Powering Digital Future: The non-obvious critical infrastructure

In today's tech-driven world, the idea of critical infrastructure has shifted gears. It's about more than just physical power plants, roads, and transportation systems. We are now discussing the digital backbone that keeps our AI-powered systems running efficiently.

 And in this era of AI, there's a mantra everyone's chanting: "ALWAYS ON."        

Think about big players like Amazon. They're not just handling packages; they're managing an unfathomable amount of data to keep AI algorithms ticking. Imagine a hiccup in their operation—millions in losses and chaos in the digital realm.

Remember the AWS outage in 2017?

A tiny typo caused a domino effect, disrupting services left and right. That incident opened our eyes to the importance of rock-solid infrastructure, making us rethink how much we rely on giants like AWS. It also highlighted the need for trusty components, like UPS- that keep things going when the unexpected happens.

But it's not just about the big players.

Let's rewind to 2021 during Storm Uri in Texas. Austin Energy, the power provider, pulled the plug on the city's most significant electricity users, including chip factories owned by Samsung, NXP Semiconductors, and Infineon Semiconductors. Samsung took a $360 million hit, and the ripple effect on chip availability was felt worldwide.

Fast forward to 2023, and the new Samsung chip plant's launch is delayed because Texas is still fine-tuning its power grid. The ripple effect from that shutdown continues to impact the Austin community and the decisions corporations like Samsung make on their future investments.

In this digital age, small and medium businesses are equally impacted when their version of critical infrastructure suffers a blow.        

When the Colonial pipeline was attacked digitally, it affected fuel supplies for automobiles in the southeastern US, shutting down regional gas stations. 

When people think about critical infrastructure, the typical mental image often includes power plants, servers, and significant transportation networks—those large-scale elements that appear most prominently in downtime concerns (I know I did).

However, over the last few months, I have come to appreciate that the infrastructure's reliability, resilience, and trustworthiness are not always about the grand things. They are also about the small components that act as bridges and supports.

Picture this: as utilities like Austin Energy embrace AI for internal load management, the energy dance becomes two-way. And more AI means more pressure on uptime, demanding a sturdy support system for our often-overlooked critical infrastructure.

Even brief power disruptions can lead to substantial financial losses, potentially reaching billions.

Here, an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) becomes pivotal, offering a simple yet effective solution to prevent downtime.

UPS systems are a crucial bridge between primary and backup power during interruptions, ensuring a continuous power flow to mission-critical equipment. The primary goal is to sustain the critical load until generators kick in, allowing for a seamless transfer. The UPS may lack the glamour, but its role is pivotal in ensuring power continuity and upholding the "ALWAYS ON" mantra.

In the emerging, power-hungry nature of the AI-first world, these "supporting" critical infrastructures like backup supplies, batteries, and, yes, the UPS system have become the backbone of the "ALWAYS ON" mantra.

Whether you are using on-premises solutions, co-location, or hyper scaler clouds, it is essential to scrutinize the "supporting" critical infrastructure closely.

Four essential elements must be considered to evaluate the reliability and trustworthiness of the infrastructure: reliability metrics, redundancy, maintenance practices, and disaster recovery protocols.

1. Reliability metrics measure the uptime and availability of critical infrastructure, reflecting its dependability.
2. Redundancy measures ensure continuous operations in case of component failures, and organizations need to evaluate the impact of such failures carefully.
3. Regular maintenance practices optimize infrastructure and help prevent losses.
4. Disaster recovery protocols ensure preparedness for unforeseen events and help organizations recover swiftly.

The fact is that as we stand at the intersection of AI, Quantum Computing, and other future technologies, the need for "uptime" will keep increasing.

Ensuring power continuity in the face of unforeseen challenges will become increasingly central. This continuity can only be achieved when we look at the whole picture, including foundational elements like UPS, Batteries, and Power Distribution Unit. 

The key takeaway is clear:

In this era of constant evolution, investing in the resilience of "supporting" critical infrastructure is the key to maintaining an "ALWAYS ON" digital future.        

PS: This is an opinion piece and may not reflect my employer’s official views