EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
HOW CAN CIOS OPTIMISE THEIR DATA CENTRE SPACE , IMPROVE PERFORMANCE AND REDUCE COSTS OF THEIR DATA CENTRE INFRASTRUCTURE ?
early nine in 10 ( 89 %) UK
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IT decision-makers say that Edge Computing will be important to their business over the next 10 years , according to new research commissioned by Telehouse International Corporation of Europe . This is despite only a quarter of organisations ( 26 %) currently deploying Edge Computing , highlighting the desire to bring applications closer to data sources by 2030 .
Edge is just one infrastructure area set to grow over the next decade , alongside cloud and a shift away from on-premise models . Three-quarters expect the volume of data they manage to at least double over the next 10 years , impacting infrastructure requirements . Nearly twothirds ( 62 %) say investment in data centre infrastructure will increase and over half ( 51 %) plan to migrate applications to a hosted private or public cloud platform . Less than a quarter ( 24 %) expect to be deploying on-premise infrastructure , with the average amount of infrastructure onpremise to fall from 54 % today to 32 %.
Organisations also expect to face a host of infrastructure challenges in 2030 , including maintaining security and compliance ( 36 %), reducing the environmental impact of IT infrastructure ( 30 %) and selecting cost- effective cloud solutions ( 27 %). Cloud also topped the list of focus areas for the next 10 years , cited by nearly half of IT decisionmakers ( 44 %), followed by cybersecurity ( 40 %) and 5G ( 29 %).
Commenting on the findings , Mark Pestridge , Senior Customer Experience Director , Telehouse , said : “ It ’ s not surprising that appetite for Edge Computing is growing . It ’ s now more important than ever for businesses to store , access and analyse and access exponential levels of data at record speeds , and technologies like Edge and cloud will be critical in enabling this . Ultimately , the key for success for organisations will be building the right infrastructure foundations and connectivity , so choosing the right partner will be critical .”
COVID-19 has also had a big impact on infrastructure strategy , with 91 % planning to make changes to their IT infrastructure following the pandemic . One in four say they will increase bandwidth / connectivity , while 38 % say they will accelerate and shift more workloads to the cloud ( 38 %) and over a third ( 34 %) will increase capacity in the data centre .
Sue Daley , Associate Director , Technology and Innovation at techUK , commented : “ As organisations begin to rebuild , recover and reinvent themselves , current digital and more transformative technologies , such as cloud , Edge and AI , are going to be key enablers for what comes next .
“ The research indicates it is not the adoption of one single technology that will hold the key : the convergence of several innovative technologies will become increasingly important to businesses as they look for innovative and greener ways of working and doing business . The ability of organisations to scale up their adoption and use of these technologies is what will help to drive organisations forward .”
EDGE IS JUST ONE INFRASTRUCTURE AREA SET TO GROW OVER THE NEXT DECADE , ALONGSIDE CLOUD AND A SHIFT AWAY FROM ON-PREMISE MODELS . www . intelligentdatacentres . com
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