Techerati previews this year’s DCW panel discussions
There are countless questions facing the data centre industry in 2019 – questions that will be top of the agenda during the 2019 edition of Data Centre World Asia.
On this year’s conference programme there are panel discussions aplenty. While panels force speakers to compress arguments into a shorter timeframe, the breadth of themes covered and opinions shared makes them hard to beat for insightful content.
At DCW Asia 2019, industry experts from Huawei, Frost & Sullivan, Digital Realty and more will weigh-in on a multitude of hot topics, including data centre design strategy, the future of automation and (always top of the agenda) avoiding data centre failure.
If you’re attending and want to marshall your arguments ahead of the show, read on to get an overview of this year’s DCW panels and what to expect from them. Oh, and don’t forget to see the rest the conference agenda to further whet your appetite.
Data Centre Design Strategy: The Main Considerations?
Energy Efficiency, Cost Management & DCIM Theatre
09 Oct, 10:15 – 10:55
Data centre design is a critical phase in the lifecycle of the data centre and one that can make or break a facility’s future. As demand for digital infrastructure continues to surge, scalability, efficiency and flexibility are just some of the considerations that need to be balanced when designing a facility and planning for the infrastructure that will sit inside it.
There is also the question of personnel. As we wrote last month, there are many reasons why data centre owners should give more prominence to architects at the design stage. Architects provide a distinct mindset — one often capable of identifying more ways of saving money, time or even making money by squeezing in more capacity, a view that panellist Raymond Hoe, Director at Scott Brownrigg architects, will no doubt endorse.
Speaking to Techerati ahead of the event, panel moderator Garies Chong, CEO of EMS Wiring Systems and BICSI Southeast Asia District Chair, said he is looking forward to exploring how the latest data centre innovations are transforming data centre design.
“The function of the data centre has evolved significantly in the past 10 years, from what used to be an ‘equipment room’ to now being the heart and intelligence of our daily lives by storing, analysing and disseminating information,” Garies said.
“Along with the data centre, the eco-system of technology surrounding it too has evolved. From energy-efficient cooling to management and security systems, modern DCs are a marvel of efficiencies. Together with the panellists of over 10 years experience in the DC scene, we would like to share a snapshot of the key innovations in the DC world and their visions of what to expect in the coming years.”
Meet your panellists: Data Centre Design Strategy: The Main Considerations?
Data Centre Automation: A Robotic Future?
Data Centre World Keynote Theatre
09 Oct, 14:00 – 14:40
In the afternoon of day one, the DCW keynote stage will host a forward-thinking panel discussion on data centre automation.
The burgeoning field of robotics is already transforming sectors far and wide, chiefly in the warehousing, industrial and manufacturing arenas (dare we say Industry 4.0) and many expect robots to enter the data centre too and become part and parcel of daily operations.
In an article for Techerati published last year, Giuseppe Leto, Global Data Centre Portfolio manager at Siemens, spoke of a future where robots — acting as autonomous entities or driven by infrastructure management software — bring operations to ‘the highest level of efficiency’.
But critics counter that robots will never provide enough efficiency gains to justify the investment and urge operators to prioritise other innovations, such as intelligent systems that better assign time-sensitive data processing across CPU cores.
Do robots have a place in the data centre? Turn up to the panel to hear experts from The Data Exchange Network, Huawei and Chayora Holdings weigh-in on the debate.
Meet your panellists: Data Centre Automation – A Robotic Future?
How to Avoid Data Centre Failure
Data Centre World Keynote Theatre
10 Oct 2019, 13:05 – 13:45
Is no exaggeration to say that avoiding downtime is the number one priority of all data centre operators.
Failures are inevitable but their frequency and duration are not. On average, an hour of downtime costs operators $260,000. A five-minute outage costs just $2600. Day two’s keynote panel will ask how operators can bounce back quickly from failures – saving revenue, maintaining productivity and retaining customers.
Speaking ahead of DCW, Omer Wilson, panellist and VP of Marketing APAC at Digital Realty, added that the rise technological advances such as AI and IoT are increasing the demands on the data centre.
“Unfortunately, failures can happen for any number of reasons, including human error, natural disasters and power outages, resulting in a significant impact on revenues, productivity and reputation,” he said.
“In this session, key industry leaders from Digital Realty, STT, Huawei, DCI, Wärtsilä and EATON shed light on the importance of interconnection, designing for redundancy and training personnel to mitigate the risks of failure. The panel will also shed light on how organisations can manage issues such as sustainability and logistics in building out their strategies for uptime and critical business continuity,” he added.
Meet your panellists: How to Avoid Data Centre Failure – Challenges?
The 2019 edition of Data Centre World Asia takes place 9-10 October, Marina Bay Sands Singapore. For more information and to get your free ticket, click here.
