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INTERVIEW
What will be the market drivers for the future?
Recent trends have shown that edge will be a key
enabler of 5G, which will mean that more localised micro
data centres will need to be deployed and could become
as normal a as the old red phone boxes you used to see on
every road.
As more companies become focused on energy efficiency
and sustainability, we believe that you’ll see greater
adoption of Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries within UPS
solutions. Use of Li-ion also enables companies to take
advantage of significant savings enabled via lower TCO and
use emerging grid technologies like demand side response
(DSR). As costs increase, especially those associated with
energy, it’s likely that more companies will embrace Li-ion as
to be more environmentally conscious while reducing OPEX.
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Can companies afford to specialise?
Diversification, being able to adapt to and quickly
solve customer challenges in today’s business-critical
environment is, of course, essential, but specialisation is key
to success.
Specialisation in cloud-based software is absolutely
fundamental to the success of the solution, and it’s been a
key enabler for both today’s end-users and channel partners.
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What does the data centre of tomorrow look like?
It’s hard to predict how the data centre of tomorrow
will look, and it depends purely on where you sit within
today’s edge ecosystem. Collaboration will continue to play
a crucial role, as will new and emerging technologies such
as 5G, AI, machine learning and the re-emergence of liquid
cooling.
If you’re a colocation provider, you may be utilising
different cooling technologies as a way to remain energy
efficient and cost competitive. It’s also possible that you
may also consider utilising prefabricated data centre
infrastructure to expand your existing capacity or take a
modular approach to designing and deploying any new data
centre builds, rather than conforming to traditional designs.
One thing is for sure, is that data will continue to be a
high-value commodity so both physical and cybersecurity
will play a crucial role. And with the innovation that
we’re seeing in today’s hyperscale and micro data centre
solutions, anything is possible.
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shift in customer expectations, from where once critical
infrastructure and IT vendors worked in silo, there is now a
requirement for them to work together. This collaboration
has actually been a hugely positive breakthrough.
Edge solutions are standardised, pre-tested and pre-
integrated to meet rapid deployment times, which means
that the infrastructure will work as planned once it reaches
the customer site. Predictability and reliability are crucial for
today’s IT environments.
Where do you see the industry heading in the
future?
We’re already seeing the era of edge come into fruition
and the amount of data being generated shows no signs
of slowing, especially with the discussion around 5G. There
are three key enablers for the edge including remote
management with simplified monitoring, 24/7 visibility and
predictive analytics, greater physical security to prevent
unauthorised access to IT equipment, and rapid deployment
to ensure a standardised and repeatable approach.
In the future, businesses will need to embrace the edge
as an intricate ecosystem made up of localised or on-
premise micro data centres, mid-sized regional facilities and
hyperscale campuses – those used by the Internet giants to
provide large cloud cover and data backup.
One may even argue that edge computing is just the next
evolution of physical infrastructure. So, in order to embrace
digital transformation and adapt to this data-driven
environment, it’s likely that businesses will have to embrace
different components of the edge ecosystem to remain
competitive in their respective markets.
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How is Schneider Electric keeping abreast of
current and future industry developments?
Schneider Electric makes a significant annual investment
into research and development and has a continual focus on
innovation within the critical infrastructure space.
We also have a team of experts in our Data Center
Science Center that focus specifically on research into
established and evolving technologies. Their findings are
frequently published in APC and Schneider Electric White
Papers, and they use the data gathered from research to
create a specialist digital TradeOff tool.
These include a Local Edge Configurator and a Li-ion vs
VRLA capital cost calculator, which customers can use to
build and test solutions or calculate the total cost ownership
(TCO) over the lifecycle. Innovation is at the heart of
everything we do at Schneider Electric and is something that
will never change. n
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