What Does 2020 Have in for Data Centers?

In 2019, the data center market saw some major developments taking place in the industry. A major global player announced the construction of its data centers in various states of the US- Nevada, Texas, Ohio, and Nebraska. With 5G upcoming in various countries, it is going to transform data center operations as there would be a direct rise in the volume of mobile data.

5G is going to bring data streams that are faster and denser, thus, making the data center capacity with an enhanced demand. These were some of the major innovations that took place in the data center industry in 2019.

Before we move on to the upcoming trends in the data center industry, let us understand the basics of a data center. In the following sections, I shall be discussing what exactly a data center is and what are the elements of a data center.

What Exactly a Data Center Is…

Data centers can be defined as centralized locations where computing and networking equipment are stored in one place to collect, store, process, and distribute large data chunks. The security and reliability of a data center is the top concern for any data center provider.

Though the data centers are unique in themselves, they can be classified into two categories- Internet-facing and enterprise data centers. Internet data centers tend to support less number of applications and mostly are browser-based with a large user base. On the contrary, an enterprise data center has less number of users, hosting more number of applications, varying from off-the-shelf to customized applications.

Elements of a Data Center

Irrespective of the data center type, the elements of a data center can be broken down into the following components-

1. Facility It depicts the location and empty and usable space that can be made available for the required IT equipment in a data center. Giving full-time access to information has evolved data centers to become some of the most-energy consumed facilities in the industry. The data center provider emphasizes heavily design for optimizing white space along with environmental control for keeping the equipment within the pre-defined temperature and humidity range.
2. Support Infrastructure It comprises all the equipment that contributes towards the secured sustainability of the data centers with the highest equipment’ uptimes. Components of a data center that form the supporting infrastructure include- UPS, Environmental Control systems (computer room air conditioners (CRAC), heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems), and physical security systems.
3. IT Equipment It is the actual equipment needed for IT operations and storing an organization’s data. This comprises storage hardware, cables, and rack spaces along with information security elements such as firewalls, WAFs, etc.
4. Operation Staff Lastly, any data center provider has an in-house operation staff that looks after monitoring the operations as well as maintaining the IT & infrastructural equipment at all times. It also comprises of a dedicated technical support team, which addresses the issues of the customers at any time instance, providing the customers with maximum uptime.

Data Center Trends in 2020

In 2020 we can witness some major disrupting trends in the data center industry and these are going to have a significant impact on the operations of data centers.

1. Edge Computing Edge computing is going to be a major key growth driver when we talk about the advancements in the data center industry. Edge computing helps in bringing data center providers closer to their users. Thus, giving a faster and stronger service delivery to the users. Edge computing is highly efficient and will be providing better performance and security with minimal downtime. With the number of IoT devices on the rise, the number of data centers is going to venture into edge computing by the end of this year.
2. 5G- The New Standard As discussed above, Edge computing will be on the rise this year. So, the hosting companies that see their growth along the same lines as Edge, will require the latest and greater network capabilities. The 5G infrastructure is going to play an important role in a company’s implementation of an edge network. 5G wireless model is expected to have attributes like- high bandwidth mobile broadband, and machine-to-machine communications supporting a density of 100k connections/sq. kilometer and lastly. ultra-low latency communication with a latency of less than 10 ms (millisecond). Also, in terms of speed, 5G is expected to be 10 times faster than the present mobile network, 4G. All these characteristics of 5G are going to be essentially important for ventures related to edge computing, IoT, and most importantly data centers.
3. Dependency on Open Source Today, most of the data centers across the globe are already using open-source aspects for data center operations. This trend will be on the rise in 2020 as well. More data centers are going to rely on the open-source cloud, Edge computing, and open-source technologies. Due to the increased dependencies on open-source technologies, Linux is going to be an important component of data center operations, which directly depicts the growth of operating systems such as Ubuntu Server, CentOS 8, etc.
4. Increased Bandwidth Demand for DCI DCI or data center interconnect technology helps in enabling a seamless transport of critical data assets for various distances between data centers. Data sets that enter or leave a data center are of several terabits. Owing to this reason, all networking equipment must deliver a reliable, high-capacity connection that can be scaled with ease and on the go. Also, the emergence of AI and 5G technologies is going to drive a rapid demand for increased bandwidth across DCI solutions.

Growth of Data Center Markets

It is predicted that the US data center market is going to be valued at over $69 billion by 2024.

The increased popularity of IoT is one of the key growth drivers in this market. Leveraging an enhanced usage of cloud computing services and its applications has given rise to large hyperscale cloud-based data centers. The market has been witnessing an increased construction of cloud-oriented data centers, ultimately giving rise to increased demand for cloud services.

The data center market in the UK is expected to grow at a CAGR of nearly 4% in the forecasted period, 2018-2024.

The increased popularity of advanced technologies like big data and IoT will enhance investments in the UK data center market space. Further, the rise of cloud-based services and the implementation of the Data Protection Act of 2018 supporting the GDPR policy of the European Union is likely to encourage cloud providers to store their data within geographical territories. AI and IoT will also have a direct impact on the demand for Edge computing along with the deployment of Edge data centers.

The Indian data center market is expected to reach $4 billion by 2024, witnessing a growth CAGR of nearly 9% in the forecasted period of 2018-2024.

Heavy investments in the cities of Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad are being done by local and international data center players. The Telangana region is witnessing the fastest CAGR growth of nearly 19% during the previously-stated forecasted period.

Concluding Notes

To conclude, I would say that data is constantly on the rise, and with upcoming technologies such as- 5G, Edge computing, etc. 2020 will witness some major disruptions taking place in the data center industry. 5G infrastructures are going to be the new standard connectivity, where the users would be creating and sharing huge volumes of data. Edge computing will bring the data centers close to the users.

To pace up with the above-mentioned trends, you need a trusted data center provider. bodHOST is one of the reputed and well-recognized data center providers to cater to you with the latest data center offerings backed by a dedicated and proactive team of tech experts.

bodHOST Data Centers located in USA, UK, and India.