It should come as no surprise that cloud, automation and AI topics got a lot of attention this year—as well as old standbys like latency. These topics speak both to emerging technology trends and to the ways IT infrastructure is evolving to meet the needs of modern businesses. Our six most popular blog posts of the year have a lot to say about how business is changing and what might be on the horizon for 2024 and beyond.
1. Automation Without Transformation Is Pointless
Automation is an exciting and cutting-edge technology that has been freeing workers to focus their energies on more creative, high-value tasks by reducing manual effort. Across industries, companies have been implementing automation in a range of use cases. But automation on its own isn’t enough; to drive the greatest value, it needs to be tied to a strong digital transformation strategy. Automation is, for example, changing the future of work, but you need to define and communicate your organization’s strategy for the future of work and show how it can lead to greater employee satisfaction and positive cultural change. Change isn’t easy, but companies that undertake it thoughtfully can come out ahead.
Read the full blog post: Automation Without Transformation Is Pointless
2. The Future of Digital Infrastructure
Digital technology has become an essential driver of economic and social progress. When Equinix reached a milestone of 25 years as a data center leader in June, our leaders took the opportunity to share their thoughts on the future of digital infrastructure. And if there’s one certainty, it’s change!
Over the next 25 years, we expect the as-a-service trend to continue, with more and more companies consuming infrastructure as software. Big data will become omnipresent, and participation in digital ecosystems will become essential. As AI becomes more mainstream, it will need to be efficient, trusted and sustainable—and infrastructure will need to be optimized to support it. Governments will take greater interest in digital but have high standards for sustainability and privacy. And speaking of sustainability: it’s going to be an all-hands-on-deck, global project.
Equinix has been putting our vision into action for the last 25 years, and we’ll continue that commitment into this new year and beyond.
Read the full blog post: The Future of Digital Infrastructure
3. What Is Dedicated Cloud?
The way we think about cloud has continued to evolve as organizations’ needs change and they identify various opportunities and challenges with cloud computing. Hybrid cloud models have become predominant since they offer companies the flexibility to choose the right infrastructure for specific workloads and business requirements. Private cloud offers single-tenant compute, storage and analytics instances outside a traditional computing environment, and dedicated cloud is essentially the next evolution of private cloud by providing access to services from multiple providers.
A dedicated cloud environment provides single-tenant compute resources in a neutral “staging ground” that allows businesses to move data and workloads between clouds quickly, efficiently and cost effectively. It provides all the benefits of a digital solution—rapid deployment, an OPEX-based cost model, flexibility—along with greater control. Digital services like Bare Metal as a Service are the easiest way to deploy a dedicated cloud solution adjacent to major public cloud providers, network service providers and other essential vendors.
Read the full blog post: What Is Dedicated Cloud?
4. What Is Supercloud?
Supercloud is a new term we only started seeing recently. Hybrid multicloud models have come to dominate the infrastructure space with the implication that different parts of a business can select the right public or private cloud option for their needs. The vast majority of companies still take this piecemeal approach today. Supercloud is a concept intended to express a more holistic strategy that fulfills the promise of hybrid multicloud.
Imagine this: a world where workloads are automatically and seamlessly distributed to the right clouds to optimize performance, costs and so forth—delivering greater flexibility and resiliency—all via an abstraction layer. This is the promise of supercloud. We’re not there yet, and it’s likely not something enterprises could create on their own, but many of the puzzle pieces are in place for solution providers to pave the way for supercloud. A vendor-neutral, cloud-adjacent, ecosystem-rich digital infrastructure environment like Platform Equinix® is just the kind of place where the concept of supercloud could take off.
Read the full blog post: What Is Supercloud?
5. What Is Latency and How Can You Address It?
Latency refers to the delay that occurs when a system has to wait for data to complete its transit. While network latency isn’t a new concern, it has become an ever-more important part of our digital world. We’ve got more data than ever and more demanding applications, such as connected vehicles—and thus need accelerated networking speeds. Meanwhile, network performance problems can significantly impact business revenue, productivity and customer satisfaction.
The main cause of latency is geographic distance between users and systems. Companies are adopting distributed architectures and edge computing strategies to address the proximity problem. Tackling latency issues also requires network modernization and other technological advancements. As AI and other emerging technologies take off, low latency will continue to be fundamental to success.
Read the full blog post: What is Latency, and How Can You Address It?
6. 4 Factors That Define Responsible AI
Speaking of AI, the rise of generative AI over the past year has sparked a lot of conversation and speculation. AI’s growing popularity has also led to increasing regulatory, security and privacy considerations for businesses. As organizations adopt more AI applications, they also need to explore a range of ethical implications—including the trustworthiness of their AI models. Enterprises should consider the following four factors to undertake AI responsibly:
- Security: Put rigorous checks in place to ensure that data sets haven’t been corrupted by a malicious third party.
- Data governance: Steward third-party and partner data responsibly and carefully consider access controls based on the principle of least privilege.
- Business value: Align your use of AI to business priorities and needs, as well as to the requirements of internal and external stakeholders.
- Inclusivity: Test input data and AI outcomes for bias and ensure that certain subsets aren’t over- or underrepresented.
Read the full blog post: 4 Factors That Define Responsible AI
Stay tuned as we roll into 2024. Undoubtedly, there will be exciting, new conversations around cloud, networking, emerging technologies and the digital infrastructure that supports today’s digital businesses. You can subscribe to the Equinix blog on the landing page.
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