A new report released by US-based Emerson Network Power has indicated that real-time data will be housed closer to consumers, eliminating concerns about content volume, reliability and accessibility.
The report, ?Data Center 2025: Exploring the Possibilities,? summarizes insights from more than 800 data center professionals around the world. It found that more than 60 percent of telecom network facilities will become or converge with data centers in the next decade.
?As consumers continue to rely on 24/7 mobile access, network boundaries as they are known today will evolve,? said Scott Barbour, business leader of Emerson Network Power.
?Shifting storage and compute requirements will lead the industry to adopt a more flexible data center ecosystem and simplify the way we access business data while on the go.?
From increased cloud utilization to the growth of hyperscale footprints to solar-power, a new class of data center is poised to emerge, the report said.
? Ecosystem shifts: More than 30 percent of survey participants envision small data centers will be embedded in neighborhood settings by 2025. Further, respondents believe two-thirds of telecom companies will rely on co-location facilities ? another efficiency-based data center management approach.
? Investment in alternative fuels: The report also suggests the data center of the future will rely on alternative fuels. In 2025, respondents ambitiously predict that 20 percent of the energy used by data centers will be powered by solar; followed by nuclear, natural gas and wind power as other alternatives.
? Self-healing and predictive maintenance: Roughly 43 percent of survey participants believe data centers will have self-healing and predictive maintenance capabilities by 2025, enabling conflict resolution via remote management.
? Shrinking enterprise data centers: Today, demand is driven by the need for storage and access. As technology continues to progress and become more efficient — and storage ideals shift ? mid-size data centers will shrink, with the offsetting traffic load transitioning to both hyperscale and small scale network locations. Fifty-eight percent of survey respondents expect that data centers will be half the size of current facilities, or smaller, by 2025. Similarly, industry experts predict two-thirds of data center computing will be done in the cloud.
While more than 800 data center professionals from around the world responded to the survey, dozens of others contributed their thoughts via interviews, email, and video.
