What is the impact of the IoT on data centres?

Data creates Information which provides Knowledge and ultimately Wisdom. So says the handbook of IoT. The Internet of Things (IoT) will see a massive deployment of end devices that gather Data from a plethora of environmental and conditional aspects. This Data then creates Information on a multitude of different things, from smart buildings, through transport and people movement, to agricultural technology and utilities.

We want to find what’s going on, we want to know, we want information. The data we get provides this Information… but what do we do with that information?

Well, we utilise data analytics to turn that into Knowledge, we can then further analyse this via various applications, or just common sense, to garner Wisdom from our IoT assets. That is the end-to-end lifecycle of bits and bytes for IoT devices.

At each level of Data gathering, Information Analytics, Knowledge mapping and Wisdom insights there is a cascading need for data storage, data processing and data analysis.

If the global industry expects 75 billion IoT endpoints deployed by 2025^[1], the impact on data centre storage requirements will be:

Data x 1, Information x 3, Knowledge x 5, Wisdom x 10.

We can expect a tenfold increase in DC capacity purely because of IoT, that’s not including storage of historical data, data lakes and cross-functional IoT data exchanges that create even more Wisdom. If you think the DC industry was expanded by cloud adoption, the impact of IoT has the potential to create a need for storage capacity that is currently not available anywhere.

This increase in data, and the subsequent required increase in data centre capacity, will have a dramatic effect on the sustainability footprint of technology. DCs are very power-hungry buildings, consuming 200 TWh in 2017^[2]. There will be a direct correlation between the adoption of IoT and the increased energy use in data centres to process the data.

Designing, deploying and powering green, sustainable data centres will be an important side effect of increased data from IoT. This provides opportunities in the renewable energy market, like direct behind-the-meter adoption of large-scale solar farms to power data centres, as well as developing the next generation of data centre tools that efficiently manage the energy within a data centre (DCIM — data centre infrastructure management).

Therein lies an opportunity — good energy efficiency in the DC comes from Wisdom derived from the Knowledge of how the energy is being used in data centre, which can only be obtained from Information gathered about the environmental status of assets within a data centre. This Information can be obtained from the Data provided by a myriad of sensors and end devices within the data centre. This allows real-time monitoring of the environment for dynamic control of the energy to provide a more sustainable data centre.

The time to start building more data centres to capture the IoT need is now. The IoT Alliance is running its second conference, IoT Impact 2019, this October — make sure you attend to keep on top of IoT trends.

About IoT Impact

The IoT Impact 2019 conference, 15–16 October 2019, will bring together top technologies, strategies and case studies for the key industries implementing IoT.

IoT Impact is unique because it is brought to you by IoT Alliance Australia (IoTAA), representing over 450 organisations and 900 participants. IoTAA builds and nurtures the Australian IoT eco-system, highlights and develops good practice, advocates better regulation to support innovation and showcases excellence.

Over two days, you will meet 1000-plus business and technology leaders interested in propelling IoT adoption globally and specifically in Australia. The ultimate opportunity is for delegates to get out of the office and build fruitful connections on one floor at the Hyatt Regency, Sydney.

The conference includes keynotes, sessions, awards and workshops covering industry sectors and technology-focused sessions. The content is designed for those considering or scaling IoT projects; the ultimate take home is to leave with a ‘can do’ approach to IoT implementation to ensure organisations are IoT ready.

The awards ceremony at IoT Impact is not to be missed and will reward visionary individuals and businesses who are revolutionising the Internet of Things.

Key conference themes include:

• Smart grids
• Smart water
• Smart cities and Proptech
• Advanced manufacturing and robotics
• Next-generation mobility and connected vehicles
• AgTech and supply chains
• Circular economy
• HealthTech
• Cybersecurity
• Blockchain
• Data use
• AI and 5G
   

Register today — www.iotimpact.com.au

_{[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/471264/iot-number-of-connected-devices-worldwide/}

_{[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06610-y}

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Ivan Kurmyshov