22 April 2024

Danel Turk, solutions portfolio manager, data centres, ABB

2024 is bringing a lot of growth in data centres, and with it, growth in energy demand. So important is this factor that the power requirements are amongst the top deciding factors on where to build a data centre. Sustainability has a key role to play here, because the less power consumed, the better for everyone.

15 April 2024

Alex Chapman, network services and security specialist, Britannic

Securing your network is vital in today’s world and the role of the IT director is becoming increasingly complex with more devices being used and with the acceleration of new disruptive technologies such as AI. The cost of cybercrime is forecasted to be a staggering $10.5 trillion by 2025 according to Cybersecurity Ventures.

Usage of the network has changed considerably with hybrid working being commonplace, employees using their own devices for work and downloading new software and applications independently to help them be more efficient in their roles.

11 April 2024

Dave Chen, head of switching product marketing, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

As we know, the sole guarantee business leaders have is that change is constant. According to Accenture’s Pulse of Change: 2024 Index, released ahead of January’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, business disruption is expected to accelerate much faster than expected, with technology ranked as the number one reason.

Generative AI, IoT, and other connected technologies continue to reset business expectations and create challenging dynamics for IT teams to accommodate. Networks play a pivotal role in enabling data services and are increasingly looked to as the lifeline for IT to address priorities around user experience, application performance, access and deployment, interoperability, and integration.

09 April 2024

Billy Durie, global sector head for data centres, Aggreko

AI has become the word on seemingly everyone’s lips at the minute, with tools such as ChatGPT receiving widespread attention for their applications across several industries. However, amid this increase in demand, the strain on data centres, and in turn the natural environment, is increasing at a similar rate.

The impact on water usage is already being felt by the industry. A recent article from The Telegraph investigated the scope of this issue, revealing that each command given to ChatGPT ‘drinks’ the equivalent of a sip of water, with 20 tasks equating to half a litre. The positive applications of AI are innumerable, but it is important to recognise that the use of AI also harbours a very real physical impact.

05 April 2024

Tim Sherbak, enterprise products and solutions, Quantum

AI’s influence is pervasive and undeniable. It is weaving its way into every industry sector and reshaping the fabric of our daily lives. From chatbots that can solve customer queries within minutes to autonomous vehicles and facial recognition, this ever-advancing technology is helping propel society towards a new future.

Yet, for its full potential to shine, robust infrastructure to support high-performance AI workloads and computing is paramount. AI requires high-calibre systems designed to bear the weight of intense workloads and store the vast amounts of data required for AI model training. A computer can only ever learn from the data you give it – the more data, the ‘smarter’ the machine. One of the biggest challenges is storing and managing this expanding volume of data. Deleting data is simply no longer an option because organisations never know when it will be useful in the future. Before widespread AI usage, this level of retained massive data sets for analysis primarily existed in high-performance computing (HPC) environments. However, the advancement of AI has now brought this infrastructure challenge to any organisation wanting to capitalise on the potential of AI, essentially turning every kind of organisation into a HPC environment.