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“
THE DATA CENTRE
MUST HAVE
SIX FEATURES:
RESILIENCE,
SECURITY,
PRIVACY, SAFETY,
RELIABILITY AND
AVAILABILITY
TO PREVENT
ATTACKS AND
THREATS FROM
ENVIRONMENTS
AND MALICIOUS
PERSONNEL,
INCLUDING
NETWORK
INTRUSION
THREATS.
(Power density of 15 to 20 kW/rack will be
predominant in data centres by 2025.)
2. Scalable architecture
Generally, the lifecycle of IT devices is three
to five years and the power density doubles
every five years. The lifecycle of data centre
infrastructure, however, is 10 to 15 years.
The data centre facility will support IT
device evolution for two-three generations.
It demands scalable expansion and phased
investment for optimal CAPEX in the
lifecycle of the data centre. In addition,
the data centre must support hybrid
deployment of IT devices with different
power densities because of diversified IT
services running there.
3. Green
Currently, the power consumption of data
centres accounts for 3% of the world’s total
power consumption. It is estimated that
the total power consumption of the data
centre will reach more than 1,000TWh by
2025. Energy-saving, emission reduction
and operating expense (OPEX) reduction
are big challenges. Increasing power usage
effectiveness (PUE) of data centres and
building sustainably is imperative and
inevitable. It is an irresistible trend to use
clean energy and waste heat and to save
resources (such as energy, land, water and
materials) throughout the lifecycle of the
data centre. It is estimated that the average
PUE of a new data centre in China will drop
to 1.1 in the next five years.
4. Quick deployment
Internet services usually spike in a short
period of time, and data and traffic
demands on the service side increase
sharply. Therefore, data centres must be
rolled out quickly. On the other hand, the
data centre is changing from a support
system to a production system. A faster
rollout, therefore, means faster benefits. The
typical TTM of a data centre is nine to 12
months, which is expected to be shortened
to less than six months in the future.
(The average PUE of a new data centre in
China will drop to 1.1 in the next five years.)
5. Full digitisation and
AI-enablement
The software-defined, intelligent data centre
is upon us. With the continuous improvement
of IoT and AI technologies, data centres
will gradually evolve from single-domain
digitisation in terms of O&M, energy saving
and operation, to full-lifecycle digitisation
and automatic driving in terms of planning,
construction, O&M and optimisation. AI will
be widely adopted and applied.
6. Full modularisation
More data centres will be constructed in
full modular mode to address the problems
of slow construction and high initial
investment costs. Modular designs will
evolve from component modularisation to
76 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com