the company’s next phase of expansion.

Learn more at telescent.com.

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365 Data Centers, a leading provider specializing in network-centric colocation, cloud, and managed services, has taken a major leap forward in the enterprise IT landscape by launching an AI-enabled platform in partnership with Robot Network. This collaboration is much more than a typical technology upgrade; it redefines what businesses can expect from this type of partnership. With digital transformation forcing companies to seek new efficiencies, the ability to integrate intelligent operations at the infrastructure layer has quickly become a game-changer.

Traditionally, colocation facilities have been the passive hosts of IT assets, serving as secure and reliable spaces for housing critical infrastructure. However, 365’s platform now transforms colocation into an active optimization layer for AI, allowing most enterprise workloads to be processed securely within the data center edge while reserving specialized, high-density AI capabilities for the remaining tasks. This hybrid approach enables businesses to reap the financial and operational benefits of consolidated infrastructure while ensuring rapid access to advanced analytics, reporting, and custom business capabilities powered by AI.

By fusing its robust network and cloud services with Robot Network’s proprietary AI stack, 365 will enable scalable, cost-effective AI adoption on demand. The new platform supports small-language models and is optimized for leading hardware such as AMD EPYC processors and NVIDIA GPUs. Now, enterprises can deploy agentic AI within footprints as compact as 10-50 kW, significantly boosting revenue per watt – a key metric for both financial and technical performance.

With this new offering, 365 and Robot Network deliver flexible, scalable private cloud AI solutions built to address real business challenges. Whether it’s rapid data analytics, sophisticated reporting, or custom business intelligence applications, enterprises can tap into a pooled infrastructure that maximizes efficiency while minimizing upfront and recurring costs.

Security, compliance, and uptime remain top priorities. The platform incorporates enterprise-grade resilience with 24/7 monitoring and certified security. By letting 365 handle labor-intensive aspects like compliance, network optimization, and hardware refreshes, employers can focus on driving innovation rather than maintaining legacy systems.

Initial use cases revolve around a proprietary AI chat platform leveraging small and large language models. The goal is to ultimately lower barriers for businesses of all sizes to unlock advanced capabilities previously reserved for tech giants, using proven models from firms like Meta, OpenAI, and Grok.

As 365 and Robot Network continue to build out their joint platform, they are reinforcing their roles as trusted infrastructure partners for forward-looking enterprises. The path to AI-driven business success now runs through secure, scalable colocation, and 365 stands ready to guide customers confidently into the future of intelligent operations.

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