Fujitsu and Fujitsu Research Institute Co., Ltd. will carry out a series of field tests in their Yokohama data center, aiming to promote the digital transformation of the data center and improve operational flexibility and process automation by using dedicated 5G network technology for equipment inspection. This validation test will last from December 1, 2022 to March 17, 2023, and will be selected by the Ministry of General Affairs of Japan as one of the “Development Demonstration of Achieving Local 5G Challenge Resolution in Fiscal Year 2022”.
The test will use a robot equipped with 4K cameras to capture video data of data center equipment (including servers). These data will be transmitted locally through dedicated 5G, and the site conditions will be analyzed through AI to find abnormal conditions in the early stage and establish a system. Fujitsu’s goal is to make full use of the high-speed transmission capacity of private 5G technology to create a system that can support ground situation monitoring and recovery in case of disaster or emergency.
With the acceleration of social digitalization and the rapid increase of distributed data, data centers that store and process large amounts of data are positioned as part of the core infrastructure supporting the 21st century digital society. The “Digital Garden City Country” vision of the Japanese government emphasizes the growing importance of this, and calls for the establishment of regional data center facilities, with a view to reducing the risk of disasters and other vulnerabilities caused by data center centralization. As the importance of regional data centers continues to grow, their number is expected to increase rapidly in the future.
The key to stable operation of the data center is high-quality maintenance and inspection, as well as rapid recovery in the event of disasters or other emergencies. However, in many areas of Japan, the reduction of the working population and the difficulty in obtaining talents remain a challenge, especially in rural areas. Under the limited number of personnel, it is an urgent problem for data center operators to maintain and improve detection quality and reduce workload.
Fujitsu will establish a private 5G environment in the data center of Yokohama City, Kanagawa, to verify the effectiveness of the patrol equipment and facilities of the autonomous robot equipped with 4K cameras, detect anomalies early, and provide remote support to on-site staff in case of failure.
