< PreviousTRENDS AND PREDICTIONS www.networkseuropemagazine.com 30Data centres will experience increased regulation and third-party oversight in 2023 as the world continues to grapple with the industry’s rising energy and water consumption against the backdrop of ongoing climate change. The intensified focus on the overall environmental and community impact of the data centre is one of five industry trends for 2023 identified by the global data centre experts at Vertiv, a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions. “The data centre industry is growing rapidly as more and more applications require compute and storage, driving a corresponding rapid increase in energy and water use in data centre facilities. The industry has understood that pursuing energy and water efficiency aggressively is key for future success and survival,” said Giordano Albertazzi, Vertiv COO and President, Americas. “Increased regulation is inevitable and will lead to important innovations across our industry. The process may not always be easy or linear, but it can be navigated with the help of expert data centre partners and innovative solutions that can anticipate the changes while meeting the always increasing requirements of the data centre applications.” The advances in chip design and manufacturing that limited server power consumption through the first decade and a half of the 2000s, reached their limits in recent years, and a spike in the amount of energy servers use has followed. In a recent report, Silicon heatwave: the looming change in data centre climates, the Uptime Institute cited data from the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) that showed server power consumption had increased by 266% since 2017. This surge is among various technical and market forces driving the focus on environmental awareness and sustainability in several of the 2023 trends identified by Vertiv’s experts. Those trends are: Karsten Winther President for Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Vertiv Giordana Albertazzi COO and President Americas Vertiv Energy-use Efficiency Looming Large Managing consumption and carbon footprint, driving trends toward regulation, standardisation and the search for generator alternatives. TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS www.networkseuropemagazine.com 31Data centres face increasing regulation Mounting pressures to meet consumer demand for energy and water are forcing governments at all levels to take a harder look at data centres and their outsized consumption of those resources. Data centres are estimated to be responsible for up to 3% of global electricity consumption today and projected to touch 4% by 2030. The average hyperscale facility consumes 20-50MW annually – theoretically enough electricity to power up to 37,000 homes. Vertiv’s experts expect this to prompt increasing governmental scrutiny in 2023. It’s happening in some places already. Dublin, Ireland and Singapore have taken steps to control data centre energy use and data centre water consumption – especially in areas prone to drought – and is likely to trigger similar scrutiny. According to the US Department of Energy, the water usage effectiveness (WUE) of an average data centre using evaporative cooling systems is 1.8L per kWh. That type of data centre can consume 3-5 million gallons of water per day – similar to the capacity used by a city of 30,000-50,000 people. The industry will continue to take steps to self-monitor and moderate – including an increasing preference for environmentally-friendly thermal designs – but 2023 will see increases in regulatory oversight. Hyperscalers and others shop off the rack According to a recent Omdia survey, 99% of enterprise data centre operators say prefabricated, modular data centre designs will be a part of their future data centre strategy. That’s more than a trend; it’s the new normal. In 2023, Vertiv’s experts anticipate a continuing shift in the same direction among hyperscalers as they seek the speed and efficiency that standardisation delivers. This is a newer concept for the world’s leading cloud providers, and they’re turning to colocation providers – who have been standardising for years – to make it happen. Specifically, those cloud providers are outsourcing their new builds to colos to leverage their in-market expertise, proven repeatability, and speed of deployment. In short order, standardisation – ranging from modular components, such as power and cooling modules and skids, to fully-fledged prefabricated facilities – will become the default approach not just for the enterprise, but also for hyperscale and the edge of the network. Diesel generators see real competition The diesel generator has long been an imperfect but inescapable piece of the data centre ecosystem. It represents stored energy that largely goes unused while still requiring maintenance or fuel replacement after periods of inactivity. Then, when pressed into service, generators produce carbon emissions that operators are desperately trying to avoid. Already, some organisations are relying on batteries for longer load support – up to five minutes in some cases – and even designing their data centres with minimal generator capacity. These are transitional steps to minimise the role of the generator as the industry searches for other options – including new battery technologies – for extended backup power. In 2023, Vertiv’s experts anticipate a preferred alternative will emerge – specifically hydrogen fuel cells. These fuel cells will function much like a generator at first, providing momentary load support, and eventually holding promise for sustained or even continuous operation. TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS www.networkseuropemagazine.com 32 Higher densities alter thermal strategies After years of relatively static rack densities, data centre operators are increasingly requesting higher-density racks. According to the Uptime Institute’s 2022 Global Data Centre Survey, more than a third of data centre operators say their rack densities have rapidly increased in the past three years. This is especially true among larger enterprise and hyperscale data centres, where nearly half of those operating facilities at 10MW and above reported racks above 20kW, and 20% claimed racks higher than 40kW. This is consistent with the maturity of liquid-cooled server technologies and the increasing acceptance and adoption of such technologies. The aforementioned increases in server power consumption are happening because the need to add capacity quickly is growing - challenging operators from all sides. This leaves them little choice but to explore the boundaries of existing facilities by adding computing in tight spaces, increasing rack densities, and creating thermal profiles that require liquid cooling. While liquid cooling is not a new technology, the early wave of successful, efficient, problem- free deployments in high-density environments has provided proof of concept that will boost adoption in the coming year. The addition of direct-to-chip cooling to new OCP and Open19 standards will only accelerate this trend. 5G meets the metaverse at the edge Omdia, in its 2022 Mobile Subscription and Revenue Forecast, projects nearly half of all mobile subscriptions – more than 5.8 billion – to be 5G by 2027, pushing computing closer and closer to the user. The metaverse is an application in search of an ultra-dense, low- latency computing network. In 2023, we’ll see these two activities intersect, with metaverse implementations leveraging 5G networks to enable the ultra-low latency features the application demands. Ultimately, this will require higher powered computing in those 5G edge locations, and we’ll see that happening soon – with early forays in 2023 followed by more widespread deployments in the years after. As the edge of the network becomes more sophisticated, so will the infrastructure needed to support it. This will include technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality planning and management systems, and increased adoption of lithium-ion UPS systems at the edge – an ongoing trend that saw share increase from 2% of sales in August 2021 to 8% in August 2022, according to IDC. “In recent years, sustainability has been the greatest focus area for the data centre industry, and that aligns with the 2023 emphasis on increased regulation from governments, as well as interest in alternative energy sources,” said Karsten Winther, Vertiv President for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). “As we move forward, data centre owners and operators will need to choose an infrastructure solutions partner that is able to advise them on the best practices and technologies to help them meet their ‘net zero’ goals. With greater innovation and industry transformation, particularly in 5G and the metaverse, 2023 will be an exciting year for our customers and industry.” TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS www.networkseuropemagazine.com 33Key Channel Challenges and Opportunities TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS www.networkseuropemagazine.com 34Shoring up security The continued growth in cyberattacks is apparent and shows no sign of slowing down. Compounded with unsteady economic headwinds, each successful and costly cyberattack will prove increasingly devastating as margins tighten. Enterprises will put additional focus, and subsequent investment, into protecting their global infrastructure from asymmetric threats, in the hope of reducing harm when attacks occur and shoring up business resilience. Reseller portfolios need to offer this additional peace of mind. In turn, Zero Trust security principles are going from a period of conceptualisation to implementation, from the abstract to the specific. As Zero Trust grows in importance and delivers tangible value in keeping enterprise networks secure, it will lead to a better understanding of the model among decision-makers. This shared understanding will lead to further, more meaningful implementation through multiple layers of enterprise networks. Zero Trust will become an expectation, not a ‘nice to have’. There is also an unmistakable vulnerability inherent Jon Selway Vice President of Channel Sales in Europe, Africa and the Middle East Aryaka Given the global economy and increasing financial and political tensions, 2023 is set to be a year for embracing change. The UK channel has an incredible ability to influence businesses for the better, adopting an attitude and approach that can adapt to customers’ demands for flexibility, education and reassurance. Here’s how: TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS www.networkseuropemagazine.com 35in the physical assets that make up an organisation's network infrastructure. Initially a stepping stone to a return to the office, hybrid work environments are no longer seen as transitory, but rather expected flexibility to the benefit of both employee and organisation. Organisations are now aware that employees can remain productive working from home, though access to office space is still valuable. Of course, the nature of each company varies greatly. That said, we expect to see hybrid work environments endure. Organisations will need to retain the ability to offer a scalable and secure hybrid offering, rather than a temporary one, with continual investment in technologies that improve the capability, connectivity and security of those working away from the office. And, while not unique to the present moment, recent events have exposed these vulnerabilities to both natural and man-made disasters by way of extreme weather, viral outbreaks, supply chain fragility and escalating state warfare. Enterprises will make major investments in the ability to dynamically relocate physical assets to areas of relative security, in the face of this growing risk. Therefore, partners with global reach will be more influential and sought-after than ever. Differentiation in a competitive market There are a multitude of service providers competing for a piece of the SASE pie, however, they all differ in what they are offering to the market. While enterprises hope to benefit from the true promise of SASE, channel organisations will be faced with the difficult task of assessing SASE providers to determine which ones will meet their customers’ expectations. Considering these challenges, organisations that are most diligent in their search will see the greatest benefits. Resellers who are quick to pull the trigger may find that they, and their customers, don’t get the experience, support or service that they thought they were paying for. There is an emphasis on investment in IT training and education to meet the growing needs throughout the industry, as the talent gap that exists is now undeniable. As such, DIY in-house approaches are becoming increasingly expensive, if not completely unfeasible, for meeting the growing needs of complex networks which require cutting-edge solutions. Given this reality, enterprises will continue to see managed offers more favourably to make up for the lack of in-house talent. In turn, they will lean on MSPs who can prove their quality, ensuring they gain the benefits of complex solutions within their enterprises without the timing, budget, and skills risks that come with implementing them on their own. Furthermore, there will be a renewed focus on addressing potential WAN fragmentation due to political realities, and how to handle end-to-end applications and data, given current and upcoming regulations. Organisations will prioritise working with providers who understand this, as well as their customers’ growing data sovereignty requirements. Making the most of data AI and ML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) are proving to be increasingly reliable and are even surpassing expectations in real-world deployments across industries. The technology will make another major leap next year as mainstream trust and heavier investments from organisations increase. With the talent gap remaining a major obstacle to overcome throughout IT departments, organisations must make the most of the information they can access. Aggregated WAN data gives incredible insights into the traffic patterns and bandwidth of enterprise networks, presenting a key source for overcoming the IT talent gap. Enterprises will leverage this aggregate WAN data in AIOps deployments to automate intensive tasks where possible, optimising network performance and allowing IT teams to focus on more meaningful tasks. To realise these optimisations, customers will begin tearing down their internal silos that inhibit full single- vendor SASE adoption. While networking and security teams have traditionally operated separately, more organisations will move towards convergence. Bringing these “AI and ML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) are proving to be increasingly reliable and are even surpassing expectations in real-world deployments across industries.” TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS www.networkseuropemagazine.com 36functions together will enable organisations to maximise the impact of their existing technology assets, make better decisions informed by data across the entire organisation, and allow their SASE solutions to perform at their best. Digital transformation remains a key goal The dust has far from settled in the sprint for digital transformation among enterprises worldwide. Enterprises have made great strides to transform to meet the fundamental changes in the day-to-day operations of their workforces, as well as the world around them. While the pandemic put the need for digital transformation front and centre for decision-makers, it is apparent that digital transformation is a never-ending process. Enterprises will continue to closely evaluate different models of operation for their organisations and will ultimately adopt the technologies that facilitate this transformation most seamlessly. Demand for SASE, especially single-vendor SASE, will continue to increase as organisations look to consolidate vendors and prioritise secure technology investments. However, experience will vary as many vendors market their SSE solutions as SASE solutions. In 2023, this discrepancy will emerge more fully, and customers will seek out solutions that truly fit the definition of SASE. In tumultuous times, the ability of organisations to predict the future of the market decreases, while the need for adapting and reacting increases. The uncertainty of what 2023 may bring is disconcerting but recognisable at this point. The future will show that those organisations that remain nimble, grant room for pivoting, and adopt an attitude and approach that emphasises adaptability, will be positioned to succeed through these uncertain times. TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS www.networkseuropemagazine.com 37TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS www.networkseuropemagazine.com 38FTTx: powerful demand and tech convergence will keep driving fibre Demand for fibre cable will continue as AltNets and incumbents keep investing, with government support widely available. The FTTH market will grow and we’re seeing a fast-increasing need for fibre to the antenna, small cells and macro cells, smart homes, offices and cities. Fortunately, these applications don't all require discrete networks – increasing convergence will deliver important synergy gains… FTTH and 5G for example, can share network infrastructure to increase efficiency and realise cost improvements in the coming years. A 2019 FTTH Council Europe study shows that anticipating a Fibre to 5G Antenna/base station (FTT5G) network while planning for a FTTH network can deliver savings between 65% and 96%. Upcoming 6G and WiFi 7 will further push bandwidth demands. Smart city infrastructure, with countless IP-equipped devices that need extremely low latency, will become an increasingly significant driver. Data volumes and latency demands are constantly increasing as a result of the growth of digitalisation and urbanisation. In line with the convergence trend described previously, wireless and wired networks, FTTA and FTTH, traffic regulation, urban infrastructure management and monitoring networks can best be supported with a city-wide, application- independent Universal Fibre Grid. Infrastructure requirements and functions can be bundled in the planning phases to support economies of scale and avoid unnecessary and costly work, and infrastructure costs. Aerial networks’ potential 2.5x faster rollout speed using existing telephone or electricity poles can also help accelerate deployment while keeping down deployment costs in today’s environment, in which both skilled labour and rural area investments are lacking. Aerial cabling offers an attractive CAPEX/ OPEX ratio and lower cost, and easier, more cost-effective planning permission, civil works, maintenance and repairs. This requires pre-terminated solutions that don’t require special tools and training. Aerial solutions can play a very important role in connecting countless 5G access points, or ‘small cells’, to fibre broadband networks in areas with low population density and very little existing infrastructure. Andreas Rüsseler CMO R&M FTTx and LAN 2023 Trends TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS www.networkseuropemagazine.com 39Next >