Mike's Notes
On Monday, I met with DataGrid NZ to discuss the possibility of Pipi using the hosting available at the future data centre. Here are my evolving notes. This will no doubt change as we experiment.
Update
See Apple's security model using stateless infrastructure.
Update 06/08/2026
Pipi using Cerebras Wafer and CPU for compute might be a better option than GPU. Pipi does not use vectors or require matrix calculations.
Update 22/08/2026
The video recording of the 18/08/2026 meeting organised by the Southland Business Chamber explains a lot about what DataGrid is planning to build. Looks great.
DataGrid is building a facility that a major hyperscaler can lease for 15 years and install its own gear. That rules out hosting dedicated racks for Pipi. However, the new undersea cables to be laid, connecting at Oreti Beach, Invercargill, will supply faster connectivity to the region,which will be very useful.
Resources
- https://southlandchamber.co.nz/datagrid-eyeing-2028-opening-of-new-data-centre/
- https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/new-zealands-datagrid-buys-another-six-hectares-for-invercargill-campus/
- https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360564364/datagrid-seeks-fast-track-approval-submarine-cable-australia
- https://environment.govt.nz/acts-and-regulations/acts/fast-track-approvals-bill/fast-track-projects/datagrid-sustainable-data-centre-park/
- https://subtelforum.com/datagrid-and-chorus-announce-trans-tasman-subsea-cable/
- https://www.datacentermap.com/c/datagrid-new-zealand/
- https://www.capacitymedia.com/article/2ckxc03g3wpct7rg99ce8/appointments/datagrid-new-zealand-names-perrine-dhalluin-as-new-ceo
- https://www.blog.ajabbi.com/2025/05/boxlang-100.html
- https://www.blog.ajabbi.com/2025/04/data-centre-options-for-pipi-9.html
- https://www.ortussolutions.com/products/cloud-servers/ortus-cloud-servers
- https://www.youtube.com/@DatagridNewZealand
- https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/589629/ai-illiterate-nz-at-risk-of-being-left-behind-as-data-centre-plans-move-forward
- https://datacentresnz.org.nz/
- https://www.blog.ajabbi.com/2026/08/pipi-on-cerebras.html
- https://youtu.be/pyCNYtf2BCI?si=7zRP2GL2gSpLt-UZ
- https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/1063865/data-centre-build-could-create-5000-jobs-report-says
- https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/science-and-technology/868752/explainer-what-is-a-data-centre-and-why-is-everyone-freaking-out-now
- https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/1042216/datagrid-begins-work-on-southland-site-completion-expected-this-year
References
- Reference
Repository
- Home > Ajabbi Research > Library >
- Home > Handbook >
Last Updated
22/08/2026
A three-data-centre model for Pipi
Mike is the inventor and architect of Pipi and the founder of Ajabbi.
Perrine Dhalluin, CEO of DataGrid NZ, recently spoke at a meeting in April in Invercargill, New Zealand, about the new Data Centre to be built nearby in Makarewa. I got to meet her.
I had a further remote meeting on Monday, May 5, 2025, with Perrine Dhalluin and Pierre-Emmanuel Goiffon, DataGrid's CTO. The discussion was open and broad-ranging. I can work with these people.
Ongoing discussions and in-person meet-ups are planned.
Data Centre Requirements
The top priorities are
- Reliability
- Security
Reliability
This will require extensive power, cooling, compute monitoring, and connectivity redundancy. Also, plan for fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, undersea landslides, perimeter incursion, solar flares, etc.
Security
This critical infrastructure needs to meet any country's highest government security requirements. There must never be security or privacy breaches.
Data Centres
Because of its unusual architecture, Pipi needs three separate data centres that work together in a chain.
Rendering > Staging > Cloud
- Rendering built enterprise applications
- Staging update, localise and deploy enterprise applications
- Cloud hosting enterprise applications
Rendering
The rendering farm data centre is like a CNC machine for software; it automatically builds massive SaaS enterprise systems for critical infrastructure, on demand. The first rendering rack is being constructed and will be operational later this year. Plan for growth over time.
Processes applied include;
- Applying versioned industry schema, e.g., SNOMED, IATF
- Ontologies
- Laws of physics
- Human language translations
- Digital twins
- Systems that learn by evolutionary algorithms and reproduce
- etc
Digital twins of configuration settings and the path taken for each;
- Enterprise customer
- Industry
- World model
- Common core
- etc
Rittal is the preferred supplier.
Staging
The staging data centre updates, localises and deploys the applications to the customer's cloud hosting environment and sends GitHub, open-source modules, and plug-ins. It needs to be somewhere very secure with excellent connectivity. Plan for growth over time.
Processes include;
- Update servers
- Additional prerendering
- Localisation
- Future AI usage
- Documentation
- etc
DataGrid NZ is the preferred supplier.
Cloud
Cloud hosting of the built enterprise systems for customer use in production.
Initial availability will be;
- Apple
- AWS
- Azure
- Digital Ocean
- GCP
- IBM
- Meta
- Oracle
There is no preferred cloud supplier.
No Moats
The applications will not have moats and can use open API connectors to other systems, enabling the customer to choose. For example;
- RDMS
- MSSQL
- Postgresql
- Oracle
- etc
- GIS
- MapInfo
- ESRI
- QGIS
- etc.
- Maths & Science
- Wolfram
- MatLab
- Kepler
- etc.
Platform Requirements
The common platform will be;
- VM
- Open-source BoxLang
- JVM on Open JDK 21+
- OS - Ubuntu Linux and Windows
Ortus is the preferred supplier.
Connectivity
This needs to be confirmed, but my understanding is that the Makarewa data centre will be connected via;
"Hawaiki Nui will connect South-East Asia, Australasia, and North America; the 12 fibre pair, 240Tbps cable will connect Singapore, Sydney, and Los Angeles, as well as New Zealand via Invercargill." - DataCentreDynamics.org
Before the data centre is built, two cables will come ashore at Oreti Beach, near Invercargill.
Update 15/03/2026
Datagrid New Zealand has received resource consent for the 78,000 square-metre data centre, which will be built in Makarewa, north of Invercargill. The company was founded by Rémi Galasso and Malcolm Dick in 2021. - RNZ





