Network Communications News (NCN) October 2016 | Page 15

hot topic

COLUMN

Digital fortress
Jack Bedell-Pearce of 4D explains why UK data centres are the unsung heroes of the tech revolution.

T

he last 20 years has seen the
cementing of The Information
Age, characterised by seismic
shifts in consumer behaviour
thanks to the onset of the
digital revolution.
Technological developments
have led to massive simplification of
information technology for the average
consumer, and our everyday reliance
on Apps and social media has come to
dominate and change our fundamental
behaviours – leading social scientists
such as Nicholas Carr to question if
technology is even rewiring our brains.
We’re all familiar with how Apple
led the way with easy to navigate

smartphones and tablets and that the
proliferation of Apps and social media
content accelerated change all around
us. However, if Apps, social media and
cloud were the 21st century equivalent
of the gold rush, then arguably data
centre operators are the guys selling
the pick axes and sieves. Performing
as the fundamental backbone of the
Internet and hosting all of the data
that gets uploaded, shared and stored
they do however get relatively little
interest or commentary versus the
‘sexier’ user side technologies. In fact,
for many of us it’s ‘out of sight, out
of mind’. Until of course, something
goes wrong…

Are we right to pay such little
attention to the very industry that
powers our digital economy? Well of
course we’d say no. And here’s why:
When you search for information,
purchase from a retailer or send out your
latest social media update it is of course
data centres making that happen. The
last Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales
figures topped £3bn in the UK alone
and are increasing substantially year on
year – those numbers are bigger than
the entire economy of many countries
meaning the pressure for a reliable data
centre infrastructure is greater than ever.
The Big Data explosion has created
mind blowing statistics: doubling of the
world’s information every year and a half,
and forecasts of 40 zettabytes of data
generated by 2020 (that’s the equivalent
of 625 billion 64GB iPads. There are
currently only 7.4 billion people on
earth). And where does that data sit?
Data centres of course.
But of course this growing
dependence means an ever increasing
dangerous consequence of downtime.
US figures place the average cost of
downtime at $747,357 or $8.851 per
minute. If all 242 colocation data centres
in the UK went out twice a year total
losses could be in excess of $360m – or
enough to buy everyone in Birmingham a
64GB iPad (should they not already have
one contributing to the stats above).
So, data centres are important,
and in the UK recent events have made
them even more so. According to a
recent survey, more than one third of
organisations in the UK will be more
inclined to store their data in UK based
data centres after Brexit. Expected tougher
regulations and data privacy rules in the EU
may affect data housed outside of the UK’s
borders, leading many IT owners to actively
question where their data is stored.
It’s therefore safe to say that as long
as there is a continued proliferation of
smartphones, tablets, Apps and social
media, and while the politicians continue
to slug it out over data sovereignty, the
future looks bright for UK data centres.
We look forward to sharing that future
with you.
15

15 Hot Topic.indd 15

03/10/2016 13:59