The arrival of 5G is expected to bring an unforeseen level of network capabilities and lightning-fast data transfer rates. This will set the stage for even more advanced and novel applications enabling everything to be more connected, in real time, all the time. 

It’s not enough to just capture data; you must be able to transfer data at high speeds to unlock the valuable insights that data provides. From the data center to the edge, 5G and high-speed flash storage are enabling emerging IoT use cases from autonomous vehicles to smart cities and the supply chains of the future. When designing storage to support IoT at the edge, you must consider how 5G and your storage choice will impact data center architectures.

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As we discuss the evolution of the data center in this series, we would be remiss to not talk about how computing is moving closer to where data is created and consumed - at the network edge.

If you think about the edge, it’s expected that there will be 30+ billion connected devices by 2021¹ which is more than three per person on Earth.  In addition, as smart sensors are placed to connect billions of "things" around the world, new Internet of Things (IoT) applications are emerging in virtually every industry, large or small, around the world. 5G is enabling even more possibilities for IoT and AI at scale. All of this is driving new edge architectures and bringing compute and storage closer to where data is being gathered – meaning IT and business leaders can capture and transform data into valuable insights faster than ever before.  

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It's an understatement to say that managing a data center is challenging.

Data center managers are expected to do more than ever, and with less, including protecting rapidly expanding volumes of data and a growing number of applications, maintaining availability and uptime, reducing CapEx and OpEx expenses, improving space utilization, managing energy usage and costs, and more. The list goes on and on.

We believe two words can make life a lot harder (or easier), depending on how you manage them – heat and vibration.

Today, storage vendors are squeezing more storage density into each rack, and data center architects are squeezing more racks into each data center. This enables reduced TCO because data centers can reach the same capacity targets using fewer racks and data center space. The challenge is that the more storage density you pack in, the hotter it can get, and the more likely vibrations will shake things up.

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Our last article discussed how hard drives are not only stayin’ alive but thriving in the data center. Still, there is no question that solid state drives (SSDs) have also earned their place in the sun. SSDs bring speed, durability, and flexibility to enterprise workloads such as AI, machine learning, and edge applications.  But SSDs are not a one-size-fits-all solution. We’ve compiled a list of important considerations to help make the choice of data center SSDs a little less daunting.

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It goes without saying that data growth is at an all-time high, but IDC’s data forecast provides much-needed perspective. The market research company predicts that by 2023, over 100 zettabytes of data will be created per year, and that approximately 60% of the stored data will be at the core/edge data center¹. At the same time, Applied Materials predicts that over 90% of total data will be created by machines² with new workloads driven by everything from smart video cameras and IoT sensors to autonomous vehicles and hyper-connected smart cities, and more.

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The era of NVMe-over-Fabrics (NVMe-oF™) is quickly approaching. By 2025, most data centers will likely have adopted NVMe-oF for some part of their architecture¹. Accessing data from a shared storage system will be essentially as fast and as low latency as accessing data from direct attached storage (DAS). The year 2025 seems like a lifetime from now but the reality is it will be here before you know it.

Here are some of the top questions we hear from customers about this emerging technology. In this blog, our data center experts offer their responses, and point you to additional resources for understanding both the NVMe™ protocol and the fabric that stitches it together.

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The only thing constant is change, and data centers are no exception. As data architects attempt to anticipate future data center needs – while delivering the required SLAs to the business – the solution is often to over-provision resources so that the infrastructure can absorb any changes or periodic spikes in demand.

But today change happens much more frequently, whether it’s onboarding new applications or reaching new heights in data growth. Most often, organizations expect immediate implementation of those changes In today’s environment of flat or declining budgets, IT can no longer afford to over-provision its way.

Composable disaggregated infrastructure (CDI) enables organizations to respond to changes almost instantly while at the same time reduce costs. This in turn helps IT better align changing business needs and allocate IT resources on the fly.

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From end points and edge to the core, our world is increasingly connected via the Internet of Things (IoT). Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are enabling new use cases across industries. In this second part of a 2-part series on the Evolving Data Center, Western Digital executives share their AI predictions for 2020, including a unique perspective from its own CIO, who implements cutting-edge innovations daily.

Prediction #1: In 2020, we will see a proliferation of customized AI chips hitting the market. As a result, almost every vertical will begin to tap into the power of AI/ML. 

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There’s no question that we will continue to experience massive data growth in 2020. The question for data center architects is how to manage this unprecedented influx of data and future-proof enterprise infrastructures for the next decade’s Zettabyte Age. From emerging architectures to adoption of composable disaggregated storage to greater TCO value, Western Digital executives weigh in on top data center trends for 2020 in this first of a 2-part series.

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It’s no secret that data growth is at an all-time high. IDC expects 103 zettabytes of data to be generated worldwide by 2023¹. Yes, zettabytes. With the proliferation of IoT devices, 5G-enabled technologies, and the massive growth of video, we’re just scratching the surface of how companies will store and extract value from data.

Machine data will play a leading role, as it is expected to outpace commercial/consumer data. By 2023, more than 90% of data will be generated by machines² (i.e. smart cities, IoT, endpoints, autonomous cars, etc.). In addition, video, surveillance footage, and large AI/ML data sets – this “natural streaming” or sequential data – will be everywhere. 

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There’s always an adoption curve when it comes to new technologies. In today’s digital landscape, where industries are constantly being disrupted by new applications and use cases driven by IoT, machine learning, AI, and analytics, those not on the NVMe™ adoption curve may get left behind. Simply put, IT managers must design for the future.

Today, many IT organizations have started embracing NVMe for its high performance and low latency— and as a better alternative to legacy protocols such as SATA for accessing flash storage. But for others, the question is not “if,” but “when” you will bring NVMe into your organization.

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Mention the data center and, to most, images of machine rooms filled to the brim with equipment and the sounds of IT whirring away are what come to mind. For decades, businesses have equipped data centers with silo upon silo of servers, applications, networking, and storage in their insatiable quest to deliver business insight to line-of-business (LOB) leaders, their management, and the C-suite. Even the name data center was given based on the theory that most business-critical data would be found there, centralized, and ready for the business to derive competitive insights to bolster its marketplace advantage.

However, the data center, as we have traditionally known it, often falls short in its mission to deliver business advantage. The premise is sound, but the execution has been limited by the technology at hand. For many, the problem is the data center is not a centralized repository of data; rather it is a centralized collection of applications, each with its dedicated compute and storage resources (physical or virtual, it doesn’t matter), surrounded by edge computing facilities driven by LOB concerns.

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