As AI embeds deeper across the enterprise, innovative technologies touted for their ability to redefine work patterns and boost productivity are under the spotlight. Yet to fully capitalise on the promises, IT organisations can’t afford to take their eye off the basics, including building a future-ready, durable PC architecture primed for resiliency and business continuity.
The advent of AI, and specifically agentic AI, is accelerating the pace of business as workflows and decisions are executed at machine speed, well beyond the scale of what’s possible with a human-only workforce. As work is completed faster, companies become more vulnerable to downtime or disruption triggered by cyberattacks, data center failures, and infrastructure breakdowns, especially involving GPU-powered PC fleets running AI workloads at the edge.
A report produced by Splunk in partnership with Oxford Economics estimates that downtime costs Global 2000 companies $400 billion annually. When you factor in the broader impacts, costs soar even higher. Companies lose $49 million on average to downtime and disruptions, the report estimates. The biggest culprits for downtime upheaval? Cybersecurity events (56%) and apps and infrastructure issues (44%), the survey found.
“Companies are not in the position to trade off reliability and durability when choosing PCs,” says Inaki Zurbano, personal system and quality management for HP. “Given that devices need to operate for four or five years in the field, reliability and durability features are the price of doing business today.”
Tough and ready PCs
Reliability and durability features are a foundational element of HP’s AMD advanced AI PC and laptop portfolio, along with all the other advanced bells and whistles. For example, HP’s EliteBook X and 8 series AI laptops, constructed with an aluminum chassis, are outfitted with high-end AI capabilities such as AMD Ryzen™ high-performance CPUs, AMD Radeon™ GPUs, and NPUs from 13 to 48 TOPS for AI acceleration. The systems have also been engineered for durability and are subject to 11 U.S. military-grade standard tests to ensure ruggedised, on-the-go use. As part of U.S. military standards certification, the fleet undergoes shock and vibration resistance testing and is put through its paces to ensure it can withstand dust, sand, and high humidity without degrading performance.
Battery life is another area HP targets to increase the durability and resiliency of its AI laptop and workstation lines. Using AI capabilities and making ample use of HP Workforce Experience Platform (WXP) telemetry, HP AI PCs with AMD Ryzen™ AI processors optimise power consumption based on usage patterns so users can squeeze the most out of battery life without sacrificing performance. The systems offload AI tasks from power-hungry CPUs and GPUs to NPUs to gain efficiencies, extending battery life by 20% to 30% during AI workflows. Reduced heat generation during intensive tasks also helps preserve battery life.
Beyond fueling algorithms used to optimise PC components like batteries, motherboards, and keyboards for efficient and reliable performance, WXP also facilitates proactive device health management. With full visibility into the health of AI PCs, printers, and collaboration tools, WXP helps IT teams leverage AI to predict and resolve issues well before they happen, minimising disruption and optimising business resiliency.
“It’s a big disruption for IT managers when a unit and customer are down at the same time,” Zurbano says. “Being able to ID early signs of degradation and reducing failures to zero is a big win.”
Click here to find out how HP can help embed reliability and durability into your business.