ELLA HUTCHINSON , DEPUTY EDITOR

ello and welcome to the latest edition of

Intelligent Data Centres . On the cover this month is Deborah Andrews , Professor of Design for Sustainability and Circularity at London South Bank University . Along with the rapid sectoral development over previous years , the product life cycle is often neglected to be thought about any further than its end-of-life . Data centre designers in all forms are encouraged to revert back to first principles to reduce the impacts of a linear economy .

Andrews works alongside enterprise projects , like the Circular Economy for the Data Centre Industry ( CEDaCI ), colleagues and students to boost collaboration efforts for further innovation . Interdisciplinary work is a key theme she discusses , highlighting the silo-culture some sub-sectors find themselves in . To avoid this , students have been creating projects that go against the grain of educational expectations and find themselves crossing paths with those outside of their industry .

“ We ’ re encouraging students who are in design and engineering courses to work with students on other courses – for instance , marketing – for mutual insights into other professions ,” she says . “ If students have had experience of interdisciplinary projects in education , hopefully they ’ ll carry that into the workplace and be more confident about encouraging cross-sector work in the real world .”

To read more , turn to p50 .

This month ’ s Editor ’ s Question focuses on the UK government ’ s recent plans to introduce tougher security and resilience

measures for data centres to protect against potential disruption , including cyberattacks and extreme weather events . We hear from Steve Jacques , Consulting Engineer at Juniper Networks , and Michael Dugent , IOT Director EMEA , Nozomi Networks , about their thoughts on what these plans mean for data centres and best practice advice for implementing more secure procedures . Head to p31 to find out more .

On page 37 , we look at three pivotal factors set to define the appeal of the sector in the future . Unsurprisingly , AI makes a play for being an integral part of market growth , alongside the crucial impact of education initiatives and the importance of community engagement in shaping the trajectory .

We ’ ll also be in attendance at Data Centre World ( 6 – 7 March ) – if you see any of us from Lynchpin Media , come and say hello !

Ella Hutchinson Deputy Editor

ELLA @ LYNCHPINMEDIA . COM

www . intelligentdatacentres . com 3