What Will the Data Center of 2025 Look Like?

Damion Lackamp
May 12, 2014

A new report from Emerson Network Power is making the rounds, and it’s doing something very exciting: envisioning the data center ecosystem of 2025. As Emerson notes, “the only certainty in computing is that change is coming.” But what does that mean for the future of the data center?

As Computer World notes, the report highlights three major findings that signal big changes ahead for data centers:

• By 2025, data center managers expect nearly 25% of their power will come from solar energy, which today accounts for about 1% of a data center's energy supply.
• In 10 years, nearly three-quarters of the respondents believe that at least 60% of computing will be cloud based.
• Finally, 58% of managers expect data centers will be smaller in 10 years:
  30% predicted they'll be one-half the size of today's data center, 18%, one-fifth the size, and 10%, one-tenth the size.

Other key findings include survey participants not envisioning radical changes to data center thermal management—forty-one percent expect a combination of air and liquid to continue to be the primary method of data center cooling. Additionally, “experts predict power density in 2025 will climb to 52 kilowatts per rack.”

All-in-all, if the report from Emerson signals one thing, it’s that big changes are ahead in the world of data center services and management. With data centers getting smaller, more efficient and advanced, and more eco-friendly and sustainable, it’s looking like the data center of the future may be very different than even the data centers we see today.

Change may be coming, but here at Telx, we’re staying ahead of the curve. While all of our data centers offer industry-leading technology, new data centers like NJR3 are truly state of the art. NJR3 incorporates many innovative solutions, from elevating desks so staff can stand if desired, to Snap Glass for privacy in all offices, conference rooms, and command centers, to gas protection so that gas can’t flow under doors, and even to motion-activated, low-power lighting to conserve energy across our facilities. From the ground up, NJR3 was built to be state of the art, and is one of the most technologically advanced data centers around.

Our commitment to staying ahead of the curve will only continue as we move forward into the future, and can’t wait to see what the future of data centers holds.

Want to learn more about Telx’s industry-leading data centers, and what we’re doing to keep our data centers on the cutting edge? Reach out to us via the contact page of our site, or by Facebook or Twitter and let us know!