Since DCN ’ s humble beginnings nearly five years ago we have watched with a keen interest the many exciting developments and innovations that drive this industry forward . I have written before about the general lack of awareness among the Joe Bloggs of the world about what a data centre does . If a stranger asks what I do and I say I work for a magazine covering data centres , a common response is : ‘ What ’ s a data centre and what does it do ?’ Well the short answer , I suppose , is , everything ! Smart buildings and cities , artificial intelligence , Internet of Things , Big Data , Apps , and of course our good friend – the cloud . You may laugh , but on more than one occasion I ’ ve had people ask me whether all our data was ‘ up there in the cloud ’ while pointing at the sky . Well , no it ’ s not , it ’ s in a data centre , and while we often take for granted the modern , hi-tech world we live in , it ’ s easy for the IT infrastructure to get forgotten about while the end product gets the ‘ glamour ’. So this month our special feature focuses on