Cross-Connect Blog

Insights from Thought Leaders Part 2: The Rise of AI in the Data Center

April 06, 2018

Facebook Data Center

Chatsworth Products (CPI) recently participated in Data Center Frontier's Executive Roundtable, which featured industry thought leaders and showcased their expertise through four topical discussions. In a recent blog, we covered the first of these four discussions, in which experts provided their opinion on the digital transformation and the impact to data centers.

Today, we cover the second Executive Roundtable discussion in part two of our blog series in which Data Center Frontier presented thought leaders the following question:

"We’ve recently featured headlines about the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool in data center management. How do you view the potential for AI to help optimize and automate data centers, and what are the pros and cons of this technology?

"Eventually, AI will enable all aspects of the data center. The gold state would be data centers that flex to optimize all aspects of operations, with AI dynamically managing cooling, storage and networking to their optimum state...This is where we expect to see initial AI integration into the data center. Customers will take data from the data center – cooling, power, performance – and use deep learning to determine what combination of facility settings are optimized for their workloads...Eventually, the end state will be a DCIM system that is continually adjusted to optimize for the workload and the current environmental conditions." – Dennis VanLith, Senior Director of Global Product Management and one of the founders at CPI.

"Implementation of AI in the data center will move us well beyond current DCIM systems and their limitations. Using AI, we are able to create an environment in which not only are all of our power and facilities decisions and processes completely optimized, but that our resource planning and even advanced functions like dynamic bandwidth and server allocation are fully automated as well.  – Erich Sanchack, EVP of Operations at Digital Realty

"True artificial intelligence is a long way from reality, and the cons are all too easy to define...On the “pro” side: Machine learning already is beginning to be adopted within advanced data centers as a means to improve the control of cooling systems and act as the vision, hearing, touch, and smell of a super-facilities-manager...This type of system will emerge to improve the day-to-day performance of the data center while reducing the need for unnecessary preventive maintenance." – Jack Pouchet, VP of Market Development at Vertiv

"AI is tremendous but it is definitely an advisory tool – meaning that as it stands today, the ability to refine and clarify meaningful associated data from all the noise still requires some knowledgeable individuals looking at the results from the AI engine. What AI offers is speed and continual consumption of the data. What it does not offer is context related to specific associations, and experience to intuit when a constructed model, or the prescribed action, is not appropriate."  – Jeff Klaus, General Manager of Intel Data Center Software Solutions

As the adoption of AI continues to rise, the potential for the application of AI in the data center will also increase. A comprehensive, reliable solution that uses a simple, yet robust DCIM software to help visualize trends of all activities in your data center can optimize site capacity, utilization and security. To learn more, download a complimentary white paper.

Brittany Mangan, Digital Content Specialist

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