Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1520224
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 MAY 2024 NEWS JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt MATTHEW VELLA mvella@mediatoday.com.mt The ribbon has been cut on a €16 million project which converted the site of a derelict concrete plant in Ta Qali into a public park. The park replacing the concrete plant features spaces intended for large-scale events and a green area open for families, as well as an area for concerts which will give another performance space for Maltese artists and talent. New green space at Ta' Qali inaugurated THE Malta Information Tech- nology Agency (MITA) is turn- ing to Artificial Intelligence in a bid to automate its prob- lem-solving capabilities for net- work disruptions, as well as pre- dict surges in traffic bandwidth traffic. MITA provides information technology services to the Mal- tese government and assists the State in technological innova- tions. The agency now is tapping the private market to find out which AI-powered tools can be inte- grated into its network manage- ment system, the critical 24x7 monitoring service for the gov- ernment's IT systems. MITA's infrastructure com- prises around 2,500 servers, 4,500 network devices, 600 web- sites and handles approximately 19 terabytes of network traffic daily. Now it wants AI tools that can integrate with the various tools that are used to monitor the performance and workloads of its servers and cloud infrastruc- tures. Specific case scenarios include the generation of alerts when there are abnormal spikes in network traffic during off-peak hours. While monitoring tools can show the sudden increase through a spike, they have no pre-configured thresholds to be able to detect the issue or gener- ate alerts. In other cases, the NOC finds an intermittent outage of a net- work occurring at 2am every night, four times a week. But because these outages last just three minutes, and despite the significant impact for users working in 24x7 offices, there is not enough time for NOC to analyse the incident, which may not be given due importance because the pattern cannot be manually identified. The NOC also receives a se- ries of alerts for critical system failures and service disruptions across multiple servers, but the agency lacks a centralised man- agement system to prioritise alerts or streamline response processes. Without effective event-based alert management, the NOC team faces challeng- es in identifying and address- ing critical incidents in a timely manner, leading to prolonged service disruptions and potential business impact. The enhancements will allow MITA to have an analysis of all the observability data, with au- tomated predictions, advanced anomaly detection and trend analysis, all in a bid to reduce the likelihood of incident occur- rence and resolution times. Government IT agency wants AI to predict network disruptions Qui-Si-Sana gym will mean biodiversity loss, says ERA MITA's infrastructure comprises around 2,500 servers, 4,500 network devices, 600 websites and handles approximately 19 terabytes of network traffic daily MALTA'S environmental watch- dog is objecting to the creation of an outdoor gym in a natural zone right beneath Sliema's George Bonello Dupuis gardens. The Environment and Re- sources Authority said the local council's proposal for the gym, overlooking the Qui-Si-Sa- na coastline in a 475sq.m area currently characterised by wild plants, would result in the loss of the natural karstic landscape and fauna. The council wants to rebuild the belvedere area atop the Bonello Dupuis park in Qui-Si- Sana to install benches and erect a muyral by the late, modern art pioneer Frank Portelli. The Malta Tourism Authority welcomed the plans, calling it an improvement to the area but the ERA warned that it will result in the loss of the local fauna. It said that the proposed gym should in- stead be located within the exist- ing garden. Earlier his month the council presented new plans which still retain the proposed gym together with a number of green patch- es enclosed in concrete and in planters. The gym equipment will be erected on rubber flooring. Environment watchdog says Sliema council plans for an outdoor gym will result in loss of natural karstic landscape beneath George Bonello Dupuis gardens