In a special and exclusive interview from the heart of Intersec 2026 in Dubai, Ali, host of the Buzzinga AI podcast, meets with Awais Mohammed, regional sales manager at Western Digital, to discuss the vital role storage solutions play in the era of artificial intelligence, and why the hard disk drive (HDD) is considered the foundational pillar of any data infrastructure.
Article contents:
- Interview behind the scenes and introduction
- The reality equation: no hard disk, no artificial intelligence
- Data center engineering and future planning
- Smart cities and surveillance in the UAE
- Why do emerging data projects stumble?
- Data is the new oil
- The true value of smart cameras
- Partners and integrated solutions
- Solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises
- Outlook for 2026
- Frequently asked questions
The reality equation: no hard disk, no artificial intelligence
In a fundamental question about the realistic advice the company offers organizations wishing to adopt artificial intelligence, Awais explained that companies must realize storage cannot be an afterthought or a secondary consideration when building an artificial intelligence infrastructure. Workloads and storage requirements must be accurately evaluated before engineering the infrastructure.
Awais pointed out a golden rule he champions as a slogan at the exhibition: “No hard disk, no artificial intelligence”. The reason is that 80% of data today—and through 2030 according to reports from reliable third parties like IDC—will remain stored on hard disk drives (HDDs). If a company needs to generate, store, and retrieve petabytes of data for inference operations, calculating the number of hard drives and storage solutions becomes imperative for the model’s success.
Data center engineering and future planning
Awais emphasized that the engineering meant here is not the building’s structure, but the data center engineering itself. Compute capabilities and processing units are often highlighted, but storage must be viewed as the foundation for any artificial intelligence algorithm. Artificial intelligence is data-hungry, and data cannot be obtained and models trained on it without reliable storage repositories.
He stressed that chief information officers (CIOs) and infrastructure planners must not view storage as a secondary matter, but as a critical element in planning, where provisioning must be determined based on the volume of data to be stored, the retention period, and the data used in inference operations.
Smart cities and surveillance in the UAE
The two parties discussed the readiness of companies in the UAE, with Awais noting that data is generated daily, and readiness depends on the use case. He gave the example of the surveillance sector in smart cities that the UAE and regional countries seek to build. Data resulting from surveillance is used to analyze traffic, plan roads for the future, and manage traffic lights and speeds. It depends on who is building the infrastructure and how they use the data in analysis and inference operations, rather than just archival storage.
Why do emerging data projects stumble?
Answering a question about why some startups fail to transition from traditional projects to artificial intelligence projects, Awais attributed this to the absence of “right provisioning” from the start. When starting an artificial intelligence project, all aspects must be considered: computing, cooling, power, and the amount of data to be stored and analyzed.
Companies must have a planning horizon extending five years, because everything we do today generates data, and failing to include data growth in the initial planning plan inevitably leads to failure or unexpected exorbitant costs.
Data is the new oil
Awais used an eloquent analogy reflecting the importance of the industry, saying: “Data is the new oil, and we own the storage solutions that represent the barrels to store this oil”. Ali agreed with this analogy, pointing to recent agreements aimed at securing data and chip supply chains, confirming that data and artificial intelligence are the new wealth driving the global economy.
The true value of smart cameras
The conversation touched on the value behind using artificial intelligence cameras in surveillance. Awais explained that they do not just record, but monitor habits and movements of individuals and vehicles for traffic management and security enhancement purposes. Security and safety are fundamental demands today, and smart surveillance contributes to making life safer and more predictable, starting from roads all the way to facial scanning at airports, where every entry and exit movement generates data that is transmitted and analyzed instantly.
Partners and integrated solutions
Awais clarified that Western Digital focuses on providing storage, but works with “alliance partners” like Digifort and QNAP to provide advice and solutions that go beyond mere storage. He also noted that the company offers storage platforms such as “just a bunch of disks” (JBODs) and flash-backed JBOFs, which have been verified for efficiency in real artificial intelligence use cases in cooperation with software partners like Peak:AIO. The company is also celebrating 10 years since the launch of “Purple” drives dedicated to surveillance.
Solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises
For small and medium-sized enterprises wishing to grow their data without drowning in costs, Awais confirmed the existence of a diverse product basket, ranging from high-capacity hard drives and JBOD solutions to home storage solutions and external drives. The company provides solutions to suit all needs regardless of business size, allowing companies to grow gradually.
Outlook for 2026
At the end of the meeting, Awais provided an outlook for 2026 and beyond, noting that companies have finally realized that storage is a very important part of artificial intelligence architecture. He predicted the coming years will be par excellence “the years of data”, with significant growth in demand. He concluded with his core phrase summarizing the vision: “No hard disk, no artificial intelligence”.
Frequently asked questions
Question: What is the relationship between hard disk drives (HDDs) and artificial intelligence?
Answer: Hard disk drives are considered the backbone for storing massive data that artificial intelligence relies on. According to estimates, 80% of data will remain stored on HDD drives until 2030, and without effective data storage, models cannot be trained or inference operations conducted.
Question: Why do some emerging artificial intelligence projects fail?
Answer: One of the main reasons is the absence of pre-planning and provisioning for data infrastructure. Failing to calculate the huge amounts of data that will be generated and stored over the next 5 years leads to expansion and performance problems later.
Question: Does Western Digital offer software solutions for data processing?
Answer: Western Digital focuses primarily on storage solutions (hardware), but it cooperates with alliance partners and software companies to provide integrated solutions and consultations to customers that go beyond physical storage.
Question: How do storage solutions contribute to smart cities?
Answer: In smart cities, surveillance cameras and sensors generate massive data to analyze traffic and enhance security. Reliable storage solutions are essential to save this data and analyze it to predict future patterns and improve quality of life.
