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Author: Alex MacColl

Project Manager - EMEA - DataMove
AI Data Centre
Posted on | by Alex MacColl

Data centre migration –  the impact of AI

Data Centre

Data centre migration - the impact of AI

There are many and various reasons to consider a data centre move: rescaling business, upgrading to a cloud-based or hybrid infrastructure, consolidation after a merger, geographical relocation, tax incentives…the list goes on. One thing is certain though – a data centre migration needs careful planning and execution, so will inevitably consume an organisations time and resources, as well as some level of upheaval. This is not an operation that a business wants to conduct on a regular basis. It’s therefore worth looking at where the data centre industry is heading, and arguably nothing is going to have more impact than the development and deployment of AI technology.

AI (or Artificial Intelligence if you’ve been hiding under a rock) has surged into mainstream prominence. Notably, solutions like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which swiftly amassed hundreds of millions of users, have propelled AI models to the forefront rather than operating discreetly in the background.
 
Every industry is actively seeking new AI capabilities to streamline processes, enhance operations and, of course, slash bottom lines. In this rapidly evolving digital landscape, data centres play a unique role, positioned to both offer and reap the benefits of AI applications.
 
The training and deployment of AI entails substantial computing power and data storage, and both innovative and traditional data centres are poised to serve as the backbone of a tech-centric world by providing these essential functionalities. However, meeting this heightened demand necessitates that data centres themselves embrace new technologies, such as AI systems, to deliver a more efficient, secure, and effective service.
 
Here, we’ll look into the transformative impact of AI on the future of the data centre industry, exploring how current and prospective data centre AI and automation are reshaping operations, bolstering security measures, and optimising resource management.
 

Data centre operations

Essentially, AI and machine learning algorithms excel at recognizing patterns in datasets and applying that learning to future tasks, a process known as predictive analytics. This capability automates and streamlines many day-to-day operations.

Data centre operators are increasingly adopted AI to enhance the efficiency of their daily services. According to a recent survey, 57% of data centre owners expressed trust in AI models for making operational decisions – a nearly 20% rise from the previous year.

Predictive analytics enables real-time enhancements in critical areas such as data centre cooling systems. The substantial heat generated by meeting the power and storage needs of modern computing can be efficiently managed using AI, leading to cost reductions and improved energy efficiency. Notably, Google’s implementation of AI resulted in a massive 40% reduction in cooling costs.

AI also plays an effective role in mitigating IT infrastructure inefficiencies. Predictive analytics aids providers in optimizing power allocation and rack space, contributing to lower operational costs, improved power usage effectiveness, and more data-driven decision-making.

Resource management optimisation

Modern businesses are placing substantial demands on data centre infrastructure. Bearing the  overnight take-up of ChatGPT in mind, a recent report forecasts that the training and implementation of generative AI models will reach a cool $76 billion by 2028. This surpasses twice the annual cost of Amazon Web Services, the world’s largest public cloud provider.

For data centres, this reality necessitates a heightened efficiency across various fronts to meet the power, storage, and connectivity needs of existing, evolving and future technologies. Data centre service providers are already initiating efforts in this direction.

Data centres are also deploying AI for enhanced workload management and allocation, optimizing the utilisation of hardware and network services to prevent downtime and ensure a consistently high level of service.

Predictive maintenance facilitated by AI algorithms plays a crucial role in ensuring business continuity by identifying potential issues before they occur, so significantly reduces downtime and costs associated with hardware replacement. McKinsey estimates that the integration of predictive AI models with appropriate Internet of Things (IoT) devices has enabled certain companies to slash maintenance costs by up to 25%.

Another application of AI is dynamic workload management, which contributes to an improved service by efficiently allocating computational tasks to the most suitable resources. This not only lowers costs but also ensures the best possible customer experience.

Ultimately, AI is instrumental in optimizing data centre infrastructure performance to its maximum potential, benefiting both providers and end-users.

Security enhancements

AI can play a pivotal role in strengthening data centre security, especially in the face of continually evolving cyber threats that may challenge traditional security systems by adapting swiftly or implementing effective defence measures. Employing AI empowers data centres to take a proactive security position.

In particular, data centre AI contributes to enhanced security in the following ways:

• Anomaly detection

AI systems monitoring network traffic, access logs, and system behaviour excel at identifying unusual patterns, enabling real-time detection of potential issues before they escalate. This proactive approach allows security teams to mitigate risks before any significant damage occurs.

• Predictive security measures

Unlike traditional reactive security measures, AI analysis empowers data centres to predict potential threats and vulnerabilities. This capability enables them to close gaps in defences before cyber-attacks can exploit them.

• Data protection

Utilizing AI algorithms and techniques, data centres can optimize data processing, storage, and security. This improvement safeguards the business-critical aspects of uptime, reliability, and data integrity, both during transit and storage.

The future of data centres

AI has already made a significant impact on every industry, and it’s safe to say that this will accelerate at an exponential rate in the coming years. Future data centres must and will adapt in tandem with technological advancements to deliver an efficient and effective service.

Anticipating the next generation of data centres, we might witness the influence of advanced AI, quantum computing, and other emerging technologies. These cutting-edge technologies hold the promise of providing greater efficiency and introducing advanced features.

In 2023, the term ‘AI’ entered the Oxford English Dictionary, and has been the hot topic of the year. As AI becomes integral to data centre operations, concerns related to transparency and accountability will naturally come to the forefront. Sustainability will also play a pivotal role in decisions regarding data centre AI. Data centre energy consumption is projected to increase by 12% by 2030, as workloads with high resource requirements utilise advanced CPUs and GPUs, necessitating sophisticated liquid cooling systems to prevent hardware damage. It’s no surprise, therefore, that AI is already being developed and deployed to manage and create new cooling systems.

AI will also be tasked with the data migration process itself. This is already happening with the major players in the hyperscale data centre sector (see https://www.cio.com/article/654503/salesforce-it-injects-generative-ai-to-ease-its-massive-datacenter-migration.html). It’s simply a matter of time before this trickles down to the SME sector.

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Data Centre Migration Best Practices

Data centre.

Data Centre Migration Best Practices

The decision has now been made. It’s in the best interests of your business to plan and carry out a data centre migration. A data centre relocation plan has been formulated between you and your migration service provider, and a data migration strategy and checklist have been agreed. A move of this nature is no small thing, and everyone involved needs the agreed strategy to run to plan. In order to avoid unnecessary delays, outage and downtime, best practice needs to be observed.

Ensuring Best Practice

Between the stages of planning and moving day, it’s essential to guarantee the readiness of all equipment, parts, and software. The aim is to minimise downtime and mitigate risks by conducting thorough backup testing before the migration date. This methodology includes:

 

  • Developing a list of contingency plans to address potential risks, especially concerning data restoration, in case complications arise during the move. Contingency measures must be generous and realistic – expect the unexpected.
  • If necessary, gather all media and license keys required for installing backup server client software.
  • Shutdown and test all applications and databases to ensure a smooth start-up process post-migration.

The following responsibilities need to be addressed, ideally by different individuals within the relocation team:

 

  • The Project Manager is a key position. A PM will coordinate and confirm dates with external stakeholders such as hardware and software vendors, as well as the old and new data centres. This ensures that everyone is aware of the moving date, minimising delays and complications. The project manager will need to be available to troubleshoot at every stage of the relocation. Their phone needs to be on.
  • The Operation Administrator verifies the delivery of any required spare parts to the new data centre facility. It’s crucial to ensure that all necessary parts have arrived and are readily available. Op Admin must check the availability and functionality of remote console access at the new facility, ensuring a smooth transition.
  • The Application Administrator reviews the availability of software components, including operating systems, databases, and application licenses. App Admin must also confirm their readiness for the relocation process.
  • The Network administrator will establish a new network configuration by creating a comprehensive list of network information, settings, and verify end-to-end connectivity across patch panels to ensure uninterrupted network services.. They must share this list with the PM and all other administrators to ensure seamless implementation.

Depending on the size of your enterprise and migration, having four separate individuals across these areas isn’t always feasible, but it’s essential for someone to be performing these roles. Best practice is key to a successful data centre migration.

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Data Centre Migration Risks

Data centre.

Data Centre Migration Risks

Your business has decided that it’s in its best interests to perform a data centre move. Between you and your migration service provider you’ve formulated a relocation plan, created a migration checklist, observed best practice and set a date. What can possibly go wrong?

Hopefully nothing, but a data centre migration can potentially be everything from a bumpy ride to a disaster. At this stage, it’s of paramount importance to review the risks associated with this project. Here are some of the most common pitfalls – 

  • Unrealistic timeline: It’s key to build adequate contingency into the migration timeline (and then add some!). Hopefully, you won’t need it, but always consider the worst case scenario. Conducting a Test Migration is a very good idea at this stage, as it can give you some idea of the ‘best case’ entire duration of a project. It will also allow you to avoid any unpleasant surprises, as well as highlight problems that can be fixed in advance of your move. However, keep in mind that the actual production migration often takes longer than the dummy run – at your new data centre, you won’t be in your familiar test lab. 
  • Hidden data and software complexities: This is a good point at which to create a detailed inventory with your employees and customers, documenting all relevant information in a solid migration management database. Hidden complexities can and will arise, such as the presence of back-end attachments to critical applications you plan to migrate. You may also be dealing with legacy applications in your current database that you might not be aware of. They may or may not play ball, and you need to be aware of them now.
  • Lack of post-migration testing: Prior to migration, engage your network staff in measuring and recording the performance of critical applications through specific transactions. This will prepare everyone for the post-migration testing process. Document these tests and repeat them after the relocation. Post-migration testing can be a challenge, but issues can be mitigated by involving your staff in advance.
  • Failure to estimate downtime: Some disruption to work schedules will inevitably happen. A well-executed project plan will minimise this, but inform your support teams and end-users well in advance. See ‘unrealistic timeline’ above!
  • Poor communication: A lack of transparent internal communication throughout a migration project can lead to inconsistencies and problems. This is another reason why it’s a good idea to involve an impartial third party migration service provider who will be across the entire data centre move, and can remain outside any internal company politics. Your migration service provider will also be chief communicator for all relevant stakeholders (old and new data centres, IT departments, compliance etc).
  • Failure to recognise interdependencies: Upgrading different parts of your data centre infrastructure without acknowledging their interdependencies can potentially pose a significant challenge. Whilst it’s acceptable to upgrade critical components during migration, fractional upgrades often have a trickle-down impact. Therefore, it’s crucial to highlight planned updates and their interdependencies during the project planning stage.
  • Failing to back up: This may seem obvious, but it’s fundamental to maintain secure backups of your data and applications at all times. This is crucial for disaster recovery and immediate restoration in the event of natural disaster, system failure, cyber-attack (including ransomware, malware, and data breaches etc.) or just simple old fashioned human error.

 

Third parties

If you’ve created a good, solid data centre relocation plan and checklist with your migration service provider and are aware of the points above, you should have a smooth transition. Be aware, however, that you will be interfacing with some third parties during the operation – logistics providers perhaps, or not least the new data centre. Once again, contingency is key. Give yourself plenty of it. The best laid plans……

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Data Centre Move Checklist

Person sitting in front of a computer.

Data Centre Move Checklist

Now that you’ve decided that you need to perform a data centre move, you need to create a project plan. Where do you start? With a checklist.

 

This data centre migration checklist will provide you with a solid foundation to determine the most efficient course of action:

 

  • Processes: Identify and document the necessary major processes involved in the data migration, including backup, system shutdown, hardware disconnection, transportation, and setup at the new location.
  • Resources: Determine the resources required for the relocation, such as personnel, equipment, transportation vehicles, packaging materials, and any external assistance. Ensure that everything is accounted for and available when needed.
  • Goals: Define the overarching goals and objectives of the project. This may include ensuring data integrity and security, minimising downtime, optimizing system performance, and adhering to regulatory requirements.
  • Timeline: Establish a timeline for the migration process, outlining key milestones and deadlines for each phase. Consider dependencies and contingencies, and allow for sufficient time to mitigate any hidden challenges. The key word here is contingency. Always plan for worst case scenarios.

At this stage it’s essential to identify these key roles in your team. Ideally, these should be four different individuals:

 

  • Project manager – A PM needs to develop a comprehensive plan for creating an optimal environment, taking into account factors such as connectivity, physical space, power allocation, cooling, and location. They’re responsible for identifying and determining the requirements for contingency measures, including spare parts, and compiling a comprehensive list of all necessary components. They also must ensure that the team is granted complete access past the security measures of the new data centre to carry out their tasks effectively. The PM will plan how and when the physical servers will be transferred to the new location and collaborate with the new provider to review the initial plan and make necessary adjustments.
  • Storage administrator – The storage admin needs to verify the storage requirements and confirm that there is sufficient space available in the new data centre to accommodate the storage arrays.
  • Operating administrator – The Op admin should conduct a thorough examination of accessibility factors and verify the availability of remote console access at the new facility.
  • Backup administrator – They are responsible for confirming the availability of backups and ensuring that full backups for any critical data can be successfully completed before the scheduled move date.

What’s the plan?

A data centre migration can seem like a daunting exercise at the outset, but needn’t be. Many enterprises employ third party migration service providers to help formulate and execute a bespoke data relocation strategy. Employing a specialist service provider can help you ensure a smooth transition.

 
 

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