Monday, June 18, 2018

How Blockchain Technology is Transforming the Data Center Infrastructure

Even though cryptocurrency is still a controversial discussion topic, there seems to be a consensus that blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrency, is revolutionary. Companies like Google and Goldman Sachs are actively investing in blockchain firms. So data centers and cloud hosting services need to prepare themselves to serve the requirements of these new blockchain-based companies. These businesses will need a lot of data center resources and cloud management services in the coming years.

Blockchain: A Simple Introduction

The journey of modern blockchain started with a 2008 white paper called Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. The paper described a form of digital cash that can live on a distributed network without any centralized authority. The blockchain is the technology that supports this system.

A blockchain is basically a distributed digital ledger or database. The whole network contributes to its creation and maintenance. So there is no central authority who can manipulate the blockchain.

In a blockchain environment, when two parties have a transaction, they advertise it to the network. Various network nodes pickup multiple transactions and organized them into blocks. Then miners use their computers to add this block to the ledger or blockchain.

Miners need a lot of computing power to add the blocks to the blockchain because each block comes with a mathematical puzzle attached to it. Solving this puzzle takes computing resources. Miners are interested in this task because they are rewarded with tokens for adding a block to the blockchain.

The blockchain is an important technology due to its implications for business transactions. Before blockchain, a trusted third-party like a bank or a government institution was the only way to guarantee the integrity of a transaction between two parties. Blockchain eliminates that need. It opens up the possibility for business transaction between parties across the world. Strangers can transact with each other across countries and borders without the help of any financial or government institutions.

Blockchain-related Concerns for Data Center and Cloud Hosting Companies

The rise of blockchain technology means data center and cloud management services have to adjust to the changing realities on the ground. Here are some issues that data center managers should be aware of:

Elevated Demand for GPUs

Miners provide the computing power for blockchain cryptographic calculations. As the popularity of cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based applications increase, there will be more demand for computing power.

Data managers should be aware that blockchain-based calculations are best performed on graphical processing units (GPUs). AMD and NVIDIA graphics card prices have surged due to the rise in blockchain-based applications. Click here to visit original source.

Contact Details:
Telehouse America
7 Teleport Drive,
Staten Island,
New York, USA 10311
Phone No: 718–355–2500
Email: gregory.grant@telehouse.com

Monday, June 11, 2018

Neural Networks: How Data Centers are Catering to Future Demands



The progress of neural network algorithms is ushering a new age of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Both machine learning and deep learning disciplines of AI use neural networks. The increase of these algorithms have implications for your data centers. Whether you have a data center in Los Angeles or Tokyo, your facility needs to be able to meet the server and network requirements and handle the extra workloads.

Basic Understanding of Neural Networks

The inspiration for artificial neural networks is the human brain. The brain has billions of neurons. The neurons communicate with each other and create complex decision trees. The human cognitive ability is the result of these decision trees. As a human being learns new things, new neurons are created and new connections are formed.

Artificial neural networks follow the same principle. To form an artificial neural network, data scientists feed training data to machine learning or deep learning algorithms. These algorithms use the known data to form neural networks. In other words, the algorithms use the input data to learn.

Suppose, you need a neural network that can recognize cats. In a machine learning scenario, data scientists will create a model and then feed the model with known cat images, also known as training data. Each node or neuron of the model would represent a particular quality and a certain weight. During the training process, the algorithms will recalibrate the weights of the nodes to improve the accuracy of the overall neural network results.

Depending on the complexity of the task, it can take a few hours or it can take days to process the training data and create a functioning artificial neural network. Computer processing power plays a vital role in forming these networks.

Changing Landscape of Data Centers due to Neural Networks

Neural networks are affecting data centers in two ways. It’s creating new requirements for data centers to serve AI-based applications. Also, AI-based applications help data centers optimize their own services. Here are some pointers to prepare for the future:

Rising Demand for GPU-based Processing

Any data center looking to attract AI-related businesses need to understand the importance of GPU-based processing in neural network applications. Visit original source.

Contact Details:
Telehouse America
7 Teleport Drive,
Staten Island,
New York, USA 10311
Phone No: 718–355–2500
Email: gregory.grant@telehouse.com