Data centers have long maintained high availability standards, but their shift towards becoming comparable to utility companies will be significant in two ways. First, these high expectations for network availability will extend to rural and remote areas, bringing mission-critical applications to a larger segment of the population. This will increase the pressure on data centers to maintain connectivity even at the edges of their networks. Second, the distinction between availability and connectivity will blur, as the ability to guarantee and secure connections across increasingly distributed hybrid networks becomes as critical a requirement as any traditional measure of data center uptime.

“Data centers have been acquiring utility-like status for some time, but the pandemic has made it clear that we need to put in place the kinds of official safeguards that are common in other utility companies,” said Gary Niederpruem, director of strategy and development at Vertiv. “It’s not just about remote work, although that’s part of it. More importantly, it’s about supporting the digital economy in its most critical forms, including increased reliance on telemedicine and healthcare, streamlined e-commerce, and global mass media and telecommunications.”.

The pandemic effectively established a new benchmark for digital infrastructure as the sector adapts and eventually emerges from global lockdowns. In this context, Vertiv experts identified several emerging trends to watch closely in 2021. These are outlined below:

- Full-speed digitization: COVID-19 will have a lasting effect on workforces and the IT ecosystem that supports the new remote work model. Vertiv experts expect pandemic-driven investment in IT infrastructure to continue and expand, enabling more secure, reliable, and efficient remote work capabilities. Remote visibility and management will be critical to the success of these remote work models. Remote service capabilities have already emerged to minimize the need for on-site service visits, and these practices are likely to remain with us long after the pandemic. Any prudent measures taken early in the crisis will accelerate as the pandemic deepens into 2021 and organizations embrace these changes not as a temporary detour, but rather as a permanent adjustment to how we work and do business. Over time, what is done in person versus what is done remotely will change, and this shift will be driven by customers seeking to minimize their on-site presence. This prioritizes connectivity, remote monitoring, data analysis, and even artificial intelligence for decision-making.

"Recovery requires a change in mindset for most organizations," observed John-David Lovelock, vice president of analytics at Gartner, in a recent statement. "There's no going back. A forward-focused readjustment is necessary.".

- Bringing the capabilities of large data centers to smaller spaces and the edge: The edge is now more critical and complex, functionally an extension of the data center, rather than the traditional server rack of the past. Cost and complexity have hindered the deployment of data center best practices in these spaces, but this is changing. Vertiv experts anticipate a continued focus on bringing hyperscale and enterprise-level capabilities to these distributed locations. This includes greater intelligence and control, a greater emphasis on availability and thermal management, and increased attention to energy efficiency across all systems.

“Wherever there is high data processing density, there will be demand for edge computing. That demand, and the scale, will require a more resilient and intelligent edge computing infrastructure,” commented Giordano Albertazzi, President of Vertiv in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). “We are witnessing the expansion of edge computing in many countries, and this will eventually extend to emerging markets. Edge computing deployments are also closely aligned with other key trends such as 5G and environmental sustainability, and the integration of distributed locations with energy grids can accelerate the transition to renewable energy.”.

The 5G debate is focused on energy consumption and efficiency: In this initial planning and launch phase of 5G, the analysis has unsurprisingly focused on the technology's ultimate benefits—greater bandwidth and lower latency—and the applications it will enable. However, as many countries begin their 5G rollout in 2021, and pioneers start to expand its reach and scale, attention will shift to the significant increases in energy consumption caused by 5G and to strategies for a more efficient and effective deployment. The network densification required to fully realize the promise of 5G inevitably adds to the increased energy demand, estimated to be 3.5 times higher than for 4G. Next year will see increased attention paid to managing this significant increase in energy consumption by exploring more efficient products and practices.

Sustainability takes center stage: 5G is just one element of a broader sustainability trend. As the proliferation of data centers continues and even accelerates, especially at hyperscale, cloud and colocation providers face increased scrutiny for their energy and water usage. The intensifying conversation about climate change and the shift in political direction in the US and globally will only increase the focus on the data center segment, which accounts for approximately 1% of global energy consumption . Next year, we will see a wave of energy-efficiency-focused innovation across the entire data center ecosystem. The benefits for data center operators are clear, starting with cost reductions, compliance with existing and anticipated regulations, and the goodwill associated with establishing a leadership position in the global sustainability movement. We will focus on the significant innovations in the data center infrastructure segment, particularly in the area of ​​thermal management.