TO THE NEW and CloudKeeper Appoint Somnath Adak as Group Chief Financial Officer

Appointment strengthens the group's leadership as it continues to scale its technology, cloud, and AI businesses globally.

SINGAPORE, Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- TO THE NEW and CloudKeeper, leading technology companies focused on digital engineering, cloud, and FinOps, today announced the appointment of Somnath Adak as Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Singapore-headquartered TO THE NEW and CloudKeeper are affiliate entities under common ownership.

Based in Singapore, Somnath will lead the group's finance and legal functions across the group's operations in Singapore, India, the United States, the United Kingdom, the UAE, and Australia. He will partner closely with the Board of Directors and leadership teams of TO THE NEW and CloudKeeper to shape the group's legal architecture and steer its finance strategies.

Commenting on the appointment, Deepak Mittal, Chairman, TO THE NEW and Founder and CEO, CloudKeeper, said: "I'm delighted to welcome Somnath as the Group CFO. His combination of financial discipline, strategic acumen, and experience working with boards and leadership teams will be invaluable as we scale the businesses, strengthen our financial and legal foundations, and create sustainable value for our customers and stakeholders."

Commenting on the appointment, Narinder Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO, TO THE NEW, said: "Somnath joins the group at an exciting stage in our evolution, as we continue to scale our businesses and capitalize on the growth of AI and cloud. His experience across finance, capital markets, and business leadership will be incredibly valuable as we build the capabilities to support our next phase of growth."Somnath brings two decades of experience in finance, strategy, and business leadership across India, Australia, and Singapore, including senior leadership roles with large and listed businesses. Before joining TO THE NEW and CloudKeeper, he spent nine years with Singapore-listed Asian Pay Television Trust, including two years as CEO and seven years as CFO. During his tenure, he worked closely with the board to reduce debt, strengthen the balance sheet, and expand APTT's broadband business. Earlier, he held leadership roles at Macquarie, ITC Limited, and Grant Thornton.

Somnath is a Chartered Accountant and former Chairman of the ICAI Singapore Chapter. He holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD and is a Distinguished Alumnus of Shri Ram College of Commerce."I'm delighted to join TO THE NEW and CloudKeeper at such an exciting stage of their journey," said Somnath Adak, Group CFO, TO THE NEW and CloudKeeper. "I look forward to building on the strong foundations of both businesses while further strengthening finance and legal as strategic, technology-enabled functions that support growth and business decision-making. I'm excited to work closely with Deepak, Narinder, and the teams across both businesses as we scale and expand into new markets".

The appointment further strengthens the group's leadership team as TO THE NEW and CloudKeeper continue to invest in technology, cloud, data, and AI capabilities, and expand their presence across global markets. The strategic executive appointment builds on the group's recent momentum and reflects its continued investment in leadership capabilities to support its next phase of growth.

About TO THE NEW

TO THE NEW is an AI-native digital engineering company headquartered in Singapore, with presence across India, the USA, the UAE, and Australia. Founded in 2008, the company helps enterprises build, modernize, and transform products, platforms, and experiences through AI-powered engineering. Its capabilities span product engineering, cloud, data and AI, enterprise AI, and digital experiences, serving 100+ global clients across diverse industries. TO THE NEW has a team of 2,200+ engineers across 25+ client locations and 6 global delivery centers.TO THE NEW has been recognized by leading analyst firms including Gartner, Everest Group, ISG, and Zinnov for its capabilities across digital engineering, cloud, data and AI, and media and entertainment. The company is an AWS Premier Partner and Databricks Silver Partner, and has been certified as a Great Place to Work for 10 consecutive years

.About CloudKeeper

CloudKeeper is the only outcome-driven AI & Cloud Cost Optimisation partner built for fast-scaling cloud organisations. We deliver guaranteed, continuous cost savings across your cloud and AI estate—combining proven FinOps expertise, AI-led optimisation platforms, and hands-on execution to drive measurable financial outcomes at scale.With over 15 years of cloud cost optimization experience, CloudKeeper has helped 400+ global companies reduce cloud and AI spend by an average of 20% across AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Unlike traditional engagement models, CloudKeeper delivers ongoing savings through an outcome-based model—with no upfront costs and no long-term commitments.

Contact information:

Vinayak
Head - Marketing
TO THE NEW
vinayak@tothenew.com
https://www.tothenew.com/

Naman Jain
Chief Growth and Marketing Officer
CloudKeeper
naman.jain@cloudkeeper.com
https://www.cloudkeeper.com/  

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TO THE NEW and CloudKeeper Appoint Somnath Adak as Group Chief Financial Officer

Dr. Drew Feng shares findings showing no propagation to adjacent modules or cabinets, with no sprinkler activation during the test.

SINGAPORE, Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ampace, a provider of advanced lithium-ion energy storage solutions, today presented results from a large-scale fire test (LSFT) of its PU100 UPS battery system at Data Centre World Asia 2026. In a conference presentation titled "LSFT for UPS Battery System: Last Key Piece toward Ultimate Safety," Dr. Drew Feng examined evolving fire safety requirements and shared findings from Ampace's testing.

Under the tested conditions, thermal runaway remained confined to the initiating module, with no propagation to adjacent modules or target cabinets. No sprinklers activated during the test, the fire self-extinguished after approximately 40 minutes, and no re-ignition was observed during the subsequent 24-hour observation period.

Assessing Safety Beyond the Initiating Module

For data center operators, battery fire safety depends not only on reducing the likelihood of failure, but also on limiting its consequences if thermal runaway occurs. Large-scale fire testing evaluates how an event develops and whether fire spreads to surrounding equipment under defined installation conditions.

Dr. Feng's presentation examined the installation-level LSFT provisions in the sixth edition of UL 9540A and the importance of evaluating fire propagation, thermal exposure and re-ignition. It also highlighted how battery design and installation layout influence the outcome of a severe fire event.

Testing Under Dense Installation Conditions

Ampace tested the PU100 in a configuration representative of dense data center installations. The setup included a 3-meter ceiling height, zero side-by-side cabinet clearance, 20-millimeter back-to-back clearance and 850-millimeter face-to-face clearance. All cabinets were at 100% state of charge.

Heaters initiated thermal runaway in the trigger module, which was then ignited to establish sustained combustion. The test tracked fire development, propagation and sprinkler activation, followed by observation for re-ignition and post-test teardown analysis.

The results presented included:

• No thermal runaway propagation to adjacent modules and no fire spread to target cabinets.
• No sprinkler activation throughout the test.
• Self-extinguishment after approximately 40 minutes and no re-ignition during the following 24 hours.
• No burning debris escaping the cabinet.
• Wall temperature rise below 80°C and ceiling steel beam temperature below 250°C.

According to Ampace's comparison presented at the conference, the test met the UL 9540A sixth-edition LSFT criteria assessed and demonstrated additional margins on several measures. These included wall temperature rise below the cited 97°C limit and ceiling steel beam temperature below the cited 538°C limit. The 24-hour observation also extended beyond the 12-hour re-ignition period referenced in the presentation, with no sprinkler activation during the test.

Safety Engineered at Module and Cabinet Levels

Designed to support dynamic AI workloads and reliable backup power, the PU100 incorporates multiple layers of protection. These include all-metal module and cabinet enclosures, ceramic thermal insulation in the modules, high-voltage box and cabinet, and thermal barriers designed to limit fire propagation.

Post-test teardown provided further evidence of containment. Modules adjacent to the initiating module showed no thermal runaway and retained normal voltage readings of 53.2 V. The initiating cabinet showed discoloration but no significant structural damage or collapse, while the adjacent cabinet retained its mechanical integrity and was reported to remain operational.

Dr. Feng brings extensive experience in battery safety standards development to this work. He recently became the first expert from China's lithium-ion battery industry to receive the UL Standards Outstanding Contribution Award and was also awarded the TC Members Five-Year Honorary Medal. As a voting member of UL technical committees, he has contributed to the development of 19 UL standards, including UL 9540 and UL 9540A, which are directly relevant to energy storage system safety and thermal runaway fire propagation testing.

By sharing the test configuration, measured results and teardown findings, Ampace aims to give data center operators and infrastructure partners a clearer basis for evaluating UPS battery fire safety. Combining practical testing with active participation in standards development, the company continues to advance battery systems that support dependable backup power and limit the impact of thermal runaway.

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Ampace Presents PU100 Large-Scale Fire Test Results at Data Centre World Asia 2026

Ampace Presents PU100 Large-Scale Fire Test Results at Data Centre World Asia 2026