FOREWORD W elcome to the October issue of Data Centre Magazine , the industry ’ s leading community and resource for executives and leaders in the data centre and cloud industries . This month ’ s edition is all about managing data centres . From servers and networking hardware to facilities management and data centre infrastructure management ( DCIM ) solutions , we ’ re exploring what makes data centres tick , from top to bottom . We ’ ll also be bringing you exclusive interviews with thought leaders from Serverfarm , Green Datacentre AG and DC Blox . As enterprises around the world become increasingly digitalised , interconnected and agile , the value of eliminating silos in favour of more holistic approaches has become a widely recognised strategy . As the data centre industry shifts towards cloud and managed services , DCIM technology is enjoying a renaissance . This month , we explore the developing relationship between data centre operators and the new wave of DCIM solutions . We ’ re also bringing you two reports on the hardware that supports a data centre ’ s operations . Our deep dive into the world of servers investigates the engines that drive the modern data centre . We take a look at physical servers versus virtual servers , and explore some of the latest innovations driving the sector forward into Industry 4.0 . Networking hardware is also evolving . Our second hardware report focuses on the changing landscape in the networking hardware industry , as data centre operators everywhere prepare for global data traffic to increase exponentially over the next decade . Also in this month ’ s issue of Data Centre Magazine , we ’ re examining the industry best practices in the field of facilities management , based on industry leading expertise from Schneider Electric and Virtus Data Centres . Lastly , this month ’ s top 10 breaks down the best data centre conferences in a year which presented radical challenges for event managers . We hope you enjoy the issue . If you have a story to tell , email me at h . menear @ bizclikmedia . com to become a part of the conversation . Harry Menear datacentremagazine . com