AFCOM, the membership association for data center professionals, and Data Center World will reveal the results of its fifth annual State of the Data Center Industry research report during a virtual event on May 13. The report will show that cloud computing usage is shifting dramatically toward a hybrid approach, jumping 26% in one year and that the increase in data center density is outpacing new data center growth.
Security remains a top concern
The comprehensive report, conducted by AFCOM and Data Center World, surveyed data center professionals to determine implementation trends and buying patterns in such areas as servers, cooling, edge computing, storage, DCIM, and security.
Key highlights of the report include:
- More than 40% of respondents said they’d be deploying robotics and automation for data center monitoring and maintenance over the next three years
- Up to 62% of those surveyed said they are all set for new data center space for the next three years and will focus more on increasing the density of the racks they have
- Colocation and private data centers are benefiting from a shift away from public cloud options, as 58% report such a move
- Almost three in four companies (72%) report they are implementing or expanding their diversity, equality, or inclusion programs
- Security remains a top concern as many focus on securing their environment from outside human threats, ransomware (59%), and persistent DDoS attacks (34%). Further, respondents are now looking at zero trust to truly create perimeter-less security models.
Bill Kleyman, the author of the report, contributing editor to AFCOM and Data Center World and Executive Vice President of Digital Solutions for Switch, will keynote the virtual event and will provide detail and context of the report’s findings. It will be followed by a panel discussion by distinguished members of AFCOM’s Data Center Institute who will provide attendees with practical advice on how to interpret the report and prepare their data centers for the coming trends.