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Techday NZ
22-05-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Exclusive: Informatica launches AI agents to transform data management
Informatica has launched a bold new chapter in enterprise data management, introducing autonomous AI Agent Engineering that promises to redefine how businesses build, connect and manage intelligent AI workflows. Announced during this year's Informatica World event, the centrepiece of the launch is CLAIRE Agents – a suite of autonomous digital assistants designed to automate and optimise the full spectrum of data management tasks goals. Accompanying this is AI Agent Engineering, a new service within Informatica's Intelligent Data Management Cloud platform, that empowers organisations to build, connect and manage intelligent multi-agent AI systems and compose business applications quickly, securely and at scale. CLAIRE Agents represent what Informatica describes as "the next evolution in autonomous data management." Unlike traditional automation tools that perform static, rule-based tasks, these agents can reason and make decisions dynamically, based on enterprise-wide data. Gaurav Pathak, Vice President of Product Management, AI and Metadata used the metaphor of autonomous driving to explain the shift, during a recent interview with TechDay. "Traditional automation is like cruise control – it keeps things going at a steady pace. Agents, on the other hand, are like a self-driving car," he said. "They plan, adapt to changing conditions and navigate complex environments based on goals, not just tasks." CLAIRE Agents include specialised assistants such as the Data Quality Agent, Data Lineage Agent and ELT Agent, which are capable of monitoring, remediating and optimising data across complex hybrid ecosystems. These features are powered by Informatica's Intelligent Data Management Cloud's metadata system of intelligence, a context-rich engine that combines human-curated and AI-generated metadata to ground the agents in the specific needs of each organisation. "Without metadata, agents are flying blind," Pathak explained. "It's the map of the world for our AI – it grounds them in the unique semantics and structures of an organisation's data landscape." The company also unveiled AI Agent Engineering, a platform designed to let customers build and connect their own agents across cloud and on-premises environments. This service aims to address growing enterprise demand to create domain-specific AI tools that can work collaboratively and access trusted data across systems. Sumeet Kumar Agrawal, VP of Product Management, who leads the new service, added that many customers are now looking to evolve from static business processes to agentic solutions that adapt and scale. "We're seeing a proliferation of agents – every app vendor has their own agents, for example, Salesforce has its own, SAP has its own, etc. – but what's missing is the connective tissue," he explained. "AI Agent Engineering provides the framework to build, connect and manage these agents holistically, so they can solve real end-to-end business problems." Agrawal added that data is the backbone of this vision. "The reasoning of any agent is only as good as the data it has access to. We provide a clean, trusted data foundation so agents can act with confidence," he said. Both executives stressed the importance of no-code interfaces in democratising AI adoption across technical and non-technical teams. "Writing code is just 20% of the job – maintaining it, securing it and ensuring performance is the real challenge," said Pathak. "No-code makes AI explainable and manageable for everyone." CLAIRE Copilot, which enables users to generate complex data pipelines using natural language, is now generally available. First launched in preview earlier this year, it acts as a pair programmer for data engineers and complements the agentic approach by giving users interactive control over tasks while agents handle broader goals autonomously. Informatica's latest strategy also includes broad ecosystem integration, with support for leading cloud and AI platforms including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Snowflake and Databricks. This flexibility, the company says, ensures enterprises can use their preferred AI models while maintaining control over data security and compliance. Security remains a key concern for enterprises experimenting with generative AI. Informatica says its metadata system enforces access controls and data governance rules at every step. "Agents only access data a user is permitted to see, and we've put strict guardrails in place – for example, they can't issue delete commands," said Pathak. Agrawal added: "Every agent deployment comes with built-in security policies – rate limiting, IP restrictions, authentication protocols – everything an enterprise needs to operate safely." The announcement has already drawn attention from key Informatica clients. Desigan Reddi, VP IT and Operations at Wescom Financial, described the agent engineering service as "a game-changer". "It enables us to build and orchestrate intelligent workflows securely and at scale – without the need for complex coding," he said. "This no-code, metadata-aware approach aligns perfectly with our vision of making advanced AI accessible and actionable." As to what the future holds, Informatica's vision is for CLAIRE to become the "front end of data" across the enterprise. "We want users to simply tell CLAIRE what they want – a report, a pipeline, a governance task – and have the agents take care of the rest," said Pathak. Asked whether there's such a thing as too many AI agents, Pathak said, "It's not the number that matters – it's whether they're connected and working together to solve the problem."
Techday NZ
16-05-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Exclusive: Appian's Marc Wilson on why AI needs process to deliver business value
Artificial intelligence doesn't work in a vacuum. That's the key message from Marc Wilson, founder and Chief Executive Ambassador at Appian. He believes businesses are still struggling to generate value from AI because "they're not integrating it properly into their core operations." Speaking with TechDay during a recent interview, Wilson offered a blunt assessment of the current AI landscape in enterprise. "One of the biggest misconceptions that most businesses and most organisations have about AI is that it's indistinguishable from magic - that it just shows up and solves everybody's problems," he said. According to Wilson, too many companies treat AI as an end goal rather than a tool to improve specific outcomes. "I've heard time and time again, senior leaders in organisations basically coming to us and saying, 'I have to deploy AI,' as if that's an end state. The truth is, if you don't look at AI through the lens of value, it's indistinguishable from a science experiment." Appian's core philosophy is clear: AI works best in process. Wilson emphasised that for AI to drive change, it must be "operationalised" - embedded directly into the workflows that govern how an organisation functions. "For an AI capability to affect change in a positive way, it needs to plug into one of those operational flows," he said. "A good example here in Australia is our work with Netwealth," Wilson said. "They used Appian to orchestrate how client service requests were handled, embedding AI to classify and route customer emails." "They achieved 98% accuracy - and got the project running within minutes." Wilson highlighted Hitachi's efforts to unify customer and sales data from across its hundreds of operating companies, and Queensland's National Injury Insurance Scheme, which used Appian's generative AI to extract data from documents with 100% accuracy. Appian also recently launched its new Agent Studio platform at the event, introducing what Wilson described as "agentic AI". Unlike standalone tools that execute isolated tasks, Appian's approach allows AI agents to function as structured contributors within business processes. "With our agentic studio, we're able to tie agentic AI into larger, meatier processes - tasking agents the same way you'd task people or systems," Wilson said. "We're combining multiple agents into an overall journey." That structured approach, Wilson argued, is essential to scale AI safely and effectively. Without a clear framework, he warned, AI agents risk becoming uncontrolled or ineffective. "More organisations are going to get very frustrated very quickly, because they're just going to have this agent, they expect it to do something, and they'll prod it and hope," he said. "If it's not tied into a structure, there's a lot that can go wrong." Governance, he added, must be built in from the start. "Governance and structure are going to become increasingly synonymous," he said. "This is what processes you're allowed to call, what data you're allowed to see, and the limits of your actions. I've created a circle that within it, the AI can do lots of things, but I've constrained the inputs and outputs." Another critical piece is data. AI's performance depends on access to high-quality, integrated information - but that's a challenge when data is spread across disconnected systems. "One of the problems that most organisations have today is that a lot of their data is siloed," Wilson said. "Those silos stop really good AI development and learning." Appian's solution is its patented data fabric, which allows data to be accessed and written across disparate systems without physically moving it. "It creates a virtualised database, allowing you to consolidate customer data and write back to systems," Wilson said. "The AI capabilities come along with that." Wilson is clear about the risks of poorly integrated AI. There's the obvious threat of rogue agents making unauthorised decisions, but there's also the quieter failure mode - when organisations fail to realise any return at all. "If you can't integrate it effectively, if you can't bring it to your processes that matter, it's going to be something that people look at in a year or two and say, 'Yeah, that was a lot of hype, and it really didn't deliver.'" For companies still waiting to see ROI, Wilson had a simple diagnosis: "That's probably an organisation that's trying to stand up AI by itself, looking at it, waiting for it to produce something without having it truly integrated." His advice? Start small, and start practical. "Identify a core business process and think about how AI can remove friction, add speed, or cut costs. We've seen AI take something that took 50 days down to five hours." And if it feels a little mundane? That might be a good sign. "Some of the most impactful AI today is going to be boring - and that might be exactly what you want to get started on," Wilson said. "Boring becomes interesting when it drives real value."
Techday NZ
11-05-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Exclusive: How sustainability challenges are putting data centres under pressure
Data centres are expanding at breakneck speed across the globe, driven by the explosive rise of artificial intelligence (AI). But experts are warning that unless sustainability and resilience are prioritised now, the long-term viability of these facilities, and the services they power could be at serious risk. "AI is the single most disruptive technology that has the ability to have a positive impact on society in terms of bringing better services to everybody in a more sustainable way," explained David Mudd, Global Head of Digital Trust Assurance at BSI. Mudd, who has worked across the electronics, telecoms, and digital trust sectors, has been with BSI for nearly eight years. His work focuses on ensuring digital infrastructure, including data centres, is robust, secure, and sustainable. But while AI holds promise for society, it brings a sharp increase in demand for data storage and processing. "Every time you take a photo or send a message, that's more data being stored," he told TechDay during a recent interview. "Generative AI in particular sucks up vast quantities of data and requires huge processing power—often 1,000 times more than a standard internet search," he explained. This surge is triggering an unprecedented boom in data centre construction, from massive hyperscale facilities to smaller, localised edge centres. "We're seeing data centres like mini cities, consuming the power of a small town," Mudd said. "But we're also seeing more of them in more places, driven by demand and by national data sovereignty concerns." That, he added, is where the sustainability challenges become urgent. "Before we even start on efficiency, we have to ask - is there power even available to build these facilities? In some regions, there's already a three-to-five-year waiting list for power connections." Beyond electricity, water is another growing concern. "We've seen headlines calling AI 'thirsty', and it's not far off. Data centres use vast amounts of water for cooling - either directly or indirectly through the power stations that feed them," Mudd said. Carbon emissions from energy use and construction materials such as concrete are also part of the equation. The risk, he warned, is that in the rush to meet AI demand, corners could be cut. "There's a real pressure to get data centres up fast. But what gets built today will be around for 30 or 40 years. If shortcuts are taken, we're risking their long-term availability and effectiveness." That's especially important given how critical data centres have become to modern life. "They're now part of our critical infrastructure. Banking, healthcare, utilities - all rely on them," he explained. "In the UK and Europe, data centres have been formally designated as such." Climate change poses additional risks. "We've already seen sustained high temperatures in London leading to increased outages," said Mudd. "It's not just hotter places like Dubai where we need to worry. Even relatively temperate areas are seeing extreme events like floods and heatwaves that strain existing infrastructure." Good location choices and careful design are essential. "You might need to build near a high-tech hub, but is there power? How will the local community respond? What are the climate risks - floods, heat, lightning?" he said. International standards play a key role in getting this right. "Standards like the European EN 50600 series and its ISO equivalent, ISO/IEC 22237, provide globally agreed best practice across the entire data centre lifecycle - from design and construction to maintenance and eventual end-of-life," Mudd said. "This isn't just one viewpoint - it's 100 countries agreeing on what good looks like." While these standards don't solve everything, they help align stakeholders and enable trust across a global industry. "No one organisation has all the best answers," he added. "Having a common language helps everyone work together more effectively." Reducing water and energy consumption, particularly for AI workloads, requires both conventional and advanced solutions. "From evaporative cooling towers and cold aisle containment to on-chip liquid cooling, there are options at every level," Mudd explained. "Even just having solar panels and wind turbines on site is something every organisation should consider." Still, Mudd cautioned against focusing solely on the data centres themselves. "They're only one part of the picture. We also need to rethink software design, telecom infrastructure and societal expectations." "There's been this idea that data creation, storage and processing are free - just like we used to think of energy. That has to change." According to Mudd, talent shortages are "another hurdle." "The data centre industry is facing the same workforce crunch as the broader ICT sector," he said. "New markets especially are struggling to build that critical mass of expertise. That's why it's vital to engage with universities and young engineers now." His message to those considering a career in data centres is simple: "Without data centres, there would be no AI. If you're helping to design and operate them, you're enabling a smarter, more inclusive, and sustainable society." So what should developers be doing right now? "Look at industry best practice and understand the long-term risks of a short-term mindset," Mudd said. "We've got a one-off chance to get this right for the next 30 years. The opportunity is now."
Techday NZ
30-04-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Exclusive: How Greenbox tackles tech waste with data security focus
Greenbox's Wayne Angus has spent decades in the tech sector, however his heart has always leaned green. "I've been in the technology game for upwards of 25 years," he explained to TechDay during a recent interview. "I've worked with some of the big vendors like HP and Dell and Lenovo... but underneath my skin, I'm a bit of a greeny, perhaps a bit of a hippie." Now Country Manager for Greenbox in New Zealand, Angus oversees the company's local operations for IT asset disposal - a role that balances the demands of data security with the urgency of environmental sustainability. Greenbox operates eight branches across Australasia, with a mission to prevent e-waste from mounting in landfills. "We employ about 250 people across the eastern seaboard in Australia, and we've got four branches in New Zealand," he said. "Our role in life is to make sure those mountains of e-waste don't continue to grow." At the centre of Greenbox's work is a three-part process known as the three Rs: reuse, refurbish and recycle. But the starting point, Angus emphasised, is data. "I've heard some horror stories of information ending up on blogs on the other side of the world," he said. "The first part of our operation is making sure we cleanse the data from all of those devices." Once that's done, the goal is to extend the lifespan of as many devices as possible. "If you imagine a high-end corporate laptop after three years or so of use, it's still got life," Angus said. "Students, school kids, even some businesspeople will continue to use those for many more years." For those machines that can't be reused as-is, Greenbox steps in as an OEM vendor-certified refurbisher. "We have the ability to take damaged laptops and fix them up and make them like new again," he explained. "If it needs some specialist care, we've got certified people who know how to do that." Devices that are beyond saving are then ethically recycled - down to the last keyboard or mouse. "We're an R2v3 certified carbon neutral company," Angus said. "All of our eight branches are certified, and I think we're the only one in Australasia." Greenbox doesn't draw the line at laptops. Even ancillary tech items like stands, cables and mice are stripped down and sent to appropriate recyclers. "I've heard of plastic off keyboards ending up as part of bitumen for a road," he said. This work is becoming even more urgent with looming changes in the tech landscape. Microsoft's planned end of support for Windows 10 later this year is a major concern. "Support for Windows 10 is going to discontinue... that has a massive impact for businesses," Angus said. "Corporates really do need to get onto the wagon and make sure they have a plan to migrate to Windows 11." By some estimates, as many as 240 million devices could be affected. On a broader scale, Angus pointed to the staggering volume of e-waste being generated: "In Australia and New Zealand, around 600,000 tonnes of e-waste goes into landfill every year. Still." The environmental cost of making new devices is just as sobering. "A laptop takes something like 450 kilos of carbon to produce," he said. "By reusing, you're saving all that going into the atmosphere." Angus encourages consumers to use drop-off points or mailing services offered by retailers and recycling services like Greenbox. "Please don't throw it away. Don't store it either," he said. "Especially with lithium-ion batteries that might catch fire." Central to the Greenbox philosophy is the circular economy - keeping materials in use for as long as possible. Angus explained how even discarded laptops can come full circle. "Motherboards have tiny pieces of gold on them... the Royal Mint is using extracted and recycled gold for some of its gold production now," he said. "That laptop you've discarded might become a ring you put on your finger one day." But alongside environmental responsibility is the equally critical issue of data protection. "There's some very clever, unsavoury people out there," Angus warned. "They can get into your bank account because your password's on a little note on the back of your phone." Even personal photos, emails or login details can be enough to cause havoc through identity theft or scams. "It's why it's so critical to make sure that data is gone - all that personal information is off there - before you dispose of your device." For businesses, the risks of mishandling sensitive information can be far more devastating. "If you had company confidential information... or a database of people's personal details, and that got out into the marketplace - it could destroy a corporate," he said. His message to decision-makers is clear: work with professionals. "Deal with a company that knows exactly what they're doing when it comes to making sure your data is gone," Angus said. Greenbox offers full transparency, from data erasure to material recovery. "We're carbon neutral because of our processes. We don't offset anything," he said. That matters more than ever, with large corporations increasingly expected to report on sustainability and ESG performance. "The term greenwashing has been floating around for a long time, and there's still a lot of that that goes on," he said. "Unless a company is externally certified and audited, you can't know if what they're claiming is true." As the conversation wound down, Angus reflected on the mindset shift he hopes to encourage - not just among corporates, but in households too. "Have you got a bunch of old phones sitting around in your house somewhere that you don't know what to do with?" he asked. "Do a bit of research. It'll make you feel better about what you're actually doing with those old devices."
Techday NZ
30-04-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Exclusive: CommScope's Russell Julius dives into GigaReach XL
CommScope's new GigaReach XL is changing the rules for structured cabling, according to Account Manager, Russell Julius. Speaking with TechDay during a recent interview, he explained that the product was developed in "direct response to client feedback." "For a long time now, our clients have been telling us that the 100 metre limit of structured cabling has created challenges," he said. Julius explained that larger facilities such as data centres, hospitals, airports and warehouses demanded connectivity solutions capable of greater distances. "Everything we do now is bigger, and as a result, we need to run our cables and connect things further away than normal," he said. To overcome these barriers, many organisations had been using workarounds. "We have seen the creation of a lot of workarounds to get past that 100 metres, whether that's through special electronics, protocol changes or media conversion to fibre," Julius said. However, using fibre created another issue - the inability to transmit power alongside data. "With traditional cabling, you get to do Power over Ethernet on a single cable," he explained. GigaReach XL fundamentally shifts this limitation. Julius said, "What we are able to do is push that out to 250 metres. That's a really big difference." He pointed to a recent warehouse project where GigaReach XL proved its value. "The contractor suggested to the client that using GigaReach XL would simplify the installation," he said. Instead of four security cabinets being installed, as had been the case in a similar warehouse project without GigaReach XL, only one cabinet was needed. "This ability to use one cabinet instead of four means better port utilisation in switches," Julius said. He explained that instead of spreading cameras, Wi-Fi access points and access control devices across multiple cabinets and switches, they could all be consolidated into a single point. The benefits extend beyond warehousing. Julius discussed the Client Warehouse Project, where GigaReach XL made a significant difference compared to traditional solutions like fibre or extenders. "We are reducing the number of devices, the power requirement, and environmental controls, and we are improving manageability," he said. Julius added that previously, installations often faced a four-to-one ratio in terms of cabinet reduction when switching to GigaReach XL. "It is a significant advantage, and that's what we have seen when we introduce this - our clients, consultants and installers immediately grasp the value," he said. One of the technical challenges they faced in the warehouse deployment in Melbourne was the height of the ceilings. "The ceilings are really, really high, in excess of 10 metres," Julius said. He noted that cabling had to run metres up, across, and then metres down to accommodate large racking and vehicle movements below. GigaReach XL's design improvements made a crucial difference. "One of the key technical improvements is the size of the conductors is much larger, which means we drop the loop resistance significantly - somewhere around about 40 percent lower than a standard Cat 6A cable," he said. He also highlighted the importance of maximising space in warehouses. "Every square inch of warehouse space costs money, so the higher you can make those shelves, the better the return on investment," he said. As warehouses increasingly adopt automation and robotics, Julius sees greater demand for enhanced connectivity. "We are going to see more connectivity requirements and a lot more wireless requirements," he said. When discussing cost savings, Julius pointed to the elimination of media converters and protocol adapters, but said the most significant savings came from infrastructure. "The hidden, real cost savings are in reducing cabinets or reducing comms rooms," he said. He explained that in buildings like airports or convention centres, it could be the difference between needing to construct a new comms room or not. "There are significant costs involved - air conditioning, UPS power, real estate - and we are reducing all of that," Julius said. Another major advantage was simplifying long-term management. "Because everything is centralised, you have centralised points of management, and the total cost of ownership over time is lower as well," he said. Julius praised Lanec, CommScope's elite business partner, for their role in the warehouse project. "Lanec are a very, very good partner. The quality of their work is high, but more importantly, the quality of their thought processes and design processes," he said. He credited Lanec with suggesting GigaReach XL for the warehouse project. "They were the ones who suggested GigaReach XL, saving time and money for the client," Julius said. Importantly, CommScope's authorised installation by a partner like Lanec means clients receive a 25-year product and application warranty. "We reverse the risk from the client," Julius said. On future-proofing facilities, Julius explained that GigaReach XL ensures organisations are ready for expansion. "All they need to do is run an additional cable from the existing cabinet," he said. Even if new wireless or monitoring devices are added, they are covered. Sustainability is another major benefit. "We are using less hardware, less power, less backup power, and less environmental control," Julius said. He added that the simplicity of running a single cable for power and data meant less packaging, less waste and faster installation. Client feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. "People like the simplicity, they like the speed of installation, and they like the centralised management," Julius said. He said GigaReach XL's flexibility also allowed it to integrate seamlessly with traditional structured cabling for office devices, such as PCs and phones. "This is one of the special products that we have delivered over many decades where the clients, consultants and installers immediately grasp the value," Julius said. When asked what sets CommScope apart from competitors, Julius was clear. "We are an end-to-end supplier. We make everything in the channel that makes it work," he said. That vertical integration, he explained, ensures accountability and builds client trust. "We think about long-term relationships, we think about trust relationships, and we reverse the risk from the client," Julius said. Looking ahead, Julius sees GigaReach XL making its biggest impact in security, Wi-Fi access and IoT devices. "When we provide extended reach and extended bandwidth, the marketplace exploits that to best advantage," he said. CommScope is already preparing for future developments. "One of the things that CommScope has released is a thing called Systemax 2.0," Julius said.
