Digital Realty's Singapore command hub monitors 300 global data centres to keep AI online
Digital Realty runs a 24/7 command centre in Singapore that watches over more than 300 data centres worldwide, spotting issues before they cause outages.
Inside Digital Realty's Singapore command centre, analysts like Daniel Naing oversee digital dashboards that flag thousands of potential problems weekly, from overheating servers to power interruptions. The hub, part of a trio that also covers Europe and the United States, supervises more than 300 data centres across six continents, serving around 6,000 businesses. Teams operate on a 12-hour shift, handing off to colleagues in Europe, and must acknowledge alerts within minutes, coordinating with on-site engineers and a global expert network.
While AI helps detect anomalies, senior staff such as Terence Tang stress that human judgment remains essential to filter false positives. Managing director Serene Nah highlights the sector’s critical role for modern life and its push toward solar power and closed-loop cooling to address public concerns about carbon and water use.
Why it matters
Continuous monitoring of data centres is vital to prevent AI and digital services from failing, affecting economies and daily life.
How this story developed
- Jul 9 Texas AI Data Centers Spark Pollution Debate as Rural Residents Face New Hazards
- Aug 26 Nvidia reported a record $96.2 billion in revenue for the latest quarter, driven largely by its data-center segment, and forecasts $108 billion in the coming months.
- Aug 27 Nvidia added a new tranche of GPU chips to its agreement with AWS for future data‑center deployments.
- Aug 27 Nvidia set a provisional 70% revenue growth target for fiscal 2028.
- Aug 28 New York and Texas each announced a pause on new hyperscale data centres.
- Aug 30 Judge Lesa Gelb ruled that Salem Township’s planning commission violated Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act by excluding residents from a data‑center ordinance meeting.
- Aug 30 Austin’s city council is set to vote on a resolution that would create a specific land‑use category and review process for large AI data centers.
- Aug 31 President Trump posted on Truth Social that communities rejecting AI data‑center projects will become “backwards and poor.”
- Sep 1 Nvidia announced quarterly revenue of $96.2 billion, surpassing analyst forecasts.
- Sep 2 At a virtual G‑20 technology ministers’ session, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk called for accelerated AI data‑center construction and additional power capacity.
- Sep 2 Trump labeled communities that reject data‑center projects “backwards and poor” and warned that China would welcome such resistance.
- Sep 12 The House is set to debate the Ratepayer Protection Act, a measure aimed at easing power costs for data centers and appealing to voters concerned about AI-driven utility bills. In the Senate, a crypto market-structure proposal is expected to face a tough vote amid ethics disputes involving Donald Trump, while the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act looks likely to advance with strong backing from donors. Lawmakers are racing to pass these initiatives before a three-week Senate session ends and the midterm elections arrive.
- Sep 13 Jon Husted introduced legislation to shield consumers from rising electricity bills linked to data‑center demand.
- Sep 17 A bipartisan House bill to shift data‑center infrastructure and energy costs to tech firms has been introduced.
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