The most recent Outlook for Data Centers reports that 2017 will continue the growth spiral of the last few years. The demand for data centers will continue to increase for the foreseeable future. Cloud computing is definitely here to stay, and growing in leaps and bounds. Here’s what’s happening:
Strategic cloud adoption is still a question mark in the data center market. Regulatory policies and the heavy economic forces in play are ramping up both the strategic importance of a secure place to store data that does not exceed pricing models.
Over the next year experts are prepared to see the demand of users of smart data centers for more efficiency, power, and convenience. While location is not always a deal breaker in the world of cloud-based data strategies, there is some need to keep geography in mind. Trending topics include:
Acquisitions and mergers are keeping out the newcomers in the field. The surge in 2016 made the big players even bigger and left everyone else behind in the dust. It hasn’t been said out loud yet, but there could be cries of ‘Monopoly’ to the federal government in the near future.
Global policy in this area is by no means static. Tax bases and sovereignty issues abound. The climate for native data centers in the United States is on the cusp — city and county agencies are all for its growth, but the federal government has not yet committed any of its big guns to that kind of infrastructure addition. Brexit overseas has, of course, thrown predictions about data center locations into complete chaos. And finally, the question of who owns the stored data is still not legally secure — especially overseas.
The housing and hosting of data, especially in the United States, will not be based so much on the optimum spaces that the Cloud industry wants, but on what their customers feel comfortable with. And that means that storage facilities will quadruple in places like Maryland and Virginia on the East Coast, and Silicon Valley on the West Coast. There will also be a general demand for wholesale pricing from consumers.
The exception to these forecasts is Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Cool climate and a superabundance of cheap power from wind power and natural gas power plants, as well as the hydroelectric wonders in the western part of the state have made Cheyenne the wunderkind in Cloud storage during the past few years.
Wyoming’s state capital is host to an abundant capability when it comes to cloud data, as well as geocentric supercomputer research and digital video delivery. The workforce is highly trained, in the younger demographic, and exhibits signs of stability that other states find hard to match. The city’s fiber capacity and power access is unmatched in the Intermountain West.
Both Microsoft and Google are already investing heavily in data storage facilities in and around Cheyenne. Abundant power means cheap power. The cool environment means no chance of a melt-down. The fantastic fiber connections already in place, and being added to at a frantic pace, mean data from anywhere on the planet can be uploaded in the twinkling of an eye. Additions to existing facilities and construction of brand new facilities is projected to account for a goodly portion of Wyoming’s Gross State Production Income for the next five years.