Canadian colocation provider Root Data Center has partnered with San Jose-based artificial intelligence software developer Litbit to try and reduce the risk of data center downtime.

Root’s Montréal facility will be the first wholesale data center to use Litbit’s technology - an artificial persona called Aiex - with the company’s sensors set to be installed this month. An end-of-period analysis of the results of the AI system deployment is expected in December 2018.

An intelligent machine

If things go wrong
– 2001: A Space Odyssey/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

“Reliability and uptime are key consideration for any data center user, ranging from cloud service providers, to hosting companies, video game developers and other large-scale IT organizations,” AJ Byers, Root’s president and CEO, said.

“At Root  Data Center, we’ve made 100 percent uptime a top priority, and working with Litbit, we’ve pioneered the next wave of machine learning within data center operations to get us closer.

”Today, we’re proud to say that Root is championing the use of cutting-edge AI and machine learning technology to reduce the risk of downtime for customers of all sizes.”

Scott Noteboom, CEO of Litbit, added: “Business is everywhere and always in the data center more than anywhere else, but people can’t be. That is the promise of AI, to help provide constant and intelligent oversight of the spaces and machines in a data center to improve business outcomes. We are proud to be working with Root to make good on that promise.”

Last month, Noteboom gave a keynote at the DCD>Zettastructure conference in London, where he pitched his AI system for the data center.

Noteboom called this AI persona ‘Dac,’ and noted that it had over 11,000 pieces of innate knowledge built in, and had the potential to hear when a machine was close to failing, feel vibration patterns that are bad for HDD I/O, and spot intruders.

The ultimate aim for Litbit is to build a system that has sensing abilities far beyond those of mere mortals, and the combined knowledge of all of a company’s employees.

A Root spokesperson told DCD that their persona will not be know as Dac, but rather as Aiex, “with the goal to expand Aiex’s capability beyond Dac - while also making its knowledge and skills more specific to Root.” 

In the latest issue of DCD>Magazine, we looked at the current state of artificial intelligence in the data center, and how it is being used for everything from improving uptime, to intelligently managing storage, to lowering energy costs. Be sure to check out the cover feature now.