What will the data center look like in 5 years or even 10 years? It may sound impossible to predict but experts are weighing in and providing their predictions for the future of data centers. The storage systems and servers of today will be a distant memory. Cloud computing will take on a whole new life. While 5 or 10 years may sound far off, it is important for the data centers of today to start anticipating these changes and preparing for the future so that they can stay ahead of the game and not fall by the wayside. Storage needs are changing daily so it is easy to understand that they will be significant in the future. Many experts see data centers making the switch to being scale data centers by 2025. Data Centers Knowledge elaborates on what “scale data centers” are, “Scale data centers are data centers designed the same way web giants like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook design their facilities and IT systems today. Intel isn’t saying most data centers will be the size of Google or Facebook data centers, but it is saying that most of them will be designed using the same principles, to deliver computing at scale.”
Delivering computing at scale is not a simple concept or an easily achievable task but it is necessary to meet the expected demands of technology and users of the future. Data Center Knowledge goes on to explain the future demands that will necessitate scale data centers, “Things like the three major forms of cloud computing (IT infrastructure, platform, or software delivered as subscription services), connected cars, personalized healthcare, and so on, all require large scale. “If you’re doing a connected-car type of solution, that’s not a small-scale type of deployment,” Waxman said. “If you’re doing healthcare and you’re trying to do personalized medicine, that’s a large-scale deployment.’” As data volumes increase, data centers must be able to scale non-disruptively. For data centers, infrastructure must be carefully managed to be capable of scaling up on demand. The costs to meet these demands can be managed more easily by gradually scaling up data centers. Schneider Electric also notes that scale will be the future of data centers, ““We’ll see a dominance of at scale wholesale data centers, with a movement towards at scale cloud providers and the verticalization and specialization of the smaller providers in between,” he says. “There will also be a secondary movement to the edge.” He defines “at scale” as at least 15MW or more, a size needed to support cost effective IoT and big data deployments — two of the drivers changing the market according to Doug. “Big data, derived in large from the IoT, is helping shape the way companies develop, improve and bring products to market and serve consumers and customers,” said Doug, “Ultimately, all that data resides in a data center where there must be enough power to process and analyze it.”
