DataCenterNews Asia Pacific - Specialist news for cloud & data center decision-makers
Story image
Artificial intelligence in the data centre
Tue, 10th Jul 2018
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Right now, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are the two technological innovations dominating both the technology and business scene. And rightfully so – the technologies represent countless possibilities for both consumers and enterprises. AI is rapidly being deployed across a number of applications – from smart homes to autonomous vehicles – but the AI use case that will have the biggest impact to enterprises will take place in the data center.

From security to data management, the potential impact of AI on data center is significant, and here's why.

AI can effectively inform security

AI has the potential to spot threats that might otherwise be missed. Unfortunately, today's security landscape is littered with bad actors and new threats are appearing all the time. Systems bolstered by AI can instantly spot indicators of serious threats among mountains of data and see patterns among many factors. AI can also collect and analyse forensic data, scan code for vulnerabilities or errors, and use historical data to automatically adapt to changing environments.

Dealing with data can be simplified

Most IT people face the same challenge - their plates are already over-full. Along with AI's ability to spot threats that could otherwise go undetected, AI also has the ability to augment and enhance the jobs of already-busy security and data management pros. It's not hard to understand how IT pros' lives have changed with the skyrocketing amount of data now being created by both physical and virtual. AI's capacity to handle large volumes of data will be invaluable to IT folk going forward.

AI enhances performance management

AI can also help improve hardware performance. While security remains the most obvious and immediate area where AI can make a noticeable impact, there is also the potential for it to help improve hardware performance. Whether it is measuring server heat to spot potential issues or monitoring backup generators to reduce the risk of outages, AI will help facilities operate smarter. Enterprises and data center operators alike will be able to input any number of operating sensors and data into an AI system to optimise data centers for power efficiency and performance on the fly.

While the use cases for AI in the data center are still emerging, it's clear that security and productivity will be key benefits of its deployment. It will be fascinating to watch how this trend develops.