FEATURE: DATA MANAGEMENT
are increasingly digitally dependent.
Governments and regulators depend on data
for more accurate insights into the societies
they serve. And consumers and businesses in
general generate huge amounts of data in
the ever more connected world in which they
live and operate.
The deployment of hyperscale data centres
has typically been in a relatively small
number of central locations. However, this
has to change. The development of new
IoT applications; the caching of content
to reduce latency for data users; the
emergence of technologies that require
processing power to be available closer
to where the data is generated or needed
(such as autonomous vehicles); and the
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expansion of mobile telecom networks into
previously unconnected areas of the world
are all fuelling a boom in the deployment
of data centres in more geographically
dispersed locations.
Data and data handling is increasingly
moving to the edge of the networks and
closer to the users. This does not mean
that the growth of data centres in central
locations will decrease. On the contrary, it
will continue to grow at a good pace. It will
be outstripped though by the growth of
new, smaller data centres in the range of
0.5-5MW. In some smaller or less developed
countries, they will be core facilities, while in
developed economies they’ll be known as
edge data centres. The naming is somewhat
irrelevant though – the result is that the size
of the total data centre market will expand
very fast.
But can they be safely built as fast as
they’re needed?
Every new building project has its challenges,
especially data centres. And anyone who
has built a data centre will be painfully
aware of the risks involved. This is borne of
the necessary integration of the building
itself with a vast array of sensitive high-
tech equipment: power systems, cooling
systems, security systems, air flow structures,
fire detection and fighting systems, facility
management systems, etc. They all need to
be dimensioned and installed in such a way
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