Data centers are set to grow and become more complex, survey finds
Companies will invest more in data centers in the coming years, but it won’t necessarily be around compute. That's according to a new survey by AFCOM, the data center and IT management education company.
This is AFCOM’s first study on the subject in two years, and it found that ownership, renovations, and building of new data centers were on the increase. It found 58 percent of survey respondents currently own between two and nine data centers and that on average, 5.3 data centers will be renovated per organization. That number increases to 7.8 data centers over the course of 12 months.
Once again, we see the notion of people shutting down their data centers and moving everything to the cloud is evaporating.
The average number of data centers managed will increase to 10.2 per organization over the next three years, and over three years, on average, 12.8 data centers per organization will be renovated.
More important is the amount of growth. The average number of data centers to be built sits at around 2.2 per organization, which increases to 4.5 over the course of 12 months and 10.3 per organization over the next three years.
Data center size remaining the same, if not growing
Not only that, but the space dedicated to the data centers is not shrinking. In some cases, it’s growing. Almost half, 48 percent, said their current data centers are between 5,000 and 50,000 square feet, and half said their data centers will stay that way over the next year.
About 16 percent said their data centers are between 100,000 and 500,000 square feet now, and the number of respondents who expect to have data centers of that size will grow to 26 percent in the next three years.
Alternative power sources for data centers
This is where it really gets interesting. To accommodate these larger data centers, organizations are looking into new types of power sources for help. Already nearly 42 percent of respondents indicated that they have either already deployed some type of renewable energy source or plan to do so over the next two months.
Of those, 60 percent said these new energy sources will help their organization achieve new green initiatives and help lower return on investment (ROI) and/or total cost of ownership (TCO) of the data center. Solar energy is the most popular, with 83 percent saying they are using it or plan to, and 63 percent saying they plan to use hydro and/or wind energy.
Redundancy of power and cooling is also growing in importance. About 80 percent of respondents said they’re at least at N+1 electrical redundancy levels, meaning a single independent backup if the main power is lost, and 78 percent have N+1 cooling backup. Over the next 12 to 36 months, about 30 percent will incorporate N+2 levels of power redundancy and 27 percent will use at least N+2 levels of cooling redundancy.
It just further shows that the data center is far from dead, but it also isn’t staying the same — it is changing, and the move to N+2 for power and cooling shows an increased emphasis on uptime.
source networkworld
Industry: Data Centre News
Latest Jobs
-
- Public Sector Cyber Security Sales | UK
- England
- N/A
-
Public Sector Cyber Security Sales | UK UK | Remote / Hybrid A cyber security provider is seeking a Public Sector Sales professional to drive growth across UK government and public sector organisations. Must have current Cyber Security sales experience. Responsibilities Generate new business selling cyber security solutions into UK public sector Build relationships with CIO, CISO and senior technology stakeholders Manage the full sales cycle from opportunity to contract close Develop pipeline across central government, local government and public sector bodies Support bids, tenders and framework opportunities Experience Proven cyber security sales experience in the UK Track record selling into public sector organisations Familiarity with CCS, G Cloud or other government frameworks Strong stakeholder engagement and deal management skills Location UK based Security Requirements Eligible to obtain UK Security Clearance
-
- Security Architect | MoD - Security Cleared. OUTSIDE IR35 | Hampshire
- N/A
- Outside IR35
-
Security Architect | MOD | Security Cleared | Outside IR35 | Hampshire Commutable The successful candidate must be willing to undergo DV Clearance, ideally already holding active clearance. You will produce high and low level security architecture documentation, guiding and validating designs for systems deployed within sensitive environments. The role requires providing specialist security input into solution design, service transition and change initiatives, working closely with engineering, operations, client and third party stakeholders. You must have current hands on architectural experience, including VMware secure platform design and virtualisation architecture, alongside AWS expertise. This is an outside IR35 contract- 6 month rolling. Part of a longer term MoD project
-
- Active Directory | RBA engineer | UK Remote | SC Clearable
- United Kingdom
- N/A
-
Technical Active Directory (AD) and RBA specialist needed to play a key part in complex, enterprise scale Active Directory and access transformation programmes. You will work alongside senior team, helping reshape access models, modernise legacy directory structures and strengthen security posture across secure environments. This is hands on delivery within high impact projects where your work directly improves access control, compliance and operational resilience. Active UK Security Clearance required. This is a remote role with client travel. Implementation of Role Based Access Control across large AD estates Restructuring complex permission models, security groups and delegated access Supporting domain controller upgrades and core directory improvements Applying security hardening standards and remediating audit findings Enhancing authentication, policy and access governance frameworks Troubleshooting and resolving technical AD challenges within live environments Producing robust technical documentation and identifying project risks You must have the following technical experience Enterprise Active Directory administration Role Based Access and permission remediation OU design and governance Group Policy management Security group delegation models DNS and DHCP services Kerberos authentication / NTLM PowerShell scripting and automation Azure AD | Entra ID Hybrid identity environments Identity Governance PAM
-
- Identity and Access Management Consultant (Saviynt & Microsoft Entra) | UK
- United Kingdom
- N/A
-
Role summary Technical IAM consultant delivering identity governance and cloud identity solutions to enterprise clients. What you will do Implement / Configure / Deploy Saviynt IGA / Microsoft Entra solutions: Lead technical workshops, gather requirements and translate into solution designs. Troubleshoot complex issues, support testing and deployments. Produce technical artefacts and configuration guides. Key skills Hands-on Saviynt IGA experience (workflow, connectors, access governance). Strong practical knowledge of Microsoft Entra ID / Azure AD identity and access controls. Understanding of identity protocols (SAML, OAuth, OpenID Connect) and hybrid identity. Experience with APIs / REST for integrations and automation. What we are looking for Proven delivery experience in IAM / IGA projects, preferably in consulting. Confident communicator with client-facing delivery exposure.