Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an important role in the evolution of storage/infrastructure management. There are multiple deployment options (all cloud, onpremises for dark sites, and hybrid), and differentiation of AI-enhanced capabilities will depend on the data sources and the algorithms used for these products.
Executive Summary:
The usage of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) has pervaded the IT industry, and infrastructure is no exception. Infrastructure vendors and service providers must continue to invest in building AI-enhanced management platforms, while also investing in the development and integration work necessary to ensure that key monitoring data from clients is accessible and processed in a timely fashion to reduce incidents while improving the customer experience for stakeholders. AI, ML and DL are key technology tools that vendors must leverage to remain competitive in the market. For applied infrastructure and DevOps professionals, AI/MLenhanced management tools will eventually provide a means for deploying and maintaining advanced compute, storage and networking architectures without the need to add an army of skilled but expensive specialists. This report explores the key IT challenges that are making AI/ML-enhanced management tools necessary to handle future workloads, and discusses how leading vendors are currently leveraging this technology. Although customers have high expectations of AI, what is less concrete is how much revenue these kinds of features will generate and if they will ultimately be successful in offering customers the end results they are hoping to achieve.
This Technology & Business Insight report on the role AI has in the evolution of storage/infrastructure management is based on a combination of insights and data gathered through direct interviews with each of the vendors mentioned in the report (with a few exceptions) spanning a wide variety of vertical applications and our analysts' deep experience in the infrastructure space. Key findings include:
- Though the majority of organizations (75%) we recently surveyed believe that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will simplify IT infrastructure management, only 11% ‘strongly agree’ that they would pay a premium for these enhancements.
- Improved efficiency, fewer incidences (tickets) and faster remediation are the top benefits organizations expect to get from AI/ML-enhanced management tools.
- Cloud-based operational and management software provides benefits such as ease of deployment and the potential for deeper insights, though security concerns will limit the adoption of these platforms in the most security- and compliance-sensitive environments.