Dell vice chairman Jeff Clarke uses his Dell Technologies World 2019 day 2 keynote to point out the 5 "key imperatives" the industry needs to consider and invest in if it is to handle the "tsunami of data" headed its way.
According to IDC, the global data sphere is to reach 163 zetabytes (or "163 with 21 zeroes," as Clarke puts it) by 2025, thanks to the introduction of usage models brought about by 5G, such as autonomous cars. And a Dell survey cements how this growing surge of data is a priority for customers, since 68% of respondents plan to use emerging technology to drive and improve supply chain efficiency and transparency, while 77% want to use emerging technologies to anticipate and predict customer demand and manage resources. As such, IT needs to be able to scale to meet the data needs of today, never mind tomorrow.
Enter the 5 "key imperatives" Clarke mentions. The first is powerful, modern infrastructure able to process data, the fuel for innovative workloads such as artificial intelligence and machine learning driving a demand for further flexibility, scale and speed. The second is a hybrid-cloud, multi-cloud strategy. Clarke says the debate of public vs private is not only over, it is both private and public, with clouds getting closer to the edge to accomodate real-time workloads, on-premises private clouds make the core of the datacentre and public clouds bring additional scale and flexibility.
The 3rd imperative is the edge. According to Dell, 25% of all data volume will be real-time in nature, generated at the edge. As such, the industry will need low latency, local compute storage resources if it is to handle the data from smart factories, smart cities and 5G applications. The edge leads to the 4th imperative of flexibility, scale and control, something Clarke says will be brought about by software-defined infrastructure.
Clarke points out 5 reasons as to why software-defined infrastructure will be so important-- easy deployment of applications and services, quick updates of security and data protection capabilities, VMs and containers can be deployed and managed as required, real-time harnessing of AI innovation and automation, and it allows customers to adapt to changes without crippling cost or barriers on a go-forward basis.
Finally, the 5th imperative for Dell involves how the modern workforce brings together 5 generations, namely the Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Millennials and Gen Z. Such a workforce needs to be connected and productive from anywhere and anytime, and demands "kick ass devices." Such devices include VR and AR experiences, not to mention the all-important 5G connectivity, and will bring about "all new interesting ways to work and collaborate that 5, 10 years ago was not thought of," Clarke says.
"Coming back to where we began our discussion, we think about these superpowers in this fundamental way," Clarke concludes. "We see that these superpowers are literally changing how the world thinks and forcing and bringing new capabilities. And we're already witnessing these transformative capabilities as never before. Where pharma and drug, and physical and cyber security, transportation, and autonomous vehicles-- all of these are changing industries. And we're at the heart of it."
