Forecast For Data Center Development In 2024: Three Major Trends Stand Out
Whether it is everyday apps such as mobile banking and social media, or cutting-edge emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and immersive gaming, the data center is the invisible engine that has been quietly driving the evolution of applications. With more applications moving to the cloud and the AI boom, the power consumption, cooling and security needs of data center operations are also changing. Data center operators should focus on the following three prominent trends in 2024:
1.Artificial intelligence will continue to promote change and innovation
AI will continue to be one of the driving forces of data center trends in 2024. We will continue to see widespread deployment of artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML) in data centers, especially in hyperscale data centers, which will require better management of energy consumption and resources. In addition, as companies continue to build large language models, they also need to build new inference networks that analyze new data sets to make predictions, which require greater throughput and lower latency.
Currently, the vast majority of work in AI is built on top of these large language models, such as OpenAI's GPT-3 and GPT-4, Meta's LLaMA, and Google's PaLM2. Billions of computational processes are run during the development of these models, and model development essentially "teaches" what they need to know. Now, most of the major players in this space are beginning to shift to leveraging these models to extend specific applications. This will once again change the energy consumption and computing power requirements of data centers. What is the likely outcome of the shift from exploitation to inference? This will drive the development of edge computing. As specific AI applications are developed, organizations will seek processing power closer to where the application is being used. They'll look for smaller data centers that bring heavy computing closer to where it's actually used (i.e., manufacturing parks, universities, hospitals, etc.)
2. Multi-tenant data center space will usher in high light moment
Typically, hyperscale operators design and build the largest data center campuses. But as the energy and space requirements to support artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other emerging applications continue to increase, hyperscale data center operators may need to investigate alternative ways to build their facilities. This opens up opportunities for multi-tenantdata centers (MTDC). These operators have both the development capabilities similar to real estate companies and the technical capabilities (they own the site), and they know how to meet power and cooling needs. Therefore, in areas where space and energy are limited, when hyperscale operators need to operate facilities, multi-tenant data centers are a good choice.
Enterprise users also want to take advantage of these emerging technologies, but building a data center facility is a significant capital investment. For example: multi-tenant data centers and other new "cloud" providers offer "AI cloud services" that lease dedicated server space to an organization, regardless of its size, to run AI computing tasks. As enterprises will seek computing power closer to where applications are deployed, multi-tenant data centers will also play a role in the rise of edge computing.
3. Advancements in fiber optic transceivers help data center operators maximize space use
High performance computing applications such as artificial intelligence and machine learning are driving 800G fiber deployments. The latest network switches for interconnecting AI servers in data centers support 800G interconnect. In many cases, the transceiver ports on these network switches operate in branch mode, where an 800G line is divided into two 400G lines or more than 100G lines. In this way, data center operators are able to increase the connectivity of switches and connect more servers. As we see fiber transceiver upgrades, where light wavelengths and fibers can carry more data, we will also see fiber transceivers with fewer connections and higher rates at work, benefiting data center customers by reducing cable congestion within the rack and improving air flow.
Advances in fiber optic technology have made it possible for fibers and wavelengths to carry more data. The typical multimode 400G SR8 fiber transceiver is equipped with 16 fiber connections and is suitable for short-range applications, but the 400G SR4 fiber transceiver (reducing the number of fibers to 8) is entering the market. These fiber optic transceivers, along with other new fiber optic transceivers, play a big role in helping data centers meet the growing demand for data. Related to this trend are advances in connector miniaturization, and the development of solutions such as ultra-small connectors will help data center operators make greater use of limited space.
