With modern business defined by data and by connectivity, tomorrow’s data centre will bear little resemblance to today’s models.

What we currently think of as a data centre is being superseded by next-gen digital infrastructure architecture: global in scale and defined by the business services it delivers and the user/consumer requirements that it satisfies. According to a recent Gartner, Inc. report, infrastructure and operations people tasked with data centres will have to focus on “enabling rapid deployment of business services and deploying workloads to the right locations, for the right reasons, at the right price”.

These super-charged requirements, and that unstoppable focus on data, mean the most robust, reliable and flexible infrastructure – physical, electrical and network – will be paramount. Gartner also added that, by 2025, eighty percent of enterprises will have shut down their traditional data centre versus ten percent today. The key word is “traditional”.

With the rise of next-gen digital infrastructure architecture, workload placement becomes a critical driver of successful digital delivery. That, in turn, is underpinned by performance, availability, latency, scalability, and so on. Indeed, Gartner suggests an “ecosystem” is required to enable “scalable, agile infrastructures”.

What’s the best way to engage with this era of digital transformation, interconnect services, cloud, edge services and Internet of Things (IoT) if you’re planning or preparing to replace your data centre? The optimum digital infrastructure architecture (aka modern data centre) to meet requirements for the next five, ten or 15 years will, as ever, depend on each organisation’s priorities. There’s no simple answer. For some, a major step will be to ensure the strongest physical foundations including cabling, pathways and security. Many organisations will need an effective way to “bridge the gap” from old-world data centre and stacks into converged networks and infrastructure. At the same time, data centre infrastructure management tools can help improve energy efficiency and reduce costs. Perhaps a through line in all situations is ensuring the right connectivity solutions: to increase network throughput, reduce latency, improve agility, ensure scalability, and so on. That way, you’re not only ready for opportunities presented by the Internet of Things – you’ll be ready for the Internet of Everything.

To learn more about ensuring you have the right connectivity solutions at your core, read the report: https://pages.panduit.com/finance-all.html