During 2023, the most significant events for the sector were without doubt the emergence and rapid proliferation of Generative AI, plus the associated power demands along with the publications of the European Commission CSRD and EED requirements documents. These will both have long-term impacts and continue to influence the sector throughout 2024 and beyond.
The focus on ESG and sustainability generally will continue to grow throughout 2024 and beyond, with sustainability frameworks relating to digital infrastructure becoming increasingly developed and adopted. Alongside the focus on ESG and sustainability, Future-tech’s Head of Technical Due Diligence Mark Acton, shares his top 10 predictions for 2024.
1. #EED & #CSRD reporting requirements
New #EED and #CSRD reporting requirements will come into force during 2024, which will promote significant discussions within the European Union and beyond.
Sustainability frameworks and compliance are already being discussed by many within the data centre sector.
2. Complying with ESG reporting
Interest in #DCIM and #BMS systems capable of complying with ESG reporting requirements will rise significantly!
These will become increasingly valued and important as the human resource burden associated with demanding sustainability and energy efficiency reporting rises dramatically.
3. Use of #AI & #ML
There will be an increasing use of #AI and #ML in data centre operations and particularly for energy efficiency improvements this year.
However, this will not be to replace people, but rather help to better predict and manage the systems supporting data centre services, and supply the accurate information that is increasingly being required for performance optimision and ESG related compliance.
This will enable the move to tools offering more than basic alerting to those that enable true energy efficiency and resource optimisation alongside the provision of useful management information. Those tools already using #AI and #ML will be in the ascendency.
4. Powering data centres in traditional markets
Lack of power availability in traditional Tier 1 (FLAP-D) markets will drive the discussions around alternative power provisioning, as well as provide impetus for the continued growth and development of Tier 2 and 3 markets during 2024.
5. Cabinet power density growth
As seen by the release of the Nvidia GH200 Grace Hopper chipset, there will be a genuine growth in cabinet power densities based on #HPC and #AI workloads, and an increasing power consumption by large GPU-based chipsets.
6. Repurposing crypto mining sites
During 2024, crypto mining sites will continue to be re-purposed as data centre colocation sites for non-latency dependent #HPC and #AI workloads.
7. Latency & Locations
The importance of latency will increasingly be called out as a myth for many applications, which will lead to different location options for some elements of service, especially for those regions that offer cheap renewable power and cooler climates helping to reduce cooling power consumption.
This will result in the continued rise of the Nordics in Europe as a choice data centre location.
8. Water usage
The focus on water usage will continue to increase this year, albeit with more sense being applied to consider the type of water being used, and only questioning the use of evaporative cooling in areas where water resources are limited.
9. IT stack efficiency
There will be an increasing focus on the energy efficiency of the IT stack (including software), rather than merely the building and the associated uptake of tools to both report on, and manage, in this area.
10. A rise of private & hybrid cloud
Dissatisfaction with Public Cloud platforms will increase due to costs, concerns over loss of control, and the lack of transparency and honesty concerning energy usage and sustainability.
In 2024, this will lead to an increase in the use of Private Cloud and hybrid solutions.
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Out of Mark’s top 10 data centre predictions, which ones do you think will come true? We’ll find out as 2024 unfolds!
If you need expert data centre advice or services, contact the Future-tech team today – we’re here to ensure your data centre is operating at its very best capacity.