The Hi-Tech Data Center

The future of the data center (like every aspect of our world) will be in technology. The future of data center operations will be driven by augmented reality, Artificial Intelligence, fully autonomous machines, and much more. This article will discuss the future of technology as it pertains to data centers.

We are getting closer and closer to Artificial Intelligence being a driving force in our everyday lives. In the future, AI drive our cars, working alongside us to perform manufacturing tasks, be a part of the healthcare system by quickly and accurately diagnosing and helping with treatments, AI will be a part of education with the use of virtual tutors and maybe even instructors, and will take care of customer service needs and make optimize how businesses are ran.

A data center operation is filled with complex systems and machines that need plenty of attention and expertise. But with AI and Machine Learning, these system tasks and procedures will be optimized and streamlined. It will become more efficient and could potentially run on its own.

Photo Source: equinix

How Is Augmented Reality Being Used in the Data Center?

There is a lot that goes into managing a data center. The person(s) in charge of this manages massive amounts of data from many different organizations. They are in charge of protecting and securing the data from any threats. They are in charge of helping clients access this data as well. Daily processes will include making sure the network is running correctly, checking on power sources, and cooling the servers. Troubleshooting problems can be time-consuming, but with the help of augmented reality, these tasks could be made easier.

Keeping track of how to service, maintain, and upgrade all of the machines in the system can be quite the challenge.

Augmented reality combines the real world we currently live in with virtual elements. The computer-generated augmentations are projected on top of reality in a way that is supposed to help us with different tasks. The use of augmented reality can make certain work-related takes easier and help workers be more efficient with their time. This could also be used in a fun way. Equinix MR (mixed reality) will allow users to load different virtual elements, including the Star Trek crew, to help with your IT needs.

Recently, Dell has created an AR Assistant app to help show customers how to perform specific hardware servicing procedures. This app was developed for iOS phones and will soon be available for android. They are quite early on with this new technology, but concepts they have planned could be a game-changer when it comes to data center operations. They are working to incorporate AR glasses instead of having to use a phone. These glasses will make it easier to view the health status of data center machines. These AR glasses could also help any data center manager walk through the premises and quickly see if there is anything that needs attention. They could use it to see how the data is moving through the data center and what resources are being used. They can get a broad or in-depth look at power consumption and cooling needs as well.

The idea of augmented reality in a data center is to make technicians and managers jobs easier to repair and maintain these systems. In the future, we may have fully autonomous data centers. This could save companies time, money, and resources.

What is Machine Learning?

Machine learning is a type of algorithm within artificial intelligence that allows software applications to learn and predict outcomes and solutions without much programming. Deep learning is another category within machine learning that enables the program to become smarter without as much guidance as machine learning progressively. This type of artificial intelligence could help solve the problems of our world currently and in the future. Machine learning could help find solutions for climate change, improve healthcare, and much more. These benefits could also be implemented into the world of data centers.

Photo Source: volico

What are the benefits of an Artificially Intelligent Data Center?

One of the most important benefits that come from an artificially intelligent data center is that most of the systems will become autonomous. This means eliminating human errors. When I think about artificial intelligence and autonomous things, I think about self-driving cars. Artificial intelligence, as it pertains to cars, could result in the prevention of accidents. An artificially intelligent and autonomous data center could mean reducing or even completely removing mistakes that can open the system to hackers.

An autonomous data center can make systems more protected, dependable, adaptable, and more cost-efficient than one without AI. The use of a proper integrated autonomous system would use the power of machine learning to automatically fix, backup, and upgrade itself without the need for human involvement.

AI would reduce downtime, help continuously monitor equipment, optimize servers through automation, improve Cybersecurity, and help conserve energy.

This can potentially save companies time and money, which could be used to help grow the business in different areas. The idea of artificial intelligence is really to make our lives a little easier.

Photo Source: colocationamerica

What’s Next for Data Centers?

There are many exciting innovations when it comes to data centers. Western Digital has announced it will be releasing 20TB hard drives by the end of the year, Microsoft is testing underwater data centers, and we are finding ways to incorporate augmented reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning into data centers. Our world has and will continue to be driven by technology innovations. Another fantastic innovation that has been in the works is Vapor IO and Hangar Technology’s network of autonomous drones that will be stationed throughout our cities that will act as an edge computing traveling data centers. The research firm IDC believes that 45 percent of data will be stored processed and analyzed by edge computing systems such as this.

Data centers will continue to become more critical as we are creating more data than ever before. These innovations are an important part of ensuring we are producing enough space for this data. At the rate, these innovations are coming along—fully autonomous data centers are just around the corner.