DATA CENTRES:
FACING THE FINAL FRONTIER Excitement around the possibilities of the cloud has arguably obscured coverage of its least-positive side-effect: a huge increase in the use of data centres
Words by David Davies
f you are looking to invest in an area of business whose continued prosperity seems assured, you could certainly do far worse than the rapidly expanding data centre (DC) sector. Fuelled by the expansion in cloud and streaming services, as well as migration from on-premise infrastructures, the DC sector is experiencing exceptional growth – and there’s no end in sight. Indeed, a report issued by Research and Markets in July 2023 forecasts a compound annual growth rate for the worldwide DC construction market of 6.5% until 2028. That equates to an increase in the overall value of the market of more than $23bn – rising from $50.34bn in 2022 to $73.43bn in 2028. And while those of us in a media and entertainment (M&E) bubble might focus on our own sectors’ contribution to these figures, the report makes it clear that demand is growing rapidly in numerous other areas, from healthcare to transportation and heavy industries. DCs are complex enterprises invariably involving the contribution of many vendors, and in a highly uncertain economic period it’s certainly possible to view their growth in a positive light. But there is a question mark – and it’s a massive one – around their environmental impact. At the present, most estimates put their contribution to annual global carbon emissions between 2% and 5%, but some
studies have suggested this could rise to as much as 14% by 2040 if DCs are not made more sustainable. Meanwhile, DCs over in the US alone are currently said to consume 200 Terawatt hours (TWh) annually and emit 0.3% of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere – equating to more energy consumption and CO2 output than some nation states (source: 8 Billion Trees). It’s not all gloom, though: as this article will show, there is some cause for optimism. For one thing, DC design is evolving, with the switch to HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) generators and the adoption of more sustainable methods of cooling among changes that will improve efficiency. But set against a brace of tech trends – especially the adoption of data-heavy UHD formats and the rise of generative AI – that will add significantly to the demand on DCs, it’s a subject about which there is zero room for complacency. CONSISTENT METRICS Three Media is a consultancy whose specialisms include cloud innovation and transformation. Principal consultant David Radoczy is in no doubt about the primary reason for M&E’s enthusiastic adoption of DCs – a development he has been observing with considerable interest since around the mid-2000s.
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