Reducing the Risk of Change in the Data Center Industry

A new white paper from Future Facilities explores how embracing change can ultimately reduce the risks of change in the data center industry.

Get the full report.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IOT), and Virtual Reality (VR) are driving tremendous change in the data center industry, according to a new white paper from Future Facilities. These new technologies “are creating increasingly compute-intensive workloads and, in turn, rising power density per rack.” Change is also disrupting the industry as operators grapple with growing number, severity, and frequency of data center outages.

Future Facilities assembled a panel of thermal and operational experts to discuss not only the unprecedented changes and challenges facing the industry, but how they’re overcoming them. Panelists featured in the paper include data center professionals from Kaiser Permanente, Vertiv, Nvidia, Switch, and Binghamton University

First, the panelists discuss the role that new applications are playing in evolving the data center industry. While these new applications can drive new solutions, they also introduce new complications for operators. “The sheer amount of data that Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and automation introduce requires more powerful, high-performance systems.”

“While the benefits that new applications bring are clear, that is more data-driven, powerful decision-making systems, it is also evident that the pressure ultimately falls on digital infrastructure to perform in new ways and support new thermal loads.” – Future Facilities, “Data Center Solutions: Reducing the Risk of Change“

Next, the panelists discuss the need to integrate new cooling technology to accommodate evolving thermal requirements. “Data centers must be capable of providing the right thermal loads to host high-density equipment.” Many data centers are turning to liquid cooling as a solution, according to the paper.

The panelists also discuss the complexities of implementing change in data center operations “while keeping the business cost to a minimum.”

Finally, the panelists share insights as to why simulation software is a powerful design tool. They cite speed and agility as key benefits, as well as the ability to overcome the “complexities of data center design and operations.”