By: Nikhil Rathi, Founder & CEO of Web Werks
Whether it’s video conferencing, collaboration tools, streaming, gaming or ridesharing, today’s modern applications are increasingly designed for automated and elastic deployment at the edge. In 2022, edge-first deployments will continue to gain traction, as will a wave of technology innovations across the infrastructure stack to address the increasing complexity of reliably scaling and orchestrating distributed infrastructure at the edge. Nikhil Rathi, Founder & CEO of Web Werks, has listed a few trends that will mold the data center and cloud engineering space in 2022, in terms of infrastructure, demand and government policies.
Infrastructure
Ultra-scalable Technology
Today, data centers experience dramatically varying demands for computing power. The answer to that challenge is ultra-scalable technology that allows them to scale up or down depending on the amount of processing power required. Dubbed hyper-scale data centers, these facilities offer outstanding capabilities to handle seasonal computing demands. Edge data centres or edge interconnection will be more prevalent as edge locations are experiencing high consumption and creation of data at an increasing rate leading to decentralized computing.
5G to become a major part of business’ infrastructural development
As 5G is coming into the picture, enterprises can leverage for their IT environments that are close to the 5G access points. 5G will become wireless and it will be a major part of business’ infrastructural development. 5G will provide wider coverage, greater reliability, higher bandwidth, and improved security as an access network. This will open up new opportunities and possibilities for robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles, telemedicine, and tactile internet, among others.
Sustainable and green data centres
Sustainable and green data centres is predicted to be a trend in the coming days with renewable energy and carbon neutrality. 2022 may witness an increase in sustainable data centres. By 2030, several operators promise to run their data centers on 100% renewable energy and carbon neutrality. In 2021, data centers are positioned to have a strong impact on the environment, given the growth of the digital economy. In 2022, we expect to see a significant increase in “grid-and-sustainability”-positive data center projects. The next generation of data centers will be decentralized and integrated into communities, serving as resilient ecosystems for computing, connectivity, power and heat.
Service-specific geographic zones
Cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata are likely to experience an influx of data centre infrastructure as per Cushman and Wakefield. Cities such as Pune, Gurgaon, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Kochi and Jaipur, particularly, are also likely to witness the completion of edge DCs during 2021-23, on the back of their ability to service-specific geographic zones.
Big Data and cloud computing becoming more mainstream
With tech such as AI, IoT, Machine Learning, Big Data and cloud computing becoming more mainstream, DC developers are increasingly redesigning their offerings with an aim to incorporate edge computing so as to process data as close to their end-users as possible.
Demand
New business models are likely to emerge
New business models are likely to emerge including colocation services, pay-per-use utility model, built to suit, etc. Location and design, easy scalability, security, infrastructure, sustainable practices and reliable partner are the key determinants for Data Centre demand. In India, a captive Data Centre still has the highest market share however colocation service model is witnessing tremendous growth and is soon expected to be almost equal to captive.
Hybridization & RIM
You’ll see fewer and fewer organizations using purely on-premises or purely public networks because the blended capabilities that hybridization offers are simply too compelling to pass up. Capabilities like security and control are at the top of the list, particularly in comparison to the public cloud. Cloud can be public, private, or a combination of both with a “hybrid” approach. Each “type” of cloud is necessary, but for very different reasons: private cloud for steady workloads and those with specific compliance needs, public cloud for variable workloads to leverage efficiencies, and SaaS for specific supporting functions. Digital Transformation is being built on hybrid cloud architectures as organizations increasingly depend upon distributed IT resources, including multi-cloud, edge, and cloud-adjacent storage. Each of these is location-sensitive and will perform best in low-latency and secure environments. Developing an agile, resilient, and distributed approach requires mastering connectivity and having enough network bandwidth. One of the most recent and important developments coming out due to Covid-19 in Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM), which allows companies to manage their IT infrastructure remotely in portions or entirely. Remote monitoring of security and network services, desktop administration, database, and server management are all part of RIM.
Cloud Native Infrastructure and Technologies
Cloud Native Infrastructure and technologies will be trending in the next year as workloads are shifting completely to cloud with new paradigms especially hybrid cloud. Cloud-native technologies will become more prevalent and accelerated in 2021 across virtually every layer of the infrastructure stack, as well as digital infrastructure orchestration from the edge to the multicloud. According to Deloitte, virtually all (97%) IT managers are planning to take a best-of-breed approach by distributing workloads across two or more clouds to boost resilience and support regulatory requirements.
Fate of Digital Transformation
IDC predicts that by 2022, the economy will remain on its digital destiny with 65% of global GDP digitalized, driven by that expected $6.8 trillion of direct DX (Digital Transformation) investments for 2020–2023. Products, service, and experiences that are improved through digitally enhanced features and functions are much more desirable to markets and consumers. By 2023, direct digital technology investments are expected to be over 53% of all ICT investments. In contrast, nondigital ICT technology investments are contracting by 1.4% over this same period as more and more companies accelerate their digital transformation capability buildouts.
Government Policies
Given the country’s rich network connectivity, cost advantage, availability of skilled labour, low climate risk and strong data protection laws, India is well-positioned to serve as a regional Data Centre hub in Asia and likely to attract significant Data Centre investments. We expect demand for Data Centre space requirement to increase by around 15- 18 million sq. ft. across the major cities in the next 4-5 years.
An ambitious incentive scheme worth up to ₹12,000 crore is in the works to encourage companies to set up data centres in the country. The government is targeting an investment of ₹3 lakh crore in the next five years as part of the hyperscale data centre scheme and is planning to provide between 3% and 4% of capital investment as an incentive to companies, along with real estate support and faster clearances. Government officials said the vision is to “make India a global data centre hub” and termed the scheme’s target as the largest so far in terms of expected investment in the country over a period of just five years.
