• • • EDITOR’S CHOICE • • •
will provide a crucial new lifeline for an industry intent on becoming carbon neutral, and where the oldest data centres will prove most challenging.
Digitising data centre designs As discussions around digitised experiences such as the Metaverse and NVIDIA’s Omniverse gather pace, the emergence of digital twins has been heavily publicised within the tech sector. More recently, the technology has become a truly viable solution for data centre operators seeking to decarbonise, where scalable industrial software has become unified with traditional control and monitoring capabilities to enable a deeper and more granular understanding of day-to-day operations. For those unaware, digital twins are virtual or digital representations of a physical asset, object or manufacturing process. They enable the use of sophisticated modelling, allowing users to examine key areas of design, including the electrical power train, for greater resilience, efficiency, and sustainability. Digitising data centre designs allows components and subsystems to be substituted based on their environmental impact, anticipated energy efficiency and technical performance - all prior to deployment in real-world applications. Going forward, I believe that digital twins, virtual reality (VR) and advanced modelling will become more prominent in all areas of the data centre lifecycle.
AI and machine learning at the edge
The impact of generative AI and applications such as Chat GPT have been hailed as the next disruptive force in data centre design and operations. Yet for those responsible for hybrid IT and distributed edge computing environments, artificial intelligence and machine learning are
unlocking a host of new capabilities to accelerate security, sustainability, and resilience. With more infrastructure moving to the network edge, software systems have had to quickly evolve, utilising the scale of the cloud and open APIs to offer greater integration, clearer visibility, and simplified management capabilities for potentially thousands of IT sites.
I believe this year we’ll see new advancements in data centre software that truly harness the power of AI and machine learning, offering a new era of energy savings, reduced cost and lower carbon emissions for owners and operators.
Coaching and equal opportunities can mitigate the
talent shortage A final observation, and one synonymous with the industrial sector is the skills gap, where the industry is facing a significant challenge in terms of new and existing talent.
According to the Uptime Institute: “The most successful employers in the sector take multiple steps to attract and retain top talent, including revisiting advertised job requirements, implementing training and mentoring programs and ensuring adequate diversity efforts.” I believe that a greater focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), in parallel to leadership coaching and mentoring, are some of the primary ways to address the skills gap. In an industry where over 75% of businesses report their workforce is around 10% women or less, it’s clear to see that accelerating career paths for female leaders and those training in STEM subjects will be vital to the industry’s future.
Addressing all these challenges will not only require the use of cutting-edge technologies, but greater collaboration between a range of stakeholders – from vendors to consumers, and utilities to policy makers. Personally, I’m looking forward to working across the ecosystem to contribute and help solve these important issues.
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • MAY 2023 7
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