Role of Data Centers in Industry 4.0

Manufacturing industry has evolved drastically since the start of Year 2000 majorly influenced by the use of Information & communication technologies to the Manufacturing Industry also known as Industry 4.0 Or Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The industrial revolution has witnessed the change from water & steam power to today’s world of connected machines, equipment, sensors as a part of growth from Industry 1.0 to Industry 4.0. Robots are linked to Cloud and communications with smart phones, smart devices are much more feasible now.
This has given birth to new foundational disruptive technologies such as Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Technology, Blockchain, Robotics, Virtual Reality (VR) & Augmented Reality (AR), Renewable energy etc.
Enterprises today are in the forefront of using these various technologies at different stages of its growth. Few used cases can be elaborated as below;

• Machine Learning:
o Predictive Maintenance: Sensors plays vital role in gathering the data from Machines, these data sets are then compared with ‘Healthy’ states of Machines. These data sets would then be useful in identifying the need for repair before Machines becomes faulty.

• Artificial Intelligence:
o Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to streamline paperwork
o Warehouse Automation

• Augmented Reality (AR):
o Designing, Employee training, Inventory Control etc.
These services demand latency sensitive network connectivity, bandwidth, and/or added security or availability to be located near its consumption base i.e., Edge.

Edge Data Centers are gaining importance in Manufacturing segment, as these can be operated from Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities and need not to be large enough to incur the higher Capex cost for its construction, cooling, power requirements. Edge Data Centers are useful in extending the Edge of the Network for delivering the Cloud Computing resources, & also streaming the cached content to local users.
While Edge Data Centre will provide different services independently, but Centralized Data Centre will help in backing up the data with allied services e.g., Cloud & Analytics. These Data Centers will act as Agents of change.

These Data Centre will play a crucial role by following ways:
• Enabling Cloud Computing: To provide agile response to changing business needs. Data Centre will help enabling such services & can offer access to computing resources on demand.

• Processing & Storing of Data: Data Centre can provide physical space & secured environment for processing & storing huge amount of data that are generated by connected machines, equipment, vehicles etc. This data can be useful to track the current performance, identify problems and predict the future demand.

• Real Time Monitoring & Control: The continuous flow of Data from IoT sensors, connected equipment to the Data Centre help monitor the production systems in real time mode which can lead to improved operational efficiency.

• Secure Access of Data: As Data Centre has security controls, it ensures protecting of such data from threats that could compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of business information assets & related data.

Enterprises today are in need of MultiCloud environment with usage of 5G networks that will impact the need for Data Centers with more storage capacity, offering higher speed with minimal latency through secured Network connections. This would ensure smooth Data Centre operation management as well.

Some of the relevant Benefits of Data Centre are:
• Scalability and Flexibility:
Data centers can be scaled up & down based on changing market demand. Data centers enable industries to respond to changing requirements by letting them to modify infrastructure and resources as needed.

• Reliability & Availability:
Data Centre Reliability is essential to the success of Enterprises while Availability refers to the Uptime of Data Center. This ensures the guaranteed availability a Data Centre can offer annually. Higher the availability, better is the Uptime and lesser chances of loss of revenue.

• Security & Privacy:
Data canters use strong security measures to protect sensitive data from cyber-attacks, illegal access, and data breaches, which is especially important in industrial settings where data loss or disruption can have serious implications.

These Data Centers would play a crucial role in optimizing the cloud deployments to be undertaken by organizations under its Digital Transformation plan. Many businesses are looking to digital transformation as a means of repositioning themselves to better capitalize on opportunities as they occur.

In summery as the Industry 4.0 continues to evolve we need to have means to enable such Digital Transformation & Data Centre would act as one of the catalyst in this process. It will help in fostering innovation, optimize processes, unlock new efficiencies, and gain a competitive advantage for the organizations in their respective markets in this Digital age.

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