As the importance of data centres around the world grows , keeping them safe is a complex and ever-evolving battle
CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTS
As the importance of data centres around the world grows , keeping them safe is a complex and ever-evolving battle
WRITTEN BY : HARRY MENEAR
The data centre landscape is changing . And it ’ s making security professionals nervous . Putting aside the constant and deeply thorny matter that is cyber security for a second -, ensuring the physical security of data centres is an increasingly mission critical concern .
Amid the continuing COVID-19 crisis , global digital transformation efforts , the shift to cloud , and the rise of 5G - not to mention IoT , smart cities , and the edge - the data centre industry is actually shrinking . That might be a little misleading . In terms of investment , project size , capacity , revenues - you name it - the industry is booming . Experts estimate that the global data centre industry , worth $ 59.3 billion in 2020 , will be worth $ 143.7 billion by the end of 2027 . Colocation alone ( that ’ s leaving out all private , hyperscale , and edge data centres ) is expected to grow to $ 62.3 billion by the end of next year - up from $ 31.5 billion in 2017 . The market for data centres - buoyed by growth in data traffic and demand for digital services - is only going to grow .
It ’ s the number of data centres that ’ s shrinking . In 2015 , when large enterprises had just about cottoned on to the fact that cloud and colocation as-a-service was more cost effective than owning , operating , and maintaining an in-house facility ( as well as a
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