According to Statista, the United States has the most data centers globally with 2,670, the United Kingdom is second with 452, and Germany comes in third with 443. The global data center market size has grown exponentially with the pandemic due to increased access to internet-related services and work-from-home requirements adopted by many countries, states, and companies. Broadband data usage increased 47% during the 2020 quarantine. Video conferencing for work, keeping in touch with family and friends, and streaming entertainment services like Netflix caused some of the significant increases.
What does the future hold for enterprises and data centers? Netrality’s VP of Interconnection and Network Solutions, Jonathan Martone shares his Top 7 Data Center Technology Trends and Predictions for 2022.
Distributed Enterprises. Companies have adopted a hybrid work-from-home model combining time in the office and remote work. This change has decentralized the workforce and increased the need for interconnectivity, processing in the cloud, and low latency applications deployed in edge data centers to ensure data is processed quickly, efficiently, and securely.
Artificial Intelligence (AI). By 2025, half of cloud data centers will deploy advanced robots with AI and machine learning (ML) capabilities, which will result in a 30% increase in operating efficiency. Many data centers will deploy AI and ML capabilities to sustain diverse workloads hitting the cloud, including the edge and 5G.
5G Connectivity. 5G is revolutionizing our daily lives with faster speeds, larger capacity, and ultra-low latency. It is the key for future innovations with technological advancements such as autonomous vehicles, virtual and augmented reality, gaming, telemedicine, and the Internet of things (IoT). Edge data centers are designed to ensure 5G traffic resides in central business districts. This enables data to be generated, collected, and analyzed locally, providing users with low latency and high performance.
Edge Computing. With the emergence of 5G connectivity, IoT devices and real-time analysis with ultra-low latency are prerequisites. Edge computing will play a pivotal role in the development of data centers in the future. As the number of people adopting smart solutions increases, the demand for edge computing devices will increase.
Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Services. The cloud is no longer a new technology. Companies are looking to adopt a hybrid, multi-cloud strategy for mission-critical workloads that are secure and drive innovation. Virtually every edge data center compute deployment has a combination of local data center service, public cloud, and a myriad of WAN or SDN enabled fabric. This provides flexibility, control, cost savings, and enhanced performance.
Sustainability. Data centers consume an excessive amount of water and energy to run 24x7x365. Water is used directly for cooling and indirectly for electricity generation. Electricity generated at power plants relies on water to cool their servers. Many data centers are investing in renewable resources like solar, wind, hydro, geothermal energy to decrease their carbon footprint.
Blockchain. Blockchain is the principle behind bitcoin and cryptocurrency. A blockchain is a digital ledger or digital record keeper containing secured transactional information. Organizations are turning to blockchains to process transactions quickly, with increased security. The relationship between data centers and blockchains impacts industries across the board, including finance, health, government, logistics, and transportation. Companies are looking to partner with data centers due to increased data generated by a surge of end-users.
Takeaway
Many of these trends and predictions are already in motion and play a fundamental role in the infrastructure of data centers. Organizations need to partner with interconnected edge data centers located near end-users with the processing capabilities necessary to stay competitive in the market and strategically aligned with new innovative advancements.
Netrality is the epicenter of the edge markets we serve. Our data centers are highly interconnected with a multitude of core backbone devices easily accessible via pre-provisioned cross-connects, guaranteeing 99.999% uptime with mission-critical computing applications.
To learn more about how Netrality will empower your organization, contact us today!