Featured
Huawei envisions artificial intelligence for data management
As data centers become ever-more complex, the need for intelligent operations and maintenance systems becomes ever-greater.
The role of the data center is now more crucial than ever and integrating Artificial Intelligence will help enterprises move towards the next phase of their digital transformation journey. Vital facilities for hosting IT infrastructure and data storage repositories of strategic importance, data centers that are well-run represent a competitive advantage as industries embrace and accelerate digitalization.
In response to this evolving need, tech giant Huawei says its Data Management Engine (DME) is an intelligent O&M platform for modern data infrastructure.
According to the company, the DME enables full data storage lifecycle management and automation that covers planning, construction, optimization, and O&M. And to deliver the versatility, integration, and autonomous O&M for advanced data centers, DME incorporates various built-in AI capabilities that are tightly integrated across various aspects of its operation to support Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps).
First proposed by Gartner, AIOps envisions the use of big data analytics and machine learning to automate IT operations processes. AIOps helps IT O&M personnel process massive volumes of data to determine the root causes of errors and proactively predict the risks from existing systems.
With its ability to enhance decision-making by contextualizing large volumes of operational data, Gartner says AIOps adoption is growing rapidly across enterprises1.
AIOps systems also automate mundane software maintenance activities and orchestrate the many layers of IT systems, enabling them to become increasingly autonomous and self-regulating. Indeed, IDC predicts that AIOps will become an important capability for O&M with an adoption rate of at least 50% by large enterprises by 2024 and become the new normal for IT operations 2.Enabling AIOps
And since organizations increasingly seek to extract insights from data, data center operations and maintenance (O&M) systems can no longer stay the same.
Typically seen as immutable systems that run unchanged for years, O&M must evolve to incorporate greater agility to meet fluid, demanding new requirements without compromising their innate reliability.
For a start, O&M systems are no longer passive support systems, but seen as part of core production systems. New capabilities and a process of integration are required to bring new value to services, which may be a bridge too far with traditional systems.
Another transition happening is the shift from human-centric processes to autonomous ones. Where O&M processes used to revolve around machines assisting humans, the new paradigm sees AI-based machines reconstructing the service process and even autonomously driving IT O&M. Manual interventions, if required at all, are specific and centered on novel challenges. In a sense, it is humans who will be assisting the machines.
With Huawei DME, service change requests are performed on a single unified management interface
Huawei DME uses AI technologies to enable various capabilities, from predicting performance and capacity, to quickly identifying or even predicting impending faults. By delivering continuous insights and optimization of IT infrastructure and services, IT O&M personnel are hence able to identify system exceptions and quickly locate root causes, proactively predicts system running risks, and generate alarms.
AIOps envisions the use of big data analytics and machine learning to automate IT operations processes
Some of the AI-powered capabilities in Huawei DME include performance warning, load imbalance detection, fault warning and root cause analysis.
Featured
Strategic Partnerships, Diaspora Investment and Improved Workforce Critical to Industrialization-DG RMRDC
By: Stella Azi and Adaora Adibe
The Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, has called for a strategic shift from the exportation of raw commodities to domestic processing, manufacturing and value addition, declaring that Nigeria possesses enormous untapped raw material resources capable of driving industrialisation, creating jobs and strengthening the country’s economic competitiveness.
Prof. Ike-Muonso made this submission in a lecture titled Unlocking Nigeria’s Raw Material Value Chain for Industrialization, Manufacturing and Competitiveness, where he presented an extensive assessment of Nigeria’s resource endowments, industrial challenges and emerging investment opportunities across agricultural commodities, solid minerals and waste-based raw materials.
The lecture highlighted a combined US$2.65 trillion global market opportunity across 30 major raw material value chains, comprising 12 agricultural value chains valued at US$932 billion, 11 mineral value chains worth US$1.352 trillion and seven circular-economy value chains estimated at US$366 billion.
According to the RMRDC Boss, Nigeria must move beyond the traditional approach of extracting and exporting raw materials to building competitive domestic industries that transform these resources into intermediate products, industrial inputs and finished goods for local consumption and international markets.
He observed that the country’s manufacturing sector has struggled to sustain its 2014 peak, with its contribution to real Gross Domestic Product declining from 9.64 per cent in 2014 to 8.05 per cent in 2025, representing a 16.5 per cent decline. He also drew attention to the increasing cost of raw material imports, which rose to US$20.5 billion in 2025, approximately six times the 2020 level.
He explained that the growing dependence on imported industrial inputs exposes Nigerian manufacturers to foreign exchange volatility, increases production costs and weakens the competitiveness of locally manufactured products.
Prof. ke-Muonso stressed that the solution lies in developing domestic raw material value chains through deliberate investment in processing facilities, research and development, technology, infrastructure and stronger linkages between producers, processors and manufacturers.
He identified agriculture, solid minerals and industrial waste as three major resource platforms for Nigeria’s industrial transformation, stating the country’s significant production capacity and the enormous opportunities available for downstream processing.
Ike-Muonso noted that Nigeria produces over 63 million metric tonnes of cassava annually, making it the world’s largest producer, while also maintaining strong positions in cocoa, cashew, sesame, palm oil and cotton. However, more than 80 per cent of agricultural output leaves farms without adequate processing, resulting in the loss of significant economic value and industrial opportunities.
In the solid minerals sector, he identified more than 44 commercially viable minerals across over 500 locations, including lithium, gold, barite, bitumen, iron ore and high-grade limestone, describing them as strategic resources capable of supporting steel production, energy storage, electrification and advanced manufacturing.
The DG further drew attention to Nigeria’s industrial and agro-waste resources, noting that the country generates over 32 million tonnes of solid waste annually. He explained that agricultural residues, cassava peels, scrap metals, plastics and electronic waste could serve as important feedstock for bio-fertilisers, industrial chemicals, recycled polymers, energy production and other manufacturing applications.
In the agricultural sector, the DG identified cassava and industrial starch, cotton and natural textiles, natural rubber and elastomers, oil palm and oleochemicals, maize derivatives and cocoa processing as priority areas requiring increased investment.
He explained that processing agricultural commodities into industrial starch, sweeteners, textiles, technical rubber, specialty fats and other intermediate products would enable Nigeria to capture more value from its agricultural resources while reducing dependence on imported industrial inputs.
For the minerals sector, he highlighted crude oil-to-olefins and petrochemicals, lithium and energy storage, iron ore and steel, rare earth elements, bauxite and aluminium, and copper and electrification as strategic investment opportunities.
He particularly emphasised the importance of moving beyond mineral extraction into beneficiation, refining, battery precursors, industrial chemicals, metal fabrication and advanced materials production.
On the circular economy, Prof. Ike-Muonso identified electronic waste recovery, scrap metal recycling, plastic waste processing, agro-waste valorisation and battery recycling as emerging industrial opportunities.
He explained that transforming waste into productive industrial feedstock would not only reduce environmental pollution but also create new manufacturing industries, generate employment and reduce the importation of valuable industrial materials.
He noted that to address the structural challenges confronting raw material-based industrialisation, the DG highlighted the strategic interventions of the RMRDC, particularly the proposed 30% Value Addition Bill and the Nigeria Integrated Information Statistical System for Raw Materials and Products (NISSRAMP).
He described the 30% Value Addition Bill as an important policy instrument designed to encourage domestic processing of raw materials before export, strengthen local manufacturing capacity and guarantee access to essential raw materials for Nigerian industries, and NISSRAMP as a critical data infrastructure that would improve access to verified information on the availability, location and quality of raw materials.
According to him, the combination of appropriate policy instruments and reliable resource data would help de-risk investments, improve transparency and strengthen confidence in Nigeria’s raw material sector.
He emphasised the importance of collaboration among government, academia and industry in developing bankable projects, sharing investment risks and accelerating the establishment of processing and manufacturing facilities.
Professor Ike-Muonso called on Nigerians in the diaspora and other local and international investors to take advantage of the opportunities available in Nigeria’s raw material sector.
He identified industrial processing parks, mineral beneficiation and refining, agro-industrial platforms, circular-material processing, industrial input manufacturing and enabling infrastructure as viable investment platforms.
He noted that diaspora investors could contribute beyond financial capital by bringing technology, international business networks, governance standards, technical expertise and access to global markets.
He maintained that Nigeria’s industrial transformation requires coordinated investment across the entire value chain, from raw material sourcing and aggregation to processing, manufacturing, certification and export development.
Professor Ike-Muonso stressed that the country’s industrial future would depend not merely on the volume of raw materials extracted but on the capacity to transform them into competitive products that meet domestic and international market requirements.
He maintained that developing local value chains would stimulate industrial growth, create employment opportunities, diversify exports, conserve foreign exchange and deepen Nigeria’s technological capabilities.
Through its strategic interventions, the RMRDC is positioning itself as a critical bridge between resource availability, investment opportunities and industrial competitiveness, with the ultimate objective of transforming Nigeria from a predominantly raw material exporting economy into a strong manufacturing and value-adding nation.
Ike-Muonso has demonstrated this since assumption of office as the Director General/ CEO RMRDC in the area of capacity building, improved working conditions, promotion of merit, and maintaining a conducive environment that rewards excellence, innovation and dedication. This is evident in his institution of RMRDC training school, reward for winners of the RMRDC innovation challenge among others.
His commitment has brought recognition both nationally and internationally: Al-Jazirah double honour awards as Public Servant /Government Agency of the year 2024-2025 and the recent election as the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Representative on the Board of the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organisations (WAITRO) is a attestation to his commitment.
Concluding the lecture, the DG charged staff, researchers, manufacturers and investors to see themselves as nation builders in the new era of raw materials-led industrialization.
-
Featured7 years agoLampard Names New Chelsea Manager
-
Featured7 years agoFG To Extends Lockdown In FCT, Lagos Ogun states For 7days
-
Featured7 years agoChildren Custody: Court Adjourns Mike Ezuruonye, Wife’s Case To April 7
-
Featured7 years agoNYSC Dismisses Report Of DG’s Plan To Islamize Benue Orientation Camp
-
Featured5 years agoTransfer Saga: How Mikel Obi Refused to compensate me After I Linked Him Worth $4m Deal In Kuwait SC – Okafor
-
Featured7 years ago
Board urges FG to establish one-stop rehabilitation centres in 6 geopolitical zones
-
Sports4 years ago
TINUBU LAMBAST DELE MOMODU
-
News2 years agoZulu to Super Eagles B team, President Tinubu is happy with you
