What Data Centers Have to Face in 2025
January 6, 2025 - R&M | Reichle & De-Massari AG |
Written by Carsten Ludwig, Market Manager Data Center
Navigating innovations
The data center industry is driven by the demand for more computing power, improved sustainability, and support for innovative technologies such as AI and edge computing. We would like to share some insights from our annual review of technology and market developments.
The rapid digitalization of processes and services of enterprises and organizations will continue to generate unprecedented amounts of data in 2025 and beyond. This data is putting pressure on traditional infrastructures in the data market, especially in data centers. Data centers have to simultaneously transport, process, analyze, and store growing amounts of information.
This has consequences for architecture, infrastructure, configurators and connectivity. Demand is driving the development of (smaller) high-performance computing units with expanded capabilities. At the same time, data centers must address urgent tasks related to packing density, system overview, latency, thermal management, real-time monitoring of systems and performance, and efficient configuration.
Connectivity is being put to the test in the face of rising demand and complexity. Solutions that were previously considered future-proof will have to face new and rapidly changing challenges from 2025 onward. And, at the same time, seamless data processing, security, and operating performance should be ensured across all applications.
Anyone who thinks about network and connectivity solutions today must also enable even higher capacity and efficiency, while at the same time improving reliability and simplifying maintenance. Valuable space in computer halls and racks must be used even more efficiently as the density of infrastructures and devices increases.
This is why data centers have to look for intelligent migration paths. Criteria such as splice-free connections, Very Small Form Factor connectors, ribbon fibers with a thickness of only 82 microns, high-density platforms, as well as asset monitoring and management are of critical importance. Pre-configured cabinets that are already equipped with power supply, cooling, security features and connectivity could be a solution and simplify the journey. They enable modular concepts.
Ready for AI and the edge
Where AI applications are moving into data centers – a trend that will continue to increase dramatically in 2025 – infrastructure requirements are changing rapidly. Data-intensive processes such as machine learning (ML), large language models (LLM), autonomous driving, data mining, modeling, and visualization require high-performance computers close to the action. Higher computing power means higher power densities, which leads to higher cooling requirements.
Innovative data-intensive applications often require a step beyond traditional cloud infrastructures. It’s about considering latency, efficiency, costs, and security. Present data center concepts are being challenged. Today’s planning has to cope with tomorrow’s setups.
A McKinsey survey from early 2024 underscores how urgent the whole thing is. According to the report, 72 % of enterprises have already integrated AI into at least one business function, which is a remarkable increase in comparison to previous years*.
Edge data centers represent an alternative in the context of AI growth. MarketsandMarkets predicts that the edge computing market will grow from USD 60.0 billion in 2024 to USD 110.6 billion in 2029**.
They offer local computing power that enables real-time AI-driven decisions. IoT devices can be more closely integrated into edge data centers. Control over the data can be strengthened. With their remote architecture, edge data centers offer low latency and fast data processing, making them ideal for AI workloads.
Observing requirements
Edge data centers place their own unique demands on planners and operators. Planning an edge AI solution involves specific considerations such as location selection, the service life of the infrastructure, security, stability of networks and power supply, remote management, and autonomous operation. They must be seen as an architecture for the individual use case.
Edge solutions should be designed in a modular, flexible, and scalable manner so that they can meet different requirements. They should support remote monitoring and predictive maintenance. It must be possible in all circumstances to maximize their power and prevent interruptions.
Conventional air cooling may be insufficient. This means that advanced solutions such as liquid and hybrid cooling have to be taken into consideration. This will be the case when the electrical power per rack exceeds the significant threshold of 30 kW.
Taking hybrid paths
Some other trend topics that will play a prominent role in 2025 and beyond are worth noting: 5G, IoT (Internet of Things), and hybridization.
The innovative 5G services are among the data-intensive applications that stimulate edge computing and present data center providers with new challenges. At the edge, the required low latency and high transmission rates can be achieved more reliably than in the cloud.
The Internet of Things is forcing action. It requires data centers to increase their storage capacity and develop more efficient data processing functions.
Data centers themselves will develop certain approaches or use them more intensively to manage data and gain insights from them. To this end, they are increasingly relying on AI, ML, automation, and orchestration. In the future, there will be more and more complex AI applications that require a hybrid data center infrastructure with edge, on-prem, and cloud capabilities.
Using power more efficiently
As power consumption is increasing due to the need for data storage and computing performance, sustainability is more important than ever. Newer data centers are designed with energy efficiency in mind. They integrate liquid cooling systems. They rely on advanced grid structures. And they use more compact optical switches to improve connectivity.
For data centers, government sustainability standards are no longer optional, but rather an important operational objective. Public energy efficiency targets are driving infrastructure investment and upgrades across the industry.
Goldman Sachs predicts that by the end of the decade, data center power demand could grow by 160 % and account for 3 % to 4 % of global power demand by 2030***.
Initial AI-based operating models and their management tools could help reduce energy consumption by 20 % to 40 % for individual technologies, such as cooling. However, according to the present Uptime studies, AI tools for operational efficiency are losing the trust of plant managers. But just like the hype surrounding AI in general, the industry also needs to remain professional when it comes to power and operational efficiency. Then it can take the next big steps to improve data center operations.
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