Edge computing to dominate data centre investments through to 2025

Vertiv has identified an increasing focus on edge computing for data centres as we move towards 2025.

Data centre operators and owners in Singapore and Asia Pacific are highly optimistic about the future of edge computing, a new survey from Vertiv has revealed.

In Data Centre 2025: Closer to the Edge, a global, industrywide survey* conducted by Vertiv, 57% of respondents from Singapore expect IT resource utilisation at the edge to reach at least 60% by 2025.

This reflects a global sentiment on the increasing prevalence of edge computing in the data centre landscape, which is fuelled by more process-intensive applications such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, the Internet of things and 5G technology. Globally, 55% of respondents expect IT resource utilisation rates to grow at the edge by 2025.

“Five years ago, when Vertiv first conducted this survey, the idea of edge computing was quite new. Back then, many organisations expected to allocate their resources towards the cloud and/or hybrid architectures,” said Hitesh Prajapati, Country Manager for Vertiv in Singapore.

“Today, edge computing is clearly regarded as one of the key drivers for digital transformation and an important opportunity space. We are seeing many data centre operators and enterprises in Asia, including Singapore, being extremely positive about investing in and growing edge sites to support the fast-proliferating applications at the edge.”

The migration to the edge is changing the way today’s industry leaders think about the data centre. Amongst the participants who have edge sites today or expect to have edge sites in 2025, more than half (53%) expect the number of edge sites they support to grow by at least 100% with 20% expecting a 400% or more increase. Collectively, survey participants expect that the total number of edge computing sites will grow 226% globally between now and 2025.

“The edge requires a different approach to critical infrastructure solutions. Micro data centres, which are rapidly deployable, flexible and compact are fast becoming the preferred approach to enabling many of today’s high data bandwith deployments,” adds Prajapati.

More than 800 data centre professionals participated in Vertiv’s survey. Highlights include:

-  Participants are no longer as bullish on the prospects for solar and wind power in the data centre as they were in 2014. Then, they projected that about 34% of data centre power would come from renwable sources by 2025. Now, the expectation is 21% – still optimistic, but mindful of the ambitious timeline.

"I think there has been a reality check," notes Prajapati, who also shared that current optimism is more about hydroelectric power for renewables, and a fallback to fossil fuels as the main source of energy today.

-  Globally, 16% of participants expect to be retired by 2025, exacerbating an already problematic talent shortage. In Singapore that number is 23%. "Today, we need new hires with basic IT skills, as well as competency in critical thinking and problem-solving," said Prajapati. Any shortfall in data centre skills will need to be addressed, for example by in-house training programmes. Vertiv hires from engineering schools regionally in Asia, with recruits undergoing specialised data centre training.

- There is more of an emphasis on green technologies and energy efficiency. "There is a lot of work which companies like us and related companies have done in trying to get the best (technology), the best R&D efforts," Prajapati said.

Explore:

Read the Data Centre 2025: Closer to the Edge report

*Vertiv surveyed over 800 respondents globally, 25% of which were from the Asia Pacific region. Of these, 25% were from Singapore (53% in the colocation business), 20% from Thailand, 12% from Vietnam, 13% from Malaysia and 17% from Australia and New Zealand.