Singapore’s data centre command hub keeps AI up and running

Singapore's Digital Realty command centre serves as the world's nerve centre for monitoring and maintaining the operation of hundreds of data centres. Analysts, such as 37-year-old Daniel Naing, carefully monitor thousands of system alerts each week, ensuring that any signs of trouble are detected early enough to prevent disruptions.

With sister hubs in Europe and the United States, the command centre oversees over 300 data centres across six continents, providing round-the-clock oversight for more than 6,000 companies. Data centres, essential for online banking, messaging, and AI services, face common issues like power disruptions and equipment failure, as well as more severe events like earthquakes and typhoons.

Despite the growing demand for data centres to support AI development, the sector's importance is often misunderstood by the public, who wrongly believe data centres consume excessive amounts of carbon, heat, or water. Digital Realty is actively prioritizing renewable energy sources, such as solar panels and closed-loop server cooling systems, to mitigate environmental concerns.

The command centre's 7 am to 7 pm shift in Singapore is followed by a handover to the Europe-based team, with engineers responding to alerts within minutes and collaborating with a global network of experts. While AI and automation play a role in operations, human intervention remains crucial for accurately determining genuine outages and alerts.