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2 . New geographical areas opening up
Data centres are going to have to look to new locations to ensure energy supply . Tied to the supply chain issues in the current political situation , data centres are likely to be more creative in the location they choose . Areas that have a high supply of locally produced renewable energy in the grid will be attractive for new data centre builds , particularly if the area is not already saturated with high energy demand industries .
In the UK , data centres have historically concentrated on the south of England . However , with a high proportion of reliable local wind power in Scotland and the north-east of England , this could change . Allied to more accurate predictions around actual energy usage rather than built supply , data centres will have a more evolved approach to new builds that includes measuring the energy draw of particular workloads and then migrating these workloads between locations for optimal effect . We are seeing the start of this already through requests for location-based analysis coming out of financial institutions with multiple data centres worldwide .
3 . Product life extension normalised
Security of supply applies just as much to materials as it does to energy . This applies to CPUs but also memory and storage . Most chip companies do not
Energy availability is going to be an issue for at least the next two years .
have their own fabrication facilities ; they rely on factories that are in different continents to deliver their products and these production hubs are concentrated in a relatively small area . It makes the supply chain vulnerable to shocks . NAND Flash memory rose in price by 5 – 10 % in 2022 due to lockdowns , fires and contamination of materials . Although it is stabilising now , the underlying issues around a niche supply chain remain .
Rather than replace server estates on a rolling basis , customers are now asking for analysis on reconfiguring servers as well as replacing them . It indicates that more organisations are following the example set by the hyperscalers Microsoft and Google and introducing more circular approaches to server provision . We expect the market to make a virtue of necessity with more of this approach .
4 . Diversity enshrined in compliance
At Interact , we have always had a female majority in senior leadership positions but decided to enshrine this in our articles of association in 2021 . It formed part of the company ’ s journey towards B Corp certification . Gender equality is also one of our target UN Sustainable Development Goals . We have three targets to achieve on by 2028 : at least 50 % female representation in company decisionmaking ; 250 hours of leadership training for young women across the world ; and sponsor 10 female sportspeople to train professionally . We built this into the business because it aligned with our beliefs . However , it has also gained huge attention from our customers , especially in the US and the UK .
woman ; and at least one board member is from a minority ethnic background . Alongside mandatory Gender Pay Gap Reporting ( for all UK companies with over 250 employees ), it indicates that diversity will be a compliance issue in the not-too-distant future . We expect to see more diversity in data centre leadership as a result .
5 . Sustainability training mainstream for all teams
The sector will have to understand much more about its supply chain and means of reducing environmental impacts . Sustainability training will be a central part of core competencies for operations and accounts as well as senior leadership positions . 2022 saw the release of Bare Metal , a short film made with representatives from Equinix , Schneider ,
Astrid Wynne , Head of Sustainability at Interact
The Financial Conduct Authority has issued three targets for listed companies as of April 1 , 2023 : at least 40 % of the board are women ; at least one senior board position ( Chair , CEO , CFO , or Senior Independent Director ) is held by a
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