INDUSTRY INTELLIGENCE POWERED BY THE DCA
The new data centre boardroom
Peter Hannaford , Senior Partner at Portman Partners , describes the data centre leaders of tomorrow and how they must be the embodiment of the solutions to today ’ s challenges .
There is no doubt and possibly an excess of conversation about how the events of 2020 impacted people and industries across the board . Still , one industry that until recently attracted little attention outside its inner circle of operators and investors is having its moment in the spotlight , is ours .
The business of the data centre and the challenges it faces are a microcosm of broader social and corporate concerns and the movements around them , and all require aggressive , directed initiatives from executives at senior levels to address them . There are three challenges that can be viewed as standalone items , but I would argue they are entirely intertwined , and successfully managing any one benefits the others . So , in no particular order , they are :
• Sustainability
• Diversity , equity and inclusion
• Innovative leaders
Sustainability
With the rise of the remote workforce and lockdowns around the globe , data usage has increased – significantly . A recent TeleGeography report found that the COVID-19 pandemic drove international Internet capacity from 450 Tbps to 600 Tbps , a 35 % increase year over year from 2019 to 2020 , and identified four primary growth areas . The report stated that :
• The most significant growth in regional capacity between 2019 and 2020 came from Europe
• Peak international Internet traffic increased at a compound annual rate of 30 % between 2016 and 2020
• Average global international Internet traffic rose from about 120 Tbps in 2019 to 170 Tbps in 2020
• Pre-COVID , peak traffic growth was forecast to be 28 %, but the pandemic drove it to 47 %
The increase in data usage and the corresponding increase in the data centre ’ s carbon footprint have put a bullseye on the industry , with many labelling it a top climate culprit , making it one of the most significant targets . How much climate responsibility lies at the feet of the data centre itself is debatable , but none would ( or should ) argue the industry has none .
Diversity , equity and inclusion
2020 also brought society and the world at large to a reckoning on another enduring problem – systemic racism and it ’ s correlative inequities . Race , along with the longstanding issues of bias and www . intelligentdatacentres . com
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