Network Communications News (NCN) May 2016 | Page 10

COLUMN

talking point

Reality check
Greg McCulloch of Aegis Data ponders whether data centres can help make virtual become a reality?

T

here’s no escaping it – discussions
surrounding virtual reality (VR)
are everywhere and it shows no
sign of slowing down. At this
year’s Mobile World Congress
(MWC), VR was one of the
hot topics as exhibitors were
eager to showcase the potential of
their latest technologies in benefiting
the experience of both consumers
and organisations alike. Aside from
Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus Rift,
PlayStation’s Morpheus, and Google’s
Cardboard, mobile developers such
as Samsung have released their
latest S7 device in conjunction with
its VR headset. HTC also preferred to
announce its Vive VR headset instead
of launching a new flagship phone – an
uncommon tactic at MWC, but one
further highlighting the increasing trend
to ride the VR wave.
The potential for VR is not
overestimated, as research from
TrendForce suggests that the market
will reach $6.7bn in 2016, and
potentially skyrocket to $70bn by 2020,
attracting a new generation of gamers,
applications and enterprises. While
the gaming industry will be the initial
benefiter, the technology will quickly
encapsulate other industries, including
entertainment, healthcare, military
services, machinery, manufacturing
and aerospace. Additionally, VR’s
ability to provide simulation testing will
lead to organisations being afforded
more opportunities to trial a service
before deploying fully, contributing to
significant cost savings for a business.
While the opportunities for VR are
significant, it is critical to realise that
in order to support this an effective
infrastructure will need to be in placed.
In light of this the data centre industry is
arguably best placed to benefit from this
flourishing market.
Data centres are already a proven
solution in responding to the latest
technological demands. As seen with
the rise of streaming services, online
gaming and increased IoT applications,
data centres have effectively supported
the copious amounts of data, which are
now being generated by organisations

of all shapes and sizes. Additionally,
with rent for data centres being 3040 per cent cheaper in the previous
year, it seems highly likely that data
centres will continue to provide a cost
effective and viable solution, allowing
organisations to transfer from a capex
to an opex model.
Despite many organisations
transferring their data to cloud based
technologies, many cloud providers
still host much of their services within
data centres. For an intensively high
applications such as VR, operators
must ensure contingency measures
are factored in. This will include
preventing loss of speed, connectivity
and most crucially, data. Data centres
are able to offer additional security
layers via H[\[Y[