Source: https://www.rahisystems.com/blog/imagining-the-data-center-of-the-future-today/

What will the data centre look like in 2019 and beyond? That’s one of the most pressing questions facing data centres. The IT environment continues to evolve rapidly to support changing business requirements, making it difficult to conceptualise a data centre infrastructure that can meet tomorrow’s demands.

Organisations are looking to take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, the Internet of Things and other workloads that weren’t on anyone’s radar a few years ago. These applications require sophisticated new hardware that delivers the highest levels of performance, and a network capable of moving large volumes of data with minimal latency.

In addition to “new,” data centre managers must worry about “more” — more workloads, more data, more users, more devices. The IT environment is growing quickly within the data centre, at the edge and in the cloud. The need to control operational costs requires a high-density architecture that maximises the use of data centre real estate and power optimises resource utilisation.

Thing is, few data centres were planned with this degree of change in mind. There are so many things to consider – rack size and configuration, power density and distribution, cooling, and cabling, just to name a few. IT teams tend to base current requirements with a fudge factor for growth. Those decisions probably didn’t take into account the need with GPUs that consume a lot of power and generate a lot of heat, or IoT applications that demand a highly distributed environment.

So, what requirements should data centre managers be considering as we enter 2019?

• A flexible data centre infrastructure infrastructure-management that can facilitate change and support workloads at the edge
• Cooling solutions that optimise airflow to enable higher power densities while keeping a lid on costs
• Power distribution solutions that can accommodate various types of hardware
• Automation tools that streamline workflows and provide the data IT teams need to better manage the data environment
• “Future-proof” cabling solutions that enable bandwidth upgrades and changing architectures without costly “rip and replace”
• Interoperable systems that maximise utilisation and enable consolidation
• Expertise in the design, architecture, deployment and validation of cutting-edge IT solutions
• Provisioning processes that enable the rapid rollout of new applications and service
  
  
  

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