FEATURE : DATA CENTRE INFRASTRUCTURE
According to Pereira , capacity planning is definitely a hard topic for any data centre manager and a problem that is perfect for the use of Artificial Intelligence ( AI ). “ It is hard to imagine this if the data centre is build out of a legacy architecture where disjoint systems from many different vendors that can hardly communicate between themselves to deliver the basic functions , but when you ’ re analysing a hyper-converged solution it is fairly easy to understand that all the information you need to make capacity planning is natively on that system ,” he said .
“ Rather than providing that information to the users , Nutanix uses AI to perform automated optimisation , proactive remediation and operational automation . Relevant to the question of capacity planning are the capabilities around automated optimisation , where our Prism Pro solution delivers : capacity behaviour analytics , capacity optimisation and just in time just-intime forecast .”
Challenges for enterprises
Harb observed that one of the major challenges that enterprises are facing now in the Middle East , is the marginal decrease in their capital expenditure . “ There are a variety of reasons relating to project delays as the focus on building in-house project management capabilities due to payment delays by clients and availability of funding ,” he said . “ Other reasons include increased cost of materials , labour and equipment , along with challenges relating to working capital . These challenges have helped the private sector to grow , as most organisations in this vertical have more funding and more budget to spend .”
According to Pereira , using HCI simplifies the physical infrastructure to the maximum and enjoy the benefits of
embedded virtualisation . “ Further to this , and because not all HCI offerings in the market are the same , in the case of Nutanix , we offer our customers full flexibility in the choice of their hypervisor ,” he explained .
Harb added that 5G networks have been a focus topic for several years and massive deployment was expected for 2020 but the pandemic and other reasons have seen more telcos postponed the deployment of 5G networks . “ The rise of 5G will involve many other technologies such Big Data , Edge and cloud computing to go along with it , in order to succeed and accelerate the access to the digital world , as consumers have developed an insatiable demand for the digital world .”
Looking ahead , Kingston ’ s Harb said Middle East CIOs are optimistic as budgets increase and Digital Transformation initiatives expand . However , noted Harb , cybersecurity and risk management will see the biggest increase in spending , but Digital Transformation of businesses is a major driver of investment . “ Big investments are required on electrical infrastructure like UPS system generators , transfer switches and switchgears , rack PDUs and other electrical infrastructure and in mechanical infrastructure like cooling systems , racks and others ,” he said . “ CIOs will have to be careful on return of investment and budget spending in the year ahead .”
Tufekci said the quick fix for CIOs facing skill challenges is to migrate to the cloud or to hosted data centres . For the long run , the team should be encouraged to add new skills by engaging candidates with new technologies such as virtualisation , HCI and networking . “ Most importantly , do not limit teams to maintaining and monitoring their data centre only ,” she said . p
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