Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability in focus as the sector prepares for 2024

Vertiv's trend forecasts see great attention to the topic of strengthening artificial intelligence and energy management

The intense and pressing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and the pressure to reduce energy consumption, costs and CO emissions₂ loom over the data center industry in 2024. The spread ofAI (as predicted by Vertiv two years ago) and the infrastructure and sustainability challenges inherent in AI-based computing are evident across the industry and in 2024 trend predictions from Vertiv, (NYSE: VRT), a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions.

“AI and its cascading impact on energy needs and data center density are a dominant theme in the industry,” said Giordano Albertazzi, CEO of Vertiv. “Identify systems to help customers support demand for AI and reduce energy consumption and CO emissions₂ It is a significant challenge that requires new partnerships between data center owners, server and processor manufacturers, and infrastructure solution providers.”

Here are the trends that, according to Vertiv, will characterize the data center ecosystem in 2024:

1. The AI ​​establishes the conditions for new creations and restyling: The increased demand for AI across all applications is pushing businesses to make significant changes to their operations. Legacy infrastructures cannot support the large-scale deployment of high-density computing required by AI, and many lack the necessary liquid cooling infrastructure. In the coming year, more and more organizations will realize that half measures are not enough and will opt instead new creations, increasingly equipped with prefabricated modular solutions that radically modify the power and cooling infrastructure. These significant changes offer the opportunity to implement more environmentally sustainable technologies and practices, including liquid cooling for AI servers, which is mirrored by air thermal management to support entire data center spaces.
2. Expanding the search for alternatives for energy recovery: new technologies and new approaches for energy storage have demonstrated the ability to integrate intelligently with the grid and to achieve an important goal: reducing generator starts. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) support extended runtime demands by shifting the load as needed and for longer periods, and can integrate seamlessly with alternative energy sources, such as solar or fuel cells. In this way, the use of generators and the environmental impact are reduced to a minimum. In 2024, BESS installations will become increasingly widespread, evolving to adapt to “bring your own power” (BYOP) models and providing the capabilities, reliability and cost-effectiveness needed to support AI-driven demand.
3. Businesses prioritize flexibility: As cloud and colocation providers aggressively pursue new deployments to meet demand, organizations with enterprise data centers are likely to diversify their investments and deployment strategies. Artificial intelligence is an important factor in this context, as organizations are trying to understand how to best enable and apply this technology, while still meeting sustainability goals. Enterprises may begin to look at on-premise capabilities to support proprietary AI, and edge application deployments may be influenced by the benefits of AI. It is expected that many organizations will prioritize progressive investments, focusing heavily on prefabricated modular solutions, and support and maintenance to extend the life of legacy equipment. Such services can provide additional benefits, optimizing operation to free up resources in edge computing environments and increasing energy efficiency in the process. Similarly, organizations can reduce CO emissions₂ of Scope 3 extending the life of existing servers rather than replacing and scrapping them.
4. The race to the cloud encounters security problems: Gartner predicts global spending on public cloud services will increase by 20.4% in 2024 and mass migration to the cloud shows no signs of stopping. This puts pressure on cloud providers to rapidly scale up capacity to support demand for AI and high-performance computing, and they will continue to turn to colocation partners around the world to enable such expansion. For cloud customers increasingly moving data offsite, security is paramount, and according to Gartner, 80% of CIOs plan to increase cybersecurity and data security spending in 2024. Differing national and regional data security regulations can create complex security challenges as standardization efforts continue.