Data Centers: More Active Than Ever And In A Transformation Stage

By Anderson Quirino, Leader of the Vertiv Sales Team in Latin America.

Massive digitization turned data centers into mission-critical facilities and unleashed ambitious programs for their expansion to meet the expected increase in demand. The change prompts data centers to rethink the way they operate and respond to user demands to offer greater efficiency and sustainability.

In 2019, Gartner predicted that 80% of traditional data centers would cease to exist by 2025. However, a year later, the Covid-19 pandemic – the first pandemic of the digital age – forced a massive digitization that, on the contrary, turned data centers into mission-critical facilities. The change prompts data centers to rethink the way they operate and respond to user demands to offer greater efficiency and sustainability. Vertiv, as an enabler of business continuity and essential service solutions, is up to the challenge to guide customers through this robust market transition.

Because the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic in early 2020, public health authorities around the world quickly began to implement quarantines and other measures that forced companies to establish policies to work from home and led consumers to do their banking, educational training, shopping, medical consultations and other essential services digitally. The result was increased awareness of the critical importance of data centers in the processing of said connections and the declaration of data center personnel, equipment manufacturers and service providers as essential workers, by many governments.

These market trends continue into 2021 and take data centers in new directions. Many of the construction plans for these centers that were suspended last year are being re-established, and existing facilities are rapidly adapting to changing market realities. Studying Gartner Released October 2020 notes that 85% of infrastructure strategies will integrate on-premises, co-location, cloud and edge delivery options by 2025, up from just 2020% in 20, creating new challenges and opportunities. Participants in a recent webinar from the Uptime Institute they mentioned that Data center operators plan to increase their physical redundancies, not only to protect themselves from future pandemics, but also from potential outages.

These threats include those related to climate change; for this reason, data centers are increasingly focusing on sustainability initiatives. Data centers account for almost 40% of total electricity consumption globally and the transition from 4G to 5G technology is expected to increase that figure by up to 4 times. Data centers are addressing these concerns by implementing sustainability programs that seek more responsible use of water and energy resources. Vertiv has delivered cooling solutions that reduced energy consumption in customer data centers by up to 60%, compared to operating traditional solutions.

Data reliability and security continue to be the fundamental goals. Data centers – which are now processing more data than ever before in a world with greater digital dependence, predicted to continue in a post-pandemic environment – are also investing in creating greater efficiencies to deliver speed improvements, reduce latency, minimize costly downtime and offer increased security. With data center services unprecedentedly close to end users, operators are looking for new ways to deliver more positive user experiences.

As more of our personal transactions and everyday activities are moving into the digital space, data centers are helping to maintain a connected world. These facilitate business continuity and make the impact of pandemic restrictions less difficult for end users. Life has changed as a result of the health crisis; Data centers have taken on the challenges of this ‘new normal’ and are preparing for what could be the next. At Vertiv, we have a long history of supporting mission-critical applications. Because this year we commemorate Data Center Day, we reiterate our commitment to offer innovative solutions that support this never-before-seen market transformation process, both in Latin America and around the world.