Vertiv, a global leader in digital infrastructure, has aimed to address the challenges of increasing demands driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and the rapidly evolving telecom and technology ecosystem in Africa.
The Sales Director for Strategic Telecom Clients of Vertiv in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa EMEA, Jon Abbott while speaking to Kenyan leaders in the local, tower, and colocation sectors in Nairobi, provided valuable insights into the operational and technological transformations anticipated to reshape the communications network landscape by 2030.
According to the 2023 Digital Quality of Life Index, which assesses digital well-being for 92 percent of the global population, Kenya ranks 76th overall out of 121 countries. Within Africa, Kenya holds the 3rd position out of 25 countries across various pillars affecting digital quality of life. However, the country’s ranking drops to 82nd globally concerning AI readiness.
“The challenge for Kenya is that AI adoption is already transforming the IT stack and our IT infrastructures. This necessitates the development of accelerated architectures to meet the demands of AI workloads,” Abbott stated.
Abbott emphasized that the necessary network developments would involve operational adjustments that consumers may not notice. These changes could include shifts in network ownership and increased service costs, largely driven by the rising energy consumption demands as intelligent connectivity expands.
“This situation will put a greater emphasis on efficiency, and more attention will need to be directed towards sustainability and emission reduction,” Abbott elaborated.
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Significant technological advancements, including a shift towards edge computing, are expected. This shift will drive major tech collaborations and increased standardization across both physical and logical infrastructures—a complex endeavor. Additionally, the rise of open-source groups, commoditized hardware, the integration of data processing capabilities into the network fabric, and the emergence of new ecosystems featuring more private networks are anticipated.
“The Internet of Things (IoT) also holds the potential to unlock insights and efficiencies across all sectors. The evolution of IoT will involve dispersing processing capabilities throughout the landscape, breaking down facilities into smaller, localized units,” Abbott continued.
According to Abbott, the modern data center will remain a crucial part of the infrastructure landscape. However, there will be an expansion of smaller “edge” data centers alongside the larger ones. These smaller centers will require the same essential physical conditions as their larger counterparts: continuous operation, optimal temperatures to avoid overheating, and maximum efficiency and security.
Meeting these requirements presents significant challenges, particularly in energy provision. This is especially crucial given the ongoing energy transitions and the need to meet sustainability targets aimed at reducing global emissions by 2030.
Additional challenges include accommodating the anticipated exponential growth in rack density, managing constraints on skills availability, balancing trade-offs between new builds and retrofits, dealing with power grid limitations, and the increasing demand for quick-to-deploy, repeatable designs.
“The bottom line is that AI will pose a significant challenge for network providers, with data consumption and creation accelerating across all sectors and data processing saturating the facility landscape. While this scenario could be intimidating for providers, having the right partner by your side—one that can assist with power and thermal management, as well as integrated rack solutions—will greatly ease your deployment journey. Vertiv is well-positioned to be that partner,” Abbott concluded.
