EXPERT OPINION
lies. They ask what’s good about their
environment, what workloads they can put
there to extract value from their business.
We’ve got very peaky workloads where
the demand is unsure, yet there is huge
value to be derived from that. I think very
down grid where you just need lots and
lots of scale-up compute capacity – these
workloads sit particularly nicely.
So, organisations that understand their
environment mix and their applications
and make smart choices are the ones that
have been very successful at locking in the
value. Some other organisations have said
they’re going to move everything they do
to the public cloud and they believe they
could probably get by on the fact that they
can shut their data centre.
I’ve seen a lot of organisations fail to do
that because it’s quite complex and it
doesn’t make sense for everything to go
in one direction and then you don’t end
up shutting your data centre. The way I
think about it is by using the example of
the screwdriver. Just because somebody
invented the screwdriver – an incredible
tool – it doesn’t mean you no longer need
a hammer.
My expectation is that intelligence will
continue to transform data management
from the Edge to the cloud.
How important is operating at
the Edge?
I’d say it’s vital. I’d say it’s non-negotiable.
Right now, a lot of the data sets we work
with or that other companies work with
are getting bigger; however, they are still
nowhere near the size they’re going to be
in even three years’ time.
At the moment, there’s a lot of fibre and
a lot of connectivity so it quite often
makes sense to move your data to your
compute. As data sets get bigger, as
data gravity takes hold, the cost maths
equation completely changes and you
start to move your compute to your data
– that is operating at the Edge. And then
www.intelligentdatacentres.com
we get to things like autonomous driving
for example – if you’re in a car that’s being
autonomously driven, where do you want
the decisions to be made by that car and
by that AI? You’d want it to be made right
at the car’s location.
Do you think businesses are
aware of the implications of
using Smart Technologies?
I think people are maturing to it now.
There was certainly a period where it was
cool to say you were going ‘cloud-first’
and then you ask what they mean by that
and what they’re solving from that and
people find it quite hard to answer.
I’ve seen two approaches, I’ve seen
scenarios where companies will ask
what a public cloud would offer them,
what’s good about it and where the value
You need to start thinking about the
right mix of your environment to take
full advantage of the technologies. An
overwhelming point I would make is that
the value is in the data. As you think about
data management and about the cloud,
public clouds can do some really fantastic
MY EXPECTATION
IS THAT
INTELLIGENCE
WILL CONTINUE TO
TRANSFORM DATA
MANAGEMENT
FROM THE EDGE TO
THE CLOUD.
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