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REDUCING COST
predicting and preventing data centre failures, foreseeing
service requirements and detecting capacity shortfalls.
This is useful for data centre managers with resource
limitations, because, according to a report carried out by 451
Research, DMaaS “ties remote cloud-based monitoring into
maintenance and fix services, enabling a full-service business
model for suppliers.” It, therefore, opens a doorway allowing
new and additional smart eyes on the infrastructure, from
a service provider’s network operations centre, to support
a customer’s internal team. It also opens the way to the
development of new offerings from service partners, from
energy management to proactive maintenance. Again, for
those with resource constraints, the ability to be able to
have full insight into data centre infrastructure and the IT
load, enables intelligent support to be provided based on a
data-driven basis.
The greater breadth and depth of data that can now
be captured from IoT enabled equipment increases the
capability of DMaaS compared with earlier service models.
The value of data is multiplied when it is aggregated and
analysed at scale. By applying algorithms to large datasets
drawn from diverse types of data centres operating in
different environmental conditions, the goal of DMaaS will
be to predict, for example, when equipment will fail, and
when cooling thresholds will be breached. The larger the
dataset, the smarter DMaaS becomes with every iteration.
The report from 451 Research goes on to say that having
more data about the performance of specific equipment in
specific environments – temperature, humidity, air pressure
– will enable predictions to become more accurate over
time. It predicts that in the not too distant future, increased
data centre automation will be made possible as well as
full remote control as part of DMaaS-driven services, e.g.
automatically switching UPS to eco-mode when utilisation
is low, directing IT load away from areas of potential failure,
and power capping and shedding.
The potential of DMaaS
In other markets, the emergence of IoT technology and use
of big data has also been the stimulus for the introduction
of innovative business models. A potential capability of
DMaaS is to enable service suppliers, and manufacturers, to
bundle monitoring and management services into a lease
agreement for data centre infrastructure equipment to
deliver asset as a service offerings. With this type of DMaaS
enabled service, the supplier maintains ownership and
charges for operation service. 451 Research believes that
this might be especially interesting for highly distributed IT
deployments and edge data centre portfolios.
Right now, it’s important to say that AI isn’t going to
solve all current data centre challenges. It won’t magically
transform an old traditional data centre into a cutting-
edge site with a perfect PUE and availability record. The
fundamentals and best practices of data centre design
and operation will still be crucial to success. However, the
gains that it can bring through DMaaS are a good starting
point, and we can expect that as future developments in
AI and ML applied in the data centre, they will build on
or provide incremental value to these major performance
improvements that were gained over the last decade. n
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