DATA CENTRE PREDICTIONS
• Pandemic pressures and more disrupt data centre supply chains . The COVID-19 crisis , extreme weather and political factors have caused supply chain interruptions over the past year . Most suppliers to data centres anticipate that problems with the supply of critical data centre products and services in the coming two years will affect capital expenditure projects or IT equipment availability , or both . Just 25 % of suppliers believe there will not be any delays or impacts .
• Data centre suppliers expect large cloud and Internet companies to reshape the supply chain . Nearly one-third of suppliers expect most of their customers will own data centres 20MW or more within five years , and half report that these larger customers often seek projects to be delivered on timelines , budgets , or at scales that prove challenging . Half of suppliers believe that large data centre operators will likely take more control of their custom designs and create their own supply chains
to bypass traditional equipment sourcing options in the next three to five years .
• Rack density levels are creeping up . Rack density is slowly rising but remains relatively moderate and typically well under 10kW per IT cabinet , even at flagship sites . More than one-third of respondents stated their most common rack density is currently below 5kW , while nearly half reported between five and 10kW . The survey results indicate a shift towards more powerful racks , between five and 10 kW , in facilities larger than three MW of maximum IT load supported , compared with smaller sites .
Additional findings :
• PUE levels remain stagnant . In 2021 , the average annualised data centre power usage effectiveness ( PUE ) was 1.57 , a minor improvement over 2020 ’ s average of 1.59 that is consistent with the overall trend of PUE stagnation over the past five years .
• The data centre Edge expands . More than 60 % of respondents anticipate that Edge Computing demand will increase this year . Over one-fourth ( 26 %) expect demand to grow significantly , compared to just 18 % in 2020 .
• Cloud providers lack transparency . Although owners and operators are increasingly moving mission-critical workloads to the public cloud , a quarter of respondents would be more inclined to do so if visibility into the operational resiliency of the service was better .
• Despite progress , the proportion of women in the data centre industry remains low . Nearly one-third ( 30 %) of owners and operators say the proportion of women working in their data centres has increased over the past year , but there is still much work to be done . More than 75 % of respondents report that women make up just 10 % of their workforce , while only 5 % indicate that half of their staff are women . This aligns with gender disparity levels Uptime Institute has reported since 2018 . ◊
UPTIME INSTITUTE ’ S ANNUAL GLOBAL DATA CENTER SURVEY PROVIDES A COMPREHENSIVE PROFILE OF THE CURRENT DIGITAL CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE LANDSCAPE AND A SENSE OF ITS FUTURE TRAJECTORY .
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