How will the rise of edge computing impact data centers?

That’s a huge question, considering how organizations are embracing edge computing as a way to more quickly collect, process, and analyze data for mission-critical processes like AI. Kevin Sheu, VP of solutions and strategies at Versa, a network and cybersecurity company, told IT Brew that, with the rise of AI, the tech industry is seeing “more and more architectures” like AI systems that are pushed out of data centers altogether.

“More and more of AI inference can start to be pushed to the edge of campus and branch locations; and what we might start to see in the future as well, is more and more, the training workloads start to be pushed to the edge,” Sheu said.

And that means “micro” data centers.—CN

Skills, in the words of the late Gang Starr rapper Guru, are “top rank, point blank,” and “vital”—for IT workers, that especially applies to AI.

But there’s a noticeable gap between workers’ current level of AI skills and what’s needed by organizations. At the MIT CIO Symposium this May, IT Brew asked Jonathan Kleiman, Stack AI SVP of enterprise AI, about the skills gap and how to address the problem.

In Kleiman’s view, the issue is adaptability. Organizations that embrace implementation are going to see better results, he said, and incentivizing change is key.

“The main gap that we’re seeing is a lack of adoption by certain teams, because there’s no training, because there’s no incentive structures to change,” Kleiman said. “Aligning incentives are the most fundamental skills that most people aren’t using.”

One CEO wants to solve the skills gap with public investment.—EH

Digital transformation: No matter what the industry, companies must continually evolve their IT infrastructure, especially as their competitors embrace disruptive technologies. Digital transformation is when organizations update their processes, products, operations, and customer and employee experiences to take advantage of the latest technology. Learn more.

Hewlett-Packard is fighting for its place in the broader AI race.

HP is in a tricky position, according to Faisal Masud, president of HP’s Worldwide Digital and Lifecycle Service. There’s the urge to take advantage of the AI market as quickly as possible, but a product that doesn’t hit a “high bar” might erode customer trust.

“If we introduce something, we have to be 100% sure it’s not going to cause any kind of unnecessary pain on the end user or the enterprise,” Masud said.

“Would you want to introduce something into that environment that might not be fully 100% tested?”

HP is aiming to make its hardware and software both vendor- and OS-agnostic. “Our partners have their own custom [software], we don’t care, we will provide you what you need, but ultimately what we want to make this as seamless as possible for those who are using HP to be able to use our platform and use all the agents and capabilities that are available out of the box, but at the same time, not be preventing them from using us if they have another fleet ongoing,” Masud said.

But the focus on AI integration could back HP into a corner.—CN