Three trends in data center operation and maintenance

The application of AI technology and supercomputers in the medical field has played a very important role in the Wuhan novel coronavirus genetic test series and drug screening. As the support center for these cutting-edge technologies and equipment, the secure, orderly and controllable operation and management of data center infrastructure is of Paramount importance.

In the view of industry veterans, in order to consolidate the big fortress of data centers, the future includes outsourcing operations and maintenance companies, integrators, contractors and direct owners, and will continue to strengthen the management of operations and maintenance in three aspects.

1, the overall operation and maintenance automation is fully upgraded

In the overall field of operation and maintenance, the rise of data centers marks a new era of standardization and organization of IT applications. Before the massive IT infrastructure, the manual operation model is difficult to support the normal operation of the new data center. From the user's point of view, when the IT infrastructure is complete and provided to customers for large-scale use, the continuous operation of the data center is the premise of ensuring its business continuity. To this end, the management of the full life cycle of IT assets, such as asset life warning and rapid fault location, will improve the availability of data centers.

The transformation and upgrading of data center operation and maintenance to the use of automation and intelligent means to save costs and increase efficiency will be an important sign of industry change. At present, automatic operation and maintenance solutions, including 3D visual management platform and environmental power monitoring system, are helping users get rid of time-consuming and labor-intensive work to improve the overall efficiency of data center operation and management.

2. Digital control of key U-level assets will be strengthened

In the more subdivided key operation and maintenance field, as the soul of the data center, U-level assets are servers that carry computing, storage, network and other functions. In order to automatically and orderly manage the huge servers through digital means, data center operation managers need to continue to explore the latest Internet of Things MC-RFID technology based digital management and control solutions. Combined with 2D/3D visualization technology, temperature and humidity sensing technology, etc., the tracking and positioning capability of U-position assets is improved on the RFID asset management platform. The ultimate goal is to improve the efficiency of U-position asset operation and maintenance control, and improve the availability and return on investment of assets.

3. Construction and transformation of operation and maintenance team

In addition to large data centers, they are equipped with professional operation teams. For general data centers and infrastructure operation and management, owners either outsource the work to third-party operation and maintenance companies, or let other IT personnel do part-time work. Such uncontrollable and non-professional operation and maintenance mechanism leads to low operation and maintenance efficiency, careless operation and maintenance work, many defects and high cost. The equipment is idle and wasted seriously.

With the increasing importance of data centers, owners dream of improving the operation and management of infrastructure, including the training of professional personnel, the recruitment of more professional technical operation and maintenance personnel, and the introduction of mature and stable operation and maintenance management system and system platform, operation and maintenance personnel and teams are also facing the opportunity of career re-planning, positioning and transformation.

Data from the 2018 China Data Center Industry Development Research Report shows that investment in information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, including data centers, plays an important driving role in the national economy. According to the report, every additional $1 in ICT infrastructure investment in 2016 generated $3 in GDP growth, which is expected to increase to $5 in 2025.

It can be inferred that the data center industry will continue to maintain a rapid growth trend, and the operation and management of data centers of all sizes will usher in new challenges and opportunities, which is a huge market, and accurately grasp its development trend can allow us to take the initiative in development.