What Big Data and the Internet of Things will do to data centers

Big data is expanding and expanding now. The sheer volume of all the various types of devices connected to the Internet, from our Fitbits to our cell phone cameras, and the data and future potential of these devices has led to an exponential increase in the need for computing and storage.

How will big data and the Internet of Things affect data centers? That's the topic of Balsells' presentation at the upcoming Data Center Global Conference and Expo. The conference will include a number of topical sessions that will address issues facing managers and operators of data centers, as well as new technologies for data centers.

Massive compute and storage demand creates more power demand

Barsells said he said his presentation topics focus on questions asked by data center managers and operators. For example, "Can our current power infrastructure handle all the data that's being generated? Can we provide enough power?" . This will also lead to the next question, "You know the power that your data center is getting now, what about 5 or 10 or 15 years from now, and what to do then?"

To support the needs of computing and storage today, "our data centers need reliable quality, energy efficient, adequate power using renewable energy sources." He said.

Growing data demands lead to greater power needs and costs. Verne Global's data center in Keflavik, Iceland, has built a reliable and cost-effective power strategy around renewable energy access. Exploring the impact of power factors on data centers, Balsells has a unique perspective on this.

The bottom line on power

Balsells says power is important from a financial perspective. As data center managers look ahead at the cost of future plans, they have no idea what the future holds when it comes to how they calculate power pricing. Power costs have a huge impact on where data center facilities are located today. When customers look at the trends in the market, the **** same thing is "the price of power. Balsells said.

Demand Changes Location

"You see people not building new data centers in metropolitan areas at the moment. Over the last decade, data centers have been moving as far away from population centers as possible, to remote regional areas. For example, Washington, Oregon, and even Utah in the U.S. Pacific Northwest," he said. "And global data centers are located in the Nordic region, including Iceland."

He cited the example of Facebook building and data center in Sweden, where the power grid is super-reliable. And Google Inc. is building a data center in Finland that has been powered by renewable energy since 2015. (As previously reported by DCK: Google Inc.'s Hamina data center in Finland will be primarily wind-generated in 2015, and Google Inc. has signed a supplemental agreement with a company that supplies power to onshore wind farms, so that the data center will be powered by 100 percent renewable energy.)

This kind of power supply reliability is currently unavailable in the United States. "For example, power in the Gulf is not continuous. It's not very reliable." Balsells said.

Another benefit of northern climates is lower cooling requirements. "In the overall cost of a data center, cooling costs account for 30 to 40 percent of the cost of power generation." Data centers, he says, "are looking for locations that have cooler climates year-round." This reduces the amount of cold air that needs to be generated (either through traditional cooling, or through evaporative cooling) to lower the inlet temperature of the servers.

Practical reliability

The 24/7 electrical infrastructure we rely on the other day isn't all that reliable. Balsells said people tend to forget about power supply reliability quickly. He cites the examples of Hurricane Sandy and the Northeast U.S. power grid that led to widespread blackouts in 2003. "The 2003 incident affected 50 million people. We forget that so quickly," he said. "Electricity reliability is a concern, not just in the U.S., but around the world."

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