The present web infrastructure is not geared up to maintain up with the calls for of AI workloads and information site visitors, in keeping with Lumen Know-how CTO Dave Ward.
The rise of AI — along with evolving enterprise demand for cloud computing — is driving a brand new cloud financial system, a brand new cloud core and a basic community structure shift, which Ward refers to as “Cloud 2.0.”
“Enterprises are constrained by how briskly they’ll hook up with cloud, the place they hook up with cloud and the workloads they’re working,” Ward mentioned. “This entire new Cloud 2.0 idea is one round the truth that the financial system is basically modified, and the underpinning community structure has basically modified.”
The following evolution of cloud and what’s driving it
Ward leads the event and deployment of service supplier Lumen’s world community and has greater than 25 years of expertise within the telecommunications and enterprise networking industries. He met with InformationWeek on the latest Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo in Orlando, Fla., and in addition delivered a presentation on the occasion.
In a latest white paper on the basics of next-generation cloud computing, Ward mentioned the calls for driving it, together with the next:
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The enterprise’s reliance on a number of clouds.
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The significance of processing information nearer to the place it is generated (edge computing).
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The mixing of AI and machine studying into cloud operations.
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Help for extremely distributed techniques.
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The supply of low-latency, high-bandwidth experiences to finish customers.
He forecast that the next-generation cloud that helps these drivers will emerge over the following three to 5 years.
In an interview with InformationWeek, he defined why the present Web and cloud infrastructure have to be reworked to fulfill the calls for of AI and enterprise workloads. Ward mentioned he envisions fiber and aggregation companies being mixed inside a community cloth that helps workloads “relying on the place they’re connecting.”
Information middle densification may also be a key constructing block, demonstrated by the rise in information facilities in Tier 1 markets, reminiscent of Northern Virginia — the most important and most concentrated information middle market on the earth — and an growth of information facilities in new “cloud areas” together with suburban and rural areas reminiscent of within the Midwest and Southwest, Ward mentioned.
Practically 1 billion sq. ft of U.S. information middle capability shall be added by 2030. By comparability, as of 2024 there was a complete of 240 million sq. ft of information facilities within the U.S., in keeping with Lumen.
CIOs require redesigned enterprise networks
In the meantime, CIOs should reckon with this cloud computing transition, Ward mentioned. That entails rethinking how their enterprise networks are architected, reminiscent of their WAN and cloud infrastructure, as they undertake AI applied sciences.
One of many largest questions Wards hears from CIO is concerning how they’ll join their SaaS clouds and the information facilities to entry the companies they should practice their AI fashions and run information analytics.
As a part of the method of updating their enterprise networks to accommodate AI, he mentioned CIOs want to maneuver away from reliance on hub-and-spoke information middle designs, the place information flows are centralized by means of a router in a knowledge middle.
“They want a direct lower by means of in a multi-cloud design,” Ward mentioned. “They do want point-to- level connectivity instantly between information facilities to create their very own information cloud.”
He added that Lumen’s CIO clients want to the service supplier for assist in reworking their “connectivity structure” to take part within the AI financial system.
“The purpose I’ve is that enterprises retain all design and management of their community, however do not truly should personal, handle and function their gear,” Ward mentioned. “This will get us to a degree the place it is full flexibility for the enterprise, consumption-based economics, in addition to pay for what you utilize, and permits them to design that cloud core as they see match.”‘
