A new report, "Data Centers Explore AI, Data Science & DevOps to Meet Changing Workload Demands," commissioned by Intel and Dell illustrates the current demand for infrastructure insights that can identify and address efficiency gaps.  The survey found that IT teams are adopting next generation practices, driven by AI, data science and DevOps, to optimize their infrastructure for expansion.  The data reflects insights from over 311 IT directors and managers, IT system administrators and applications architects in the US and UK.
 
To learn more and dive into the findings, VMblog spoke with Jeff Klaus, General Manager of Intel Data Center Management Solutions. 

VMblog:  What portion of an organization's data center operations is keeping IT managers and data center operators up at night?

Jeff Klaus:  It's clear many IT managers and data center operators are striving to meet rising power demands by looking for ways to enhance their understanding of current power consumption. In fact, over half of survey respondents indicate data center expansion to meet power demands take up a majority of their work. To curb these worries, many organizations have implemented a data center infrastructure management tool to receive deeper insights into daily operations. Even with those insights in hand, 59% of respondents shared they are still eager to receive reports that provide analysis of server power characteristics per model for future expansion. 

VMblog:  How can data center managers curb power consumption?

Klaus:  With over three-fourths of respondents indicating their organizations have developed specific power consumption goals for this year, it is clear power usage is top of mind for data center managers. As a result, organizations are using data center infrastructure management tools to capture detailed insights into their data center operations such as real-time monitoring and capacity planning. Through these insights, data center managers will be able to learn about their data center's energy demands allowing their organization to adjust its current strategy to ensure operations are running as efficiently as possible.

VMblog:  What is the top concern for data center operators when it comes to efficiency?

Klaus:   A majority of respondents (87%) indicated their organizations have experienced power issues showcasing why power consumption monitoring is an essential tool for today's IT managers. However, this is not a shock as power issues impact all aspects of data center operations. To ensure an organization's data center is running as efficiently as possible, IT teams are exploring opportunities to improve the efficiency of power delivery to servers (40%), power usage monitoring (35%) and the ability to anticipate server workloads (34%).

VMblog:  Looking into next year, what technologies can IT managers implement to improve current data center insights?

Klaus:  As IT managers look to plan for infrastructure expansion, organizations are increasingly finding value in next generation technologies such as artificial intelligence, DevOps, and data science. These innovative solutions provide the necessary granular insights to tailor capacity limits and meet today's data center demands. Based on the survey findings, we can expect to see an increase in implementation and usage of these next generation technologies in the next year.

VMblog:  Have we started to see companies tapping into these next generation technologies?

Klaus:  Yes, the findings revealed several organizations are beginning to explore these next generation technologies. Over two-thirds (66%) of respondents reported their teams have AI-related projects in motion while 78% are starting to use AI-driven features offered by their data center management tools. Even more so, organizations are interested in data science with 88% of respondents indicating they have begun to implement or are interested in developing data science analytic tools in order to formulate solutions. In addition to AI and data science, 69% of respondents also indicated DevOps has changed the tool chain and metrics the company uses to measure value.

##

Want to learn more?  You can download the full report, here: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/software/intel-dcm-and-dell-emc-survey.html 

 

About Jeff Klaus

As General Manager of Intel® Data Center Management Solutions, Jeff Klaus leads a global team that designs, builds, sells and supports data center software products through an extensive distribution network. Since joining Intel in 2000, Klaus built and maintains the largest global distribution ecosystem of middleware solutions through Server Hardware OEMs, Software Infrastructure Management Providers and Cloud Service Providers.