PLANNING&STRATEGYUIIntelligencereport42for2021AuthorsNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVED2 Introduction3Fivedatacentertrendsfor20214ccountabilitythenewimperativeCreepingcriticality8Storageclassmemory20Siliconphotonics21ARMservers22Softwaredefinedpower22Abouttheauthors24AboutUptimeInstitute24NSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVED3sNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVED42.Smarter,darkerdatacentersratectureansparentdvationnewNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVED5yltsnNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVED6lyNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVED7otNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVED8TyarNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVED9yrs?COPYRIGHT2020INSTITUTE.ALLRESERVEDNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVEDonrNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVEDfNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVEDmehNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVEDrvicesedgdgsNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVEDngeseacepsacrossalltheseareaslyacquisitions.NSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVEDSustainability:cpasses.eiortNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVEDSource:GuidanceforICTcompaniessettingsciencebasedtargets(Mobilenetworksoperators,fixednetworksoperators,anddatacentresoperators)(2020)bySciencebasedtargets:Drivingambitiouscorporateclimateaction./en/mediacentre/Documents/Documents/GSMA_IP_SBT-report_WEB-SINGLE.pdfrleNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVEDeeamplelyNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVEDeTRENDTRENDFIVEffNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVED20In2017,UptimeInstituteand451Researchidentified10technologiesthathadthepotentialtomakeabig,disruptiveimpactonthedatacenter.Thosetotherightofthechartwoulddososoonerthanthoseontheleft,whilethosenearestthetopwouldbemostlikelytohaveadisruptiveimpact.Thesizeofthecircleindicateshowlargeanimpactthetechnologywouldlikelymake.NSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVED21edpowersdInthedatacenter,siliconphotonicsallowscomponents(suchasprocessors,memory,input/output[I/O])thatarerboardorwithinoneservertobeopticallyinterconnected,andthenspreadacrossadatahepotentialtotoonebigcomputerorfordatacenterstobebuiltoutinalessstructuredway,usingsoftwaretointerconnectdisaggregatedpartswithoutlossofperformance.developmentofmorepowerfulsupercomputersandmaybeusedtosupportthecreationofnewlocalareanetworksattheedge.Networkingswitchesusingthetechnologycanalsosave40%onpowerandcooling(thisaddsupinlargefacilities,whichcanhaveupto50,000switches).gNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVED22yndThishegemonymaybeabouttobreakdown.ServersbasedontheARMprocessordesign—theprocessorsusedinbillionsofmobilephonesandotherdevices(andsoon,inAppleMacBooks)gusedbyAmazonWebServicesAWSinitsproprietarydesigns.CommerciallyavailableARMsystemsofferdramaticprice,performanceandenergyconsumptionimprovementsovercurrentIntelx86designs.WhenNvidiaannouncedits(proposed)$40billionacquisitionofARMinearly2020,itidentifiedthedatacentermarketasitsmainopportunity.Theservermarketiscurrentlyworth$67billionayear,accordingtomarketresearchcompanyIDC(InternationalDataCorporation).Software-definedpowerheNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVED23redatacenter).eeNSTITUTEALLNSTITUTEALLRESERVED24ShehasspenttwodecadesatthecrossroadsofITandbusinessasndssUptimeInstituteisanadvisoryorganizationfocusedonimprovingtheperformance