Intelligent Data Centres Issue 01 | Page 26

EDITOR’S QUESTION will require increasing levels of compute at the edge. Of course, these processes need to be secured, managed and automated. VMware will help customers by providing local intelligence and compute from the data centre to the cloud to the edge. So, to answer the question, a major factor determining the location of data centres depends on the requirement of the connected device and the data it produces. In the case of data produced by autonomous cars, the location of the RASHEED AL-OMARI, PRINCIPAL BUSINESS SOLUTIONS STRATEGIST AT VMWARE hen discussing the location of data centres we need to look at the way data is used now and how it will be used in the future. The way data is used and handled today is very different from just a few years ago. Moreover, this is also changing definitions of the term ‘data centre’. I like to say that data centres are now actually ‘centres of data’. We now have data on the cloud, on the edge and on the last mile, so centres of data are scattered everywhere. This is the current requirement and this trend will only grow. With ever more connected devices producing and using data, often autonomously, there is a growing need for data to be processed closer to its source or at the edge and to move to different locations based on requirement and speed. As data becomes ever more important in Smart City environments, data centres also become more segmented and will take on new roles. W All of this has an impact on determining the location of different types of data centres. 26 Issue 01 VMware is developing a framework that extends the VMware hybrid and multi-cloud environments to the edge. Furthermore, as the world of edge computing and IoT becomes more distributed, billions of connected devices WE NOW HAVE DATA ON THE CLOUD, ON THE EDGE AND ON THE LAST MILE, SO CENTRES OF DATA ARE SCATTERED EVERYWHERE. micro data centre – which can process so much data at source – will need to be in the car itself. That data centre may also need to communicate with another data centre on the edge – which would probably be located in a nearby metropolitan area close to wherever the car is driving. At VMware we are moving into software defined data centres, which provide the intelligence required to move data where it needs to go. The intelligence will be self-driving and this is something we are doing with our self-driving data centres which save time and money by automating the business and operational intent in data centres. www.intelligentdatacentres.com