5 trends impacting data center growth

As with other businesses, spending and data center growth in 2020 was limited. The growing pandemic and the world's ability to control the effects on businesses seemed uncertain.

Data Center News states that Google Cloud invested more than $10 billion in U.S.-based data centers and offices in 2020. The data center industry is currently valued at $32 billion and is expected to hit close to $59 billion by 2025. Here are five trends that impact data center growth today.

1. 5G
With 5G rolling out, there's an imminent domino effect on existing infrastructure and upcoming investments, including on data centers. A central factor impacting investments is 5G, followed by data center and edge computing. With 5G capabilities, investors may fail to see the reliability or speed in the real world. 

As data centers drive industries to employ data differently, the rise of edge computing will lead to the rising demand for 5G technologies in the real world with nodes installation to support the network. While it is safe to assume that data centers will need to make accommodative changes to enable 5G, machine learning and artificial intelligence will be required additions over the next few years.

2. Edge computing
The data center industry is divided when it comes to scaling edge computing. The reason for this divide is whether edge computing will be profitable. With investors and end-users focusing on near-term cost/benefit analysis, the long-term potential has been missed.

Edge will likely be a profitable player in 2021 and the future. As more and more people adopt smart technologies in their businesses and homes, the demand for edge computing has been seen in data centers too.

Hyper-scale and colocation providers will likely be jumping into the edge computing mix for wider profitability. Moreover, with increased investments from bigger market players, there is a huge expansion area for data analytics and Internet of Things in the edge computing space.

3. Automation
Automation has gained more traction as compared to the earlier years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More and more data centers have shifted to remote automated capabilities for monitoring progress and providing services. Facility Executive points to a 2020 survey that found data center managers are realizing that staffing issues are rampant. Automation has stepped in to promote efficacy, the industry will reap the benefits of robotics as well, from handling rack rollouts to on-site monitoring.

4. Hyperscale
ResearchAndMarkets reports that the acceleration of digitization has been linked to the pandemic across all industries. The estimated IP traffic is set to reach the 20.6 ZB mark by year's end, which is a 7ZB increase in the past five years.

The demand for hyper-scale vendors and colocation services across the Asian-Pacific and European region has accelerated. Billions of dollars have been invested in cloud infrastructures by mega tech players like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.

5. Sustainability
Facility Executive notes that data centers have somewhat flatlined in the energy efficiency department, with an average PUE (power usage effectiveness) of 1.58 in 2018, 1.67 in 2019, and 1.59 in 2020 (the goal is a PUE ratio as close to 1.0 as possible).

Focusing on green options has been a long time coming. Data center operation leaders have started to focus on energy consumption, water usage, and emissions. With the accelerated investment in renewable resources, it is time to look for data centers that reduce their environmental footprint.

With access to versatile infrastructure, existing edge capability, remote service providers, real-time infrastructure monitoring options, and added security options, nothing can hold your business back from embracing data centers. Perle can help you get ready for the rise of the data center by optimizing your no-premise network. Read our customer success stories today.