It has been another busy 12 months in the world of data centres and I don’t expect the next 12 months to be any different. We have seen all the major organisations expanding their footprint across the globe, and in some different locations away from the normal hubs. Data usage and demand continues to rise so there is no reason for this global expansion to reduce in the next few years.
Talking to those in my network it is clear that the industry has three major issues to overcome in the coming years: Efficiency, Sustainability and managing power demand.
Efficiency – A recent uptime institute survey found that 2019’s average PUE is 1.67 and that efficiency has flat lined over the last two years. Google has been working on this key challenge and has come up with some new solutions, largely based around machine learning and AI. They have now developed an AI system that directly cools data centres under human supervision. Advances like this will have a dramatic effect on efficiency and it is no doubt that AI will be a game changer.
For those organisations constructing new data centres it is now essential that the design and architecture of the facility is created in a way that can ensure efficiency advances can be installed and managed with very little disruption.
Sustainability – The industry has made great strides in recent times to utilise sustainable energy where it is available. Recently we have seen Facebook announce they will supply the Newton County data centre with 100% renewable energy (solar), and AWS announce investment in renewable energy projects in the US and Spain. Advances in technology will only lead to more investment in sustainable solutions.
Power demand – Data centres are thought to be responsible for 3% of global energy, and a large number of these are based in hubs which causes major demands on the localised power. Amsterdam made a big move earlier this year where it announced that data centre construction was under review while they work towards the development of a sustainable plan. Only this past weekend Equinix have stated that the major problem facing Dublin is ‘access to power’. Those regions that can manage this power demand issue are likely to see the largest investment in new facilities.
The location of the new build facilities is going to be key and I expect a significant increase in developments in the regions that are able to offer the most sustainable and efficient methods of providing energy, especially from the major cloud providers.
With all the above and the implementation of 5G and the rise in Edge demand it is in no doubt that 2020 is going to be another exciting and busy year in the data centre sector. Construction companies, maintenance providers, and the end-users will all have to adapt to ensure they remain ahead of the completion… Interesting times ahead!
Let’s see what 2020 brings!
It has been another busy 12 months in the world of data centres and I don’t expect the next 12 months to be any different. We have seen all the major organisations expanding their footprint across the globe, and in some different locations away from the normal hubs. Data usage and demand continues to rise so there is no reason for this global expansion to reduce in the next few years.
Talking to those in my network it is clear that the industry has three major issues to overcome in the coming years: Efficiency, Sustainability and managing power demand.
Efficiency – A recent uptime institute survey found that 2019’s average PUE is 1.67 and that efficiency has flat lined over the last two years. Google has been working on this key challenge and has come up with some new solutions, largely based around machine learning and AI. They have now developed an AI system that directly cools data centres under human supervision. Advances like this will have a dramatic effect on efficiency and it is no doubt that AI will be a game changer.
For those organisations constructing new data centres it is now essential that the design and architecture of the facility is created in a way that can ensure efficiency advances can be installed and managed with very little disruption.
Sustainability – The industry has made great strides in recent times to utilise sustainable energy where it is available. Recently we have seen Facebook announce they will supply the Newton County data centre with 100% renewable energy (solar), and AWS announce investment in renewable energy projects in the US and Spain. Advances in technology will only lead to more investment in sustainable solutions.
Power demand – Data centres are thought to be responsible for 3% of global energy, and a large number of these are based in hubs which causes major demands on the localised power. Amsterdam made a big move earlier this year where it announced that data centre construction was under review while they work towards the development of a sustainable plan. Only this past weekend Equinix have stated that the major problem facing Dublin is ‘access to power’. Those regions that can manage this power demand issue are likely to see the largest investment in new facilities.
The location of the new build facilities is going to be key and I expect a significant increase in developments in the regions that are able to offer the most sustainable and efficient methods of providing energy, especially from the major cloud providers.
With all the above and the implementation of 5G and the rise in Edge demand it is in no doubt that 2020 is going to be another exciting and busy year in the data centre sector. Construction companies, maintenance providers, and the end-users will all have to adapt to ensure they remain ahead of the completion… Interesting times ahead!
Let’s see what 2020 brings!
