What’s more, the development of data-generating solutions such as IoT and machine learning has played a key role in increasing the demand for data centres.

One of the biggest drivers to date has been the COVID-19 pandemic, as it created a set of unprecedented challenges for the technology sector. With companies working remotely, the need for rapid access to information was a huge hurdle that data centres had to overcome. In fact, a recent report from Statista stated that the total amount of data created, captured, copied and consumed reached 79 zettabytes in 2021. The pandemic highlighted that managing the availability and quality of online services during the pandemic was no simple task.

With that in mind, industry experts are now considering what future data centres will look like and the trends that they need to keep in mind when moving through 2022.

Rise of sustainability

The first is sustainability, which has been somewhat of a buzzword in the technology sector for a number of years. Moving forward, the vast majority of UK executives and managers believe that green technology will be one of their company’s highest concerns, or will become a leading priority in the next five years. There are a number of factors that are motivating businesses to become more environmentally friendly, mainly in relation to the increasing importance that customers place on sustainability. Many consumers are now considering this when choosing brands to spend money with, and are even happy to pay a premium for sustainable products or services.

This links to the impact data centres are placing on the environment, specifically in terms of water usage, energy consumption and carbon emissions. It’s no secret that data centres are energy-intensive and are estimated to account for 2% of the world’s energy consumption. As a result, data centres need to consider transitioning to a net-zero model, and fast. This involves investing in renewable resources and waste heat recycling in an effort to power and cool servers in a greener way in the future. Read more.