A Day in the Life of Modern IT Teams
GUEST OPINION by Ivan Evans, Head of Data Centre, Apstra & IBN, Australia & New Zealand, Juniper Networks: For many IT professionals, a traditional 9 to 5 doesn’t exist. Typical change control methodology, demands that a working day could stretch well into the night or even begin well before dawn, with proactive system health checks, often taking hours to manually complete and even then, often not exhaustive enough to assure full confidence in system efficacy.
To combat this, our industry is starting to leverage AI Operations and digital twins. These two tools help IT teams autonomously and proactively spot potential issues before they impact services, freeing up their time to focus on more strategic and forward-looking projects.
In the modern Data Centre space, as a typical day progresses, IT professionals must navigate through different aspects of a sophisticated framework that we call the Data Centre Lifecycle:
- Day 0 Planning: Architecting robust systems requires meticulous attention to detail as well as systems-thinking. The DC professional designs network topologies, establishes testing procedures and create blueprints for scalable infrastructure. A new tool here is the use of digital twin – virtual replicas of the production network that allow for comprehensive simulation and optimisation. By employing digital twins, architects can explore “what if?” scenarios, test changes, capacity expansions or AI workload integrations without risking the stability of the live environment. This approach ensures the foundation is not only robust but also adaptable to support tomorrow's innovations.
- Day 1 Implementation: The deployment phase of infrastructure demands surgical precision. Teams work methodically to bring the designed networks to life, connecting switches, implementing configurations and conducting rigorous testing protocols. Every connection must be verified, every configuration validated, and every system tested and balanced under load to ensure flawless operation before systems going live.
- Day 2+ Operations: This is where the true art of DC management shines. Teams maintain optimal performance through continuous monitoring, rapid response to anomalies and proactive optimisation. They leverage automation and increasingly AI-Ops for routine tasks while focusing their expertise on strategic improvements and innovative solutions to emerging challenges and new business requirements.
If system anomalies occur, these professionals leverage modern toolsets to follow a methodical approach: assess user impact, identify root causes and deploy appropriate responses, all while maintaining clear communication channels across the organisation.
Here is a real example: When a major e-commerce platform experienced a surge in holiday shopping traffic, their IT team didn't just wait for phone calls from angry business leaders or for alarms to sound. Rather, by leveraging modern toolsets they had already anticipated and prepared for bandwidth challenges, identified the network links that may affect particular application performance and enacted appropriate configurations.
Their proactive approach, powered by AI-driven insights and years of expertise, ensured that millions of transactions process smoothly during peak loads.
Shaping Tomorrow's Digital Landscape
As we push the boundaries of what's possible with technology, the role of data centre professionals becomes increasingly crucial.
A recent study by Mandala indicates that Data centre professionals in Australia are integral to the nation's digital infrastructure. Projections indicate that the data centre workforce will expand by 8,300 roles, reaching a total of 17,900 by 2030. This growth underscores the increasing importance of data centre professionals in supporting Australia's digital economy.
Modern data centre teams are becoming steadily more equipped with AI-powered tools that serve as force multipliers for their expertise. These sophisticated solutions have transformed how teams approach their daily responsibilities with:
- Real-time diagnostics and troubleshooting: AI systems can continuously analyse network traffic patterns, application performance metrics and infrastructure health indicators. They can identify potential issues within milliseconds, often before they impact user experience.
- Predictive analytics: Advanced algorithms process historical data and current trends to forecast potential system bottlenecks, capacity constraints or hardware failures. This enables teams to perform preventive maintenance and capacity planning with unprecedented accuracy.
- Proactive problem mitigation: When potential issues are detected, AI systems can automatically implement corrective measures or provide detailed remediation recommendations to the team. This might include rerouting traffic, adjusting resource allocation or initiating failover procedures.
These modern toolsets won't replace the expertise of data centre professionals; they empower them to operate at an even higher level. These are the professionals who ensure AI is implemented effectively, who interpret its insights, and who step in when human intuition is needed to solve complex challenges.
These data centre teams aren't just maintaining infrastructure; they're architecting the future of network experiences, supporting transformative innovations and ensuring the reliability of services that power our modern world. Their diligence drives the adoption of cutting-edge technologies while maintaining the robust foundation which are critical to society.
The next time you seamlessly complete an online purchase, or access critical cloud services or join a faultless high quality video call, remember that there's an entire team of professionals working tirelessly behind the scenes to make it all possible. IT teams are the true guardians of our digital future, and their expertise, dedication and unwavering commitment keep our connected world running smoothly, one IP packet at a time.