How will you future Data Centers look like? Specialists say that until the end of the decade, we shall assist a major architecture and physical infrastructure change, as a response to the increased scalability requirements, availability and reduction of operating costs. The final result shall be a new entity, both in shape and functionalities, incorporating mature technologies considered innovative today.
Because “the future is now”, let’s analyze together the tendencies of 2017 on the DataCenter market.
- The container and modular type data center markets shall increase by over 80% in the following four years, reached a value of EUR 20.6 billion (according to TechNavio). The development of modular architectures shall be accelerated by the need to simplify the integration and upgrade processes as a response to the increased scalability requirements of the Data Centers. As a corollary, specialists estimate that the request evolution shall also influence the evolution of technology vendors, which shall no longer limit only to delivery of products and solutions, but shall provide more complex advisory and design services, as well as customized solutions for infrastructure pre-fabricated products.
- As ascending evolution shall also register the Micro Data Centers market, reaching a value of approximately EUR 6 billion in 2020, the annual increase rhythm being estimated to approximately 30%. Specialists estimate that the Micro Data Centers and Mobile Data Centers represent the optimum solution for companies developing large Internet of Things, generating large data volumes which need to be correlated, stored and quickly analyzed. Among the important arguments of Mobile Data Centers is the short time for starting the operation (half of the one necessary for a classic Data Center) and the possibility to reach a PUE value under 1.2.
- The cooling solutions market shall evolve from the value of EUR 5.6 billion, which was last year, to over 9 billion in 2021, being considered the main drive of increase for the mechanical elements segment of Data Centers. Analysts estimate that the pressure put by the priority of improving the energetic efficiency, shall force the Data Centers to give up the traditional approach, developed on the formula “maximum cooling”, for more developed ones, already on the market, focused on the use of temperature controllers and electro-mechanical cooling equipment with variable frequency/speed. The market evolution indicates the extended adoption of adiabatic and evaporating cooling solutions, “waterless” cooling systems and CRAC modern units using “precision cooling” type technologies.
- The DCIM solution use shall also be accelerated, the market registering an increase rhythm of over 21% until 2024, when estimated to reach the value of EUR 2.6 billion. According to Gartner (“2016 Magic Quadrant for Data Center Infrastructure Management Tools”), any average Data Center operator must analyze the opportunity to implement a DCIM solution even if it desires to support operating cost optimization projects or estimates important infrastructure changes. DCIM implementation is encouraged by an increase of the Data Center Complexity level, but also by the imperatives of providing a high resilience level, availability and communication, remote alert and communication. During the last years, the DCIM solutions started to be intensively used by collocation service providers, as a control instrument of costs they have with the clients, but also as a capable solution to provide remote visibility to employers on hosted equipment.
- Physical security solutions have a high demand, mainly fueled by the acceleration of the migration phenomena towards the collocation centers, but also by adopting Mobile Data Centers. The division of the physical infrastructure with other employers increases the risk degree of a security breach, reason for which several collocation service providers upgraded their physical security infrastructure with video-surveillance services, for access control and biometric identification, perimeter protection systems and re-made the design of the control centers. Markets and Markets Estimates indicate an annual increase rhythm of approximately 15% until 2020 for this market field which shall reach a value of EUR 1.1 billion in three years.
- The electro-supply solutions for Date Centers shall evolve by +10% until 2021, when this market shall reach a value of approximately EUR 20 billion. The UPS solutions shall register an increase rhythm of 8.7%, the amount estimated for four years being EUR 5.7 billion. A secondary phenomena signaled in this market field is the occurrence of viable alternatives to VRLA batteries, by developing the Lithium-Ion battery offer, which started to develop in Data Centers, with a higher autonomy, a lower physical print, a much higher number of discharge cycles and a much more generous operating temperature interval.
A great part of the tendencies listed above are already applied in products and solutions which shall be seen on display at the event DataCenter Forum 2017. If you wish to find out the benefits of the new technologies and how you can use them to increase efficiency, scalability and availability of Data Centers you operate, attend the most relevant event of the local technology market on May 11th, for Data Centers.
Free entrance, based on the registration on www.datacenter-forum.ro