The era of AI is booming and is only just starting. Industry analysts are projecting staggering growth numbers fueled by AI workloads. A Forbes article by Tirias Research estimated that AI infrastructure would raise data center power consumption by nearly 4,250 megawatts in 2028, a 212x increase over 2023. Additionally, data center real estate firms CBRE and JLL report that vacancy rates in North America are at a 10-year low. When you factor in supply chain constraints in building new data centers and looming worldwide power shortages, it is impossible to conclude that data center space will quickly become a more valuable commodity. To compound dwindling available data center space, enterprises are exiting the on-premises data centers to cloud platforms and co-location facilities. Why? A big driver is their need to meet ESG goals. Retrofitting older data centers with sustainable energy sources and achieving high power-efficiency ratings doesn’t pencil out. These trends point to a pending shortage, raising how organizations will navigate the troubled waters ahead.
Should you prepare for the data center space shortage as people did during the pandemic? No, hoarding data center space now that will go unused for months or years doesn’t make financial sense. What does make sense is understanding how these trends may impact your organization, taking a step back, and building a long-term strategy and plan. State-of-the-art data centers offer the opportunity to meet organizational ESG goals, increase power density, refresh legacy hardware, and run game-changing generative AI workloads. In addition to data center capacity constraints, the technology sector is still experiencing supply chain shortages. For AI Workloads, NVIDIA has an approximate lead time of 12 months for high-demand GPUs and will only accept non-cancellable purchase orders with a substantial pre-payment. Lead times are improving industry-wide, but planning well in advance is a best practice. You never want an infrastructure deployment delayed due to a critical component shortage. A lack of planning may delay your project, and your CFO won’t be thrilled to have unutilized capital investments. AI promises incredible efficiency but is also at the root of challenges, and why a long-term technology strategy will be invaluable.
3 Ways to Prepare
If there were a simple approach to building a strategy and plan, I’d post it right here. Unfortunately, there aren’t, but there are three general approaches and some triggering events to focus on. At a high level, organizations are choosing to go all-in on cloud platforms, continue operating data center infrastructure, or, most commonly, balance workloads across cloud platforms and data center infrastructure.
1. Go all-in on the cloud
If your organization opts to go all-in on the cloud, here’s what you should do. Stop reading this blog because your cloud provider is already expanding their data center footprint and deploying servers, storage, and GPU hardware for you. If you need a partner to accelerate your cloud migration, please consider our team at Redapt.
2. Stay on-premises or adopt multi-cloud
If your organization chooses to continue operating data center infrastructure or balance workloads with a cloud platform, here are a few events your organization can plan for. Datacenter closures, technology refresh cycles, and disaster recovery projects trigger needs for new data center space, hardware, and networks. Planning well in advance for each scenario allows ample time to secure co-location contracts and procure hardware. Most importantly, it provides time to reduce the risk of migrating your highly complex environments and avoid costly outages.
3. Find a partner
We hope you consider working with Redapt as your partner regardless of your path. We have extensive experience helping our customers deploy data center infrastructure at scale and have deep relationships with the industry's leading providers. On top of that, our IT consultants are here to assist in migrating and modernizing applications once your data center infrastructure is in place. We’re as bullish on what AI can do for our customers and ready to help our customers navigate the unintended consequences of widespread adoption.
Want a free consultation to discuss your datacenter and AI strategy with experts? Contact us today.
