Intelligent Data Centres Issue 21 | Page 29

WOMEN CONTINUE TO BE UNDER- REPRESENTED AND MORE EFFORT IS NEEDED TO ADDRESS THE WORKFORCE GENDER IMBALANCE AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE LARGER AND MORE DIVERSE SKILLED TALENT POOL .
EDITOR ’ S QUESTION

HOW CAN DATA CENTRE LEADERS COMBAT THE SKILLS SHORTAGE AS FURTHER OUTAGES DISRUPT THE INDUSTRY ?

ptime Institute has

U announced the key findings of its 10th annual Global Data Center Survey , the largest and most comprehensive in the data centre industry . The results show a growing sector adapting to rapid change on multiple levels . In almost every area under discussion – outages , resiliency , staffing , workload placement or innovation – there is considerable variety in the strategies being employed .

Uptime Institute has reported on data centre outages for several years , surveying operators on their experiences with outages and closely tracking publicly recorded incidents .
Even with the inherent difficulty collecting and assessing this information , clear trends from our research emerge : in surveys from 2018 and 2019 , and now supported by its 2020 survey , outages occur with disturbing frequency , bigger outages are becoming more damaging and expensive and what has been gained in improved processes and engineering has been partially offset by the challenges of maintaining ever more complex systems . Avoiding unplanned downtime remains a top technical and business challenge for all owners and operators .
Findings from the report also showed that the data centre staffing crisis is getting worse . The number of managers stating they are having difficulty finding qualified candidates for open infrastructure positions is rising steadily . Women continue to be under-represented and more effort is needed to address the workforce gender imbalance and take advantage of the larger and more diverse skilled talent pool .
“ Our 2020 survey results reflect a strong , growing sector facing increased change and complexity ,” said Andy Lawrence , Executive Director of Research , Uptime Institute . “ The growing complexity , along with the greater consequences of failure , creates the need for more vigilance and more sophisticated approaches to resiliency , performance and operations .”
Uptime Institute annually conducts its comprehensive global survey across the data centre industry . This year ’ s survey was conducted March – April 2020 and includes responses from nearly 850 managers at organisations that own and operate data centres in more than 50 countries . This group is the focus of Uptime Institute ’ s new report .
WOMEN CONTINUE TO BE UNDER- REPRESENTED AND MORE EFFORT IS NEEDED TO ADDRESS THE WORKFORCE GENDER IMBALANCE AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE LARGER AND MORE DIVERSE SKILLED TALENT POOL .
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