AI-accelerated digital twins: lessons for operators

Many data center operators use management and control software — such as DCIM, building management systems (BMS) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) — to safeguard infrastructure resiliency and efficiency. Yet few today use engineering simulations in their day-to-day operations, let alone digital twins to manage the facility's full lifecycle. Historically, this was due to the cost and complexity of setting up and running computationally intense modeling. The business value was also unclear, as data centers underwent little change for long periods and often operated well below capacity (for related links on digital twins, see the end of this report).

However, the cost of engineering simulations has plummeted while data center complexity has increased. As IT racks serving AI take up a greater share of infrastructure alongside ongoing densification of IT, more sophisticated software-based methods for design, commissioning and change management are becoming necessary.