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NEWS IN BRIEF
Year of change lays the foundation of 2017 for data centres
2016 was a rollercoaster of a year with new technologies and upsets causing stirs within the market . The year saw the rise of virtual and augmented reality ( VR ) ( AR ) into the mainstream consumer and business market , Brexit and the knock-on impact this has had on business confidence and the ever-growing technologies underpinning the data centre . But what does 2017 hold and how can data centre managers and technology businesses capitalise on these changes ? Colocation provider Aegis Data ’ s CEO , Greg McCulloch takes a look …
Virtual and augmented reality really came into the mainstream in 2016 with the global success of Pokémon GO . Its rise wasn ’ t a smooth journey with delays in the UK due to server overloads causing great angst amongst consumers . The hype surrounding the app opened a whole new market for data centre providers realising the vast opportunities behind the latest mobile craze . Operators with sufficient server capabilities , adequate cooling and high enough power capabilities are in an ideal position to enable game users and developers to provide increasingly sophisticated , data hungry games . Next year is likely to see a slew of new VR and AR games that will be just as data hungry , or more so as the technology develops . Data centre operators that are able to offer substantial power capabilities are set to benefit the most , thanks to their reliability in ensuring consumers are not left with slow games .
“ We saw VR and AR hit the mainstream in 2016 after years of being a fringe technology . 2017 will see the consolidation of this technology and the growth in its availability and detail . The data centre backing these up must be able to take high loads or it will fail , causing the games developers to seek support elsewhere ,” says McCulloch .
Brexit caused uncertainty the world over , politically , economically and socially . While the markets have now levelled , the uncertainty around the negotiating positions of the UK and the EU are causing hold ups in several areas . For the data centre industry , however , the impact to date has been limited . Large technology companies have continued to invest in the UK data centre market . Just recently , IBM confirmed it would build four new data centres in the UK , along with Amazon ’ s commitment to the sector and Equinix ’ s £ 26million expansion of existing sites . Smaller providers are more likely to feel the pinch when Article 50 is finally triggered sometime in the new year and the real negotiations begin , but until the politicians play their hands , much is still unknown – for now it is very much business as normal .
Data centre 2.0 was talking point in 2016 with issues such as high performance computing ( HPC ) the Open Compute Project ( OCP ), hyperconverged infrastructure and software defined data centres ( SDDC ) featuring more heavily amongst providers ’ offerings . The desire to provide faster , more efficient centres to power the data hungry technologies that are coming through are promoting changes to the traditional structure and design of facilities . By offering HPC , data centre operators can provide high power levels typically reserved for research facilities and government organisations , enabling industries such as the gaming sector to be more confident in a sites ability to provide secure power during high demand .
The availability of open source hardware , without the legacy constraints of typical data centre hardware , courtesy of the OPC is enabling data centres to be more efficiently designed . Access to customised server racks that can support higher densities typically seen in HPC helps data centre operators to attract the latest technologies , such as VR and AR developers .
Hardware such as hyperconverged infrastructure is also continuing its rise in the data centre . By combining storage , network and compute infrastructures , typically taking up vast amounts of room within the server rack , data centres can condense their footprints into more manageable , efficient systems . This impacts not only the space within the data centre , but also the cooling requirements and power levels being offered .
Software defined data centres are placing more emphasis on a sites ’ capacity to develop DCIM solutions to manage the data centre 2.0 . A site offering some of the new technologies discussed above needs a robust DCIM offering in place to effectively manage and control all elements of the data centre . As more technologies , whether it be VR , AR , cloud computing or social media , come to rely more heavily on the data centre , effective infrastructure management is vital .
“ Existing technologies like cloud computing and social media are going to continue as they do every year , but will become more reliant on the data centre to support them in their growth . Over 200 million people joined social media platforms between 2015-2016 , there is no reason this is going to stop in 2017 and data centres must be able to provide for this ,” said McCulloch . “ 2017 will see the consolidation of the external technologies deployed in 2016 but also the growth of internal technologies that are resulting in a smarter , more versatile data centre that is being encapsulated in 2.0 ”. n
Staley Technologies cuts costs by more than $ 1 million
Network installation and support company Staley Technologies has cut the cost of equipping their fleet by 68 % by purchasing a combination of IDEAL Networks certifiers and network transmission testers . This equates to a saving of over $ 1 million . The company has reduced the time taken to provide test results by a week , and the amount of equipment needed by half .
Staley Technologies , based in Arkansas , USA , conducts more than 15,000 projects per year ranging from single-site installations to nationwide rollouts on projects like UPS surveys , WLAN designs and CCTV installations . Staley identified the SignalTEK NT transmission tester from IDEAL Networks was able to perform many tasks for which they were currently using certifiers , including wiremapping , link testing , port finding and transmission testing . The SignalTEK NT tester also uniquely works with copper and fibre cabling . Jobs frequently require that technicians travel long distances and transport a large amount of equipment , which means space in the company vans is at a premium . By replacing the equipment in the 197-van fleet with this one compact , easyto-use piece of equipment , it significantly reduced Staley ’ s equipment cost and space restrictions .
“ Having a single , compact , handheld device saves valuable space on board – there is no other transmission tester that we can use for both copper and fibre ,” says John David , Director of Corporate Safety and Training at Staley . “ The device is also small and light , which is much easier to work with .” n
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