DATA CENTRE PREDICTIONS
and a sense of its future trajectory . Key findings from the 2022 report include :
• Many data centre operators are unprepared for mounting sustainability requirements and regulations – Most respondents say they report on overall data centre power use and PUE , but many still are not tracking critical environmental metrics . Although 63 % of operators believe authorities in their region will require them to publicly report environmental data in the next five years , just 37 % collect and report carbon emissions data ( a slight increase over 33 % in 2021 ) and only 39 % currently report their water use ( a 12 % drop compared to 2021 ). New laws , standards and requirements will force operators to address these gaps and establish more stringent sustainability tracking and reporting practices in the coming years .
• PUE progress is in stasis for now and future efficiency gains must focus on IT power – The average annual power usage effectiveness ( PUE ) reported in 2022 was 1.55 . This represents a slight improvement over the 2021 average of 1.57 , which is consistent with the trend of marginal PUE gains Uptime has observed annually since 2014 . Going forward , achieving substantial data centre efficiency improvements will require a new focus on IT efficiency , along with metrics to track and report progress .
• More operators are investing to bolster data centre resiliency – Data centre owners and operators are making significant investments in the resiliency of their physical infrastructure , with about 40 % of respondents reporting increased redundancy levels at their primary data centres in the past three to five years . Power and cooling systems have received similar attention , with a third of operators upgrading either or both .
• Outages are becoming more expensive and are still far too frequent – The share of all outages costing operators over US $ 1 million has reached 25 %, a significant increase from 15 % in 2021 . In 2022 , 60 % of operators reported experiencing an outage ( regardless of severity ) in the past three years – down from 69 % in 2021 and 78 % in 2020 . Although the data indicates a trend towards improved outage rates , the frequency of outages is still much too high and with more than twothirds now costing operators upwards of US $ 100,000 , the consequences are getting worse .
• Operators ’ confidence in public cloud is on the rise , despite ongoing outage risks – As the
GOING FORWARD , ACHIEVING SUBSTANTIAL DATA CENTRE EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTS WILL REQUIRE A NEW FOCUS ON IT EFFICIENCY
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