Top 10: Characteristics of Data Centres (Revisited)
The year 2024 has caused the data centre industry to evolve at a remarkable pace, with the global AI boom expected to triple EU data centre energy use by 2030.
Such swelling demand from customers has hit data centre operators like never before, as more demand creates more energy use which creates larger levels of carbon emissions and water use. It is therefore safe to say that the industry has continued to change in recent years and will only keep evolving as technology becomes even more embedded into our everyday lives.
With this in mind, Data Centre Magazine revisits its 2021 article, Top 10 Characteristics of Data Centres in 2025, with insights provided by Huawei, to see if its predictions ring true as we approach 2025 itself.
10. Trust
Prediction: Cyber threats against data centres will increase
The data centre cybersecurity landscape continues to fall more into public consciousness, particularly within regions that have suffered breaches. Following the June 2024 ransomware attack on an Indonesian national data centre, with malicious actors threatening to extort US$8m as a ransom, cybersecurity experts are urging data centre leaders to exercise extreme caution.
Nations around the world are now starting to take measures to protect their data, which includes the UK recently classing data centres as critical national infrastructure to keep them safe from threat actors.
9. Dynamic Efficiency Measurement
Prediction: Operators being ‘holistic’ when driving down energy consumption
2024 has seen a dramatic increase in demand for more efficient data centres, particularly as disruptive technologies are demanding more power. As these facilities remain responsible for significant levels of global energy consumption, there has been a significant drive to ensure their energy usage meets demand in a sustainable way.
In order to achieve net zero emissions targets, for example, leading data centre operators have made significant investments in energy efficiency measures.
A webinar with Data Centre Magazine, Unlocking Untapped Energy Savings in Your Data Center: How to Reduce Server Power Usage by 30+% and Slash Costs will take place from 3pm GMT on Thursday, 21 November.
8. Liquid and Air Cooling
Prediction: Liquid cooling systems will become more preferable for data centre operators
Indeed, liquid cooling solutions have become more of a priority for data centres, who are opting for the technology over traditional air cooling to cool systems more effectively and sustainably. As AI workloads intensify, liquid cooling is much better-placed to manage the heat generated by central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs).
Newer liquid cooling solutions are able to offer significant solutions for businesses looking to address environmental and demand concerns. Using these methods, businesses can increase both their Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and rack density.
7. The Shift towards Lithium Ion Batteries
Prediction: Market adoption of lithium ion batteries will spike
For some time now, there has been an industry shift from lead acid batteries towards lithium ion batteries in data centre power architectures. Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have grown in popularity, particularly as backup energy storage in data centres due to significant improvements in their performance, lifespan and energy density.
Some of the benefits that li-ion batteries can afford data centres include uninterrupted power supply, lower costs and improved uptime. They also take up less space and need replacing less often.
However, li-ion batteries are vulnerable to fires due to thermal runaways, which is a new type of risk that the data centre industry must account for.
6. Modular Design
Prediction: Modular design will evolve from component modularisation to architecture modularisation and equipment room modularisation
Modular data centres use advanced cooling and power management technologies. This type of design is valuable because it can maximise energy efficiency, whilst enabling more rapid deployment and greater computing density.
This type of data centre has been used in recent years to help organisations upgrade existing data centre infrastructure with IT, electrical and mechanical units. As a result, modular facilities can offer greater energy efficiency than traditional data centres, with the market anticipated to reach US$81.2bn by 2030.
5. AI-Enabled Digitalisation
Prediction: AI and IoT trends to climax
The data centre industry continues to boom, with global surges in AI and machine learning contributing to rapid industry growth and a surge in global emissions. According to a recent survey by Turner & Townsend, 92% of those surveyed see AI as the technology that will have the most significant impact on data centre operations in the next 3-5 years.
AI has led to a ‘new era’ in data centre design and operation, with businesses continuing the AI race to capitalise on the technology. Its capital expenditures now exceed US$300bn, according to Forbes, with the technology accounting for 20% of all new data centre demand.
4. The ‘Quick’ Boom
Prediction: Data centres will take approximately six months to complete
Whilst six months may still be ambitious for data centre construction, the industry continues to surge, as the demand for data processing and storage increases. Whilst operators want to make sure their data centres are growing faster than ever before, there are difficulties emerging over securing data centre capacity, low supply and construction delays impacting the market.
Likewise, rising construction costs amid record-high construction levels is raising inevitable questions over the market’s ability to sustain its current growth and meet future demand.
3. Sustainability
Prediction: Power consumption could rise to 1000TWh in some data centres
In 2021, it was estimated that data centres accounted for roughly 3% of the world’s total energy consumption. In 2024, this was put at 4%, alongside 1% of global greenhouse emissions, highlighting the urgent need for data centre sustainability.
The environmental impact of data centres remains significant, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicting earlier in 2024 that data centre consumption could double to more than 1,000 TWh by 2026 - equivalent to the amount of electricity that Japan uses in one year.
As a result, the industry is having to take a hard look at itself to ensure continued innovation does not drive up total energy use.
2. Scalability
Prediction: The difference between a data centre lifecycle and longevity of IT infrastructure will get bigger
The scalability of data centre equipment including cooling, power, and protection will continue to be a key future consideration, particularly as the industry becomes more digitally engaged. In order to keep progressing into 2025, new data centres must be built with scalability in mind in order to accommodate the latest technology.
This is particularly the case with data centre infrastructure, which will need to be built in a future-proof way in order to maximise success.
1. Ultra-High Density
Prediction: There will be a dramatic increase in hardware density to support AI/HPC
Hardware density data centres, which are designed to pack more computing power into a smaller footprint, have continued to increase - which is necessary in order to keep pace with increasingly complex IT workloads (ie. AI and HPC).
A 2024 report by AFCOM revealed that rack density within data centres has doubled, with respondents to the survey indicating that they are actively working to increase their rack density by improving airflow and adopting liquid cooling solutions.
However, despite this increase, rack density is still inefficient to support AI and other high-density architectures. By adopting measures like liquid cooling and renewables, the data centre industry stands to be even more innovative moving forward.
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