Workload repatriation and the future of datacenters

The proven trend of repatriating workloads from cloud computing to a private infrastructure is now seen as the driving force behind the continued growth of datacenters in the coming years. Ultimately, this means taking a closer look at the physical infrastructure, ensuring proper use of resources while improving ROI and time to market.

To keep up with this rapid change, it’s no surprise that datacenters are undergoing a major overhaul – from their design and scale to the way they are powered, organized and run. One of the most sensitive points is the availability of high-performance networks. After all, the datacenter provider must rise to the challenges of meeting the insatiable demand for memory, bandwidth, computing power, storage and speed.

There is a connected revolution taking place, from smart personal devices to the inside of the walls and ceilings of modern buildings. The proliferation of connected devices is increasing day by day. And 5G technologies are bringing more intelligence to the edge of the network. This exponential growth in data has forced datacenters to be closer to their customers, resulting in more deployments at the edge of the network, and to increase speed, security and efficiency while minimizing latency, as the overall goal is to find the most optimized architecture to support increasingly digital businesses.

One of the main reasons for repatriating from the cloud is performance. Some applications may require low latency, high bandwidth or strict compliance with data sovereignty regulations, which may not be met by public cloud providers. For example, if your application involves real-time processing of large volumes of data, such as video streaming or online gaming, you could benefit from having more control over your network and hardware resources.

Another important point for datacenter providers is the need for more to simplify processes and reduce the risk of downtime. Whether moving workloads to the cloud, repatriating or replacing racks, automation platforms can provide change management features that make it easier to synchronize environments and manage workloads across multiple infrastructures.

All of this has led consultancies to state that, by 2024, datacenter teams will take center stage in orchestrating the optimization and redeployment of cloud-based assets. Colocation datacenters, in particular, are uniquely positioned to help companies regain control over their technology strategy by deploying hybrid environments. Success will lie in finding ways to help customers improve efficiency between public cloud and private infrastructure workloads, controlling costs and meeting SLAs.

According to a report by Research and Markets, the global datacenter market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of more than 2% between 2019 and 2025. Managed services and colocation are in high demand – for example, hundreds of colocation projects have been built in recent years, including new and expanded facilities. Large hyperscale projects are also being developed in China, Australia, Hong Kong and India.

Today, there are around 900 hyperscale datacenters and more than 8,600 colocation and wholesale datacenter facilities around the world.