Antonio Suárez Garcia forecasts 2023’s technological trends

Given his analytical acumen, it should come as no surprise that Antonio Suárez Garcia took time to crunch the numbers and carefully consider multiple streams of information when he was asked to forecast 2023’s technological trends.

So, while New Year celebrations may have already faded from the memory, you can rest assured that the following forecast of data center sector activity from the global product manager of XpedITe – RiT Tech’s award-winning Universal Intelligent Infrastructure Management solution – is based on meticulously harvested metrics and has been well worth the wait.

Planet-friendly plug-ins

You can pin the cause on a multitude of reasons – be it a global awakening to climate concerns, incoming regulations that commit data centers to measuring and publishing unified metrics or a customer base committed to ‘going green’ – but sustainability will take center stage as the star issue of 2023. The evidence is already plentiful with a host of start-ups pledging to provide tools to measure and manage everything from energy supply and consumption to technology renewal and carbon footprint size. The ripple effect of this will see adaptations and functionalities added to existing building and environmental management systems and data center infrastructure management (DCIM) platforms that will allow them to work in tandem with the new kids on the block to deliver the desired impact.

Intelligent implementation

Unless you’ve spent the first few months of this year with your head firmly in the sand, it won’t have escaped your attention that machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Data centers represent fertile territory in which to bed these advances and while ChatGPT will not be writing the long-term strategies for such facilities any time soon, 2023 will see AI being used to analyze the behavior of IT and mechanical and electrical services equipment, operations teams, and workflows in a bid to mitigate failures and any unnecessary downtime. Exciting stuff and undoubtedly only the first step in AI’s march to prominence in the sector.

Minimizing manual labor

Demand for greater automation – in terms of both processes and integration between systems – will continue to grow. Indeed, the data center sector has reached a crossroads and is travelling firmly in the direction of automated workflows, whilst leaving isolated or closed entities in its rear-view mirror. Expect the integration of bona fide DCIM solutions with configuration management databases, ticketing systems and customer relationship management tools to significantly speed up hitherto manual actions to become the norm during the year ahead.

Spain to reign when it comes to growth

Madrid will spearhead the exponential growth of the Spanish market through the commission of several new hyperscale and colocation data centers that will see Spain edge closer to the sector powerhouses of Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris. Capacity is set to double in 2023 and will pave the way for future expansion that will establish Madrid as the hub of Southern Europe. Barcelona and Lisbon, among other cities, also have ambitious plans for growth and the investment in projects bodes well for the Iberian Peninsula.

A hike in CoLo customer care

The colocation market will turn its gaze inward and provide greater transparency to its customer base. Through the offer of management and monitoring capabilities, clients will be presented with a clearer picture of space, network and energy consumption as the sector puts sustainability in the spotlight. Effective remote management – which encompasses asset and connectivity oversight, user-friendly dashboards and reporting – will enable improved control of hosted equipment and enhance operational efficiency and resource allocation. Expect the owners and managers of large data centers to lead the way in 2023 as the adoption of such tools becomes increasingly essential in the short- and medium-term.

About the author

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Antonio Suárez Garcia’s career in data centre infrastructure management has been driven by his passion for creating useful technology that people can easily engage with. With a degree in Industrial Electronics from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and expertise in developing and promoting effective DCIM tools, his role at RiT Tech is to add value to the continuous evolution of XpedITe in line with customer requirements in the European and US markets.