Key insights from Gartner IOCS 2024: Are you data and AI ready?

Dan Eline, Vice President of Platform Solutions, Digital Realty
December 20, 2024

The Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference 2024 highlighted some of the most pressing concerns for I&O leaders today. The joint session by Digital Realty and Oracle, titled "Are You Data & AI Ready?", provided insights into how organizations can leverage a distributed and interconnected infrastructure to integrate data and artificial intelligence (AI). This blog will highlight the key takeaways from the session. We’ll cover:

• Data strategy for AI readiness, prioritizing investment in systems and infrastructure
• Data Gravity, its impact on AI, and the need for new architectures to bring services to data
• Digital Realty and Oracle leveraging combined capabilities to help organizations achieve scalable, sustainable, and performant architectures

Data: The foundation of AI

As the backbone of AI, data is paramount. At Digital Realty, we’ve observed that without a solid data foundation, AI cannot thrive. Our commissioned Global Data Insights Survey (GDIS), which involved nearly 2,300 companies from 21 countries across 11 industries, echoed this sentiment. In it, our findings revealed that 79% of respondents have executed or are in the process of executing a formalized data strategy. This statistic underscores the importance of having a structured approach to data management, which is the predecessor to intelligence and the subsequent advancement of AI innovation.

Prioritizing data localization

It also matters where the data lives — and many I&O leaders have it right. According to the latest GDIS findings, 84% of respondents prioritize data localization, ensuring that data is accessible for processing and analysis. The driver of this trend is the phenomenon of Data Gravity, where growing volumes of data attract services and applications. Our research also indicates the need for new architectures that challenge the outdated ideology of bringing the data to services.

Data Gravity and its implications

Data Gravity is a concept that we’ve studied extensively. It refers to the tendency of data to attract services and applications, much like gravity pulls objects toward a central mass. As data grows, it becomes impractical to move large volumes around. Instead, we must rethink our approach and strategically place data in key locations, bringing services and applications to the data rather than vice versa.

A new paradigm: Changing the architecture.

This paradigm shift calls for new architectures that not only accommodate Data Gravity but also bring the cloud and AI to the data. At Digital Realty, we advocate for Centers of Data Exchange, locating data strategically where it needs to be and bringing services directly to it. This approach is crucial for addressing the challenges posed by AI and other data-intensive applications.

Collaborating with Oracle

Our partnership with Oracle exemplifies how we can address these data challenges. Oracle's solutions, including dedicated cloud regions, offer flexibility and performance while ensuring compliance with data residency requirements. Together, we’ve created architectures that solve common problems in cloud data and AI categories. Oracle's Solution Center then takes it a step further, allowing for testing and validating these architectures in a controlled environment while mitigating risk and accelerating time to market.

Digital Realty and Oracle partnership: A real-world example

One notable case involves a European financial services company that needed to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulations. It leveraged Oracle's dedicated region solutions within our facilities, achieving data sovereignty while maintaining performance. This collaboration highlights the real-world applicability of our joint solutions.

Leveraging Digital Realty and Oracle for a data and AI-ready distributed and interconnected infrastructure

As we continue to navigate the evolving landscape of data and AI, it’s clear that a data-first strategy is essential. By prioritizing data localization, embracing new architectures, and leveraging strategic partnerships, we can unlock the full potential of AI and drive innovation.

Explore our Global Data Insights Survey to learn how IT leaders around the globe leverage data and AI to inform their business strategies and edge out the competition. And when you’re ready, contact us to discuss how Digital Realty’s PlatformDIGITAL®, which enables our Centers of Data Exchange with state-of-the-art Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx®), and Oracle’s Solutions Center can support your data and AI initiatives now and into the future.