Emerson Network Power Publishes ‘Data Center 2025’
The report forecasts massive changes to the data center ecosystem including increases in density, cloud adoption, and use of solar power.
Emerson Network Power has released “Data Center 2025: Exploring the Possibilities,” a forward-thinking report summarizing four months of global research designed to identify the industry’s vision of the data center in the year 2025. The results range from the expected —increased utilization of the cloud—to the ambitious — largely solar-powered data centers with power densities exceeding 50 kW per rack. One thing was clear: Most experts believe the data center as we know it will undergo massive changes over the next decade.
More than 800 data center professionals from around the world responded to the Data Center 2025 survey, with dozens of others contributing their thoughts via interviews, email and video. The feedback, viewed collectively, indicates most in the field remain bullish on the data center industry and on continued innovation in the IT space and beyond. For example, on average, experts predict density in 2025 will climb to 52 kW per rack. According to the Data Center Users’ Group™ sponsored by Emerson Network Power, average density has remained relatively flat since peaking around 6 kW nearly a decade ago, but experts are anticipating a dramatic upswing in density that could radically change the physical environment of the data center.