The Ultimate Combo: Artificial intelligence and data centers

How artificial intelligence helps in data centers

Data centers have become an essential element within new technologies, if we add to that the current capabilities of artificial intelligence we have a perfect, superhero pairing, capable of providing us with all kinds of advances and benefits. Yes, we can shout it to the wind: “Blessed is the time in which we live!”

The future: smart data centers

For artificial intelligence to be devoted to scaring us to death through iconic movies like 2001 or Terminator is a thing of the past, today it has other, much more interesting and practical purposes. For example, crowning itself by playing a fundamental role in data processing and analysis. Yes, that’s her, the futuristic AI, increasingly faster, more efficient and, now, necessary to manage data centers.

We know that data is already the element that moves the world. An essential requirement for any operation, be it institutional, business, commercial… This makes data centers one of the most important epicenters of digital transformation. After all, in their physical facilities you may find the equipment and technology that sustains, among other things, the information on which the world economy depends. Centers that store seamlessly data backup and recovery with just one hand, while supporting Cloud applications and transactions with the other. Therefore, they guarantee an ideal climate for investment and opportunities, they boost the economy and encourage and attract a large number of technology companies. They are almost the center of the digital revolution.

Although data centers are not without problems. It is estimated that in the future, three or four years from now, 80% of companies will close their traditional data centers. It’s not foresight madness if you consider the myriad of inconveniences traditional data centers face. I mean a certain lack of preparation for updates, infrastructure problems, environmental deficiencies, etc. But don’t worry, as for so many things, there is a vaccine, a remedy, to take advantage of the advances in artificial intelligence to improve, as far as possible, the functions and infrastructure of data centers.

Forbes Insights already pointed it out in 2020: AI is more than poised to have a huge impact on data centers. In its management, productivity, infrastructure… In fact, they already offer potential solutions to data centers to improve their operations. And data centers, already upgraded by artificial intelligence capabilities, process AI workloads more efficiently.

Power Usage Effectiveness, PUE

As you may guess, data centers consume a lot of energy, which is why an artificial intelligence network is necessary to increase the efficiency of energy use (PUE). The Power Usage Effectiveness or PUE, also equivalent to the total electrical power of the CPD or the total electrical power consumed by the systems, is a metric to calculate the efficiency of data centers.

A couple of years ago, Google was already able to achieve a consistent 40% reduction in the amount of energy used for cooling by deploying Deepmind IA in one of its facilities. This achievement equates to a 15% reduction in overall PUE overload, once electrical losses and other non-cooling issues have been accounted for. It produced the lowest PUE they had ever seen. And the thing is that Deepmind analyzes all kinds of variables within the data center to improve the efficiency of the energy used and reduce its consumption.

Can Smart Data Centers be threatened?

Yes, data centers can also suffer from cyber threats. Hackers do their homework, always finding new ways to breach security and sneak information from data centers. However, the IA once again shows its guts and resources, and learns from normal network behavior to detect threats based on possible irregularities in such behavior. Artificial intelligence can be the perfect complement to the current Security Incidents and Event Management (SIEM) systems, and analyze the inputs of the multiple systems and the incidents, devising an adequate response to each unforeseen event.

Effective management

Through the use of intelligent hardware and IoT sensors, artificial intelligence will show us the effective management of our data center infrastructure. It will automate repetitive work, for example. Activities such as temperature monitoring or the status of the equipment, security, risks of all kinds and the management of refrigeration systems. In addition to carrying out predictive analysis that will help distribute the work among the company’s servers. It will also optimize server storage systems and help find potential system failures, improve processing times, and reduce common risk factors.

AI systems have already been developed that automatically learn to schedule data processing operations on thousands of servers 20-30% faster, completing key data center tasks on the go twice as fast during times of high traffic. They handle the same or higher workload faster using fewer resources. Additionally, mitigation strategies can help data centers recover from data disruption. This immediately turns into a reduction in losses during the interruption and our customers giving us a wide smile of satisfaction.

Well, what do you think of this special union, this definitive combo that artificial intelligence and data centers are and will be? Do you think something can marinate better? Data centers and the Cloud ? N-Able and Kaseya? ,White wine and seafood? Condensed milk and everything else? Leave your opinion in the comments!