Monitoring hundreds of data centers worldwide demands focus and composure, as these facilities serve as the core lifeline for essential services—ranging from online banking and messaging to the artificial intelligence systems society relies upon.

The Role of Monitors

At the command center of the US firm Digital Realty in Singapore, researchers sit surrounded by maps and digital dashboards. Their objective is to detect early warning signs—such as a gradual rise in temperature—to prevent outages before they happen, rather than merely reacting when failures occur.

Scale of Operations

Daniel Ning (37) and his colleagues process thousands of system alerts each week. Together with its two sister facilities in Europe and the Americas, this center maintains continuous 24/7 surveillance over more than 300 data centers spanning six continents.

The Critical Importance of Data Centers

Serene Nah, the company's Managing Director for Asia-Pacific, states that without these centers, nothing functions, making their continuous operation a matter of "national security." While public concerns persist regarding water usage and carbon footprints, the company relies on solar energy and closed-loop cooling systems to recycle and reuse water.

The Human Role in the AI Era

Although artificial intelligence has accelerated the growth and complexity of data centers, Terrance Tang, head of the command center for Asia-Pacific, emphasizes that human intervention remains an irreplaceable safeguard for verifying alerts, as automated tools still occasionally make errors.

Source: AFP