Ten trends that change modern data centers

Data centers have to meet new market demands. Not only to overtake competitors, but also simply to avoid equipment failures and serious problems in the near future. What trends in IT affect the organization of the data centers, the changes in the hosting business in the near future are discussed in a study published by Gartner.

1. Transition to software-configured infrastructure

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The times when the IT management of companies was thinking in "iron" categories are in the past. How many “our” servers are in the rack at the provider’s site, how much they will need to be additionally rented for new tasks or projects, how many and which hard drives are needed - it does not matter. It is more convenient for the customer to simply choose the necessary services from the list of options, having paid only what is needed now. You will need additional space for the data, or additional software due to business expansion - the customer will tick the corresponding items in the order panel. And how exactly the load is distributed to several servers, how to organize disk space for optimal speed and high reliability are the problems of data center engineers.

2. Continuity instead of discrete data backup

If earlier the data backup plan was a compromise between reliability and cost of a turnkey solution, now clients need the ability to recover data from any time point. Moreover, the customer wants to do less and less archiving of data for the possibility of their disaster recovery. In the future, the task of data backup and disaster recovery will fall entirely on the shoulders of the hosting provider, and the technology must ensure continuity and invisibility for the client of these processes.

3. Transition to Converged Networks

Servers carrying the main load on data storage and processing invariably included in the company's classical IT infrastructure. At the same time, the configuration of this infrastructure in each firm was individual, which made its maintenance more costly. The future lies in converged networks, when the company has only client computers and standard network equipment providing high-speed Internet access. The entire burden of processing and storing information is transferred to the data processing centers. At the same time, the company's infrastructure itself becomes universal, which provides additional savings. In fact, we are talking about the elimination of the most expensive part of the IT equipment of companies and the use of the capacity of remote data centers.

4. Transition to disaggregated systems

This approach is the opposite of integrated systems in which the various components of the server are tightly packed on a single board, or even on a single chip. In fact, ideas from the world of free software, when thanks to open standards everyone can create the necessary modules, were transferred to the world of hardware. A prime example is the Open Compute project from Facebook: the specifications allow any manufacturer to create modules for servers, which makes it possible to use low-cost, energy-efficient components. This is a transition from the production of server vendors as ready-made solutions to the production of individual server components.

5. Bimodal software development strategy

There are several software development strategies, among which two are predominant. The first focuses on reliability, the second - on the speed of creating programs. Reliable software requires long-term careful work, long-term testing, the use of only proven solutions. At the same time, a quick approach allows you to meet current trends and meet changing market demands. A bimodal strategy combines both approaches, with reliable software being used to implement critical services, and the “fast” one - for experimental technologies.

6. The development of the Internet of things

In 2012, 17 billion devices went online. By 2020, such devices will have 50 billion. We are talking about small sensors and devices that can not only connect to the Internet, but also form their own peer-to-peer networks that collect gigabytes of data capable of machine learning in real time. To ensure the operation of billions of such devices will require huge capacities and such services that have not even been developed yet.

7. User Hyper-Connectivity

The range of services provided by data centers is growing towards a constant, reliable exchange of a huge amount of data. Users accept and give up multimedia, devices exchange an ever-increasing flow of data, all this requires constant uninterrupted connection and wide channels. To service such users, which experts call hyper-connected, providers must be prepared.

8. Distributed data centers

A single large data center, even with enormous capabilities, is not able to meet the needs of many companies. Delivery of video to users of different regions, service of retail and banking networks is much more efficiently given to distributed data centers that have their servers in different parts of one country, and even on different continents. Distributed data centers are also more resistant to failures that occur as a result of natural disasters, accidents and power outages. A distributed data center consisting of microserver, fully autonomous or serviced by each one employee can be more efficient and more reliable than a powerful data center located on the same site.

9. The growth of quantitative indicators of demand while maintaining the budget

The key trend in the hosting market is that the demand for data center services is constantly growing. There are now 14.4 billion websites, 1.3 million iPhone apps and 1.1 million Android apps are available. All experts agree that these figures, regardless of the economic situation, will only grow. At the same time, IT budgets for the year grew on average by only 1%. Therefore, data centers should provide greater performance, greater energy efficiency and actively apply technologies that reduce operating costs.

10. Downgrading customers

There are times when a specialist called technical support, for example, on web servers representing the interests of the customer, pass. Now one person is increasingly responsible for the network infrastructure, and for the work of the site, and for the work of mobile applications. Saving on IT budgets inevitably leads to a decline in the skills of company employees in highly specialized areas of knowledge. When developing services, data center engineers need to focus on less-prepared customers, everything should be simple and clear for customers.
Summarizing the listed tendencies, we can conclude: hosting should perform more and more functions, solve more and more problems of clients, not counting on it for additional funds. It can please both owners and data center employees that the demand for this business under any conditions will be steady for a long time.