The InsightaaS “Summer Scan” series provides data centre community professionals with a summer-weight way of scanning the ideas shaping the industry.
Each Summer Scan session combines a quick-reference slide deck with a video of a presentation delivered by a world-leading expert at the Great Canadian Data Centre Symposium (GCDCS19), which was held on June 19th-20th at McMaster Innovation Park in Hamilton, Ontario. Note: we will link each session as it is added to the website. Please bookmark this page and check back often!
Summer Scan overviews include:
Academic Congress lectures – five Visionary sessions!
- Visionary Session 1. Sustainable Computing
- Session Lead: Dr. Natarajan Gautam, Professor, Industrial & Systems Engineering, Texas A&M
- Synopsis: The ‘cloud’ consumes a meaningful proportion of the world’s energy. Where can we do better? Is there low-hanging fruit that will deliver ‘quick wins’? And what do we need to improve over the long haul?
- Visionary Session 2. The Cost of Computing
- Session lead: Dr. Xiaorui (Ray) Wang, Professor, Computer Engineering, Ohio State
- Synopsis: Our computing needs are growing more quickly than our ability to cope with increasing demand. The future belongs to experts who can crunch numbers more cheaply. Let’s follow the money – how can we do things more economically without compromising performance and safety?
- Visionary Session 3. Computing, Human Knowledge and the Next Scientific Frontier
- Session lead: Dr. Ganesh Balasubramanian, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics, Lehigh University
- Synopsis: Computing is at the core of human progress. The human genome, space exploration, the discovery of new materials, and understanding climate change now all rely on data analysis. What can we do to ensure we have the right compute structures in place to support future forward applications like these?
- Visionary Session 4. Cyberphysical Systems
- Session lead: Dr. Ayan Banerjee, Assistant Research Professor, Arizona State University
- Synopsis: Intelligent automation is penetrating safety-critical infrastructure: aircrafts, autonomous vehicles, and health management systems. Multitudes of sensors enable co-operation between the real and digital world in unprecedented ways. Increasing demands on reliable and safe performance impose enormous loads on future computing infrastructure. Are We Ready?
- Visionary Session 5. The Future of Facilities
- Session lead: Dr. Suvojit Ghosh, Co-founder & Managing Director, Computing Infrastructure Research Centre (CIRC)
- Synopsis: Our computing facilities must evolve to accommodate the future. But how, exactly? Liquid cooling? GPU? Edge computing? Renewable energy? Microgrids?
Also available as part of the Summer Scan series – content from the Symposium!
Main stage sessions
- Plenary Panel session (video only): Aligning data centre strategy with IT service delivery demand
- The All-Star plenary panel includes: Eugene Roman, former IT leader for Bell, Open Text and Canadian Tire; Data centre industry legend Peter Gross; Stephan Abraitis, VP Data Centre Infrastructure & Strategy, RBC; Dr. Ghada Badawy, Principal Research Engineer, CIRC; Francois Sterin, Chief Industrial Officer, OVH Group; Andrew Dillane, President and Chief Product Officer at Curasion, and past President, CIO Association of Canada; Rami Radi, Senior Software Application Engineer, Intel; and Sean Maskell, President and General Manager, Cologix Canada
- Moderator: Michael O’Neil, Principal Analyst, InsightaaS
- Intelligent Infrastructure (video only)
- Synopsis: Data centres aren’t simply a place where data from one source is crunched, and forwarded along to another location; increasingly, data centres themselves generate data that drives automated responses to problems before they create downtime. What are the keys to harnessing the intelligence in facilities equipment?
- Panelists: Kirby Peters, Director, Critical Facilities, BMO; Peter Gross, VP, Bloom Energy; Fadi Tarcha, Director, Business Development, Vertiv
- Moderator: Dr. Suvojit Ghosh, Managing Director, CIRC
- Establishing and Managing High-Density Environments (video only)
- Synopsis: High density is in the minds (and future plans) of data centre strategists in all industries. What’s involved in supporting rack densities that double…triple…quadruple today’s power and heat loads?
- Panelists: Chris Bockhop, North America Enterprise Business, Lenovo; Dr. Scott Northrup, CTO, SciNet; Chris Orlando, CEO and Co-Founder, ScaleMatrix; Roberto Di Ciano, National Director, Data Centre Operations, TELUS
- Moderator: Michael O’Neil, Principal Analyst, InsightaaS
- The Software-Defined Future (video only)
- Synopsis: In compute, networking, storage – potentially, even power! – software defined technologies are shaping IT and facilities strategies. What does a shift from an asset-based to a services-based infrastructure mean to your organization’s approach to capacity deployment?
- Panelists: Joe Belinsky, VP Technology Services, Moneris; Charlie Ancheta, Senior IT Manager, Ontario Government; Ronnie Scott, Data Centre and Cloud Architect, Cisco; Dr. Rong Zheng, Associate Professor, Computing and Software, McMaster
- Moderator: Michael O’Neil, Principal Analyst, InsightaaS
- Building Integrated Cloud/Edge Strategy: the Why, How and How Good (video only)
- Synopsis: For many organizations, “the data centre” has become an amalgam of resources resident in locations ranging from distant hyperscale locales to closets and cell towers. What does this mean to delivery and management strategy?
- Panelists: Erwin Van Hout, CTO, Sick Kids; Marie Josee Drouin, CIO, NFB; Scott Killian, VP, Uptime Institute; Jeff Cowan, CTO, HCE Telecom
- Moderator: Mary Allen, Chief Content Officer, InsightaaS
- Balancing Finance and Functionality (video only)
- Synopsis: Business executives view technology as an essential source of competitive advantage – but often struggle with the associated expense. How do IT leaders connect outcomes to outflows? Note – we expect this session to be interactive, to capitalize on the experiences of delegates.
- Panelists: Steve Gesner, former EVP, Technology and Operations, eHealth Ontario; Rocco Alonzi, AVP, Data Centre Governance, Sun Life Financial; Craig McLellan, Founder, ThinkOn
- Moderator: Michael O’Neil, Principal Analyst, InsightaaS
- Closing Plenary Keynote: Data Centers 2.0 in Times of Digital 2.0 (slides and video)
- Delivered by Eugene Roman, former IT leader for Bell, Open Text and Canadian Tire
Breakout sessions
- The Industrialization of Compute Production (video only)
- Synopsis: Francois Sterin, Chief Industrial Officer for OVH, discusses highlights and implications of new research into “The Industrialization of Compute Production: Data Centre Design and Build for Improved Efficiency, Cost and Service Delivery.” Based on input from Canadian colo, cloud and enterprise data centre operators, the research identifies keys to keeping pace with accelerating capacity demand and diminishing incremental budgets
- Includes link to original InsightaaS/DC Foresight research
- Data Gravity in the Public Sector (video only)
- Paul Cooper, Canadian President of the Technology Integration Group, leads a roundtable discussion featuring contributors to the recently-released report on Data Gravity in the Public Sector. Participants from Sick Kids Hospital, the Ontario Government, Fanshawe College and eHealth Ontario will contribute to this interactive discussion.
- Includes link to original InsightaaS/DC Foresight research
- Connecting Smart Facilities (video only)
- Belden executive Dwayne Crawford provides insight into the key issues governing effective connection of smart facilities – how to make both the technology and financials work.
- Intel® Data Center Manager: Getting your data center under control
- On-premise or off, you have powerful tools available to maximize the value of your infrastructure and you demand more visibility and operational control. Fortunately, data center management tools keep a vigil on memory contestation, power, thermal consumption, server health, and utilization, allowing better control of your datacenter. In this session, learn how Intel software tools enable real-time monitoring and precise management to lower operational costs and optimize infrastructure for today even as you’re forecasting for tomorrow.
