Grace Ashiru
Earlier this month, Johannesburg hosted the successful Huawei Africa Connect 2024. The event brought together industry experts, key opinion leaders, and ecosystem partners from Southern Africa to discuss the construction of data infrastructure in the era of artificial intelligence.
During the event, Huawei shared best practices and insights on trending topics such as data protection, ransomware protection, and the evolution of data centers. The primary goal of the event was to facilitate the digital and intelligent transformation of enterprises in the sub-Saharan African region.
Peter Zhou, Vice President of Huawei and President of Huawei’s Data Storage product line, delivered a keynote speech highlighting the disruptive impact of AI on traditional data storage. He emphasized that AI will not only enhance performance, reliability, and data paradigms but also scalability, sustainability, and the data fabric.
Huawei is at the forefront of redefining data storage by pioneering innovation across these six dimensions. Recently, Huawei introduced the OceanStor A800 high-performance storage, 128TB solid-state drives, and the Omni-Dataverse global file system. These advancements will enable customers to build cutting-edge AI-ready data infrastructure and fully leverage the value of their data.
On July 3rd, the Huawei Innovative Data Infrastructure (IDI) Forum 2024 took place in Johannesburg. Mad Chen, the vice president of Huawei sub-Saharan Africa, delivered a welcome speech, sharing his insights on the rapid advancement towards an intelligent world.
According to Chen, intelligence will unlock new opportunities for Africa over the next decade. Huawei is advocating an “All Intelligence” strategy, leveraging its extensive expertise and experience in the ICT industry to collaborate with customers and partners across Africa.
Huawei Data Storage provides innovative products and solutions designed to help customers across various industries in Africa unlock infinite data value.
In the AI era, efficient data management and utilization are essential for enterprises to maintain a competitive edge. Diego Xiao, vice president of Huawei’s Data Storage product line, recently delivered a keynote speech where he discussed Huawei’s “1+3+X” reference architecture for AI-ready data infrastructure.
This innovative architecture encompasses one data lake, three data pools, and multiple data services. It integrates OceanStor Dorado all-flash storage, OceanStor A800 high-performance storage, OceanStor Pacific scale-out storage, the OceanProtect appliance, and the Omni-Dataverse global file system housed within the DME. Additionally, it includes the DataMaster O&M model. This architecture is specifically designed to help enterprises maximize the value of their data and support the intelligent advancement of the digital economy in Southern Africa.
Hu Hui, Vice President of Huawei’s Scale-Out Storage Domain, delivered a keynote speech highlighting that data, computing power, and algorithms are the core components of large AI models. He emphasized that the amount of high-quality data is crucial in determining the level of AI.
Data storage, being a key carrier of data, plays a vital role in supporting large AI models. As these models advance, data centres are required to handle more data, which raises the demands on data storage regarding capacity, performance, and energy consumption.
Huawei’s all-flash scale-out storage is designed to activate mass unstructured data and drive the development of new applications in the AI era. This storage solution can flexibly manage any workload, enhance energy efficiency at any scale, and maintain reliability at every access point.
Jon Tullett, the Associate Research Director at International Data Corp, discussed the major trends in IT infrastructure development for the digital intelligence era. He also offered suggestions for enterprises to stay ahead in this evolving landscape.
Tullett emphasized that an increasing number of enterprises are leveraging AI technologies to enhance their competitive edge. However, the performance and reliability of their current data infrastructure often fall short, impeding further AI advancements.
He concluded that adopting all-flash storage and implementing innovative storage systems can enable enterprises to build a robust data infrastructure, thereby establishing a strong foundation for accelerated digital transformation.
Pandelani Munyai, the Chief Information Officer of Transnet Group, Lucas John Omollo, the Health, Safety, and Compliance Manager of ICT & Smart City Solutions at Konza Technopolis, and Zano Bright Nyati, the Senior Manager of Openserve, delivered keynote speeches on various topics. Munyai focused on digital transformation in the electric power industry, Omollo addressed smart city construction in Kenya, and Nyati discussed data protection practices in the carrier industry.
The forum featured four interactive sessions focused on data centre infrastructure, data protection, commercial markets, and the IdeaHub CXO Roundtable. Customers interested in the latest trends in data centre development and the newest solutions for data protection and ransomware protection were encouraged to actively participate in discussions and share their ideas during these sessions.
During the commercial markets session, Huawei officially launched the Huawei eKitStor Xtreme 300P, an ultra-high-performance disk designed for data centres. This product boasts a throughput bandwidth of 14.8GB/s and a data processing capability of 3.45 million IOPS, meeting large-scale data access requirements.
The eKitStor Xtreme 300P ensures service continuity and data resilience with an MTBF of 2.5 million hours and four levels of data protection capabilities. Its versatility makes it suitable for most enterprises, as it can be used in a wide range of scenarios and is compatible with multiple devices. Through the Flash Forward project, it can help SMEs unleash the potential of data centres.
Additionally, the Huawei IDI Forum included a 260m2 exhibition area where Huawei’s data storage products and solutions were showcased through more than 20 scenario-specific interactive exhibits. The forum received positive feedback from attendees and fostered active communication and idea sharing among customers. The event was highly regarded and drew many customers, enhancing their engagement and collaboration.
