Hyperconvergence, edge and IoT: a powerful synergy

Neville Vincent says the combination of hyperconverged infrastructure, edge computing and AI is driving value and insights to new levels.
While cloud has been a key component to AI’s exponential growth and its availability on nearly every technological device, the combination of hyperconverged infrastructure HCI), edge computing and AI provides the ideal environment to uncover patterns in data from multiple devices and predict future performance or issues. It is driving value and insights to new levels.
The adoption of hybrid cloud — enabled by HCI and public cloud and combined with AI and data gathered from the edge — offers granular visibility into operations, enabling real-time, comprehensive and actionable intelligence.
Through this combination businesses will become self-learning, flexible, self-determining and able to adopt next-generation infrastructure to help realign their operations, personnel, business and even business models. They’ll begin to see, analyse and use all of their data, wherever it sits or whatever it runs on.
From this the intelligent enterprise is born — capable of adapting to the changing preferences of increasingly sophisticated customers and ensuring it not only survives but flourishes in an ever-changing world.
The concept of a smart business is not new, but most initiatives aimed at harnessing big data and new technology to improve efficiencies and reduce costs have been on a project basis.
The next step towards smart business will be enterprise-wide modernisation through the combined capabilities of edge, AI, automation and the cohesion and interoperability provided by hybrid cloud.
By tapping into structured and unstructured data, businesses can extract meaningful insights that will drive autonomy, innovation and importantly, inform business strategy. Data and its use in intelligent decision making will be one of the critical goals for A/NZ organisations over the coming decade.
While managing this data will remain a significant challenge, intelligent enterprises that successfully use multiple technologies will extract considerable value as they achieve technological and operational transformation through advanced analytics, machine learning and AI capabilities.
This transformation will have a big impact on many sectors. Take mining, where operators are facing increased risk as they are forced to search deeper and in more remote and inhospitable locations to unearth resources. By deploying sensors above and below ground in any location they can improve security, efficiency and productivity.
The combination of sensors and an interoperable hybrid cloud platform drives true value: miners are able to access sensors and analytics thousands of kilometres away in harsh environments and still maintain optimum performance, learning and taking preventive measures with minimal human interaction.
 
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