Press Releases

GDS Three Perspectives Presented at IDCC2020, with Software-Defined Data Center Concept Spearheading the Development of Data Center Industry

Date:Dec 14,2020

On the third day of the 15th China IDC Industry Annual Ceremony, GDS, represented by its Senior Director of Design & Operations Department, Zhang Pengnan, Director of Design & Technology, Liu Gang, and Director of Smart Technology, Xia Yuxue, participated in three roundtable dialogue sessions – Finance-Defined IDC, New Deployment Strategies for Large Scale Data Centers, and AI-Defined IDC. They joined up with leading experts, academics, as well as enterprise representatives to take a detailed look at trends in data center industry, and to comprehensively interpret the application of “Software-defined Data Center” concept.

Software-defined data centers in financial industry

At Finance-Defined IDC roundtable dialogue session, Zhang Pengnan, Senior Director of Design & Operations Department at GDS, commented: “Achieving logical site-selection based on solid experience, shortening delivery cycle via modular prefabrication approach, reducing full life cycle TCO and attaining more efficient and higher-quality operations & maintenance through more advanced design concepts and smarter methodologies – these are effective ways of meeting financial industry’s higher expectations of data centers. Having started out as a financial disaster recovery service provider, GDS is still serving a large number of financial customers. GDS combines industry experience with digital technologies based on the ‘Software-defined Data Center’ concept to help financial customers optimize all segments of life-cycle and achieve logical site-selection, agile delivery, flexible customization and elastic scaling, while leveraging smart technologies to further optimize TCO and operation quality.”

 

 Zhang Pengnan, Senior Director of Design & Operations Department at GDS (second from left)

 The “Software-defined Data Center” concept, proposed by GDS, is based on a complete management model and supporting system. For financial industry, the concept defines and builds different functional models integrated with industry experience and big data analysis results. These connect and organically combine data through the whole business life cycle – design, construction, operation, and customer service – while leveraging software to drive people, operation and business to realize ultimate integration and qualitative change. It was this model that allowed GDS to achieve rapid delivery while maintaining safe and stable operation and effectively reducing PUE.

“Software-defined” optimization of large-scale data center campus construction in the future

 At the New Deployment Strategies for Large Scale Data Centers roundtable dialogue session, Liu Gang, Director of Design & Technology at GDS, expressed his view: “New generation of data center campus must be able to synergistically match and leverage political, social and natural resources to maximize scale effect and create smart data centers well attuned to the development trends in the next 5-10 years. In the meantime, we should be able to quickly respond to customer demand and deliver in an agile manner based on a new organizational model featuring modular design, prefabricated production and assembly installation systems. In the future, we will remain committed to achieving higher energy efficiency and sustainable development, to constantly exploring the application of new technologies, in order to achieve comprehensive organizational synergy and social effect.” 

 

 Liu Gang, Director of Design & Technology at GDS

 “Based on the ‘Software-defined Data Center’ concept, GDS can better leverage its experience in resource, design, construction and delivery to prepare a multi-dimensional basic model library covering all aspects of the life cycle in accordance with specific environmental variances and different customer needs,” said Liu Gang. “At the same time, we can provide customers with standardized, high-quality operation and hosting services based on a complete smart platform, flexible customized design with high-adaptability, and prefabricated and agile construction and delivery, while using digital technologies such as AI at a later stage.”

High-quality operational data with experts’ experience drive widespread adoption of AI in data center industry

At the AI-Defined IDC roundtable dialogue session, Xia Yuxue, Director of Smart Technology at GDS, stated: “The wide implementation of AI in data centers relies on the combination of data accumulation, experts’ experience and algorithms. That means, using high-quality operational data to enable AI in-depth learning about data centers’ application scenarios, while leveraging experts’ experience to avoid potential security risks that might be caused by AI algorithms.”

 

Xia Yuxue, Director of Smart Technology at GDS

 “GDS has nearly 20 years’ of professional experience as well as over 60 data centers strategically located in the primary economic hubs in China,” said Xia Yuxue. “To strengthen the application of smart technologies, GDS aims to acquire high-quality AI sample data by rebuilding the weak current architecture of data centers, while making sure that both the design and construction stages are AI friendly so that we can acquire sufficient and more effective data for AI training. On the other hand, GDS has consistently prioritized safe operation of its data centers.” 

These explain why GDS has made great strides over the past few years in the broad application of smart technologies, including AI algorithm-based temperature control, automatic tour inspection and automatic emergency fault response by robots, thus better ensuring safe and stable operation of data centers, while substantially reducing the need for manpower, and improving efficiency of operation and maintenance.